The Powder Keg (TPK) continues to transform, building on a rich heritage that spans more than 40 years of legacy of the late Dr Lucas Potgieter. I am leading the strategic aspects of the transformation while Paul Luff and the local team (pictured below) deliver on the operational needs of the business. In this newsletter, I highlight some of those fundamental principles which will be the cornerstone of The Powder Keg business philosophy, culture and growth.
Trust is foremost. Our customers and suppliers must believe in the competence of our service and know that our word is our honour. It takes the time to build trust yet trust can be destroyed in a millisecond and sometimes never regained. In my corporate career we, like all companies, had instances of product or service shortcomings, but these resulted in improved relationships every time because of how we solved the problems.
At The Powder Keg, we focus on continuous improvement. There is no purpose to come to work just to be average. I personally get energised by improvements and have come to recognise that my well-being is dependent on continuous improvement. Culture change must come from leaders who walk the talk and set the example vs. the policy. The fish stinks from the head, meaning great leadership takes responsibility for the business vs. blaming others or finding excuses.
The Powder Keg success will be determined by the value that we create for our customers. We must deliver superior customer service and be at the forefront of innovative new product offerings. This does not mean being everything to everyone, but rather being the best in the segments that we choose to “play” in. Paul Luff is on the ground responsible for superior customer service while I am seeking out new shooting gear that fit our customer needs.
You will often hear me say that I prefer to be respected rather than liked. It is easy to say YES but real success comes from knowing when and being able to say NO. I will never sell my soul just to please. I was often disappointed and sickened in executive leadership meetings in the USA where senior directors of the company would say what they believed the CEO wanted to hear. This resulted in sub-optimization of business success. At The Powder Keg, I always want to know the real score.
My main focus at The Powder Keg in 2017 will be GROWTH of the business. I did not buy a “shop”, that would be a catastrophic failure of my global learning and experiences of the past 23 years. My purpose is finding innovative approaches to the market in order to grow the business for the mutual advantage of those that become part of that process. Growth will be primarily focused on the distribution of our partner products to a network of retailers that share our values. We think out of the box.
The Powder Keg future will always be about focus, 2 balls in the hand vs. 20 in the air. There is only one way how to eat an Elephant and that is one bite at a time. Life is full of opportunity but yet only a small percent of the population become truly successful. At The Powder Keg, we will stick to the golden thread of our strategy and we will not be distracted in that journey by opportunities that do not fit the TPK strategy.
It is important to celebrate successes. The Powder Keg has made quantum steps since new ownership this year, but we are more motivated by the mountain of improvements we still have to implement. We are proud of our new logo and to have gained exclusive partner supply arrangements with Kahles optics, Huglu shotguns, Chevalier clothing, Delta optics (picture below), Grulla serial custom guns and Ales Spendal fine custom guns. Blaser and Mauser will always be part of our history and future. The bigger challenge has been declining product representation, that ability to say NO, until such a time that we are ready to serve those partnerships properly. We took the time to choose carefully which products to represent at The Powder Keg.
I will close with The Powder Keg philosophy of win-win; and how much we value relationships. Every memory that I carry from my corporate career are memories of incredible people I met and relationships formed. I have no memories of our record-breaking performances, only about people that made everything possible. My desire is a business where customers, suppliers and employees all feel proud to be part of The Powder Keg. My key responsibility is to drive increased value to every stakeholder in The Powder Keg.
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