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Back in the mid-1990s, before email became widely used across corporate America, the executives of Frito-Lay\u2019s northern California region suddenly found their mailboxes full.

\u201cWe were getting all of these letters from people asking, \u2018What did you do? What\u2019s going on in northern California?,\u2019\u201d explains Tom Fitzgerald, who at the time was finance director for the region, a geography known to be a sales laggard among Pepsico\u2019s 24 business units, within which Frito-Lay itself was a particularly heavy bottom dweller.

Thus, as Fitzgerald relates, there was no shortage of intrigue concerning a sudden and steady sales climb inside Frito-Lay\u2019s northern California business. Looking back, he observes that the explanation of the phenomenon was not necessarily pleasing to neighboring regions, which were known to be on a constant lookout for cunning new sales promotions or incentives.

\u201cNorthern California, oddly enough, was the only unionized market for Frito-Lay in the country. Meanwhile, we had a direct store delivery business, which meant that we went to every store at least once a week\u2014and often every day\u2014to merchandise and sell the inventory,\u201d explains Fitzgerald, who notes that the \u201cdirect sales\u201d approach afforded the region larger numbers of employees than other locales, which in turn allowed Frito-Lay to at times operate inside the region more like a \u201cmilitary organization.\u201d

Like those of many of his peers, Fitzgerald\u2019s Pepsi career routinely opened new chapters as the packaged goods company rotated its finance executives into new regions and business units. Fitzgerald\u2019s arrival in the northern California region brought a new set of eyes to Frito-Lay\u2019s local challenges and paired the finance executive with a divisional leader who was prepared to listen.

\u201cI told the leader that too often the business had one answer one day and a different answer the following week. I said, \u2018Let\u2019s just pick three, and then we\u2019re going to lock in and stay there,\u2019\u201d comments Fitzgerald, who credits a newfound focus and the regional leader\u2019s willingness to collaborate with having propelled the snack maker to the top of the region\u2019s 24 business units within 3 months.

As for the details behind Fitzgerald\u2019s \u201cthree answer\u201d prescription, the finance leader reports: \u201cTwo were top line\u2013driven, operational metrics that we could measure. The other was related to how our team worked and coached the frontline salespeople.\u201d

For Fitzgerald, the remedy was less about strategy and more about focus.

\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily about how good your strategy is,\u201d he says. \u201cFrankly, there may have been three better ideas along the way, but because they changed the strategy and moved to the next thing too quickly, they couldn\u2019t get all of their people aligned to execute it well.\u201d

Adds the finance leader: \u201cI became a big believer in the notion that if you have an \u2018A\u2019 strategy but a \u2018C\u2019 execution, you\u2019re going to miss your numbers every time.\u201d\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney