Dave Schneider (Red Wing Shoe) | Boots, Builders, and Brand Legacy

21:45We're going to get to the point where they feel comfortable with us. 100%. There's no pretenses. Everyone's honest with each other. We brought four of them into our all-employee meeting about two years ago, stood on the big stage. These people are salt of the earth people who are not used to being in the spotlight. Little bit of deer in the headlights, but they just crushed it. They got up there and I said, you don't need to like, just speak from the heart. Just speak what's on your mind and how you think about us and how you look at our competitive set and how, you know, like, and it was, I facilitated a conversation for about 30 minutes or so.

22:10And it was great. Just great. Now, I thought I knew a fair amount about your company, but when I dug deeper to learn about you, I found so many interesting things. I want to explore a few. Okay. And you're already going to some of them. But this idea that you really are one of the few large global companies that is still family run and owned. Yes. And your current CEO, as you said, fourth generation leader, first woman to run the company. So you referred that you've seen a lot of cultures in the agency world, a lot of publicly traded companies. You've already talked about what's special about this culture and your CEO is special.

22:41I'd like you to go there a bit more deeply. What is it about this culture that has been so magnetic for you, that has fueled growth over so many years, agility, adaptability? What is it about it that others could learn from? I would start with a foundational premise that we have four key values and it drives the entire company. And unlike, frankly, to be honest with you, a lot of companies I've been in and around where I feel like the values are something that you put on the lunchroom wall and then they're never referred to ever again. we actually live and breathe by these values. Respect, integrity, community, excellence.

23:15Those four key values drive the entire organization forward. And it starts right from the very top, tip of the spear, from Allison down to the ELT team to the rest of the organization. Bill Sweezy, our chairman of the board. And so it's the entire organization at the end of the day really does embrace those values. And that drives behavior, that drives performance, that drives expectations and outputs and deliverables and blah, blah, blah. Now, Allison, you've referred to her and She's very special. One reason you stayed. Tell us a bit more about how you work with her. What kind of practices do you have?

23:44What's the relationship like? What things is she interested in? What things do you talk about? How structured is it? Well, I think what's interesting is I think, oh God, she's going to listen to this. Allison. We can have her on. All right. We'll have both of you on. She is, I believe it's fair to say she's a marketer wannabe. And so I love that. I truly, all kidding aside. I mean, she values what we do in the business in a really meaningful way, in a really thoughtful way. She believes that brand building is critical to the future success of this company. That's what's gotten us here in some respects.

24:18And brand building has the allure of just being communications. It's not just communications. It's about product. It's about how we deliver the product. It's the service we provide in our retail stores. I mean, brand is obviously much bigger than just the communication side of it. We all know that, but I'm just saying just to be super clear. So I think she embraces that. She drives that. She is thoughtful. She is very reflective. She's incredibly strategic, really, in how she's looking at the business. And we're at an interesting pivot point because we've had, you know, it's vastly between family leadership and non-family leadership.

24:52And so the last, whatever, 8, 9, 10 years, you know, was kind of like non-family leadership. Well, actually going back further than that, excuse me. But now it's back in family reigns. And that has a different dynamic to it. And I think one of the things that, you know, so let me give you some examples of how I think she's not afraid also, sorry if I didn't say this, she's also not afraid to make decisive bold change. And so I look at the composition of our board as maybe just a really good example. She saw the need to actually evolve the board. We had wonderful board members who knew a tremendous amount about the company.

25:19She took it upon herself to constitute and reimagine kind of what that board could be. We worked with some outside consultants and worked with some outside recruiters, and we kind of reshaped the entire board. And it's a very different dynamic today than it was in our boardrooms compared to what it was a year or two ago. So I think there's a multitude of examples of where she sees what the vision is, she constitutes it, she constitutes and codifies it, and she's not afraid to make decisive action against it. And for me personally, that's a huge opportunity because she does come to me. I think she comes to the ELT and wants perspective and she values our opinion.

25:53And you feel like she has an EQ, which is incredible. She really has an innate ability to really understand what the conversation is and how can it apply to what her thinking is. And she's not afraid to get messy and say, you know, something, okay, let's move on. Let's move on and do something else. It's awesome. It really is. Well, listen, second area I want to talk about is your brand is iconic. I think it meets the definition of that. Founded by a man many, many years ago who wanted to do the right thing for working people. And you still do that. But you're also a brand that attracts hipsters and trendsetters.

26:22And I told you about my son. He loves your brand. And that's one reason. How did that start? Was there an event, a moment? I'm a little fuzzy on some of it. Predominantly, I believe, came from Mickey Drexler was in Japan at one point and saw a bunch of the kids in Tokyo kind of wearing our product. And that's what inspired our first collab. And this is probably going back 30 years ago with J.Crew. And so that's what kind of inspired kind of what's known as our heritage line today. And so that then became that. And then over time, it's just it has always resonated with that population. And today, I mean, it's the Bradley Coopers, it's the Lady Gagas.

26:58I mean, they all wear our product and we don't really seed any of that product. Now we have relationships with some of their stylists, et cetera, but we're not doing a lot with that. Meaning we provide the product, but we're not like amplifying it, et cetera, et cetera. And there's an element of that that I'm totally into, which is I don't actually want to commercialize that too much. I'd rather that it just exist because I think it's more natural and authentic to who we are. So for others who would love to have that dynamic, right? Because what you are is you have core customers who wear your work product and you have people who wear it for lifestyle.

27:28So that's an interesting dichotomy. I guess your advice is be organic about it, but be open to it, right? Yeah, for sure. And I think we use a line at Red Wing, which is to be both timely and timeless. That's part of kind of in the DNA of the company, if you will, which is we need to be attuned to what is happening in culture today and who's wearing our stuff. But we also want to be timeless and that we want to be enduring. And there's elements of the craft that don't change over time and the attention to detail. And we still make a lot of product in the United States. Not everything, but a lot of it.

28:00And three manufacturing plants, you know, across the U.S. And so there's an element of being both timely and timeless that I think really does play into that as well. Any collaborations that stand out in your mind that has helped keep this thing going where, you know, your core customers, your core products, but you're bringing in new people to the franchise? Yeah. I mean, well, two I would point to. We just did a collab with Steve McQueen's estate. So Molly McQueen, Steve McQueen's daughter, he was a major fan of ours. And when you think about that kind of ultra cool guy, if you will. And so we did a whole kind of effort with that and did a whole signature series of his signature on our boots, et cetera.

28:36You know, something a little bit more lighthearted, we just did something with Mario. And so I think of Mario as being kind of the ultimate plumber, if you will, which is the reason why we did it initially. And so we actually concocted, as we say, one of one. So we only created one product. It's beautiful. It's fantastic. And so we did a whole review and reveal, excuse me, in New York City and stuff like that. So, you know, two of those spaces. But I do believe in more philosophically, if I can just elevate the point, you know, we do think that collabs and partnerships are super important for us.

29:04You know, we're going to go as far as we can go on our own. And then obviously the benefits of collabs and equity, you know, borrowed equity kind of works for us as well. Sure, sure.

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30:24You're more complex than meets the eye. When I started really digging into your company, you're largely vertically integrated. You have your own tannery, factories, you're in 110 countries, 700 plus retail sites, 900 styles of shoes, 600 workwear styles. So how do you focus as a leadership team? That's a lot of stuff. That is a lot. And to be honest with you, I think that that's something that we are continuing to try to get better at is the word focus. Because we recognize as a leadership team, if we are not consistent and directive at the top, it can only permeate and go downhill from there.

30:58And it'll get worse from there downhill, so to speak. You know, honestly, it's something we are continuing to refine, if you will. It's something we continue to put focus on. But to come back to one of the very initial questions that we were talking about, part of what brought me to Red Wing was exactly that vertical integration, though. That's what I wanted. Because I could see on the other side this, wow, I can actually see the full consumer value proposition here. Everything from we are sourcing our leather, tanneries, we're making product. We've got world-class designers that are making our product.

31:26Right through a retail organization where we sell our product to, we've got e-commerce sites. I mean, like the whole kit and caboodle at the end of the day. And so the value stream across that is incredible. and the data that spins off of that to actually understand what does Jim Stengel want today? And so I can do that. And so that's part of what brought me there. And you're controlling the experience, right? End to end. Yeah. Any tips you would have for others? Because obviously I've talked to a lot of people on the show and I have that experience myself with companies that are complex. It's tough to make those few priorities and stick to them and still be a bit sensitive to what's happening in the environment.

31:58So anything you, your leadership team, your ELT does to, you know, do you have deliberate planning cycles? Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we have an AOP, annual operating plan, you know, just like everybody does, I'm sure. And so we're actually in the midst of that right now. Our fiscal is December 1. And so, you know, we have a whole rigorous process that I feel like just when we finally finish it, then we start it all over again, right? I mean, it's like it's about a nine-month planning cycle, if you will. And so we're in the midst of that right now. Plans will get presented the last week of October to Allison, to our CFO, et cetera, to our COO, so the three of those folks.

32:30But so we have that. Aside from that, I get what you're trying to get to, which is how do we create focus as an organization? And I would say - And stick to it. And stick to it. And I think we've done a really good job in the last year-ish of being very declarative around what those, in our case, three priorities are. We call it the triple stitch plan because our boots are triple stitched, get it? And so what are those key three priorities? And then what are the projects initiatives that fall under it? And from a communication standpoint, it's been videos, it's been emails, it's been any host of cadre to make sure that people understand that these are the three things we need to do.

33:04And so we're very declarative about that. Now, the problem is that there's, you know, a lot of hanging chads off of that. But we try to create as much clarity as we possibly can. So, but I think that's part of our job as leaders, right? Part of our job as leaders is really to help clarify, know that and know, yes, that. So we, you know, I think we are seek to only continue to get better at that. Last question about your specialness. I learned you own a hotel. Yes, we do. Okay, let's go there. Speaking of focus, but you've had this for a long time. So what's the story? Well, the story is, is that I, you know, again, a little fuzzy on the details, but we, we assumed ownership of the hotel.

33:41The hotel is called the St. James Hotel. It's a wonderful historic hotel, historic registry. I mean, all that. I'll be staying there tonight, actually. And so it's right across the street from our corporate office. And in part, it's a place for us to be able to host events and allow people to come to town. Red Wing is a relatively small community of 20 ,000 people. And so we wanted to make sure that the hotel was maintained, its integrity was maintained. And so it's a place where we do sales meetings and we have people in and we have key customer events. We have a big consumer event tonight. And so we've got four really important consumers that are coming in.

34:11And so we'll have dinner there tonight. So it's, yeah, but they do their own marketing sales and marketing efforts over there, but we support them where we need to. And you spoke a few minutes ago about creativity and how much you value that. And how I want you to go there a little bit more with me. I mean, your first, how many years in your career? 10, 12, you were in the agency side? Well, then I did 10 years at DDB. Okay, okay. So I was in Minneapolis agencies. I kind of think it in three 10-year increments. All right, so it's a lot. 10 years here and then 10 years kind of in Chicago. And I moved around a little bit agency client side a little bit back and forth towards the end of that Chicago experience and then came here.

34:47So creativity is likely a strength of yours. You've been working on it your entire career. How do you at this senior level now show up when it comes to creativity? How do you show that you value it? How do you in your day-to-day work? Because I do think it's funny. When I talk to a lot of CMOs, I can tell if they value it or if they don't. Because there's a lot we can get distracted with. And for some people say we let our inbox control our outbox and all that sort of thing. But you're clearly a guy who has thought about it, enjoys it, understands the power of it. Sounds like your CEO does as well.

35:23So how do you show up with that value in your organization? Well, I think point one, it just starts by giving it time, right? And you talked a little bit ago about kind of, you know, what's on your calendar now versus 10 years ago. And I mean, the calendar, unfortunately, it's very tactical. It's very visceral, but it does drive. Your time drives your behavior at the end of the day. And so I do look at it as making sure it does have the right amount of time. And what I mean by that is like we're actually spending time talking about the campaign, the creative, the insights, the stuff that's being proposed, you know, I mean, all, I mean, giving it the time that's necessary.

35:56I think we also spend, you know, the right amount of time with our agency partners. And we've had the huge benefit of working with some really awesome, you know, world-class agencies. The Whiting Kennedys are working on some stuff for us right now. And so at the end of the day, you know, we spend time with those agencies. We actually give them the opportunity to come to Red Wing. We encourage them, maybe we demand it, to actually come to Red Wing and actually see the manufacturing facilities and see us. Very Jack Daniels-like. Yeah. At the end of the day, it sounds like a cliche, but I really, really, really believe that agencies are extensions of our team.

36:25And I know that is a cliche. I know it is. But not everyone acts on it. But we really do act on it. We behave like that. We did a mid-year offsite. We do it every year. We've been doing it 10 years. And all of our agencies are invited to that. Allison speaks at it. It's got a little bit of fun. It's got some stuff. It's got some structure, et cetera. So we look at agencies as truly extensions of our team. And it's not just the creative agencies. I mean, it's the PR agencies and the performance marketing agencies and all that stuff. They all come together and have a moment, if you will. So I'd say the most important thing is just giving it the time that's necessary so that we can all understand, are we ringing the bell?

37:00Are we achieving what we sought to accomplish as a result of that? At the end of the day, I really do think of myself as equal left and right brain. I really do. I have huge appreciation for the data and analytics side of it. I worked on the Dell business for four years. I lived in Europe for a bit of time, running the Dell business in Europe with DDB. So I have huge appreciation for the ability to quantify our impact. And we can't quantify everything. There's certain pieces we just can't. And I'm okay with that. And I think that the organization is okay with that. We're going to prove to you the efficacy.

37:27And I need a leap of faith on the stuff that I can't. Because I can't control everything, you know, emotion, if you will. When you do this annual offsite, which is a great idea, by the way, Do you sort of share where the company's going, what's important for you, your priorities? That's kind of the agenda. Yeah. I mean, it's everything from, you know, always starts off with Allison kind of giving a little bit of state of the business. People can submit questions in advance. So it's a curated kind of Q &A back and forth with her in terms of what's come in. There's a keynote from me. My direct report has different elements that they're deriving throughout the course of the day.

37:58So some literal hands, you know, hands down brainstorming stuff, cross-functional agency type stuff on a real live project. We brought an outside speaker. So we brought in Brian Collins from Collins' firm this past year. They've done a bunch of rebranding work for us. So he came in and actually gave a keynote over the lunch hour. So, you know, a little bit outside stimulus, inside kind of perspective, you know, time with Allison, time with them to collaborate, you know, a little bit of happy hour type stuff to build some networks. I mean, all of the above. It's a great idea just for all of our listeners.

38:26Yeah, it works well. And that investment has such return. I did the same at P &G, annual event with my CEO, with all of our agencies who are competitors. But I want them to hear what we're wrestling with, what we're happy about in the business, what our challenges are, our priorities. And some of the best ideas came out of those meetings. We do a little post-event survey that comes out of it. And this year, you know, the marks are like off the record, you know, off the charts, you know, 9 out of 10, 10 out of 10. And I think because people get really absorbed with what's in front of them, right?

38:54And so this is a chance for them to actually pull up and kind of look and see around the margins and see around the corners and build some relationships and some rapport with some other people. It's very effective. And, you know, I invite my whole ELT to come for part of it if they want to. About half of them came this year. You know, but it's honestly, it's, you know, it's a good moment in time for us. It's always at the midpoint of the summer. Kind of we're halfway through the year and what's coming down the barrel at us kind of, you know, in the next six months or so. But also with an eye towards where we're going into the next year as well.

39:22Red Wing's nice in the summer too. Yes, exactly. It is. Yes. But you also talked about relationships being a strong value. And of course, that's a demonstration of that in practice. Yeah. Yeah.

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40:36I want to move to the creative brief and I want to ask you one of your favorite questions. What's the greatest risk that you would take if you knew you could not fail? Wow, you've done some digging. Yeah, we have. We have. Is that your favorite question? That is my favorite question. It's actually in the footer of my personal email. It has been. The impetus behind it, just curiously, I was walking through the Milwaukee airport 25 years ago, kind of waiting for a flight. And I pulled a book off a shelf and it was called What Was the Greatest Risk? And it's this wonderful collection of stories of very famous people.

41:06And when they took the risk that they think that they could or couldn't take and did they regret it, did they wish they would have, et cetera, et cetera. I think the easiest answer to that is that I would invest a lot more into our marketing at the end of the day. Because I think that we are doing what we can with what we can. There's a leap of faith that exists, again, as I was just mentioning, that some marketing is quantifiable and other aspects are not. If it were my pocketbook, and it's easy for the CMO to say this, I know, which is why I hesitated, I would put more effort into it. I would put more effort into brand building efforts at the end of the day.

41:41Because I do think the long-term narrative actually helps the business. I'll make sure Allison listens to this. Thank you. All right. Next question to create a brief. At Red Wing, you have this Wall of Honor program. Yes. And it celebrates people who've used your products over many years. Boots that are worn, well-worn, hold stories. Are there any stories or one story maybe from that program that you just think is so special? Yes. This was created in 2018. It's ironic you bring that up because tonight is our induction ceremony for the next crop. That's why you're going to the hotel. I'm going to the hotel, and that's why I have to get back down to Red Wing and et cetera.

42:14So they actually came in last night. We had dinner with them last night, and there were the ceremonies this afternoon in our flagship store, and then we will have dinner at that kind of day. But honestly, there is one story in particular. So a guy by the name of Tom McCarthy, and Tom passed away in, I'd say, 2013, 2014, something like that. And the very last job that he ever did in his Red Wing boots is he was helping build the Excel Energy Ice Arena here in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is where the Minnesota wild play. And his very last thing that he did is as they're kind of putting the concrete, you know, the final layer of concrete, there's a box at center ice.

42:46And he threw his boots into the kind of at center ice with his union card. And they kind of put the cement kind of over the top of it. And it's enshrined basically in cement at center ice. Now, the little denouement to that story is that his grandson actually played in the state high school hockey tournament here in Minnesota several years later. And if you know anything about Minnesota, the state high school hockey tournament is right next to God. I mean, there's God and then there's the state high school hockey tournament. And, I mean, 20 ,000 people at the arena, et cetera, et cetera. And so he goes up to center ice and he double taps, you know, kind of immemorial of his grandfather.

43:20So those are the types of stories. Honestly, they ooze. They just ooze. They are so authentic. They are so real. and even meeting the four folks that I had a chance to meet last night are just remarkable, just remarkable stories about, we believe that our brand purpose at the end of the day is to help honor and enable our skilled laborers do their best work. That's what we're in the business to do at the end of the day. We make a great product, we want to sell a great product, yada, yada, yada. But at the end of the day, we know that we are a tool on their tool belt ultimately to do their best work.

43:47You and I have laptops. That's how we do our best work. That's how we create and design, et cetera, et cetera. For them, it's literally their boots. They're on their feet 12, 14 hours a day giving them the good pair of boots specific to their environmental conditions that they're going to be interacting with is part of what we do. And as a result of that, hopefully they do their best work. Hopefully we can put a spotlight on them. A little stat for you that's kind of fun that we'd like to talk about, or not so fun, is that there are five people leaving the skilled trades for every one that's coming in the United States today.

44:15So we believe that part of our job, part of our mission, if you will, is to help enable people to see that the skilled trades are a viable kind of career path for certain people. it's not right for everybody. It's certainly wouldn't have been right for me. But for other people, we want to make sure that that option is out there. So, sorry, a little bit of a tangent. No, no, I love that. So, you're with those folks tonight. What are you going to say? Do you have remarks or is it? Yeah, I mean, we're going to, I mean, there's a whole program that unfolds and actually Allison will be speaking to them as well.

44:42We'll have dinner with them tonight. But, you know, what they, you know, from the, even the commentary last night, you know, what they so appreciate is they get that we are in it to help support them. They get that. And all of our research, our brand tracking studies, all that stuff that we still do today, that's what pops. People see that we are a supporter and enabler of the skilled trades. And we take that really seriously. I mean, that's something that we've been doing in some regards, you'd say for 120 years. I'd say we've been much more focused about in the last 10 years, for sure. It's a fabulous purpose, by the way.

45:09Thanks. Never gets old. Yeah, it never gets old. It's timeless. The programs that sit underneath it and we can talk about all the campaigns we've done to execute against it. I mean, it's there. Is there a campaign or initiative in your career all the way back that has been most meaningful to you? Yeah, I mean, for sure. And it's at Red Wing. It's a campaign that we did, which was called Labor Day On. So this is the height of the pandemic. And what was happening at that point in time is, you know, the whole world was closing and people were losing their jobs, et cetera. And so we repurposed everything about Red Wing, basically to help put America back to work.

45:40And not just our consumer, which is where it got a little bit viral and took off is we had the likes of Burger King and New Balance and all these organizations basically co-opted kind of our marketing toolkit, if you will. And it really did take off. I felt like I was on a satellite media tour for 12 hours, like with every little TV station across the country for like 12 hours, like, you know, looking for interviews and stuff like that. And it really made a huge impact. We took all of our retail stores and we turned them into career centers. We took our CE call center and actually people could call in there and actually find local jobs in their community.

46:09So we were trying to make that connection so that people could ultimately get back to work. It's your purpose in action, right? For that time. That's right. Yep. First brand you remember making an impact on you as a young boy? Without a doubt. I know this is the Jim Stengel question. It was Nike. And I'll tell you why, because my mother, this is sixth grade, Winnicka Elementary, Mrs. Hoy says class. My mother got me, at that time there was the red stripe and the blue stripe Nikes. And my mother bought me the blue stripe, which was for girls, which I didn't know. And I wore them. And then of course, everybody at school was like, what are you wearing?

46:42I can still remember this like it was yesterday. And so she's like, well, we can't bring them back because you wore them now. So now they're yours. And so that made an incredible mark on me. And maybe it was a little bit of foreshadowing of actually being in the footwear industry, I might add, but the really fun kind of day no model, that story is that my team at Red Wing just recently went out and found those original red stripe Nikes and gave them to me. You're going to bury them somewhere. Exactly. Exactly. So I have them actually, I have them. Oh, I love that. I love that. Who's been the most inspiring person in your life?

47:11My father, for sure. I lost him about three years ago, but he ran a small business here in the Twin Cities and it was a very successful small business. He was mayor of the city we grew up in, which is a fairly large suburb here in the Twin Cities for many years. And he was very involved with the community and he was decisive and aggressive and all the things that I am. I see how you become your parents, so to speak. I see all those traits. But he sat down with my brother and I when we were in high school. I have a younger brother, two years younger, and said, like, if you want the small business, you know, we'll help navigate that.

47:45And if you don't, don't feel obligated. And it wasn't in the cards for me and it wasn't in the cards for my brother. And he sold the business when he was 53 and retired. But it was a very profound impact on me for sure. What was special about him besides giving you that speech, which is very powerful? It was simultaneously, if I'm being really honest, it was simultaneously carrot and stick, which was kind of the giving us permission to fail, giving us the permission to figure things out, giving us enough freedom and flexibility, but still having that loving, nurturing side, if you will, but also holding us pretty accountable.

48:20you know and he was he was you know a type a driver you know and there were certain rules and certain expectations that you had i mean one of the expectations as an example is i wanted to move back in post-college for a period of time you know right after college and kind of you know find your bearings etc he's like i gotta deal with it you can stay here as long as you want as long as you fully fund your 401k he's like and if you don't want to fully fund your 401k he's like then you don't then you can live somewhere else and so to this day i fully fund my 401k It's carrot and stick. Yeah. So, I mean, so it was truly that kind of perspective, if you will.

48:54Yeah. I love that story. We're here in Minneapolis. We're doing two days of interviews. You're the first one. I love the thought about going to one city and concentrating there and talking to different companies in that city. So if we were to go to another city, what would you recommend we do next? Oh, goodness. Well, I mean, first off, I love the fact that you're here. I think that the Twin Cities marketing community is really amazing. It truly is. And a lot of the people that you're going to be seeking with over the next day or so are people I know and I've collaborated with. And our good friend Jenny Weber here from Best Buy and Heather Malinchik, who I used to work with in Chicago.

49:27And, you know, so I'd say that the marketing community, I'm speaking on a panel this Wednesday, actually, with four or five CMOs. And so we have a really collaborative marketing community. And it's really amazing. And you spoke to kind of the Fortune 500 kind of list of, you know, top employers here. And so that's awesome. I mean, I have to be partial to my, you know, my beloved Chicago. You know, I spent a lot of time there, 10 years, 12, 13 years, 12, 13 years kind of living there. It's a wonderful community. It's obviously a big city, you know, et cetera. But sometimes it doesn't feel that way though.

49:58Yeah. It doesn't to me because I spent so much time there and we live right in Lincoln Park Lakeview. And so my whole world was like literally about one square mile between downtown and Wrigley Field and things like that. So what do you think it is about this area? It makes it such a, I don't know, breeding ground for marketers and companies. Honestly, I think it's a very balanced city at the end of the day. And what I mean by that is we have some of the best healthcare organizations in the world. Mayo Clinic's an hour down the road here. We have an incredible school system here. My kids go to public schools, one of the best public schools in the country, actually, I believe, is kind of how they're ranked.

50:32So we've got great healthcare, great education, great infrastructure, great people. There's great pollination, cross-pollination. It actually does feel fundamentally like a community, which I mean by that is like the Minnesota Business Partnership, as an example, is an organization that we are part of at Red Wing, and that is the top employers within the state. We just had a little event up at Medtronic, you know, two months ago, something like that. And so all, I mean, literally, it's like, it's a high school reunion in some regards. You see all these people and you know all these people. And so it's really that fabric of, like, we know each other, we got each other's back, we want to see each other succeed, and yet there's still the occasional, like, I'm going to steal that person and that person, you know, and that kind of stuff that happens.

51:09But it does feel like it's a community here, and it's a great quality of life. It really is. we moved back from Chicago in part because of our kids, obviously the Red Wing piece of it. But we have no regrets about being back here. Dave, this is fantastic. Did you enjoy the interview? I did. It was great. It was great. It's awesome to be a part of this. I'm a massive Jim Stengel fan. I've listened to your podcast for several years here, etc. So it's always interesting to hear. And I find myself listening to it on my drive to Red Wing back and forth. So I never have a notepad available to actually take notes, anything it's said.

51:36So I can never remember anything that anybody says. Voice memos. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No, I've been a fan of your company for a long time. It was my first boot when I was an asphalt paver. And I just, I'm a bigger fan now. Awesome. So thank you for the time. That was my conversation with Dave Schneider. Three takeaways from this one for your business brand and life. The first one, the philosophy of creating human connections to unlock growth. Dave told me that the ambition at Red Wing has always been, in his words, to create human connections that unlock growth. And he means that broadly, not only with consumers and customers, but also with employees and teams across the company.

52:12He's built rituals to make that happen, from biweekly marketing meetings that bring in outside voices to what they call The Crew, a group of diehard Red Wing loyalists who share unfiltered feedback and help shape the brand. Red Wing thinks about human connection as the driver of both growth and meaning. Second takeaway, stay both timely and timeless. One of the most powerful ideas Dave shared is Red Wing's commitment to being, as he put it, both timely and timeless. They stay attuned to culture today, whether it's collaborations with icons like Steve McQueen's estate or even Super Mario. But they never lose sight of what makes the brand enduring.

52:50Craftsmanship, attention to detail, and boots still made in their U.S. plans. That balance keeps Red Wing relevant for the next generation while honoring the values that have defined it for more than a century. Third takeaway, the impact of a CEO as a brand champion. Dave spoke with real admiration for his CEO, Allison Gettings, the fourth generation to lead Red Wing. He described her as a true brand champion, someone who, in his words, believes that brand building is critical to the future success of this company. And for her, brand is not just communications, it's product, service, and the full customer experience.

53:27Dave said her decisiveness, vision, and belief in marketing are a big reason he stayed nearly a decade as CMO. It's a powerful reminder of how much impact a CEO can have when they value brand. That's it for this week's episode of the CMO Podcast. As always, I would be grateful if you shared our show with your friends, along with subscribing and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. The CMO Podcast is a Vive original production. The views and opinions expressed by podcast speakers and guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of our sponsors or its personnel, nor do our sponsors advocate or endorse any individuals or entities featured on the episodes.