Greg Hughes, President & CEO, Beam Suntory

Episode 049 – Greg Hughes, President & CEO, Beam Suntory

Today on the Executives’ Exchange, we are thrilled to rebroadcast our interview with Greg Hughes in honor of his promotion to President & CEO of Beam Suntory! He will be stepping into this role on October 1st. Dive into this conversation between Greg and Andy Callahan, President & CEO of Hostess Brands, as they discuss the profound influence of Japanese-style Gemba on their leadership.

00:41 – Greg discusses the origins of “Gemba”
03:27 – Leading from the front—Greg & Andy discuss developing leadership skills
06:55 – Greg discusses what Gemba is not  
08:40 – Four ways to scale up across a broader footprint of people
13:06 – Andy and Greg discuss the challenges of leadership during the pandemic  
17:48 – Andy discusses the silver lining that provides the opportunity for something better 
21:41 – Message from our sponsor, Shure
22:10 – Greg discusses implementing Gemba in the social media space 
23:56 – Connecting brands with culture and employee base; the need to be empathetic & inclusive
27:07 – Building global brands while acknowledging there’s no global consumer—understanding what’s universal about brands and what’s local that’s adaptable  
30:05 – What are some of the trends you see in your business?  
33:55 – Gemba intersects everything you do—team, business strategy and provides the very foundation of how you think.  
35:44 – The most significant challenges with Gemba  
38:12 – Greg discusses how his leadership translates into building the culture you want in the organization 
43:20 – Gemba enables employees to engage  
48:34 – Outro

Episode Link: Beam Suntory

Guest Host: Andy Callahan, President & CEO, Hostess Brands
Producer: Eva Penar, Chief Content & Communications Officer, The Executives’ Club of Chicago

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