This episode of The Rebekah Panepinto Project welcomes back Andy Laudato, Chief Operating Officer at The Vitamin Shoppe and author of Fostering Innovation: How to Build an Amazing IT Team. As the pandemic eases up, people are starting to revert back to their pre-pandemic ways.

This is most apparent in their spending habits. By adapting to this fact and utilizing new technologies to meet their customers where they are at, The Vitamin Shoppe has emerged from the pandemic stronger than ever.

Andy also shares what empathetic leaders can do to adapt to ever-changing needs and be at the forefront of innovation. He talks about the power of daily habits in molding executives into the leaders they want to be.    

HIGHLIGHTS

• Post-COVID changes: Customer buying shifts and new technologies
• Fostering Innovation: Keep the lights on (KTLO) is the foundation
• Establish credibility to be trusted to risk for innovation
• Empathetic leaders adapt to the needs of their team

QUOTES

Andy: "Complacency is the enemy of reliability. Because if you get complacent, then you might not change but the world around you will."

Andy: "The most important thing for any IT department is just keeping the lights on, KTLO. And I don't mean figuratively lights but it could be that but it's your paychecks are printing and your products are shipping and your warehouses are running."

Andy: "The nice thing about technology is it always gets better, it always gets cheaper. What doesn't are people, right? And so, what you don't want to do is have people spending their time doing things a computer can do better."

Andy: "I would say to anyone who really wants to be executive, figure it out, how do you get up early? You got to go to bed early. So that's the key."

Andy: "If you're being a diode as a leader, all your team hears is when things go well. And they don't take the crap. So I say, as leaders we get paid to take the blame."

Find out more about Andy in the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlaudato/
• Website: https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/
• Amazon book link: https://www.amazon.com/Fostering-Innovation-Build-Amazing-Team/dp/1119853109

Learn more and follow Rebekah by checking out the following links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahpanepinto/
• Website: https://rebekahpanepinto.com/