VERMONT VOICES : BOB STILLER
Courtesy Bob Stiller ( 4 )
JS : How did you communicate your dream and vision to your team ? You were a Manhattan guy who sold rolling papers , moved up to Vermont , and decided to get into coffee . You had the vision , you did the research , but how did you actually get community buy-in ?
they can bring to your life . If I had developed better skills , I might have run Green Mountain longer or done a better job , especially with succession planning . It ’ s very sad that the company lost its way because we had a pipeline of fabulous projects and products . I believe business is the most effective change agent in the world . Everybody needs a pathway to financial success for their families .
BS : Well , I guess , in those early years — maybe the first 15 or even longer — we were just trying to be a successful company . There were some hard years , and it was always like , “ We ’ ve got to be more profitable .” The vision was in the doing . We divided things up into processes rather than silos , so people in different areas would work together . For example , we had a team called “ Order to Cash ,” which focused on the entire process from when a customer places an order until we get paid . There are a lot of touchpoints with the customer , but many companies don ’ t focus on that — they just have accounting call to collect the payment . But for us , we were all part of the process to deliver and support the customer in the most effective way . I don ’ t know if that ’ s a little off-topic , but as we became more sophisticated , we started having visions of being a
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