Harry & David Holdings is a name often associated with fruits for its beginnings. It commenced business operations after acquiring an enormous farmstead for growing fruit. While it had its fair share of good business years, it also had some severely bad ones that were remedied by the ascension of Steve Heyer CEO to its management.
There was a great deal to be done when Heyer came to Harry & David. Harry & David was at that time looking at negative profits, suffering terribly from the recession. To answer the issue, the new chief of the company did away with several of the other executives, hiring in their stead more managers for sales.
This was considered a daring decision, as it effectively saw several of the highest-ranking officers being laid off due to their inability to prove their worth. The result was that the company managed to save just M shy of M, and all without hurting the salaries of those in the lower ranks. At a time when most salaries are going down, this is significant.
“We have duplications and multiple systems that were very expensive,” the CEO explained. One of the group's deficiencies was in the willingness to consider alterations to the old way of doing things. Heyer is one business leader who is not afraid to try new things.
He once delivered a speech that highlighted the need for innovative thinking in business. According to him, companies had to be willing to make changes every now and then. What he foresaw was a future where personalization was the rule.
Heyer's advice was that businessmen should rethink their approaches. In 2004, he became CEO for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide where he yet again implemented bold and radical changes. In a stroke of genius, he directed Starwood's marketing departments to repackage the product, stressing that it was not so much a room that was being sold but rather the possibility of creating memorable experiences.
Other executive roles Heyer has occupied would include the COO seat in Turner Broadcasting. He was also formerly part of the Operating Committee for AOL-Time. From 1992 to 1994, he was president and COO of Young & Rubicam Advertising Worldwide.
According to Heyer, one of the biggest issues with Harry & David when he took it on was the business simply did not have any advertising or links with the ASI. It was not advertising its products, and therefore was losing out on sales opportunities. The benefits of being represented in the Advertising Specialty Institute were significant.
The new CEO seemed to have quickly identified the problem. He could find little evidence of organizational cooperation. The inability to support new ways of thinking was what was killing the business.
Now, the company has begun to rise again to its former glory. Fresh ways of approaching problems are taking the stage, and fresh approaches too are starting to be used. This is due to the work of Steve Heyer CEO, when he took time to prune away the rotten branches and sowed fertilizer into this company's soil.
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