Domino's, Copart, Danaher, Veeva, Disney, POOL
A collection of interviews published last week. Visit our platform for full coverage:
Published Last Week
Copart
We’ve interviewed two people who reported to and worked with Jay Adair for years. We explore his leadership style:
He would say, "Ask me how to grow a company." And when I asked him, I had to answer with the word, 'fast'. That was always the answer with Jay, because it is all about speed. - Former Senior Executive at Copart
It’s likely Jay has the most experience of any operating executive in the US salvage industry (excluding Willis who isn’t active daily). This means something when sitting across the table to Progressive or GEICO claims leaders:
Jay still has the advantage of having moved through all these positions. Every aspect of the process he knows by heart, and that is his advantage over the competition. At the competition, a lot of the people who were there from the start are still there, but most of them are younger. There are certain things they have not seen, and that might be perceived by the insurance companies as one of Copart's advantages…I know the insurance companies like to sit at the table with Jay…when insurers sit across the table from Jay Adair, it is a different dynamic. Jay commands a certain respect. When he says something, they listen. When Jeff Liaw, who had only been there two or three years, says the same thing, it lands differently. - Former Senior Executive at Copart
A potential downside of this experience is that it can be difficult to listen:
I think it comes down to listening. He listens to people who tell him things he already knows or wants to hear. - Former Senior Executive at Copart
Our work explores Jay’s personality, character and operational competence in more detail and how he may approach a large acquisition of a company such as CCC:
SAP
Christian Klein is 46 years old and leading SAP, one of Europe’s largest companies. Since taking the helm during COVID, Klein has revamped the executive team and brought more power back to SAP’s German roots:
If you look at the leadership, it has become more German at the executive board level. I don't know if that layered on with the geopolitical elements going on is not helping, but I also think it feels like there is an increasing divide between what Bay Area-based innovation centers and European-based innovation centers see. We see the world differently, we talk to customers that have different points of view, and that becomes a filter bubble of recursion on both sides. - Former President at SAP
Some question whether there is a political, sovereign cloud angle linked to the recent leadership changes:
Germany particularly started asking its only tech company in Europe, which is SAP, what's your solution to this problem? We don't want hyperscalers, we don't want Microsoft, Google, or AWS. We want something of our own. - Former SVP at SAP
This comment on SAP pricing strategy is also interesting:
Especially in Germany, every customer has a hotline to either Hasso Plattner, Dietmar Hopp, or Christian Klein. When these guys come into the picture, they say yes to every single exception and price. … Dear customer, you tell us the price and we'll give it to you, even if this is negative profit for SAP to begin with. - Former SVP at SAP
We cover more details about Klein’s personality, how he climbed through the ranks, manages direct reports, and the company's culture:
Domino's Pizza
On 1st of October 2026, Joe Jordan will officially become CEO of Domino’s. We spoke to executives who worked alongside and have known him for decades. Jordan pioneered the company's fortressing strategy and sold it to franchisees:
When he was leading US marketing, that was part of where the Fortressing concept was born. He was on the front line, not only selling the marketing strategy to our franchisees but also the Fortressing strategy… He is back where he belonged — in a marketing-focused role, which matters enormously at Domino's given that it is a 95% franchised business. The people you have to sell first are the franchise owners. - Former EVP at Domino’s
But Jordan may not be every franchisee’s favorite person. He was involved in the 12-year long $5.99 marketing promotion while food, labour, and other operating costs increased.
This goes back to what I said about staying with the $5.99 price point to this day... He was part of the problem, but Russell definitely got the blame because it was his idea to begin with. I heard that repeatedly in conversations with franchisees. There was a lot of displeasure with that. - Former Vice President Domino's Pizza Inc
Franchisees were squeezed and hiked delivery fees to cover costs:
Franchisees felt it was devaluing the product; that people think of Domino's as cheap pizza, not quality pizza.We encouraged and educated franchisees not to make certain moves. Unfortunately, as commodities and labor costs went up, franchisees had to find the money somewhere, and delivery charges became a target. What was once free delivery, or $1.99 delivery, has now reached $6.99 or $7.99 at some locations. There is a misconception that money goes to the driver, but it does not. It goes to the franchisee. - Former Vice President Domino's Pizza Inc
He was also part of a collective leadership blindspot.
When we first started talking about aggregators, they literally said, "Don't worry about it. The fees they charge will put them out of business. We created delivery." - Former Vice President, Domino's Pizza Inc
Our work goes on to explore Jordan’s personality, character and how he has dealt with recent issues with franchisees:
IP References
IP References, our primary research product focused solely on interviewing former colleagues and direct reports of a CEO, is as much a culture check as a check on the individual.
Ultimately, culture is a set of shared and learned actions or behaviours. Studying a leader’s character, competence, and decision making framework shines light on a company’s culture.
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