Michael Graydon, CEO FCPC on the early successes and long term challenges of the COVID-19 era, and Jane Gaynor, founder of Gain Your Edge Coaching on managing during challenging times

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

First up on this episode an exclusive interview with Michael Graydon, CEO at Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC) the national industry association in Canada representing the food, beverage and consumer products industry.   We talk about how brands reacted to the shockwave of demand for food and household products, how retailers and their vendor partners came together to keep Canadians fed and take care of their new and essential needs, and finally a cautionary note around the challenges ahead of operating in the COVID-19 era.

Next up Jane Gaynor, Founder and Certified Coach, Gain Your Edge Coaching puts on a master class in the tradecraft of executive coaching, the key attributes of executive success managing through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, crucial communication skills that help you manage teams remotely and two starts and one stop on the road to being effective during the COVID-19 era.

https://www.gainyouredgecoaching.com/

But first, lets check in with Michael Graydon from FCPC

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Thanks to Michael and Jane for being my guests on this episode  If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

Until next time, have a safe week!

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.