Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn ?

Pizza should be a delicious comfort food. But following our acquisition of ABC Bakes, a manufacturer of pizza crusts, it had become nothing but a source of stress. I had the challenging responsibility of leading the new management team in developing a budget and operating plan for the following year.

The successful development of a budget and operating plan requires a truly cross-functional effort, with contributions from accounting, finance, sales, marketing and operations. However, this management team was new to the company and had never worked together. These individuals were all several decades my senior, and while all of them were talented, accomplished operators, few had been exposed to the rigor of private equity ownership. My key challenge would be the successful cohesion of this cross-functional team to execute against an eight-week timeline, culminating in a budget presentation to my CEO.

First, I organized a kick-off meeting to bring the team together. This meeting was a forum to discuss each team’s responsibilities - and how each function would both depend on and be accountable to others. Informed by the learnings from this meeting, I followed up with a detailed timeline listing deadlines for each group, including when they owed others certain information. I also scheduled a weekly check-in meeting to discuss each group’s progress towards completing the budget.

A challenge I did not anticipate were the clashing incentives inherent in the project. As the investor, I wanted to push the team to commit to an aspirational budget that maximized financial performance. Management understandably preferred a less risky approach given their compensation was tied to meeting the budget. While meeting with the CEO of ABC I expressed that if we didn’t push ourselves, we wouldn’t reach the levels of performance we all desired. The CEO countered that if we set unattainable goals, management would become dejected and unmotivated when they inevitably didn’t meet those goals. Coming out of this meeting, we both better appreciated the other’s perspective, and settled on a budget where we both felt a bit uncomfortable – a good compromise.

In the end, I created a collaborative project dynamic that relied on frequent communication and interdependent teamwork. This successfully led to a measured, but ambitious budget, that was developed in both a timely and effective manner. Significant value was created both operationally and financially, as the company, guided by this budget and operating plan, achieved a 17% increase in revenue and a 49% increase in earnings the following fiscal year. As a leader, I learned the value of open communication and necessary compromise – tools that I continue to apply with my other portfolio companies. These strategies have consistently driven improved teamwork and performance among our teams.