Rosalind Brewer

also offers additional healthcare services to its customers. I have noticed that Walgreens and another company that's also in the drug store area of I won't mention their name, but the competitor of yours, both of you seem to be interested in being in the healthcare business as opposed to the pharmaceutical drug store business. Why is that? What's what's

so much better about the healthcare business? So, first of all, you know we've been Walgreens started in nineteen o one, and you know, when you think about drug dispensing, it's um it's critical to all of us at some point in our lives. But one of the things that's very clear to us um ending the pandemic, or in the middle of the pandemic, we realized our relationship with our

customers and our patients was so much more critical. We delivered seventy million shots in arms during the time of the pandemic, but the relationship just went to the next level. Pharmacists have always been consultants with customers and patients, and you will see your pharmacists ten times more than you see your primary care physician. But the idea of having a primary care physician interacting with the pharmacists is the way of the future and we will we will need

that ecosystem around us. Okay, So in your case, um, Walgreen's case, you have begun a business. You've bought a lot of companies in this area that are primary physician companies. In the words, you buy the practices of primary physicians, and then in effect their stockers are working for Walgreens and they are still serving their patients, but they're in effect employees of Walgreens. Is that right? That's that's correct there.

So we are purchasing We just purchased Summit Health in the New Jersey, New York area and now we're one of the largest primary care physician practices in the country. So primary care physician practice. Um, what how many people in the United States of the thirty million people we have or so, how many of them actually have a primary physician? From what we understand less than thirty of Americans have a primary care physition, and you think it's

good to get an annual physical every year. I know you're not a doctor, but now I'm not a doctor, but you know I will tell you that. You know, we are all going to be responsible for our health, both financially and managing our own care. And to get a physical every year is a good database for you, a baseline to build for yourself because it's going to fall back on you. You need to know more about your personal health so that you can interact effectively with

your primary care physicians. So I get an annual physical every year. I try to starve myself for the two weeks before the end. Yes, I have mine tomorrow. Yes I have found it doesn't work. But okay, what do you think the biggest health care challenges for Americans? Is it that we're overweight, we take too many drugs? What is so? I think it's it's too pronged. One is that, yes, obesity is a big problem. Um, But I think it's

it's negligence, but it's not intentional. I think people are confused about the cost and access of healthcare, and they think it's going to cost them a lot um and when people have variable employment, as we've seen across these last several years, is that you know, they're not quite true what their insurance will cover and and not covering what their autopockets expense will be, so they avoid going

to the doctor. And I think that is something we've got to bring clarity to, which is why, you know, the digital side of healthcare is going to become very important so that we can all look at our mobile devices and understand what's going on with their bodies. COVID brought a lot of people into the drug stores to get their COVID shots. I guess has a business picked up or gone down since COVID is more or less

waned a bit in terms of people getting shots. You know, what we're seeing at Walgreens is that we created, you know, an expanded relationship. Um it did start with immunizations, but now people are very deliberate about their flu shots and so they're still getting COVID shots today, vaccines today, and they're getting flu shots in combination. Our retail business, if you look at our prior earnings, is up and performing well, especially as we transition into healthcare. The front of our

stores are are picking up. So I have read that post COVID it's difficult for companies like yours to get entry level of people to come in there. They either don't want to come back into the workforce or they don't want the job that you can provide them. Is it hard for you to get people? I noticed in the stores I go to the drug stores, they're always fresh people all the time, new people. Yeah, so you know there's a lot of turnover at the hourly level.

I will admit um. But as we have these conversations, it's becoming less about pay and more about their lifestyle and what they want to do and progression. And so what we're encouraging is that, you know, work at at a Walgreen store and you can become a shift manager and escalate. And that's really what they want to think about, is a career and development. So if you were an entry level person at one of these stores like Walgreens, what kind of compensation you get above the minimum wage?

But you pay like fifteen or something exactly exactly, and then it moves up based on you know, shift manager and other responsibilities in the in the building. So I've noticed that in none of these stores I go into there used to be younger people post college or something. Who it's the younger people working servicing the drug store. Now I see a lot of people who are older that like post retirement kind of people doing it. Is

that a phenomenon? You know, we we see both. Um, you know, on the younger end of the spectrum, its those looking for development or fill in job while they're in college and doing something otherwise in their lives. And then the retirement community is a very um, you know, rich environment for us to recruit from. So I noticed in a couple of drug stores even in my area, which is not the poorest area in washing d C.

It's a nice upscale area. Um, when I want to get razor blades, you have to go to the front of the place and ask somebody unlock it. Why why are you locking up razor blades and other things that I might want to buy? Yes, So, you know this is a national problem, and you know this isn't you know, random theft, This is organized crime. And you know state legislation has put guidelines on you know how much you you know the theft that you can steal before you're convicted.

So it's a thousand dollar limit. But we have been partnering with other retailers and sharing our camera feed. I know some of our partners here from walmartter here, but we're all part of an organization that's coming together that says, if you've you know, we can put our camera feed together and tell that that person has been in our store in their store, and the numbers are higher than one thousand. So we've been able to impact these theft

rings most recently. What are the things that are unlock and key the most? What are people trying to steal the most? Other than razor blades, like you know, I will tell you, um I actually it started at razor blades because that's such a high ticket item, but um, you know, it's a lot of cosmetics. But really what happens is that they take advantage of what I would call the elbow move and they just come in and swipe a counter. And so it's just a matter of

categories now almost and not just particular. So what is the most profitable, high margin thing that you all sell. I'd have to say it's in our cosmetics area, is um is one, and then in some of our durable medical goods. Some of our take home testing and things like that are are very nice margin item. What is

the most common, most frequent thing that you sell? The most frequent thing is probably toiletries like toothpaste and personal care items of those those And why is it that whenever there is like a scare coming along or a pandemic or something, people rush to buy toilet paper. Noticed that people are just are stockpiling toilet papers of hoarding, and it's one of those things you never want to be without. Okay, you're from Detroit. Your family, how many

siblings do you have? If I have three sisters and a brother, okay, and you were the youngest, I'm the youngest of five okay, and any of the others running drug store change? No, But I do have a sister that's a pharmacist. Wow, she had No, she's not. We don't want to mix, ok okay, So um, all right,

So you're you're one of your parents do so? Both my parents are are deceased, But my parents worked in the auto industry, and so my dad eventually worked as a member of management and my mom worked in hourly labor at Okay, so you are many good colleges you went to Spellman, an excellent college in Atlanta. Why did you choose Spellman? Well, I chose Spellman because, you know, I grew up in Michigan. I wanted to do something a little different, um, get out of the cold weather.

But it was also a chance for me to be at an institution that I thought really reflected me who I was and what I wanted to do. And I think also too, I mean, I got a scholarship, and so that was helpful being at the time there were four of us in college and so um, I was actually pursuing you know, support at that time too. And what did you major and what did you want to be? I majored in chemistry, and I thought, you know, I had always been pretty decent in the math and sciences.

So I just did what I knew what to do. And I thought I'd either go into medicine or engineering. Um. And actually I was recruited away by Kimberly Clark to work in long range research as a chemist. So I thought you might go to medical school, but Kimberly Clark sold you away, right, Okay, So what did you do for twenty two years at Kimberly Clark so I started off in long range research as a as a chemist.

I was an organic chemist UM, and I had interned my summers at General Motors, and so I worked in chemistry there. I worked in analytical chemistry and moved into organic worked in palmer science, and then I worked in UM on one of the business as. I got a chance to join the M and a team probably about

six years into my career and UM. At the time, it was when Kimberly Arc was converting itself from a paper company to consumer products company, and we acquired several companies and I got to run one of those companies, and I just stayed on the business side after that. He so you're doing that, You're there twenty two years, You're happy, presumably, and all of a sudden somebody clos you up and says, how about working for Walmart? What did you say? No? No? On the first call, I

said no UM. Probably the first, second and third call, I said no. UM. You know if initially they were speaking to me about a job in human resources and I really don't have that skill set, and so UM, once an opportunity came home, came about that had P and L to it, I joined the company and I I was a group president at Kimberly Clark and I took a VP regional job to run the state of Georgia. Okay, so you're at Walmart and then somebody calls up and says,

how would you like to wrong Sam's Club? Is that right? Yes? Well a lot happened in the first five years where um I ran Georgia the southeast, then the east coast of Walmart stores, and then um I was a candidate for the Sam's Club job. All right, so you're minding your business. You're running Sam's Club eventually right right there for five years? Yes, I did. Okay, so you're there for five years or the CEO. That's a pretty good job. I guess where you were you living to do that.

I was in Bentonville, Arkansas. Okay, you're in Bentonville and all of a sudden, I guess another headhunter called you up and said, how would you like to go to Starbucks? Right? No, Actually, I made the decision to leave Walmart stores, and um I was on the board of Starbucks and I had taken them the board seed as I was leaving Sam's Club, and so I had a conversation attending a board meeting and Howard Charlton Kevin Johnson approached me to become the

cheap operating officer. But you said you don't really drink coffee, or you didn't say that, you know. I was a tea drinker at the time, so that was interesting. UM and battle wasn't in my UM plans, but UM I did. I fell in love with the brand in the company. UM I saw a great opportunity for UM to help the company operate a little stronger. Okay, so you moved from Bentonville to Seattle and you became the chief operating

officer of Starbucks. And Starbucks has become so successful because it's coffee is better than other people's coffee or what is the reason you think it's so successful. I think it's two things. I think it is definitely quality coffee. It's customized right for all drinking palettes. UM. I also think that it's their coffee practices along with the baristas in the store. I think the barista's our top notch

and really interact great with the customer. What's the most popular thing that people ask for when they go to Starbucks? Is it? Oh gosh, you know, really just a simple pike um is, which is a black coffee. Um it's still very popular at Starbucks. Okay, the cod beverages are really you know, trending. So okay, so you're there, You're doing that for four years and all of a sudden, I assume my head hunter caused you again. Yeah now that was and says, uh, how would you like to

run Walgrains? And you say, I'm happy at Starbucks? Or what I say. I think about it for a minute, because, um I I really I was enjoying Starbucks. Um, I you know, wanted to be there, and I didn't really think of myself, you know, coming back into that level of retail. But it was the pandemic and there were so many people dying at that point in people who were adverse to being vaccinated. And I knew for sure

because I follow the science on things. You know, my background is in chemistry, and the science just screened you know that if a vaccine became available, we could curtail this. But Starbucks, you have a perfect name for that brewer, right, so ever mentioned that to you, you know, I got that all the time. You know, everything was what's brew wing and all these yes, hashtag every So what did you when you told Howard Schultz you're leaving to go

to another company? What did he say? Actually, I had that conversation with Kevin first. Um, it wasn't it wasn't pleasant. Um. I think the board was a little surprised, you know, but we made it work. So do you ever go to Starbucks now every day? Every day? Okay? You ever go to Sam's Club every day? Yes? Not every day? I bulk up in loyal Okay. So now, what's the

biggest surprise of being the CEO of Walgrains? You know, I think the biggest surprise to me was how complex health care is and how unfortunate it is to try and manage, you know, personal health in the health systems that we've set up in this country. And it's it's it's perplexing. I think that this marketplace is right for disruption, and I'm sort of drawn to transformation and disruption. So I became super excited about it once I began to

peel back the understanding of the business. Right, So you're the CEO of a healthcare company. In effect, it does Um, you have the physicians business and you also have the pharmaceutical business. What do you do to stay healthy because you have to be a role model, right. You can't look like you're not healthy, right, So how do you have to exercise a lot? Or well? First and foremost, you know, like I said, my my health examin is tomorrow morning. I'll be heading back to Chicago to to

get that done. So I take care of myself in that way. I like supplements, so you know, I take my vitamins um daily and then I will tell you that I work out three or four times a week as best I can, and so I make it a priority for you. I think about working out three or four times and I actually done. The thing I haven't solved though, is sleep and I think that's our biggest opportunity. If I get sleep down, maybe I can lay off of the supplements alone. Um, you're supposed to get eight

hours of sleep at night. In a way, don't get anywhere. Okay. What would you say is the key to success and rising up the corporate world that you would advise people they should do. I really advise people as I'm mentoring them to look at these roadblocks as opportunities because you're

going to have them. And I sometimes I get a little frustrated because you know, some will you know, people that I mentor believe that this is like a conveyor belt, like it's just easily going to happen, And you know, sometimes you have to look at you know, in my career, I took probably three lateral jobs and probably maybe even more uh setbacks financially, just to get the development. You know, Like I said, I left Kimberly Clark's group president and

came into Walmart as a regional vice president. But you know, it was important for me to learn a new skill set, and I hope that this generation is patient enough to make those decisions. So you're finishing up your tenth year a share of Spellman's board. So what's it like to go to the college and become the chairman for ten years? And Um, what are the biggest problem that college students

have at place like Spellman these days? One is affordability. Um, the cost of higher education is escalating, and so I

would say that affordability is one of the issues. And then second, if I look at this point in time, right now, we have what I will call the pandemic UM teenagers attending college right now, and they had a lot of social and emotional um impacts, and so many college campuses are addressing that with increased counseling because it's it's it's real, and what will you hope ultimately your legacy to be when you retire forty years from now? You know, I hope um, that people can talk about,

you know, the opportunity they had to work at Walgreens. Um, I am you know, I was that person that was low on the totem pole that needed to escalate. I hope that people can talk about what their experiences where as a as an employee. So let me ask you what it feels like to be in your situation? Is

it more disappointing or surprise? Using that of all the CEOs and the Fortune five, there are only two female African American CEOs, only two you and the CEO of of of Teachers is the only other one, I think, And so are you surprised at this late date in our history, we only have to or disappointed? Well, I'm

more disappointed than I am surprised. I'm not surprised because I know what it took for me to get here, and I know the trials and tribulations that I've been through and UM, you know, I'm not quite sure of a lot of people would want to withstand that, but I would tell you that the disappointing part is that, UM, this is just is totally ridiculous that there's only two of us. UM. I think you know, it's going to

go beyond mentoring and sponsoring. It's it's pipeline, you know, filling the pipeline effectively getting people of different races in operating roles. UM, having the confidence that you know that they can do it, because they absolutely can. So in your career, what has been a bigger problem being a female or being African American or neither? You know, I

would have to say being African American. UM. I think that, UM, it is still you know, a an issue in our environment to accept people of different races more so than it is gender. UM. I think I've seen a lot of progress with women in corporate American and I'd like to see more progress with people of color. So as we talk today, you're in Washington, d C. I presume you're here to meet with government officials to some extent. Do you find that enough uplifting experience when you do that?

You know, I find I find, UM, quite a few teachable moments for both of us. You know, I try and bring the real life experience of health care to legislation so that when the right um decisions are in front of them, they make decisions. So what is the principal thing that they, let's say the drug store industry

would like to have the Congress, do you know? First and foremost, you know, I would love to see our pharmacists to operate at the top of their license and so for them to pass legislation that will allow pharmacists to both test and treat so that there's not a second step. And you know, just imagine a mom who has to take a child out of school and take them to pick up a prescription, only to find out that the child is still sick and go back to

the doctor. So if it's an ear infection strip through, we can do a test in the store to figure out and then pass on the prescription and in the recovery period is smoother. And every legislation that we absolutely do, yes, And do you meet people from the administration as well or I do you know? Most recently, Um, there's members of Senate that our primary care physicians and so I know who they are, so I meet with them regularly because they understand its best and help us carry them

the message, you know throughout. So your competitor, principal want to she be us? I think probably the largest competitor. Some people would say, Um, if if if CBS is right here and Walgreens is right there, and I can go to either one, why should I go to Walgreens ver CVS? I could pick either one? What what? Why are you better than? So glad you asked me that question. The you know, I believe our customer experience model is

UM stronger. I think that when you walk into a Walgreen store, you may not have this happen to you every time, but I think you get a nice greeting from our cashiers. And I think our pharmacists are second to none. If you walk into a Walgreens today, but they know you. It depends if I worked out that morning now, because they don't recognize me. But um, sometimes no, sometimes yes, um. And sometimes I can hear them say that I'm in the store. You know, I can hear chattering.

So they said, So you walk into a store, though, and if you don't like something, you call the manager and say this isn't good or do you just kind of tell them when you get back to the office. So really, what I do is I take a picture of it, and I send it back to my team at the office and say, I wonder why this is happening, right, because usually it's a decision we've made that is causing something to happen. Nine times out of ten, it's something

we've done versus what the stores done. So if you need a prescription, do you have to wait in line? Or I do I have to wait in line? Wait in line? I do you ever say I'm the CEO of this company, I'm waiting in line? Absolutely not No, But usually there's not too much of a line. So but I and I know the best hours to show up to. Obviously, you've had an incredible career. Your parents

did Your parents lived to see your success. You know, it's interesting, Um, if I could describe my dad, my dad would define my success as what I did in my you know, throughout my education. My dad was at father that showed up to everything. If I was getting the yellow ribbon and not the gold ribbon, he was still there rooting me on. So he really knew who I was as an individual. You know. He we talked about that a lot. He passed away six weeks before

I finished Spellman, and he we had conversations. Um, he saw something in me and he let me know that. So I think he is looking down. I think he kind of knew something good was going to happen. My mom definitely lived through a good part of this. UM. And then my siblings are sharing in, you know, the the excitement in our family. But your siblings, you were the youngest. Your siblings say, well, when we were beating

you up, we didn't really mean it. Oh yeah, the days my brother right right, the days my brother would throw me across the room. Yes, but we're very close now and they have the wait in line for prescription. So sometimes head hunters have called you and said, would you be interested in this job or that? If a headhunter called you now for another corporate job, You're no, I would not. I really truly think this is the culmination of everything I've done in my life is coming

to bear right now. This is what I want to do. UM. I'm being we're being very intentional about impacting medically underserved communities. That's important to me. Thanks. For listening to hear more of my interviews, You can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen.