By: Amanda Bond-Thorley, Director, Education, Food Marketing Institute 

Famous American aviator, Amelia Earhart, once said: “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” 

In its inaugural year, 93 retail professionals earned the FMI Food Retail Leader Certificate. The certificates were awarded to individuals who completed the self-assessment of their leadership capabilities as they relate to the Compass® leadership navigation system and attended FMI Future Leaders eXperience. Additionally, and after the May 2018 event, the participants met with their management, completed online seminars and on-the-job training activities.

The leadership navigation system, developed by Root, Inc. and in conjunction with FMI, is focused on understanding the food retail industry and market forces to include supply chain, consumers, retailers, suppliers and key trends. Participants reflect on the current level of their leadership capabilities in the areas of Know Your Business, Know Your Role, Connect My Teamand Deliver Results. 

Lakeisha Hall, traffic manager, Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc.,earned herFMI Food Retail Leader Certificate and shared, “The program was great. I took away so many leadership behaviors that I have been able to apply to my team.  I feel as if this process has helped me grow professionally as well as personally. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Store Manager, Food City, Analiese Brow, also was in the inaugural group and added, “ I enjoyed this program tremendously, it helped me understand that a lot of what I was already doing was the right thing but taught me that I had an obligation to other people to keep learning more.”

Participants registered for the 2018 Future Leaders eXperience were encouraged to earn their certificates. One-third of the event registrants earned the certificate in December 2018 by utilizing the FMI online learning management system provided. The 93 professionals who earned the certificate are in different phases of their careers and represent a wide variety of food retail jobs.They are from 18 different retailers and CPG companies including Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Dillon Companies, Inc., Food City, K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc., Lowes Foods LLC, Lunds & Byerlys, Meijer, Inc., Merchant Distributors LLC, Schnuck Markets Inc., Smart & Final Stores, LLC, Somerset Stores, LLC, Spar International, SpartanNash Company, The Kellogg Company, Wakefern Food Corp and Weis Markets, Inc.  See the full list here.

“I felt that program overall was very well structured and provided some great leadership principles. The timing and pace were more than adequate to accommodate it into our busy work schedules. I thought the program was well thought out, had great external speakers with incredible industry knowledge and experience, and overall had a great flow to it.  I would highly recommend this program to others within my organization,” said Scott Kaverman, category manager - salty snacks, cookies, crackers, & misc. snacks, Schnuck Markets, Inc.

FMI and Root, Inc. have formed a partnership and continue to collaborate on several different training options for food retailers and manufacturers include in the Food Retail Leader Certificate Program, the Food Retail Map Experienceand Future Leaders.

“Our goal for 2019 is for more than 50 percent of the event registrants in St. Louis to decide to pursue the FMI Food Retail Leader Certificate and successfully complete the process,” explained Carol Abel, vice president, education, FMI. “We would celebrate that more than 250 retail professionals have invested in themselves and acted to change and control their professional success.” 

Future Leaders 2019 will be from May 14-16, 2019 in St. Louis, MO.

FMI Future Leaders