Lyssa McGowan

The new world, the new level of competition, the headwinds that were coming required more challenge in the culture to get to a high performance culture, but without breaking all those things that were really special and that lovely pride in how well we'd managed the pandemic. So

I thought of it really as a tightrope, you know, and it was a tightrope on many dimensions, you know, keep the support, but add the challenge, you know, keep all the brilliant retail and veterinary skills, but add the, you know, the capacity and capability around technology and digital and data.

I thought of it really as a tightrope, you know, and it was a tightrope on many dimensions, you know, keep the support, but add the challenge, you know, keep all the brilliant retail and veterinary skills, but add the, you know, the capacity and capability around technology and digital and data.

I thought of it really as a tightrope, you know, and it was a tightrope on many dimensions, you know, keep the support, but add the challenge, you know, keep all the brilliant retail and veterinary skills, but add the, you know, the capacity and capability around technology and digital and data.

So it was a real balance, sort of keep the pride in what had been achieved, but be honest about the challenge that faced in the future. And I think in some ways, That's harder than a burning platform because a burning platform is just clear, right? You know, stop doing all of that. We've got to do this. And in a crisis like COVID, things become boiled down to their essence.

So it was a real balance, sort of keep the pride in what had been achieved, but be honest about the challenge that faced in the future. And I think in some ways, That's harder than a burning platform because a burning platform is just clear, right? You know, stop doing all of that. We've got to do this. And in a crisis like COVID, things become boiled down to their essence.

So it was a real balance, sort of keep the pride in what had been achieved, but be honest about the challenge that faced in the future. And I think in some ways, That's harder than a burning platform because a burning platform is just clear, right? You know, stop doing all of that. We've got to do this. And in a crisis like COVID, things become boiled down to their essence.

And I think when you're in a growth, great culture, lovely culture, but you've got to be different, that balancing act is tougher.

And I think when you're in a growth, great culture, lovely culture, but you've got to be different, that balancing act is tougher.

And I think when you're in a growth, great culture, lovely culture, but you've got to be different, that balancing act is tougher.

I would have every sort of quarter I'd have hour-long calls with my top 40 people just to kind of check in. And I think because, you know, a lot of times CEOs talk a lot to their exec team. But I think going a level down and even a level below that and just building those relationships with long-serving, long-standing people and just getting that feedback.

I would have every sort of quarter I'd have hour-long calls with my top 40 people just to kind of check in. And I think because, you know, a lot of times CEOs talk a lot to their exec team. But I think going a level down and even a level below that and just building those relationships with long-serving, long-standing people and just getting that feedback.

I would have every sort of quarter I'd have hour-long calls with my top 40 people just to kind of check in. And I think because, you know, a lot of times CEOs talk a lot to their exec team. But I think going a level down and even a level below that and just building those relationships with long-serving, long-standing people and just getting that feedback.

I also spent a lot of time out in stores and bets. And that was for two reasons. One is to gauge what's going on at the front line. Um, but the other is to be visibly out there and be seen to be there at the frontline because you, you want, you know, in a business that's rightly proud and very connected to pets, you want to be out there feeling that.

I also spent a lot of time out in stores and bets. And that was for two reasons. One is to gauge what's going on at the front line. Um, but the other is to be visibly out there and be seen to be there at the frontline because you, you want, you know, in a business that's rightly proud and very connected to pets, you want to be out there feeling that.

I also spent a lot of time out in stores and bets. And that was for two reasons. One is to gauge what's going on at the front line. Um, but the other is to be visibly out there and be seen to be there at the frontline because you, you want, you know, in a business that's rightly proud and very connected to pets, you want to be out there feeling that.

So I don't think there's any substitute in a multi-site operational business for spending a lot of time at the frontline. Um, so yeah, I think those things, and then I made sure that in my team, I had those culture carriers. In fact, I promoted one of them to be our chief people and legal officer.

So I don't think there's any substitute in a multi-site operational business for spending a lot of time at the frontline. Um, so yeah, I think those things, and then I made sure that in my team, I had those culture carriers. In fact, I promoted one of them to be our chief people and legal officer.

So I don't think there's any substitute in a multi-site operational business for spending a lot of time at the frontline. Um, so yeah, I think those things, and then I made sure that in my team, I had those culture carriers. In fact, I promoted one of them to be our chief people and legal officer.

She's fabulous, but she was a real culture carrier for the business and a kind of lightning rod and very much kind of, you know, could just sense because it was such a different culture to Sky. And such a different culture to McKinsey where I'd done the big stints in my career. I needed that help and just figuring out what was going on bubbling under the surface.