Stop Starting and Start Finishing with Andy Laudato of The Vitamin Shoppe

On this episode of the Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business podcast, host David Wright welcomes Andy Laudato, COO at The Vitamin Shoppe. Unlike many executives, Andy doesn’t shy away from acknowledging a few key mistakes he has made over the course of his illustrious career. He admits that learning from those errors has made him into the tremendous leader he is today. After all, “failing fast” is a crucial part of being an innovator. One of the big takeaways Andy leaves us with is the importance of prioritizing customer satisfaction. It can be easy to have blinders on large projects, putting the focus on budget and time constraints. As we all know, IT leaders rarely get praise when things go well — and they’re easy targets when things go awry. Hitting metrics is crucial, but the priority must always return to delivering for employees and their customers. Andy recently published his first book, Fostering Innovation: How to Build an Amazing IT Team. In this episode, he shares his inspiration behind writing this book. The full applicability of technology spans from design to supply chain and marketing. With this in mind, Andy also provides advice to his would-be younger self and the youth of this generation. Resources: - Andy Laudato https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlaudato/#experience - The Vitamin Shoppe https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/ - Fostering Innovation: How to Build an Amazing IT Team https://www.amazon.com/Fostering-Innovation-Build-Amazing-Team-ebook/dp/B09S8SS71H/ref=sr_1_1?crid=C0E68KJRCCUT&keywords=Fostering+Innovation%3A+How+to+Build+an+Amazing+IT+Team&qid=1647282122&s=digital-text&sprefix=fostering+innovation+how+to+build+an+amazing+it+team%2Cdigital-text%2C415&sr=1-1 - David Wright https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmfwright/ - Disruptive Innovations https://www.disruptiveinnovations.net/ - Disruptive Innovators: Champions of Digital Business https://www.disruptiveinnovatorspodcast.com/ Thanks for listening to the Disruptive Innovators podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button and never miss another insightful conversation. And be sure to leave a review to help get the word out about the Champions of Digital Business.