Leaders Playbook: Inside Lowe’s 1/28/26

Summary

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Leaders Playbook: Inside Lowe’s

Podcast: Squawk Pod (CNBC)
Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Julia Boorstin
Featured Guest: Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s
Additional Speaker: Janice Dupree, Head of Human Resources, Lowe’s

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Episode Overview

This episode of Leaders Playbook explores the remarkable transformation of Lowe’s under CEO Marvin Ellison. The conversation traces Ellison’s journey from humble beginnings to the C-suite, his leadership philosophy rooted in servant leadership, the decisive modernization of Lowe’s infrastructure and culture, and how these efforts sustained Lowe’s through the pandemic and into record growth. The episode offers insights for aspiring leaders, focusing on employee empowerment, clarity of vision, and the importance of work ethic and faith.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reviving Lowe’s: The Turnaround

• Immediate Challenges at Lowe’s ([02:27]):

  • Lowe’s was dated and focused on traditional brick-and-mortar retail, with a 30-year-old IT system and outdated e-commerce platform.
  • Ellison’s priority: Modernize the supply chain, IT, and digital infrastructure to compete in the evolving retail landscape.
  • Quote: “If you don’t have modernized supply chain, IT infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and e-commerce, then you are woefully behind.” – Marvin Ellison [02:47]

• Decisive Action — $1.7 Billion Infrastructure Investment ([03:10]):

  • Ellison’s early commitment to a massive upgrade was non-negotiable for sustainability.
  • Quote: “If a retailer doesn’t have an efficient supply chain, they cannot operate in a sustainable fashion to serve customers at the right level.” – Marvin Ellison [03:19]

• Moving Fast on Supply Chain ([03:43]):

  • Before the upgrade, Lowe’s sold appliances inefficiently out of storage trailers.
  • Modernization allowed Lowe’s to become the largest seller of major appliances in the U.S.

• Leadership Philosophy: Decisiveness and Simplicity ([04:07], [07:12]):

  • Ellison strives to build “a company I wish I could have worked for.”
  • Believes fundamental retail principles and simplicity drive execution and success.
  • Quote: “Simple actually works.” – Marvin Ellison [07:22]

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2. Culture Shift: Bottom-up Leadership

• First Days in Stores—not the Office ([04:34]):

  • Ellison traveled incognito, meeting associates and suppliers on the ground.
  • Modelled that learning and validation come from direct interaction, not just executive presentations.
  • Quote: “If your CEO can spend his first week physically in the stores, then maybe you all should do the same.” – Marvin Ellison [05:11]

• Empowering Associates ([05:35]-[06:12]):

  • Janice Dupree notes transformation began when associates in the field, not corporate, were given a voice.
  • Pivoted the company from top-down direction to “giving voice to the 300,000 [frontline workers] and not the smaller group sitting at corporate.”

• Inspiration from Personal Experience ([06:22]):

  • Ellison’s early retail experience and his mother’s time on a factory floor impressed on him the value of listening to all employees.

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3. Pandemic Leadership & Agile Response

• First Priority: Employee and Store Safety ([10:02]):

  • COVID-19 forced urgent policy changes to ensure hourly associates received pay if quarantined.
  • Quote: “Our jobs in corporate is to serve the people who serve our customers.” – Janice Dupree [10:17]

• Supply Chain Stress-Tested ([10:54]):

  • The infrastructure Ellison invested in became crucial as demand and complexity surged.

• Rapid Innovation under Pressure ([11:19]-[12:01]):

  • Lowe’s built curbside pickup from scratch during the pandemic.
  • The urgency revealed excessive bureaucracy in capital and tech development approvals.
  • Quote: “What we learned from the pandemic is that a lot of steps… were really impeding speed and progress.” – Marvin Ellison [12:14]

• Record Revenue and Leaner Operations ([12:28]):

  • Post-pandemic, streamlined processes and supply chain upgrades enabled Lowe’s to post record performance.

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4. Alignment & Problem Solving

• Ellison’s Alignment Quiz ([12:58]):
  • Uses five diagnostic questions to test leadership alignment:
    1. Mission of the company/department
    2. Top 3 execution items
    3. Top 3 success metrics
    4. Define the customer
    5. Define the competition
  • Bonus: What is the purpose of the company?
  • Quote: “If you can’t define a mission, it’s like being on a destination with no end in sight. And so it starts with clarity.” – Marvin Ellison [13:42]

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5. Servant Leadership: Roots and Practice

• Family Example & Core Beliefs ([15:28]):

  • Learned from his father, who always ate last to serve the family.
  • Applies decision-making filter: “How does this impact our frontline associates? Then, how does this impact our customers?”
  • Quote: “[My father] was the servant leader of the house… To me, that is the greatest definition of being a servant leader.” – Marvin Ellison [15:32]

• Giving Back—Bonuses Tied to Performance ([16:34]):

  • $80 million in 2025 bonuses for store managers and assistants.
  • Ellison wants employees to feel the benefit of company success.
  • Quote: “If we have an earnings outperformance, the first thing we do is figure out how much of that can we give back to our associates.” – Marvin Ellison [16:48]

• Retention & Customer Experience ([17:21]):

  • Investing in and recognizing frontline employees (associates) drives retention, customer satisfaction, and shareholder value.

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6. Personal Journey: Humility, Faith, and Resilience

• Background and Values ([17:50]-[18:38]):

  • Grew up in rural Tennessee, worked multiple jobs to pay for college.
  • Taught to not let circumstances limit vision.
  • Quote: “My dad is my ultimate role model… one generation he can go from Jim Crow segregation to seeing his son be the chairman CEO of two Fortune 500 companies.” – Marvin Ellison [18:16]

• Respect for All Roles ([18:48]):

  • First jobs included unloading trucks and being a janitor.
  • Insists on never defining people by their job title.
  • Quote: “You can’t look at the job and try to define the person.” – Marvin Ellison [19:11]

• Authenticity, Faith, and Leadership ([19:47]-[20:14]):

  • Faith taught by parents is inseparable from Ellison’s leadership.
  • Signs emails “God bless,” not to push religion, but as an authentic part of himself.
  • Handles CEO-pressure by relying on faith for decision-making calm.

• Tackling Tough Jobs ([22:10]):

  • Repeatedly took roles left by fired executives, positioning himself as a turnaround leader.
  • Emphasizes confidence, resilience, and the “power of people.”

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7. Advice for Aspiring Leaders

• Vision and Self-Belief ([23:22]):
  • Don’t let your environment limit your aspirations.
  • Own setbacks—no victim mentality.
  • Quote: “There is nothing special about me. I just believed in my heart of hearts that anything I desired to achieve, I could. And I’ve never been a victim… What can I do to get better?” – Marvin Ellison [23:32]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Turnarounds:
  “The way you get people to notice is you take jobs that nobody else wants.” – Marvin Ellison [14:07], [22:13]
• On Culture:
  “The culture shift was we gave voice to the 300,000 and not the smaller group sitting at corporate. And that is where the transformation began.” – Janice Dupree [06:06]
• On Pandemic Response:
  “If they're going out on Covid, they're going to keep getting paid.” – Janice Dupree [10:36]
• On Simplicity:
  “Getting the company grounded on a couple of fundamental things, we actually called it retail fundamentals… we start to see really good improvement in execution and our results follow.” – Marvin Ellison [07:32]
• On Family Inspiration:
  “My mother told me… just go read Proverbs. There's always wisdom in those words.” – Marvin Ellison [21:20]
• On Humility:
  “You can't look at the job and try to define the person.” – Marvin Ellison [19:11]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:27] – Ellison on challenges and infrastructure overhaul
• [03:10] – Decision to invest $1.7B in supply chain
• [04:34] – Why the CEO started his job on the sales floor
• [06:22] – Inspiration behind bottom-up culture
• [07:12] – Power of simplicity in strategy
• [10:02] – Leadership through the pandemic
• [11:19] – Curbside pickup & pandemic pivots
• [12:58] – Alignment quiz for management teams
• [15:28] – Servant leadership’s personal roots
• [16:34] – Linking bonuses to store performance
• [17:50] – Ellison’s childhood and values
• [18:48] – Lessons from frontline work
• [19:47] – Why faith matters in leadership
• [22:10] – Taking on challenging turnaround jobs
• [23:22] – Advice for young professionals

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Summary

This episode delivers an in-depth profile of Marvin Ellison’s transformative leadership at Lowe’s. Guided by formative experiences, a focus on empowering frontline workers, and a deep belief in servant leadership, Ellison navigated Lowe’s through digital modernization and unprecedented pandemic challenges. His story underscores the impact of humility, decisiveness, and clarity—and the belief that culture change and commercial success go hand in hand. The advice and reflective moments offered here are as relevant to aspiring leaders as to seasoned executives.

Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

Thy ticket lady Jennifer of Coolidge.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Well, many thanks, good sir. Here is my Discover card.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

They accept Discover at Renaissance Fairs? Yeah, they do.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Here.

[Marvin Ellison]

Discover is accepted at the places I love to shop.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Get it with the times.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

With the times.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

You're playing the loot.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right?

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on.

[Marvin Ellison]

The February 2025 Nielsen report.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

Not every sale happens at the register. Before AT&T business Wireless, checking out customers on our mobile POS systems took too long. Basically a staring contest where everyone loses. It's crazy what people will say during an awkward silence. Now transactions are done before the silence takes hold. That means I can focus on the task at hand and make an extra sale or two. Sometimes I do miss the bonding time. Sometimes.

[Marvin Ellison]

AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

On this episode of Leaders Playbook. Inside Lowe's, one of the nation's biggest brands in home improvement. Helping millions of Americans repair, remodel, and decorate their homes.

[Marvin Ellison]

I'm trying to create a company I wish I could have worked for.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Meet Marvin Ellison, the CEO who brought new life to an aging brick and mortar business.

[Marvin Ellison]

We had to make some incredibly quick.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Pivots, delivering a multibillion dollar up from the sales floor to the supply chain.

[Marvin Ellison]

We were generating a lot of cash.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

This is his playbook for a massive retail turnaround.

[Marvin Ellison]

It all starts with people.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

And a revealing look at his journey from humble beginnings to CEO.

[Marvin Ellison]

I unloaded trucks. I drove forklifts. I was a janitor.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

And meet the leader who helps execute his vision.

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

He will always be very clear on his expectations.

[Marvin Ellison]

Leaders have to be decisive.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Leaders Playbook. Lowe's starts now. I'm meeting Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison in a location that looks exactly like most Lowe's stores. Only this place never sees a single customer.

[Marvin Ellison]

And this is an identical replica.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

It's a giant retail lab where Lowe's test product displays, store layouts and new technology.

[Marvin Ellison]

We have training classes here with store managers, district managers.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

I'm here to learn how his leadership strategy transformed Lowe's since he took over as CEO in 2018.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

What were some of the challenges that were facing Lowe's when you took over?

[Marvin Ellison]

We needed to transition Lowes to a modern retail format. Lowes was designed as a classic brick and mortar retail and that means all the technology, all the e commerce, everything was centered on brick and mortar. As a result of that, we had a 30 year old IT operating system for the company. We had a dot com system that was on a decade Old platform. If you don't have modernized supply chain, IT infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and E commerce, then you are woefully behind.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

In his first year, Ellison immediately took a big swing at a giant upgrade.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Soon after you started, you announced a $1.7 billion investment in infrastructure. Was that a big risk?

[Marvin Ellison]

You know what? It was not a big risk to me. I understand the value, the importance and the power of an efficient supply chain. And if a retailer does not have an efficient supply chain, they cannot operate in a sustainable fashion to serve customers at the right level. So I knew that we had to do that.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

It was Ellison's first high stakes decision as CEO, but he says the real risk would have been sticking with the old system.

[Marvin Ellison]

And at the time I took over, we were selling appliances literally out of the stock rooms and out of storage trailers behind the store. And it was a very inefficient model. And so we had to create a supply chain to take pressure off the stores. Right now, we're the largest seller of major appliances in the U.S. what did.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

You learn about leadership from executing that bold decision and coming up with that plan?

[Marvin Ellison]

I just have just some really basic leadership philosophies that I lead by. You know, one is I'm trying to create a company I wished I could have worked for at every level. And being decisive is another one. Leaders have to be decisive.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

And in just a few years, Ellison's decisive approach delivered a modernized supply chain, which increased revenue and led to a historic surge in Lowe's stock price.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

You made the decision to spend your first days in stores, not in the office.

[Marvin Ellison]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Tell me about why you decided instead of going and meeting with your. Your C Suite executives, you wanted to come meet with the associates.

[Marvin Ellison]

I was actually traveling around the entire company kind of covertly, just visiting stores, meeting associates, talking to suppliers. For me, it's the best way for me to learn because I get a lot of really fancy presentations as a CEO, but I just take those fancy presentations and I validate them against what I see and what I hear when I go to the stores and I talk to customers and. And I talked to associates. And so it wasn't anything other than for me sending a message to every associate in the company and every corporate executive that if your CEO can spend his first week physically in the stores, then maybe you all should do the same.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Janice Dupree reports directly to Ellison as head of human resources.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

When Marvin Ellison first started making changes, was there resistance?

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

No one wants big change. And this was sweeping change. And it was really Change that. If we didn't do it, I'm not sure where we'd be today. And, and we had the opportunity to gain alignment with the senior leadership team first. The field people got it a lot quicker than the corporate folks. And that's because he was in the field. They would see him walking the stores every week so they knew he understood. The question was, did the rest understand? So that is where the shift came in. The culture shift was we gave voice to the 300,000 and not the smaller group sitting at corporate. And that is where the transformation began.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Ellison's goal was clear. He wanted to flip the company's culture from top down leadership to a bottom up approach.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

What was the inspiration for that approach?

[Marvin Ellison]

The inspiration started with that Marvin Ellison making $4.35 an hour, working for Target, clocking in every day, wondering how the company could be different if the CEO and the executives were spending time in the stores. It was born from my experience. It was born from the experience of hearing my mother talk about how when she would be working on the factory floor and nobody would come in and talk to her, they would not talk to the hourly employees because they were not important enough and what they had to say was not of value. And so it was born from all of those experiences.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

The blueprint for Ellison's success at Lowe's was forged from experience. He spent 12 years climbing the corporate ladder at Home Depot, then faced a turnaround challenge as the CEO of JCPenney. His take, takeaway, always keep it simple.

[Marvin Ellison]

I learned as I continued to work my way through different jobs in corporate America is that success was really driven by how well your team can execute and how clear you could make the vision. And so I took a step back and I came to the realization that simple actually works. And so I had to teach that philosophy to a bunch of very smart people. Because when you're really smart, there's so many things in your head you want to do and there's so many actions. Actions you want to take. And so getting the company grounded on a couple of fundamental things, we actually called it retail fundamentals. Let's get back to the fundamental things of retail. And so once we were able to put those principles in place, we start to see really good improvement in execution and our results follow.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Keeping things simple was the framework to modernizing key infrastructure and resetting culture to focus on employees. But just as Lowe's found its stride, the world changed overnight. A global pandemic puts Ellison and his new supply chain to the test.

[Marvin Ellison]

The immediate reaction was can we keep our stores open and keep our associates.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Safe after the break?

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

Not every sale happens at the register. Before AT&T business Wireless, checking out customers on our mobile POS systems took too long. Basically a staring contest where everyone loses. It's crazy what people will say during an awkward silence. Now transactions are done before the silence takes hold. That means I can focus on the task at hand and make an extra sale or two. Sometimes I do miss the bonding time. Sometimes.

[Marvin Ellison]

AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything.

[Monday.com Advertiser]

Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com feel the sensation of an AI work platform so flexible and intuitive it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes, go to Monday.com, start for free and finally breathe.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

By 2020, Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison had a turnaround plan in motion, and it was paying off, transitioning Lowe's from a legacy hardware chain into a modern day retail giant. But his leadership was about to be tested.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Just a couple of years after you started as CEO of Lowe's, the company in the world was rocked by a global pandemic. What was your immediate reaction to the pandemic?

[Marvin Ellison]

The immediate reaction was can we keep our stores open and keep our associates safe? That was job number one.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

And once again, he leaned on a principle that defines his leadership. Employees come first.

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

Our jobs in corporate is to serve the people who serve our customers.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Janice Dupree, head of Lowe's human resources, helped him create a path to get through the pandemic.

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

It was really about those associates. Like we had people that were frontline associates that we were trying to figure out how to help them be able to show up at work every day. Because they're an hourly associate, if they don't work, they don't get paid. How do we support them? So we had to put policies and practices in place overnight to say if they're going out on Covid, they're going to keep getting paid.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

After prioritizing employee and store safety, Ellison turned to his next big problem, the global supply chain crisis.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

How much was at stake for Lowe's.

[Marvin Ellison]

Back then, if we had not taken steps to shore up our supply chain to create a more stable digital infrastructure and really investing in our associates, I can't imagine what that time period would have been like for the company.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

By 2021, pandemic fueled. Home improvements boomed across America and renovation spending surged.

[Marvin Ellison]

Demand was so high both in store and online, and so we had to make some incredibly quick pivots. We didn't even at that time have the ability to do curbside pickup. And so we had to build that real time. The key was, how do we work with our suppliers here in the US and around the world to make sure that we are keeping the available products on hand. We just had this incredible acceleration on things that we had to do to serve the customer. And what it taught me is that when. When there is an urgent need to serve the customer, it's amazing how quickly you can move.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

That lesson inspired Ellison to streamline operations even further.

[Marvin Ellison]

The question was, what do we need to do to get all bureaucracy out of the way to deliver things that we know that are in high need for the community and the customers? What we learned from the pandemic is that a lot of steps were we had in place for capital approval and technology development. They were really impeding speed and progress. And because the need was so urgent during the pandemic, we were able to get things done so much faster.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

And speeding up paid off. In the years after Covid Lowe's posted record revenue, driven largely by its modernized supply chain and faster decision making.

[Marvin Ellison]

We've been fortunate. There is no way we would have delivered the results that we've had over the last seven years without an incredible team that's really doing the work. It all starts with people you know, and that's something that I'm a fundamental believer in.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

What is your system for diagnosing problems and solving them?

[Marvin Ellison]

So the first thing I do is I get all the leaders together and I give them an alignment quiz and I ask them five questions. The first question is, what is the mission of the company or the department? What are the three things you're executing to achieve the mission? What are the top three measurements that you're focused on to drive success? Who is your customer? Define it. Who is your competition? Then I have a bonus question. What's the purpose of the company? And then we determine how aligned are we as an organization on the answers. And what you find out is 100% of the time, if it's a function or a company in trouble, there is no alignment. And it always starts at the mission. Most people cannot define it. And if you can't define a mission, it's like being on a destination with no end in sight. And so it all starts with clarity.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

A clear vision, focused execution and aligned leadership turned around the company. But something much bigger defines this leader.

[Marvin Ellison]

It's hard to separate me from that because it's who I am.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Plus the unexpected strategy that launched Ellison all the way to the C suite.

[Marvin Ellison]

The way you get people to notice is you take jobs that nobody else wants.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

After the break.

[Monday.com Advertiser]

Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com feel the sensation of an AI work platform so flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes, go to Monday.com, start for free, and finally breathe.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

At Capella University, we believe accessible education can make a difference.

[Marvin Ellison]

That's why we offer scholarship opportunities to all eligible students.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Un futuro diferente esta mas cerca de.

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

Lo que cres con Capella University.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Learn more at capella.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Edu what made you confident that you could do something that hadn't been done before?

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

I have no fear of failure.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Trailblazing women, changing the game.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

One of my favorite pieces of advice, think about what your boss's boss needs.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Leadership can look in many, many different forms.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

It really does come down to just trusting yourself.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Life is short and you just gotta think big to accomplish big things.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Julia Boorstin hosts CNBC Changemakers and Power Players New episodes every Tuesday.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

The approach Ellison relied on to lead and rebuild lows is called servant leadership. And he learned it at the dinner table.

[Marvin Ellison]

My dad was a hard working, honorable man. And when we would sit down for dinner at night, my mother was served first, the seven kids were served second, and my dad was served last. Because he was the servant leader of the house, it was his job to make sure that the family was taken care of. To me, that is the greatest definition of being a servant leader. And so I always ask the question for every decision we make, how is this going to impact our frontline associates? Because that should be the first question. Then the next question is, how does this impact our customers?

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

For Ellison, focusing on serving employees in the community isn't just good leadership, it's good business.

[Marvin Ellison]

The servant leadership part is what I believe in to my core. But I think philosophically, it is also a way that large public companies can create sustainable shareholder value. If you're not serving your associate and your customers and your communities, you can't sustain success from a corporate philosophy. Standpoint, it makes perfect sense as well.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

In 2025, you paid out $80 million in additional bonuses to store managers and assistant managers. What's behind this strategy?

[Marvin Ellison]

So many times when I was an assistant manager, store manager, hourly associate, trying to make ends meet, and I would read a headline that my company had record earnings earnings, I felt disconnected from that. You know, record earnings for the company, but yet none of that flowed down. And so our philosophy is, if we have an earnings outperformance, the first thing we do is figure out how much of that can we give back to our associates. Because when they see that headlines that we had a strong earnings quarter, I want them to feel the benefit of that.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

A benefit that Ellison says improves the customer experience and the bottom line.

[Marvin Ellison]

I think that is part of creating shareholder value. Having good retention rates on key leaders in those frontline jobs is so important. And the way you drive retention is making sure those people understand that they matter, that they just don't matter because they're a number on a sheet of paper, but they matter because they are an intricate part of the company.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

At the heart of Elson's servant leadership is. Is a strong work ethic and ambition, qualities shaped in his childhood.

[Marvin Ellison]

I grew up in a small town in western Tennessee, and when I say small, I mean about 10,000 people. And we live 12 miles in the country outside of the city limits. And I tell people I won the lottery with two winning tickets. I was born in America, and I was born with two great parents. My parents taught us a couple of fundamental things, and that is you couldn't allow your surroundings to limit your vision of your future. My parents encourage us about the power of education, the power of believing that you could be anything you wanted to be. And so I look back at that, and I'm incredibly fortunate. My dad is my ultimate role model. He's 83 years old now, and it's great that in one generation he can go from Jim Crow segregation to seeing his son be the chairman CEO of two Fortune 500 companies. And that can only happen in America.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

You've talked about the importance of education, and you worked multiple jobs to get through college. What did you learn from those jobs and that experience?

[Marvin Ellison]

Well, the one thing I learned is that you can't look at an employee at any level and try to make an assumption of who or what that person is. Because, you know, I unloaded trucks, I drove forklifts, I drove trucks. I was a janitor at a women's department store when I was in college. And so Somebody could have easily looked at me pushing that mop around and thought that I was some guy down on his luck, not knowing that it was one of two jobs I had trying to pay rent, buy books, and cover my tuition. So you can't look at the job and try to define the person. And so when I walk in a store, when I walk in a distribution center, and I see our employees we call associates working, I have enormous respect because I can easily identify with who they are, what they're doing, and in large cases, the journey that they're on, because I was there.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

You said that you've learned to let your background define you but not limit you.

[Marvin Ellison]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

And when you say define you, is that about authenticity and figuring out who you are?

[Marvin Ellison]

It's about not forgetting who you are. It defines me by reminding me that my faith is important because my parents believed so fiercely in that, and they made sure that we understood the power of believing in God and believing in something greater than yourself.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

How has this faith that your family instilled in you impacted your vision as a leader?

[Marvin Ellison]

Well, it's really hard to separate me from that because it's who I am. So when I talk about it, it's not to boast or it's not to draw attention. It's just to. To be a reflection of authentically who I am is how I make decisions. When I think about being charitable, when I think about making decisions for people that are in less than situations than I am, I can go back to scriptures and define what that all means.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Marvin has talked a lot about the core principles of hard work and faith. How do you see those in his leadership and now the way the company operates?

[Janice Dupree (Head of Human Resources)]

The very first thing I saw was when he first joined and he signs his emails, God bless. And of course, you know, when people aren't prepared for that, they're like, what is this? We shouldn't be able to do that. And I'm like, he's not telling you you have to convert. He's just wishing you goodness, and that's how he feels he should represent himself every day. He's not expecting you to reply back with your religious backgrounds. And I believe I don't. That's not it at all. It's his way of saying thank you.

[Marvin Ellison]

My mother told me when I was younger and throughout my entire life, whenever I struggled with any decision making, she said, just go read Proverbs. There's always wisdom in those words. And so those are the things that I live by. And when you take on a job like the CEO of a big public company. There are a lot of forces coming at you. And for me, it's one of the ways that I don't get overly burdened with the pressures of the job. Because I know that there's a foundational thing in my faith that's more important than all of that. And I just believe that I take all of my natural abilities and all of my learned abilities and I make the best decisions I can. And for the things I don't control, I just pray about them and I move on. I don't worry.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Ellison's journey from a small town to the C suite was achieved with that faith and commitment to serving others. But none of it came easy.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

Why do you opt in to these tough, challenging roles?

[Marvin Ellison]

To give you an interesting statistic. For the last 25 years, every job that I've taken, I replaced somebody who was fired or forced out. And so to answer your question, when you don't have an impressive pedigree, when you don't have a resume that will stand out, the way you get people to notice is you take jobs that nobody else wants. Because if I can go into that situation and I can turn it around, then maybe that opens up another opportunity for me. And so that's the path that I've been on for 25 plus years. And that requires a degree of self confidence, a high degree of resilience. But it also forces you to understand the power of people. Because none of these assignments were successfully accomplished by myself, it was always a.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

Team working, seeking out difficult jobs set him apart. And rising above those challenges proved his value as a leader.

[Interviewer/Questioner]

What's your advice to young people, whether they're at college or just starting out, about how to rise through the ranks like you have?

[Marvin Ellison]

It's important to have a vision about what you want to achieve in life. It is important to understand that you cannot allow your surroundings limit your vision of your future or your aspirations. There is nothing special about me. I just believed in my heart of hearts that anything I desired to achieve, I could. And I've never been a victim. When things don't go well, I don't blame anybody. I look in the mirror and ask the question, what can I do to get better? So have a vision of your future. Don't limit yourself. Be resilient because you're going to get knocked down. Don't be a victim and make sure you take advantage of every single opportunity you can to get better.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Julia Boorstin)]

More valuable insights from some of the top business minds in the country. On the next episode of Leaders Playbook.

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