Bringing a consultant's eye to the corner office: Office Depot Chuck Rubin, evp, cmo

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 6, 2004 by Mike Troy

When Chuck Rubin was hired as evp and cmo of Office Depot six months ago, he entered a situation in need of stability and improved results. Office Depot had just reported its 16th consecutive quarter of negative same-store sales, and the head merchant position had been vacant for six months following the resignation of a prior executive who had held the position for a year and a half and who himself had been hired after several other executives briefly had occupied the post. Office Depot chairman and ceo Bruce Nelson had often stated that revitalizing North American retail sales was the company's top priority, but he needed a head merchant to legitimize the claim.

That's where Chuck Rubin comes in. Although not widely known at the time of his appointment earlier this year, Rubin was already intimately involved with Office Depot and had worked closely with the executive team as a partner with the Accenture consulting firm, where he had worked for six years on every imaginable issue with retailers large and small. During his assignment at Office Depot, Rubin also had almost daily contact with Nelson.

"After a period of time of working with Bruce, he raised the question of whether I had ever considered joining Office Depot on a permanent basis. What convinced me that Office Depot was the right opportunity was the caliber of people here and the enormous willingness to invest in change and people and to do what's right to improve the business," Rubin said. "Office Depot got to test-drive me, and I got to test-drive Office Depot, and I saw that there was true conviction and true momentum in actions behind the strategies that Bruce and the management team were talking about."

Although it didn't have the results to show for it yet, Office Depot was serious about driving sales growth at its retail stores. The company planned to introduce new and differentiated product, the best example of which was the successful launch earlier this year of a proprietary Christopher Lowell line of furniture. A greater emphasis was also being placed on technology products, and Office Depot for the first time began selling popular brands of notebook computers from Sony and Gateway. In addition, for the first time in several years, aggressive new store expansion was in the works as well as a push into the northeast thanks to the acquisition of former Kids "R" Us locations. And the company had developed M2, the second generation of a prototype introduced in mid-2003 that was intended to achieve true differentiation from competitors in a cost-effective manner.

"M2 is an example of us being willing to take a step away from what we conventionally do and create a new shopping environment, support it with people and capital and leverage some of the best ideas that we have seen across industries," Rubin said. "We are very pleased with the initial results of our M2 stores."

Although Rubin had been extensively involved with Office Depot while leading the on-site Accenture team, his involvement related to implementing, executing and accelerating the benefits of such strategies rather than their establishment. He is still involved in those activities, but now also shapes strategic issues such as identifying customer groups, product assortments, working with suppliers and determining new markets to pursue.

And while he certainly has the requisite skills to perform those functions, Rubin's view of the business and customers is more insightful than anything on his resume. For example, he is a believer in spending time in stores--Office Depot stores, those of its direct competitors and other retailers from whom ideas can be gleaned. The entire merchandising organization worked in stores during back-to-school season to get closer to customers, and he believes executives in departments such as finance, legal and information systems would be well served to do the same. He also believes product differentiation and newness will be important drivers of success and that suppliers need to understand Office Depot is not their customer.

"The most critical thing that suppliers need to know is that we are doing everything we can to be customer-centric. We are trying to leverage the assets of Office Depot and our vendor base to address what the customer is telling us they want," Rubin said. "For suppliers to succeed with us, they have to know what their ultimate customer wants and work with us to deliver it."

Rubin's work ethic and retail philosophies were formed early on, as he is an individual that was essentially born into the business. He started at the bottom, worked for successful companies--as well as some that were liquidated--and along the way gained first hand knowledge of every aspect of the industry as well as a passion for taking care of customers. Rubin's father was in the liquor store business, but it was a family affair and young Chuck was often called upon to perform menial duties.

"I helped stock the shelves, I took inventory and swept the floors and cleaned up the place. I truly started out at the bottom," Rubin said. "The liquor store business back then was not the most sophisticated or glamorous of businesses, but it was a terrific place to cut my teeth."