069: Greg Hewitt (DHL Express (U.S.))

Greg Hewitt on Innovation City

It’s important to help them [employees] understand the role they play in the company today and in the future. — Greg Hewitt

Welcome to Innovation City—powered by Venture Cafe—where Tyler Kelley and Michael Johnson, Co-Founders of SLAM! Agency, interview innovators, creators, and disruptors to discover how business is changing in the modern world.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency in cooperation with Venture Cafe St. Louis and Venture Cafe Miami, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and inclusion, heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community. Venture Cafe is the largest combined gathering of entrepreneurs and innovators anywhere in the world. Events are held every Thursday in St. Louis, Miami, and other leading innovation cities around the globe.

Today’s guest is Greg Hewitt, CEO at DHL Express (U.S.). Greg has over 25 years of experience in the corporate world and has been with DHL for 17 years. DHL is a leading international postal and logistics company with over 10,000 employees in the US. Greg sits down with the Innovation City team to discuss his involvement with entrepreneurship, using technology as an enabler to grow, finding joy in helping others, and creating a feedback culture. Find Greg on Twitter at @GregHewittDHL and on LinkedIn.

They discuss:

• Over 25 years experience in the corporate world
• DHL Headquarters in Miami
  • Miami being a gateway to Latin America for DHL
• Doing workshops about social responsibility and best practices for corporate innovation
• His involvement with entrepreneurship and wanting to be more involved than just “writing a check”
• Looking at new technology as an enabler to grow rather than a disruption
• Innovation buzzwords like Internet of things, machine learning, artificial intelligence
  • Using technology on DHL vehicles to measure driving safety
  • Using robotic process automation to help eliminate mundane tasks
  • Beginning to use AI for package tracking
• Bringing thought leaders of innovation into the DHL team to help generate new ideas
• Testing route-tracking technology
• Always thinking about disrupting the marketplace
• Amazon becoming a competitor for DHL’s industry, but embracing them and learning from them as a company who is failing faster and trying new things
• DHL working on finding, developing, recruiting, and cultivating employees who have a startup mentality to add more creativity and innovation to the company
• Asking himself everyday how he can help coach, lead, manage, direct, or council others in his organization
• Finding joy in helping others
• The importance of culture and speaking the same language at every level of business
• The importance of cross-functional training within organizations to help boost growth
• The importance of connecting, empathizing, understanding motivation of employees, and helping employees understand the role they play in the company today and in the future
• Balancing respect and results
• Creating a feedback culture
• Recognizing that every employee who comes in the door is coming in to do a great job
• The journey DHL is taking to focus on empowerment