I haven't personally heard enough about Per Bank to formulate my own opinion on him but based on that piece it appears that he's been fairly on track in the objective to make the Loblaws corporation more relatable to everyday grocery shopper again. Similar to how Zuckerberg is typically perceived to have repaired his public image a bit in the past year or so, from being seen as distant and out of touch to now being seen as more engaging with the general public. For Per Bank, it's been seen with the initiative to expand the No Frills line of stores in the current times of importance to have grocery affordability.
Per's biggest asset is not merely his willingness to listen, but his desire to engage.
I talk with many grocery managers in that empire semi-regularly, almost all have met him at least once, and some several times.
More often than not, he also goes to the stores by himself, without any phalanx from head office. This is not the way Galen Jr. did things.
***
His second biggest asset is that he's genuinely a keen observer. Holes on the shelf is an issue..........but if noticed by Galen it would have been a directive to the store manager to keep it full looking. Per wants to know why the hole is there. Is the stock moving that quickly? Is it being stolen? Is the ordering system not behaving properly? Is the warehouse shorting the store? Is the supplier not able to meet demand?
The profile also shows him talking with staff about theft/shrink and keeping up on the results of each action.......we tried this........the numbers didn't work........now we're trying that.
His executives are there to execute............but Per takes a keen interest in everything they're up to....
He's also incredibly accessible to the general public. Want to have coffee with him? Give him a good reason..............he'll probably say 'yes'.
Is all of that worth his 8-figure compensation? Apologies to Per, I'm not sure that I buy anybody deserves that.........but I'll give him this......he's good. So far, anyway.
