Red Lobster 2004 Annual Report Download - page 8

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These values serve as a constant reminder of who we are, and
they guide every decision we make and everything we do. We
believe values-based leadership and a values-based organization
are more important than ever as predicates for success in today’s
business environment.
Our foundation also includes a strategic framework that has been in
place for nearly six years now and has helped us build a solid track
record of success. This framework consists of four strategic impera-
tives – leadership excellence at all levels, brand building excellence,
service and hospitality excellence and culinary and beverage excel-
lence. There are also two strategic enablers we believe can help
us accelerate progress in each of the strategic imperatives. These
enablers are diversity excellence that embraces and builds upon
our differences, and process and technology excellence that maxi-
mizes organizational effectiveness and drives both discipline and
nimbleness. These important elements – our strategic imperatives
and enablers – remain unchanged and rock solid.
New to our strategic framework is the explicit statement of two
points that have been implicit in our approach to the business for
many years now, and that we believe separate us from much of our
competition. We are committed to: (1) being a multi-brand restau-
rant company bound together by common operating practices and
a unifying culture, which serve to make us stronger than the sum
of our parts; and (2) listening to our guests and employees for the
insights we need to create powerful, broadly appealing brands and
develop highly successful people.
We are confident we will create enduring guest and employee
loyalty and deliver strong financial performance by combining
our strong foundation with consistent brilliance with the basics in
everything we pursue, especially our strategic imperatives. We are
proud to highlight one of those strategic imperatives in this year’s
annual report – leadership excellence at all levels of Darden – and
introduce you to some of the finest leaders in casual dining.
FISCAL฀2005฀PRIORITIES฀
To achieve our financial objectives and continue building our
momentum toward becoming the best in casual dining, we will focus
our attention and resources on four critical priorities in fiscal 2005:
• Increasing leadership effectiveness
• Driving more growth across all of our brands
• Improving our brand-building efforts
• Fully utilizing our resources
These priorities have been established with the purpose of putting
Darden squarely on the path toward growth. Progress on these
priorities will increase operating consistency, reinforce leadership
effectiveness and stability, and ignite stronger growth.
STRONG฀LEADERSHIP
A critical element of effective leadership is having a thoughtful
succession plan that provides for a smooth and effective transition
of leadership to talented, dynamic and seasoned executives. I am
pleased that the Board of Directors has appointed Smokey Bones
President Clarence Otis as my successor as Chief Executive Officer,
and Olive Garden President Drew Madsen as Darden President and
Chief Operating Officer effective December 2004. I will continue
to serve as Chairman until my retirement in December 2005.
Our succession plan is the result of years of planning by our Board
of Directors, made possible by Darden’s deep bench strength. Both
Clarence and Drew have been with Darden for many years and
have a wide breadth of business acumen and restaurant industry
experience. They are talented executives with complementary
strengths, mutual respect, and a demonstrated ability to work as
an effective team. Their passion for our business will serve us well
in the years ahead.
WE฀ARE฀READY฀TO฀GROW
I am convinced that Darden is well positioned for growth. We start
with more than 141,000 dedicated employees who are committed
to nourishing and delighting everyone we serve. And we add to that
an extraordinarily broad guest base that reflects our balanced mix
of two large, dominant companies that each generate over $2 billion
in annual sales, and two smaller, emerging growth companies that
we believe are each capable of ultimately achieving annual sales of
$500 million or more.
Our loyal employees and guests, along with our leadership and
financial resources, provide us with an excellent platform to grow
and to achieve our ultimate objective, which is to be the best in
casual dining, now and for generations.
Joe R. Lee
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Leadership Defined
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