Robert Ryan
From the shop floor to CEO of Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland, Robert Ryan’s journey is grounded in one simple principle, never lose sight of the customer. Reflecting on his time at TU Dublin and a career spanning more than two decades in retail, he shares the lessons, mindset and moments that continue to shape how he leads today.
Although you may not think it at the time, many of the more strategic topics that you learn do sink in and resonate at a later stage. The course structure within TU Dublin certainly plays a significant role in shaping your thoughts and views and I guess it’s only with hindsight that you can really appreciate that. In my case subjects like HR, strategic management and economics, which can be quite theory heavy, are the ones I draw on most.
In my case, retail always has and (likely) always will be all about the customer. Growing up and working from a young age in a family retail business, knowing that the customer pays the wages, is a crucial life lesson for any aspiring business leader. The best way to learn is to get involved and absorb what's around you, be it a family business or part-time job. Working with people and seeing them in action can really shape how you lead. In both a positive and negative sense.
The two abiding lessons that the early shop floor days taught me were:
Rule No. 1 – The customer is always right.
Rule No. 2 – If the customer is indeed wrong on this occasion, then reread Rule No. 1.
In many ways, a lot has changed and of course in many ways nothing at all. The fundamentals of our business haven't changed in that customers expect from us the highest quality products at the best possible prices. And our commitment to our customer has always been just that — "we won't be beaten on price".
Of course, the development in our store design, the in-store experience and the technology offerings that our customers expect have evolved. The customer expectation in regards to what we do from a CSR perspective has also developed and we’ve grown with this expectation. Alongside our market share growth, we've been consistently named in the top ten most reputable companies in Ireland over the past number of years. Our customers also care greatly about our sustainability credentials and we’re also delighted to have made significant developments in this regard, including opening Ireland's first net zero supermarket in Maynooth last year. Continuing to sustainably develop our Irish supply base and ensuring we support Irish farmers is something that our customers, quite rightly, have really grown to expect from us.
There is a huge drive within our teams to be as efficient as possible for one reason — to pass any savings directly onto our customers. Fortunately for me, that efficiency drive and hunger comes from the DNA of our business which is 26 years in the making. However, the human side cannot be lost, and no decision around efficiency will be made without first ensuring it makes sense for our customer.
That customer-centric culture within our teams is something we’ve worked hard to develop and maintain. We will constantly ask ourselves internally - does that make sense for our customer? Does this make sense for the communities we operate in? A crucial part of rolling out self-checkouts in our stores was ensuring that we always maintained an option for the customer to go through a checkout operated by a colleague should they wish. Being part of the community in the towns we operate is extremely important to us and the main shop is an important social part of many people's day, so maintaining that personal interaction for those who want it is critical.
We are all incredibly proud of our LGFA partnership and are really committed to raising the profile of the game. We’ve invested €15 million in the partnership to date and have recently committed a further €7.5 million to bring us to 2030. Getting involved was really a no-brainer, the game is constantly growing and really just needed support to shine a light on the talent on display each week.
The proudest moment so far is actually quite a simple one. Each week when my own 3 daughters are playing matches, I can see first-hand how the playing numbers have grown. To see so many young girls across the country wearing Lidl sponsored jerseys is incredible. It's a real living example of corporate partnership feeding into the grassroots.
Can I choose two? Drive and resilience. Every graduate or school leaver can benefit greatly from resilience. No job or career is linear, and there will be many setbacks along the way. Having a strong level of resilience for the journey is important, as is having the drive and determination to push towards where you want to go.
Interesting question. To be honest, I generally see new things every time I go to stores. I would likely see more of the very obvious customer frustrations that everyone gets, and sometimes those within the business are too close to see. As a general rule, I view stores very differently depending on what cap I'm wearing.
A visit in my capacity as CEO versus shopping on a weekend versus working for a day in a store will always shed a completely different light on things. The best day is the time I spend in the store working for the day where I will always come across really simple things that we should improve.
A nice tricky one to finish. Again, there's no one decision that I could call upon; however, leadership is always about having to make tough decisions, as long as they are made with the best intentions for the improvement of the business. The role of the leader is not always to be popular with everyone but generally if you explain why to those who disagree, they will be more understanding.