Commentary From Our Chairman / CEO
Vacationing on Cape Cod With Non-Foods on My Mind
By Mike Sleeper, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Distributors, Inc.
Vacationing on the Cape with family for two weeks in late July felt like payback time after a soggy spring and all the excitement of going after the Fleming business in Pennsylvania .
Our New England summers always seem too short, but getting away works wonders. Despite several e-mails and a few short phone calls from the office, the relaxing mood was unbroken in the peaceful setting of the Cape . Over the past few years we’ve vacationed in a quiet section of West Falmouth , which reminds me of the Patty Page standard, " Old Cape Cod".
It’s a time to catch up on some reading and to reflect as well. My two books for this vacation were "Jack–Straight from the Gut," a business classic written by Jack Welch former CEO of GE, and "Final Accounting," an exposé of the unethical practices which triggered the fall of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. They provide valuable lessons about teamwork and about the personalities and principles necessary for business success and the pitfalls to failure. Not a total escape but a break nevertheless to think beyond the hustle and bustle of supermarketing.
Another not-so-total escape was going supermarket shopping.
When I think of the hundreds upon hundreds of miles I have logged in walking supermarkets aisles over the past 40 years, it’s still a different experience shopping as a regular person. On vacation, you’ll find as I did recently, that grocery shopping is an experience to be enjoyed. Everything looks beautiful–colorful fruits and vegetables, corn on the cob as fresh as can be, and rows of juicy steaks ready for the barbecue. And, oh yes, would you believe non-foods were on my list as well–film already depleted, Q-Tips, suntan lotion and a soft-sided cooler for the beach.
Speaking of non-foods, one of the early pioneers of the GM/HBC business, my dad, Frank Sleeper, our company founder, was with us for our first week of the family vacation. He’s still sharp at 89. A whiz at checkers, for one thing, and a real techie on the computer, for another. He’s still interested in talking about business. He reflected on how times have changed and how sad it is to know that so many of the strong men of his time are now gone.
I talked about our new accounts in Pennsylvania . Thinking no doubt of the early grocery stores he started with in 1939 in Worcester , his eyes opened wide when I said Pennsylvania . It was as if we were expanding to California !
Well, he said lifting himself out of the deck chair and heading back to the house, "How about a little game of checkers?" I said OK, Dad. The dutiful and admiring son, ready to take his beating like a man.
Life is good vacationing on the Cape . Even with non-foods on my mind.
For comments or questions, E-mail: msleeper@imperialdistributors.com