Former Office Depot CEO welcomed to Elon for ‘Lessons from Leaders’ series

Over the course of two days in April, Bruce Nelson, former CEO of Office Depot and family co-owner of Reverence Farms and Café, led a discussion with senior Martha and Spencer Love School of Business students about his experiences leading a company, making decisions and executing strategy.

As part of the Lessons from Leaders series at the Love School of Business, Nelson gave several examples of company successes and failures, as well as discussed the importance of strategic action. “Strategy can be window dressing,” Nelson said. “If you don’t execute it, it’s worth nothing.”

One example he shared was how Kodak did not shift direction to be competitive in a digital word. “You need to review strategy and ask if it’s working,” Nelson explained. “Most companies are risk averse…and can’t radically change. Kodak didn’t see the change to digital and was not willing to risk going in that direction.”

Nelson also described how the Internet impacted businesses, especially in the office supplies industry, the story behind the failed Office Depot and Staples merge, and how he continued to inspire people even when the future was uncertain.

“If you don’t have [employees] believing in what they’re doing, it shows up in other places,” Nelson said. “Make it so people say they like working here. If it’s a good place to work, customers will come and have a good experience.”

Nelson emphasized the need for ethics to be part of the decision-making process. “Business ethics is a foundation I felt I’ve always had to stand on,” Nelson shared.

He also explained he makes decisions using a blend of strong analytics analysis with intuition. “Data by itself can cause you to make a bad decision,” Nelson said. “Intuition is a feel. Does it line up with what the data shows?”

The students in attendance were primarily seniors in the Love School of Business capstone strategic management course.

“Bruce Nelson has a unique story and I am glad I was a part of the conversation,” said Ariel Mittleman ’18.  “He talked about the importance of customers. [His advice] resonated with me and reiterated what many of my professors said over the past four years at Elon.”

Nelson served as the chief executive officer of Office Depot from 2000 to 2004. Previously, he served both as president of Office Depot International and as president and chief operating officer of subsidiary, Viking Office Products. He now serves as co-founder of Reverence Farms.

Robert Moorman, the Frank S. Holt Jr. Professor of Business Leadership, moderated the discussion. He commented that the students “did a great job asking questions that offered Mr. Nelson the chance to dive deep into his decisions at Office Depot and Reverence Farms.”