Rite Aid president sets out to define a new culture

What at a company stands for is as important as what it sells. That's one of the philosophies of Rite Aid's new management team. Mary Sammons, president and chief operating officer, is spearheading the effort to define a new culture at the chain. In a recent interview with Drug Store News' executive editor Mark Tosh, she provided an outline of that effort.

Mark Tosh: What was the Rite Aid culture like when you and chief executive Bob Miller arrived?

Mary Sammons: The people in this organization had a real desire to contribute and to ask the questions that had been bothering them for a long time. Initially, the associates in the store were more vocal because it was easier for them; they didn't have to worry so much about what they said.

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The supervisors in mid- and upper management were worried about whether it was OK to say what they wanted to say.

Tosh: How did you approach these people?

Sammons: It was important for me to go out into the markets and get people to feel comfortable talking to me. If they could feel comfortable, then I would learn what I needed to learn, and that was one of the best things that I did in the beginning.

Tosh: What led you to believe the culture needed to be re-defined?

Sammons: I had had about six or seven market meetings, and the same things kept coming up over and over again. What people were telling me were obvious kinds of problems: we're priced too high, we don't have time to take care of customers, and we need to be treated like valuable human beings. The concerns were so much the same across the board in the company that obviously our senior management needed to pay attention to them.

Tosh: How did you proceed from there?

Sammons: It led to the formation of what I call our stakeholders group. We really pulled together key executives from across our company. If you're going to start talking about what the problems are, and to find solutions, you have got to understand from all points of view.

Tosh: How did consumers fit into this effort?

Sammons: We determined that even though we had all this input already we needed to do more research with customers to get a better sense of what customers expect out of a drug store. What did they expect? How were we delivering? What opportunity could find that would allow us to differentiate from other drug stores?

Tosh: What did you find out?

Sammons: It became clear that no one was delivering service. Customers didn't feel like there were any drug stores that made them feel appreciated, valued, welcomed and respected. So if we could figure out the answer to that, as we were solving a lot of our other problems, we could end up above the rest of the chain drug industry.

Tosh: How can you reach that level?

Sammons: It became clear from focus groups with our associates that our people wanted to deliver customer service; they wanted to take care of customers.

But we weren't giving them all the tools they needed. We weren't giving them the training they need or the support they need.

Tosh: How do you provide that?

Sammons: If your people don't feel valued and important, then it's hard for them to take care of the customers. It was clear that our people knew the kinds of things they need to do. We just need to make it possible for them to do it. And that helped set the stage for what we saw as the foundation that we needed. So we went through a number of meetings to come to agreement on our core values as a company. We believe that's where we needed to start.

Tosh: What is your new purpose?

Sammons: We had lots of different ideas. We also had 100 pieces of paper filled with possibilities. What we determined were eight core values that were absolutely essential to our success. And they revolved around our customers, our associates and our suppliers; and how important integrity is and how important being a healthcare provider is. You can't independently do one without doing the others. After we did the values, we stated our purpose. It's very simple: 'Rite Aid helps people lead healthier, happier lives.' We talked about whether our purpose is to make money. We have to make money, but we're not going to make money if we aren't running our business by these values with this purpose solidly in mind.