Carol Tomé: Chief Executive Officer of UPS

Carol Tomé is the Chief Executive Officer of UPS.  Previously she served as Chief Financial Officer for The Home Depot.  Carol serves as board member for Verizon Communications, Inc., board of councilors for the Carter Center and is a board trustee for Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation and the Atlanta Botanical Garden.  Carol has been named twice to the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women and was listed second on The Wall Street Journal’s list of best Chief Financial Officers, and among the top 50 most powerful women in business by Fortune magazine.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

·         She was a competitive downhill ski racer growing up which taught her the importance of advanced preparation.  To this day she goes into every meeting well prepared. 

·         When she first joined Home Depot, she wasn’t getting through and winning people over so she went to work in the stores to learn the business so she could speak their language. 

·         She had a transformative moment at Home Depot when she realized that she was working too hard and didn’t have a purpose and dedicated herself from that day forward to making a difference. This changed how she interacted with the people around her.

·         Much of her success was learning to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, faster than you, and better than you.  They lift you up and give you wings.

·         One of her ingredients to success has been to be well networked.  Always first look to make deposits with people so down the road you’re in a position to ask for a withdrawal. 

·         “Excellence is about thinking all the way around the problem.  Go slow to go fast. Or in the language of home improvement, measure twice, cut once.”