This article is actually a really meaningful one for me. My masters is in Leadership, and Servant Leadership was one focus of my research. So it was pretty exciting to discover a leader from Life Savers had written about this topic! I guess you could call this article my book report on Cheryl Bachelder's Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others.
⭕Virtual Museum
⭕LIfe Savers Blog
⭕Valutivity Leadership Blog
Dare to Serve was published in 2015, a bit after my graduation in 2012--otherwise, I probably would have read it during college, along with my other lit reviews about Servant Leadership to prep for creating SLq©️ and Additional Reading About Servant Leadership.
Cheryl Bachelder, MBA, has a serious background...brand at Procter & Gamble, Gillette, RJR Nabisco; executive leadership at Domino's Pizza, Yum! Brands (KFC), Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits...and now, a Director at Chick-fil-A.
More specifically, she was (LinkedIn 2024)
- General Manager, Life Savers Company 1991-1992
- VP Marketing, Planters Life Savers Company 1987-1991
- Group Brand Manager, RJR Nabisco 1984-1986
- Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylb?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app
In her book, Bachelder describes how she and her team pitched 3 ideas in the late 1980s (pp. 165-169):
- Fruit Juicers were available in all of the following flavors: Citrus Fruits, Fruit Punch, Grape, Mixed Berries, Strawberry
- Life Savers Holes were available in all of the following flavors: Five Flavor, Wint⭕Green, Tangerine, Pep⭕Mint, Butter Rum & Sunshine Fruits
- Life Savers Gummi-Savers (later Life Savers Gummies), which were far and away the most successful of the 3 new ideas. Gummies account for far more new product innovation than Life Savers hard candies in the 2020s in the United States (Australia has taken a different bold tact/focus). Alas, Gummies are out of scope for Life Savers Virtual Museum.
How Bold Ideas Benefit Others
Bachelder makes the case that bold ideas--whether they work on the long-term or not, are beneficial by
- Giving the mechanical engineers new opportunities to solve problems; both Holes and GummiSavers required a new set of machinery and resulting patents
- Offering potential for new jobs and expansion of manufacturing facilities
- Providing growth potential for leaders, especially to run new product lines
- Lessons learned, which are invaluable if leaders apply them in the future
- Renewal of the century-old Life Savers brand, which serves customers either for current needs, or at minimum for nostalgia; my students are grateful. :)
A little out of scope...but give me a break...
“We worry too much about breaks. If you’re a competent, performing person before the break, you will be afterward.”
Amen! Specifically, Bachelder took career breaks to become a homemaker between 1992-1995 and 2003-2007, according to Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-how-did-i-get-here/cheryl-bachelder.html
Other Virtual Museum articles about Fruit Juicers:
Scroll to 1988-1995 at
Scroll to 2024_07_18 at https://www.valutivity.com/index.php/research/65-life-savers-100-years-of-sweetness/270-vintage-candy-life-savers
Scroll to "Life Savers Fruit Juicers"
⭕⭕⭕
Life Savers™️ is a trademarked name currently owned in the US by Mars Wrigley Confectionery, having been owned and/or licensed by many previous companies, varying by country.
©️2024 to present. All rights reserved.