The keynote address for the 2024 Food Safety Summit, “Being Right Isn't Enough: Leading in Food Safety in Corporate and Global Environments,” was delivered on Wednesday morning. The keynote speaker will be Mary Weaver Goetz, Chief Executive, Yum! Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA). Brands Inc. shared how developing the soft skills of food safety leaders is critical to achieving effective food safety leadership across the enterprise.
Before Mary took to the stage, Stacey Acheson, Publisher of Food Safety Magazine (FSM), introduced the session, thanked the Food Safety Summit's Educational Advisory Board (EAB), and thanked the EAB Chair. Gillian Kelleher has announced that she will remain in her role at the 2025 Summit. Stacey invited FSM Editorial Director Adrian Bloom and FSM Awards Committee Chair Larry Keener of Penn State CFS to present this year's recipient Kathleen, who was selected for her research at the Food Institute.・Introducing Dr. Glass (Friday) ) University of Wisconsin-Madison. In accepting the award, Dr. Glass said, “This award is a testament to our teamwork and a reminder of what can be achieved through collaboration.”
Next, Anjan Chatterjee, JD, MBA, LLM, CEO of NOMADX, Platinum Sponsor of the 2024 Food Safety Summit, took to the stage to introduce Mary. She said this at the beginning. “What we don't talk about enough is people. We need to get back to the importance of people, the importance of leadership. How are we educating the next generation of food safety leaders? Is not it?”
Being right is not enough
Mary began by talking about her personal background and how it connects and ties into her career in food safety. Mary's own daughter was exposed to three different food-borne parasites and pathogens throughout her life, as Mary's mother contracted severe food poisoning at a young age, leading her to implement strict food safety practices in the family kitchen. Food safety is extremely important for public health, right up to the point where people become infected. It was always in Mary's consciousness. “Food should be about nourishment, celebration, comfort, connection, love…and above all, food is about trust,” says Mary, who then goes on to explain how trust is central to her job as chief FSQA officer at Yum. I explained that it is a pillar of ! brand.
Hmm! Yum! Brands operates more than 55,000 restaurants around the world (Yum! Brands is the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Habit Grill). Hmm! The brand enforces the same rigorous food safety standards in all of its restaurants, regardless of geographic location, resource issues or local regulations. Yum how to do it! Brands can achieve this by providing food safety leaders around the world with the tools they need to achieve their food safety goals, no matter what, Mary explained. Actually, “unparalleled ability and talent” is Yum! The brand's core strategic pillars help the company ensure food safety at such a large scale. “It all comes back to people and getting people ready to deliver,” she said, adding that globally implemented locally, global goals require clear and defined governance, monitoring and reporting. she elaborated. Hmm! The brand leverages several “secret weapons” that help strengthen food safety across its restaurants, including an intentionally built, connected, and empowered food safety community. Constant recognition when people are “recognized for doing the right thing.” And we operate on the premise that change is the new normal and compliance is slower than risk.
Zoom out from Yum! Mary, a brand for the entire food safety sector, said the skillset missing from the next generation of food safety leaders is not technical, but soft skills. “Being right is not enough,” she said. Mary's experience is that it is not necessarily necessary to provide technical expertise, but common sense business knowledge and that she needs to demonstrate how FSQA supports business objectives. I noticed. Mary was once told at work, “You don't necessarily have to be that talented.'' These words surprised her at first, but in the end it clicked with her. “I need to be competent, but I don't need to be a leader on my own,” she said. “I don't have to prove everything I know the moment I walk into the room. Your colleagues trust you to be competent.”
Mary then shares how food safety leaders can develop their interpersonal, communication and leadership skills to truly influence business decisions and make food safety a priority across roles and functions. Did. Food safety leaders must demonstrate to their colleagues how FSQA enables growth, supports operational efficiency, and protects all stakeholders.
Mary explains why it's important to become a “business enabler,” which includes everything from saying “no” when an idea is presented to explaining “how” new ideas can become reality. did. Food safety leaders must be accountable to their business partners and understand the risks associated with the project and what needs to be done to do something new. “Many bad ideas are quickly eliminated when you start explaining what they do,” Mary said. Mary explained that by working with business partners, the perspectives of food safety leaders and food safety experts will become sought after, rather than feared.
However, sometimes it is necessary to say “no”. Mary explained that by establishing a dynamic of trust and cooperation, the decision to say “no” becomes more acceptable. “When I say ‘no,’ people know that if I could have helped them make it happen, that’s what I would have done,” Mary said. Overall, it's important to build genuine relationships in normal times, practice genuine empathy, and be able to trust these relationships in times of crisis.
Additionally, Mary advised food safety leaders to lead without authority. Rather than relying on standards, regulations, and governance to justify food safety decisions, invoke governance only when necessary. Explaining the “why” behind decisions creates credibility. Mary said that if she refers to the authority of others to guide her, she undermines her own authority.
Finally, Mary promotes food safety throughout the company by celebrating events such as World Food Safety Day and presenting food safety awards to employees to elevate its status as a business priority. He emphasized the importance of “marketing.”
“Food safety is not a function. Food safety is a movement…and you are all part of it,” Mary concluded.