Speeches

Remarks to Special Olympics Global Leadership Summit

Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company
Marrakesh, Morocco
June 7, 2010

As prepared for delivery

Thank you, for that kind introduction, and good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with our Special Olympics family -- a family we at Coca-Cola have been privileged to be part of for the past 42 years.

When the great humanitarian and visionary Eunice Shriver first approached us all those years ago to be a founding partner a true bond was created. A shared vision of celebrating humanity and moments of connection, community and optimism.

I personally have been blessed to experience Eunice's and Special Olympics' powerful legacy on numerous occasions over the last several years. You can't witness an opening ceremony -- or for that matter participate in any Special Olympics activities -- without feeling deeply moved.

The work all of you promote is indeed one of the most powerful expressions of our humanity. And because of that I am proud to serve on your International Board of Directors, and am especially honored that Tim and Brady have asked me to share a few thoughts today about your strategic renewal.

This is a process we have been going through for the past two years at Coca-Cola, and the similarities between our two organizations and the timing of this strategic renewal are striking. We both recognize the world is changing, and we have to align our entire organizations accordingly to stay relevant and benefit from these changes.

We both have the responsibility of stewarding world-renowned and respected brands. We both believe in a decentralized operating structure, and place great value and trust in local knowledge and insights.

At Coca-Cola, this comes from our more than 300 local bottlers around the world that -- together with our Company -- make up the Coca-Cola system. At Special Olympics, this intimate local connection comes from each of you and your national organizations. And we both create progress from ideas, not commands.

After listening to Tim and Brady's comments I heard lots of great ideas, and I am very impressed. I'm impressed with the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of your strategic plan. I'm impressed with your sense of inclusion and constructive dissatisfaction. You're striving to do better -- and be better -- and you're engaging your entire global system to do that. And I'm impressed with your focus on both vision and execution. You have a clear vision of where you want to go and the means to get there.

We at Coca-Cola were starting to "ignite our own movement" like this about two years ago. In fact, one of my first priorities upon assuming the CEO role of The Coca-Cola Company was to begin guiding our entire system toward a collective vision for our business.

It became apparent to me and our leadership team that the world we were inheriting was shaping up to be radically different than any other time in my 32-plus year career. We saw five massive global forces unfolding:

These five forces are not only radically reshaping the beverage industry, they are reshaping virtually every industry.

You have felt them, too. You are challenged with becoming a truly global movement. You are challenged with resource scarcity. You must respond to changing community attitudes and expectations. And you must continue to innovate, which is part of what this Congress is all about.

The forces in the world I just outlined are going to have bearing on us for the next 10 to 20 years if not longer. To survive in this world, we at Coca-Cola knew we had to be aligned as a system and laser-focused on executing a common set of strategies.

A little less than two years ago, we gathered our top bottlers from around the world to begin crafting a system-wide vision. Like you, we knew this had to be an inclusive process. All hands on deck. It had to be a real movement across our system.

In that meeting, we gathered over 45 bottling partners representing more than 80 percent of our global volume. What came out of that meeting and subsequent meetings with our people across our system was this -- our 2020 Vision and Roadmap for Winning Together. Here, we've shaped a 'Roadmap for Winning Together' and set a number of key goals including :

• More than doubling our system revenue while increasing system margins
• More than doubling our servings to over 3 billion a day by 2020
• Becoming one of the world's premier employers
• Attaining global leadership in corporate sustainability
• Leading people, and managing time and money for the greatest effectiveness
• And ensuring that we are the most preferred and trusted beverage partner.

What's probably most important about this, as you can see, is that it's concise. It fits on one page. It's direct... simple... and meant to be localized. It lays out both our business and sustainability agendas. And it provides freedom within a framework -- much like what Brady laid out to you.

What I've learned through this process is that strategic renewal is hard work. Perseverance matters. So does faith and confidence. Our bottling partners have this in droves, and I'm sure you will too.

From my experiences, it's taken at least four elements to effectively manage strategic renewal.

The first element is getting my senior leadership team assembled and aligned in a way so that I am confident we can execute against our vision and strategies. Think about your own organization. What will it take to get everyone aligned behind the vision?

The second element involves getting our bottling system leadership and associates aligned behind our vision. We do this not only through the meetings which I described but also through building networks of trust. For me, it's about getting out in the markets and meeting with our bottling partner leadership one-on-one. This has been absolutely essential.

I know, too, that Brady and Tim traveled the world extensively this past year to work with you and gain insights into the challenges and opportunities you're facing. Listening to people and giving them an opportunity to contribute to the vision plays a critical role in the success of the strategic renewal process.

The third element is execution of the vision -- vision without execution is merely daydreaming. For Coca-Cola, execution involves relentless focus across our core pillars -- just as you are doing -- and holding ourselves accountable for driving success.

The fourth and final element of our strategic renewal is communicating our vision and strategic direction with all of our stakeholders so that they understand our aspirations and how their interests intersect with ours.

This is enormously important not just for our employees and shareowners but also for our retail customers, suppliers, government officials, NGOs and so many other parties that directly and indirectly influence our ability to grow.

Communicating as one organization will be equally critical to Special Olympics as you reach powerful influencers and further enhance the strength of your incredible brand. Communications is not something I believe leaders can delegate.

At the end of the day, all we can really do in our position is communicate and inspire and lead. We have to do these things passionately -- every single day -- to make our vision a success.

As you move forward with your own vision, I urge you all to do the same. Stay focused. Keep it simple. Hold yourselves accountable. And do what Special Olympics does better than anyone else in the world -- continue that incredible tradition of inclusion.

I wish you all the best of success, and look forward to helping with these efforts in any way I can in the future. Thank you.

I wish you all the best of success.