S1Ep300 Leadership from the Front with David Druker

Ford Saeks (0:05)

Now, here's a leadership challenge, trying to get hundreds of entrepreneurs to move in the same direction when every one of them owns their own business. Now today, we're going to explore what it really means to lead from the front and how strong leadership can accelerate growth throughout an entire organization.

SPEAKER_2 (0:23)

Welcome to FORDIFY LIVE with your host, Ford Saeks.

Ford Saeks (0:28)

Now, my guest today is David Druker. He's the president and CEO of the UPS Store Canada, one of Canada's largest franchise business service organizations with more than 400 locations across the country. But what makes David's leadership story especially interesting is that he didn't start in the CEO chair.

He's been an entrepreneur, a franchise owner, a multi-unit owner, and eventually a master franchise or. So David, welcome to FORDIFY LIVE.

David Druker (0:58)

Thanks, Ford. It's a pleasure to be here. And it's a pleasure to actually be able to talk a little bit about this, because franchising is near and dear to my heart. So I appreciate the opportunity.

Ford Saeks (1:06)

Well, tell me a little just for our listeners, we're live right now on Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube. And the audio from this episode also becomes the Business Growth Show Podcast. But share with our listeners a little bit about what your role is now and how did you get there?

David Druker (1:24)

You know, people have probably said that if you told 17-year-old self that I would be the president of a large organization with 400 stores and doing this type of thing, I would have said that you're out of your mind.

But I've been in retail all my life. I've been in franchising really since I was 19

I started in cell phones. I was the youngest guy in a car audio shop. So when cell phones came out in the late 80s and they were suitcase size, everyone pointed and said, he's young, let him go take the class. And that's kind of how I started. I got into cell phone franchising. I got in early, I got out early, and I was walking into a UPS store in Florida because I needed to do something for the contractor. And I thought, wow, this would be great. I think I could do that. And it's really just gone along from there.

Ford Saeks (2:13)

Well, fantastic. Now I know a little bit about you. You talk a lot about leadership and leading from the front. So how do you know when a CEO needs to get personally involved versus when stepping in actually prevents the team from becoming stronger?

David Druker (2:29)

There's a balance. I mean, leading from the front, if you ask the people in my office in Oakfield, my office chair has probably the lowest mileage of anybody's because I don't like sitting there waiting for stuff to come in. I like to be out in the field. I was just at Atlantic Canada last week visiting all 16 stores across the area. I like to be with people. I like to be where it's happening and where it happens is in the Franchise location.

We sit down, we look, we think, we believe, we know, but you got to really be there. So for me, leadership from the front means being active. It means not just theoretical, it's practical.

But you got to develop a team also. You can't be in everybody's face. Human beings learn by making errors. I just asked my team, please don't make them nuclear. But that's the only way to build leaders is to let them learn.

If you're a one man show and you can't go on vacation, Lord knows I love to go on vacation. So it's part of building everything. Franchising, as you know, is being a business for yourself, but not by yourself. So we give guidance to the franchisees, but they still need to know how to apply it in their square footage. And that's really, I think, where the balance of the UPS Store comes in. And I think that's where my experience, having been a franchisee, really helps. It's not theoretical. I really feel it's important to be able to understand both sides of the counter. And I think that's really what's been a large portion of the success that we've had with the UPS Store in Canada over the last 20 years, whatever presence.

Ford Saeks (4:06)

No, I totally agree. I mean, you want to hire slow and fire fast. And your experience actually being in those stores gives you that unique perspective. And I think that the mistake that some businesses make, sometimes private equity groups, sometimes CEOs, they lose touch with the day to day operations, with what it takes to actually do that. And I'm a big firm believer in train to standard, coach to standard, hold accountability, coach to success, with conditions of satisfaction. But if that dog is not going to hunt, sometimes it's not the strategy or the tactics, it might be the attitude or the mindset. And so if they don't have their mindset dialed in, all the strategies and tactics in the world won't help. I mean, every time I do a pre-event questionnaire, I mean, I do a lot of speaking at annual conferences for franchise brands. We've been doing that for 30 years.