Levi’s CFO on how the company survived the pandemic

“When I started in my career, the CFO role was about creating shareholder value,” Harmit Singh, EVP and CFO of Levi Strauss & Co. told me. “Today, it’s about broader stakeholder value creation.”

I recently had a conversation with Singh about talent, Levi’s company culture, and his strategic journey at the company since joining in 2013.

Harmit Singh, EVP and CFO of Levi Strauss & Co. / Courtesy of Levi’s

“I like to be called a coach and not a boss because I like to give constructive feedback,” Singh told me of his leadership style. “I have a team of about 12 people. I would say none of them are doing the exact same job they started with because I like to move people around and give them a diversity of experience. That’s what happened to me.”

I asked Singh what he thinks about employees speaking out, especially in a case where opinions differ from leaders. For example, Levi’s brand president Jennifer Sey quit her job earlier this month claiming the company tried to silence her after she publicly spoke out against school closures amid the pandemic. 

“For me, I put my responsibilities as an executive officer and a leader of the team at the forefront of my decision making,” Singh explains. “I do recognize that I represent more than just my personal viewpoints when I speak publicly as leader of the company.”

He says providing a forum for thoughtful discussion and debate is “a critical component” of a successful company and a leadership team. “It makes us sure that broad perspectives are considered,” Singh says. He added, “I’m proud of the decisions that we as a leadership team have taken in leverage to protect the health and safety of our employees.”

Singh’s lessons in leadership began with his father while growing up in India, who “always cheered me on,” he says. He then further learned on the job through financial positions at companies including American Express India and in CFO roles at Yum Restaurants International, Pizza Hut U.S., Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Levi Strauss. In his career, Singh, who is steering Levi’s digital transformation, has lived in three countries, and five cities.

He is a “big believer” in the diversity of experience, including working with others from different cultures, he says. However, “If someone had said to me 30-plus-years ago that I’d be in the U.S. and the CFO of iconic brands, I would have bet against it,” Singh says.

A strategic partnership

Chip Bergh became CEO of Levi’s in 2011. He had the task of turning around a company suffering a decline in revenue of 29% from $6.8 billion in 1997 to $4.8 billion. Harvard Business School published a case study on the Levi’s turnaround. Bergh brought Singh onboard to strategically partner for a transformation. 

“When I got to [Levi’s] in January of 2013, Chip said to me: ‘I’ve got these strategic choices on a piece of paper, but we don’t have a strategic blueprint, and we’re going to be talking to the board in six months. Harmit, I need your help to bring this strategy and build it into a road map.’” But “change doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time,” Singh says.

A major step was investing in accelerating the women’s segment of the business. The company later decided to pursue an IPO and went public in 2019. Then the pandemic hit in 2020 and pummeled the retail industry. Bergh and Singh again worked on managing strategy.

Questions leadership needed to answer: “How do you manage through the crisis, which is about putting employees and consumer safety at the forefront?” Singh says. “And then preserve cash, and protecting profits, while staying connected to the consumer. And how do we emerge stronger?”

The company had to do much more than tweak its existing e-commerce business, which was losing money before COVID hit. The company had to invest in it, quickly and heavily. “It’s now profitable because it is scaled so quickly,” Bergh told Fortune in November.

In Q4 2021, Levi’s earned net revenues of $1.7 billion, up 22% versus Q4 2020; up 7% compared to Q4 2019. The company’s expectations for fiscal 2022 are net revenue growth of 11% to 13% compared to FY 2021, between $6.4 and $6.5 billion. Levi’s stock was as high as $30.84 in May and closed at $22.83 on Friday. Wall Street analysts expect a mean price target of $34 over the next year, The Motley Fool reported in January.

In addition to ensuring the company survives financially, the pandemic was also a time of self-reflection, Singh says. “Even in the deepest of the troughs, I think good leaders have to start thinking about who you want to be,” he says. “I’ve learned the importance of being empathetic as a leader.”

See you tomorrow.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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Leaderboard

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Overheard

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