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Listen "The Pets at Home Story with Peter Pritchard and Robert Kent, in conversation with Wavelength"
Episode Synopsis
Wavelength Associate Liz Moseley speaks with Peter Pritchard, former Group CEO at Pets At Home, and Robert Kent, former Chief Data Officer at Pets at Home about how they survived and went on to transform the business post-pandemic.
Peter and Rob share their personal experiences on leading through Covid, that 'tumbleweed moment' when their business just halved, and how "narrowing your field of vision during a crisis is critical to success. We didn’t let our focus go further than a day!"
They share how they persuaded their people to come to work when they were scared. “If people didn’t feel safe when coming to work, then we had no business. So we put ALL our energies into our people."
Hear them talk about their focus in 7 key priorities (and none were commercial!), which guided them for 18 months.
Together, we explore how data insights and predictions allowed them to see customer trends before anyone else and react, for example, their puppy and kitten club boom at the start of the pandemic.
Peter explains "The importance of recognising how life looked for all our colleagues was the most powerful thing we did.” That led to the leaders giving their people the trust and autonomy to find all 3000 new employees needed to set up a new £90m distribution centre right in the middle of the pandemic.
Hear as Peter explains the huge value of showing kindness to their people in a unique way - creating a Colleague Hardship Fund of £1m - a true GAMECHANGER for Pets. “We showed that we give and we return."
Theirs is a story of running a business on a moral compass, of doing the right thing by colleagues, of the importance of over-communication with daily videos to calm fears, of staying focused, of letting yourself get it wrong.
Robert talks about “not doing data for data’s sake.” They ensured they understood where’s the value was going to be created - for their customers, colleagues and then for the overall business. Find out how they harnessed the power of ‘Little Data' and how it drove growth, through personalisation, prediction and anticipation of future needs.
What you’ll get from this podcast is a sense of real leadership humility. No buzzwords. Of leaders who believe in "keeping it real and taking everyone with you". Of servant leadership, keeping the organisation sensible and kind, and how "culture is your primary responsibility as a CEO."
Peter and Rob share their personal experiences on leading through Covid, that 'tumbleweed moment' when their business just halved, and how "narrowing your field of vision during a crisis is critical to success. We didn’t let our focus go further than a day!"
They share how they persuaded their people to come to work when they were scared. “If people didn’t feel safe when coming to work, then we had no business. So we put ALL our energies into our people."
Hear them talk about their focus in 7 key priorities (and none were commercial!), which guided them for 18 months.
Together, we explore how data insights and predictions allowed them to see customer trends before anyone else and react, for example, their puppy and kitten club boom at the start of the pandemic.
Peter explains "The importance of recognising how life looked for all our colleagues was the most powerful thing we did.” That led to the leaders giving their people the trust and autonomy to find all 3000 new employees needed to set up a new £90m distribution centre right in the middle of the pandemic.
Hear as Peter explains the huge value of showing kindness to their people in a unique way - creating a Colleague Hardship Fund of £1m - a true GAMECHANGER for Pets. “We showed that we give and we return."
Theirs is a story of running a business on a moral compass, of doing the right thing by colleagues, of the importance of over-communication with daily videos to calm fears, of staying focused, of letting yourself get it wrong.
Robert talks about “not doing data for data’s sake.” They ensured they understood where’s the value was going to be created - for their customers, colleagues and then for the overall business. Find out how they harnessed the power of ‘Little Data' and how it drove growth, through personalisation, prediction and anticipation of future needs.
What you’ll get from this podcast is a sense of real leadership humility. No buzzwords. Of leaders who believe in "keeping it real and taking everyone with you". Of servant leadership, keeping the organisation sensible and kind, and how "culture is your primary responsibility as a CEO."
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