The article that will be discussed in this essay is “Hershey's provocateur-in-chief pushes the candy company to $10 billion”. The article is about how Michele Buck, the Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer of The Hershey Company, has spearheaded the company to achieve tremendous growth in revenues for the past years. Buck’s new goal is to reach the $10 billion revenue mark by 2017. The author shares her interview with Buck where they talk about how she achieved the significant growth in Hershey’s sales, her vision for the company and how she intends to pursue the $10 billion revenue target.
The current event cited is an illustration on the topic on leadership that was discussed in class. Buck, who has the title of Chief Growth Officer, is a leader with a vision who believes in something bigger. The admirable financial performance of Hershey speaks well of her leadership. She is a transactional leader whose actions are based on cost-benefit strategy. She knew that penetrating the China market has a high cost but she was also aware of China is a priority market. She was able to convince the other people in their organization that hers was the right strategy and she proved herself correct.
Buck’s leadership style is characteristic of a transformational leader. She introduces change and innovation like the increase in advertising expense as a percentage of sales, from two to eight percent. Buck is instrumental in introducing innovations in marketing and research. A significant lesson in leadership that one can learn from Buck is her attitude towards the assignments that is given. She states that every assignment is a learning opportunity. Moreover, she emphasizes that one must also learn from the people whom one works with. She underlines the importance of not being complacent and simply remaining in a status quo position; rather, one must be a “provocateur —pushing the boundaries of what’s possible” (Goudreau, 2013, par 2).
References
Goudreau, J. (2013, March 4). Hershey's provocateur-in-chief pushes the candy company to $10 billion. Retrieved from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/03/04/hersheys-provocateur-in-chief-pushes-the-candy-company-to-10-billion/?ss=change-agents/
