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As Wil Schoenmakers, Newton’s Senior Partner & Global Head of Retail and Consumer Goods, completes his first three months with Newton, he delves into why purpose-driven strategy is the way to unlock sustainable growth today.
Tell us about Day One. How did you feel on walking through the door at Newton’s head office that February morning?
Honestly, I felt immediately at home which is remarkable but really speaks to the culture of Newton. I had such a warm reception and that feeling has carried through ever since. Everyone is highly engaged and tenacious, but they’re also incredibly nice, genuine and supportive. It’s an amazing group of colleagues and a great feeling joining it. That first day the team not only helped me understand the business, the Newton difference, the impressive financial architecture, but also how to make coffee and where to find cups – obviously very important.
What have you been most surprised about since joining Newton as Global Head of Retail and Consumer Goods?
We’ve run a couple of revealing economic and strategy events over the last few weeks with CEOs and CxOs, and I’ve met with a lot of senior leaders individually as well. What I’m finding consistently is that people are worried. There’s a sense, dare I say it, of chaos – a concern that finding the right path ahead is tricky when everything can turn on its head in an instant, and when every move is so intrinsically connected to the whole ecosystem.
Strangely, that isn’t dulling anyone’s drive! In fact, it’s spurring people on to think in new ways and strive to make the most of technological opportunities as a powerful way to find clarity and unlock both sustainable & global growth and enhance or manage profit in new ways. People are asking important questions. How can we do better? What is our role in feeding and clothing the nation? In reducing waste? How do we always get the right product to the right place at the right time at an affordable cost, regardless of outside pressures?
That’s an exciting place for us to play in with our experience in end-to-end operational excellence and enabling long-term growth. It forces us to ask ourselves: how do we, at every stage, help our clients transition to more purposeful business models so they can better serve their consumers in a rapid ly changing business landscape, and not just make more money?
“With our experience in end-to-end operational excellence and enabling long-term growth, how do we, at every stage, help our clients transition to more purposeful business models so they can better serve their consumers in a rapidly changing business landscape”
Wil Schoenmakers
How are you making sure that the team is delivering for clients at the level they need right now?
One thing I’ve kickstarted since joining is a real passion area of mine – it’s an advanced new leadership development programme which will help everyone make the most of their strengths and come together as a powerful leadership team. All of us are having interesting and strategic conversations with senior leaders every day. Being clear, being confident, these are really key to earning trust. Communication is something I think consultants should work on continuously to deliver the greatest impact for clients, consumers and society at large.
What’s next for the Consumer cluster at Newton?
We’re experiencing exciting global growth ourselves and I want to accelerate that. We’re hiring people with the same strategic, data-driven, detail-oriented mindset that all Newton employees have. We’re meeting with clients in the US, Australia and across Continental Europe to discuss how Newton, as a strategic delivery partner, could accelerate their top and bottom line growth while safeguarding the critical relationship with consumers and communities at large around the world. This week alone I met with clients in New York, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta!
We’ve also joined some amazing industry organisations, like the Consumer Goods Forum, to make new connections, showcase our our advanced capabilities, underpinned by a 100% risk based commercial model to help support the industry in these remarkable and rapidly changing times.
Who knows where we will be in a year, or even the next 100 days, but one thing I am sure of is that the consumer goods and retail industry will work out a way to thrive while doing what’s right for consumers, communities and the planet. I want us to be at the heart of that!
About Wil
Wil leads Newton’s Consumer Goods practice, With a 30-year track record of delivering growth through innovation and operational excellence within consumer businesses, working with the likes of P&G, Unilever and Diageo among many others.