Like many successful companies, Kaspien has a set of guiding principles that we use to inform our strategy across the organization. I established six “leadership principles” for us when I joined the company:
- We are Partner-Obsessed
- We are Insights Driven
- We Deliver Results for our Partners
- We Innovate on Behalf of our Partners
- We are Simple in our Approach
- We are Owners
I review them in every company-wide meeting. They are displayed on posters in our corporate office. We reference them when serving our partners. We reference them when determining internal strategy and resource allocation. We reference them when interviewing job candidates. We use them to assess our company, team, and individual performance. They permeate our company through and through.
But the heightened national awareness of the violence and racism that still haunts our country made me realize that we’ve been lacking an important factor in this set of guiding principles: Diversity. While we have welcomed diversity in the past, it was done too passively. It’s time to change that. I worked with my leadership team, and, in late June, we announced the addition of a seventh leadership principle:
- We Believe in the Power of Diversity and Teamwork
We value diversity in every way, and we collaborate as a team to drive the best results for our business and our partners.
With the addition of this leadership principle, we make attention to diversity part of our company DNA. It will shift from a passive welcome to a conscious consideration that permeates our culture and work.
Combining diversity and teamwork in a single leadership principle may strike some as odd, but I believe they go hand in hand. Cultivating diversity is step one, but it’s only when we act upon on it and build something together as a team that we can fully realize its power.
We value diversity in every way: Race, gender, origin, religion, creed, orientation – all these factors and more shape our experiences and perspectives. By bringing different perspectives together and empowering collaboration, we inspire and ignite innovation, creating a stronger and more agile team that can better serve our business and our partners.
I’m excited by this addition to our company’s core guiding principles. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, thoughts, or just want to chat. I’m always available.
Kunal Chopra, CEO, Kaspien & TWE
kunal@kaspien.com | 425-281-3566
