Red Lobster 2001 Annual Report Download - page 6

Fundamental change is our ticket to becoming the best – and
we welcome it. We have a talented and experienced management
team, the best I’ve had the pleasure of working with during my
entire career. This team appreciates how fortunate we are to have
the opportunity to create an organization that is the very best at
what it does. Each of us is committed to raising the bar on how
we think and act to capitalize on that opportunity.
The Essential Building Block: Leadership Development
Leadership development, establishing and achieving the indus-
try’s very highest service and hospitality standards, and redefining
culinary and beverage excellence in casual dining are the essential
building blocks in our strategy to be the best. To make them a real-
ity, we must have leaders who inspire in their teams a great passion
and enthusiasm for people, restaurants, and dining.
We have dedicated significant resources to building the lead-
ership skills we need to continue growing Darden. This includes
specifically tailored leadership assessment and development
processes for leaders throughout the organization. From the
frontline employees and managers in our restaurants, to the exec-
utive teams and other officers, our efforts will intensify.
In addition to enhancing each team member’s functional
skills, we are deepening their strategic knowledge of service and
hospitality, culinary and beverage, and leadership development.
We are also reinforcing the long-held values we believe are neces-
sary for success – trust, respect, integrity, and a commitment to
mastering dynamic areas of opportunity. Two special areas of
opportunity that will continue to be focal points are diversity and
technology. No one can be a truly effective leader in today’s environ-
ment, or in the world we’ll face tomorrow, without extraordinary
commitment to these areas.
Diversity Leadership
The business-building benefits of a deep and intuitive understand-
ing of diversity are clear and compelling. We aim to create an envi-
ronment that welcomes diversity, understands its implications, and
translates that understanding into appropriate systematic practices
at every level of the organization.
As we build our understanding of and commitment to diversity,
we’ll be able to better understand ourselves and our own leadership
motivations, strengths, and opportunities. We’ll be better able to
select, develop, and lead our teams. We’ll be able to speak to guests
more effectively in our marketing. And, we’ll be better able to
deliver on the needs of individual guests in our restaurants across a
wide range of groups – whether defined by racial, ethnic, gender,
age, regional, cultural, or other differences.
Technology Leadership
It is also clear that technology offers tremendous opportunities to
directly benefit the guest, employee, and supplier experiences we
provide. Our leadership development objectives in this area are
straightforward. We want leaders who have a sufficient under-
standing of technology to cut through the clutter and recognize the
right new applications to pursue. We also want leaders who know
how to use any new capabilities to our maximum advantage, so we
fully leverage the significant investments being made.
Summary
“The greatest competitive edge our Company has is the quality of
our employees, evidenced by the excellent job they do every day.”
Bill Darden, the founder of Darden Restaurants, recognized that
decades ago, and it remains just as true today. I want to thank our
more than 128,000 employees for accepting the challenge of being
brilliant with the basics. I also want to thank them for accepting the
new challenge of shifting from “getting better” to “becoming the
best.” I am fully confident we can be the best, now and for genera-
tions. Darden’s operating success in fiscal 2001 is a testament to
what we can do together when we make the commitment.
Sincerely,
Joe R. Lee
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Darden Restaurants
DARDEN RESTAURANTS LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS
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