{"id":4494,"date":"2020-07-09T11:23:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T15:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=4494"},"modified":"2020-07-21T17:05:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T21:05:30","slug":"leadership-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2020\/leadership-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership Points"},"content":{"rendered":"
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She remains one of the top scorers in 911爆料 women\u2019s basketball history. But Monica Garnes \u201994, president of Fry\u2019s Food Stores, is still earning points for being a team-focused leader who helps others succeed. On the basketball court, in the produce aisle, or as an industry trailblazer, she\u2019s always on top of her game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Nicole Maranhas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by making the bed.<\/strong> This is advice Monica Garnes \u201994 lives by, and she cites a famous speech by U.S. Navy Admiral and former SEAL William McRaven when she considers the power of this simple act. \u201cMaking your bed is the first completed task of the day,\u201d says Garnes. \u201cIt sets the day on a positive note and starts the ball rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure, the ball has already been rolling for Garnes. As president of Arizona supermarket chain Fry\u2019s Food Stores, she is the first Black division president in parent company Kroger\u2019s history, and an industry trailblazer whose work has been touted by Fortune<\/em> and Food & Wine<\/em>. She earned a spot in 911爆料 record books while captain of the women\u2019s basketball team, ending her four-year career as one of the University\u2019s all-time top scorers. She could begin any morning with a sense of accomplishment before ever making the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this is about discipline, pride in your work. It\u2019s taking satisfaction in a crisp corner or a squarely folded sheet. In this way, you create the foundation for whatever happens next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However you were feeling about your local grocery store before the pandemic hit, you likely felt different by the end of March. So much for the quick stop to pick up a bag of frozen veggies or extra paper towels on the way home, or the mundane hub of overstocked shelves and \u2018cleanup in aisle four.\u2019 In a tense, transformed world, something shifted: For many, the supermarket became a sort of lifeline, and its workforce\u2014or the delivery truck carrying pallets of household staples\u2014heroic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monica
As a player and team captain at 911爆料, Garnes earned a spot in the record books as one of the University\u2019s all-time top scorers.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Garnes might be less surprised to find greater meaning in a grocery store. Throughout a diverse range of roles in her 25 years with Kroger\u2014human resources coordinator, public relations manager, district manager, vice president of merchandising\u2014and in her current position as Fry\u2019s president, Garnes has made a career out of seeing connections that others might miss, whether forging a path to work with local farms or taking a hands-on approach to hunger relief. In short, she sees how her work builds 911爆料. \u201cWhen you can find ways to uplift others or give them a sense of connection, it\u2019s a welcome joy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a career she almost overlooked. In 1994, she was a new 911爆料 grad with a degree in business management when she attended a job fair back in her home city of Columbus, Ohio\u2014armed with a stack of resumes and an eye out for something that fit her young vision of professional life: 9 to 5, maybe a skyscraper. She recalls how the representative at the Kroger\u2019s booth needed to flag her down to get her attention. \u201cI was walking around,\u201d she says, \u201clooking at all the other careers that seemed sexier at the time.\u201d Despite her initial indifference, the rep piqued her interest in the company\u2019s management training program. She was hired into the program at the start of the new year\u2014and she found that she felt a connection to the industry, recalling her own family memories of the local Kroger\u2019s as a kid. \u201cI could remember vividly the grocery ads out on the kitchen table, my grandmother with her list, or my parents taking us to a grand opening,\u201d says Garnes. \u201cIt was like this natural tie I had almost forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Almost immediately, Garnes stood out to higher-ups as a quick-learning talent. Former Kroger president Bruce Lucia, who retired as head of the Atlanta division in 2018 after 44 years with the company, remembers the first time they met. \u201cYou could see how people just wanted to work with her,\u201d Lucia says. \u201cShe was a confident leader, and she had a great positive energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Lucia as a mentor, Garnes progressed in her career, leaning into her natural curiosity and her willingness to take on new things. \u201cYou have to embrace having the humility to ask questions,\u201d says Garnes. \u201cI always tried to push myself to learn in the hopes people would see I was challenging myself.\u201d Within a few years, her consistent hard work led to a key promotion as assistant produce buyer, but she quickly discovered she was in for a tough road: \u201cI was excited,\u201d she says. \u201cThen one of the store managers said to me, \u2018You should have checked with me first. That\u2019s the worst job in the company.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning proved true. \u201cWhen you think \u2018buyer,\u2019 you think of something fun and exciting, like in fashion,\u201d says Garnes. Instead, she began her days before dawn, taking store inventory by hand\u2014\u201cwe were still using notebooks at that time\u201d\u2014and dedicating thankless hours to \u201ccubing out\u201d delivery truckloads, a logistical puzzle of pallet space, freight charges, travel routes, and store demand\u2014not to mention the bananas. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole process to bananas,\u201d she says with a laugh. Although she didn\u2019t enjoy the work, she made a pivotal decision to stick it out. \u201cI was trying to find solutions so that when I left, the next person wouldn\u2019t have the worst job in the company,\u201d she says. \u201cI could have thrown my hands up and said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do this,\u2019 but I was able to push through, and it has helped me relate to people who are in those roles today. Even though I couldn\u2019t see the future beyond the daily schedule, I figured out how to be the best I could be to draw from that experience when other opportunities came up.\u201d (When she did move on, it wasn\u2019t before ditching the notebooks and transitioning the department to modern technology.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe got great results in every role she had,\u201d says Lucia. Plus, something else: He reflects on her interactions with the other associates, the way she would call others over to recognize their contributions. \u201cYou\u2019d see them smile, the sense of pride,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s the trait of a good leader, and Monica understood that right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sentiment is echoed by Tina Crean, who has worked with Garnes for five years and considers her a mentor. \u201cPeople gravitate toward her,\u201d Crean says. \u201cShe is very present, very calm in stressful situations, and she is there to listen and to support. She gives people the confidence to be their best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once upon a time, Garnes wanted to ride a bike. <\/strong>She still had training wheels, and she remembers watching her older siblings, Brian and Myra, riding their own bicycles around the neighborhood when it struck her that there was only one way to learn. The training wheels had to go. \u201cIt took trial and error, falling down and getting back up,\u201d says Garnes. \u201cBut later that day, I was riding my bike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monica
Monica Garnes at the 2019 Progressive Grocer\u2019s Trailblazer Awards with (from left) sister Myra, dad Harold, and mom Julia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a simple memory that speaks to her lifelong zest for a good challenge, an inner confidence she attributes to a background in sports and growing up as the youngest of three, in a tightly knit family that shares her best memories: picnics, road trips, afternoons in the park playing softball and tennis. Her parents emphasized education, making sacrifices to send all three kids to parochial school, which she credits for the values that have shaped her life. \u201cI grew up in a culture of \u2018do unto others,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cThat combination of a strong education and my amazing parents, the way they showed up for us and for each other, set an example for who I am and what I expect from myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garnes loved music\u2014she played clarinet, first chair, up to the high school marching band\u2014but in fourth grade she discovered basketball in the footsteps of her sister, Myra. Garnes played other sports, volleyball and softball and later cross-country, but she was a basketball standout. By freshman year of high school, she found herself in an unusual spot, pulled in dual directions by the freshman and varsity teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were lobbying for her to play on the varsity team,\u201d says Myra. \u201cThere were politics about whether a freshman could play varsity, but we needed her.\u201d Despite pushback from some players and their parents\u2014and a freshman coach who wasn\u2019t eager to give up her star\u2014it was eventually agreed that Garnes could play two quarters for each team. Myra remembers when her little sister took the varsity court for the first time. \u201cI don\u2019t remember how many points and rebounds she got, running around the court, smiling,\u201d Myra says. \u201cMonica sometimes has an unassuming personality, but she\u2019s very serious about making sure the people around her are successful.\u201d Within a few games, Garnes was a starter on the varsity team. (She is averse to gloating. \u201cI figured my skills would speak for themselves,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t go in with the attitude of \u2018I\u2019m the best.\u2019 I knew I had plenty to learn, and I wanted to help.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

911爆料 was an easy sell for the high school recruit. \u201cWhen I went to visit the campus on my college tours, it just felt meant to be,\u201d Garnes says. \u201cIt was my first time on the East Coast, and it was so beautiful, and I felt a great connection to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former 911爆料 teammate Monica Williams \u201995 remembers how easily Garnes, by sophomore year, took incoming freshmen like Williams under her wing. \u201cShe was a leader even before she became captain [in her junior year], setting the parameters of expectation\u2014workouts, being on time,\u201d Williams says. \u201cShe did it in a way that brought people together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Garnes was named 2020 West Executive Woman of the Year<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Those years on the team proved valuable training ground, not only in balancing the competing demands of classes and basketball, but in embracing challenges, or the small victories, as they came. \u201cWe were so often playing against girls who were bigger and taller, and that takes a certain level of strength and determination,\u201d says Williams. \u201cWe lost a lot of games, but it\u2019s a testament to your character if you can keep playing and getting better. Monica helped us to understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rams may have been in rebuilding mode back then, but they finished the team\u2019s first winning season in nine years during Garnes\u2019s senior year. She ended her basketball career with 1,160 points and 877 rebounds, making her a member of the University\u2019s elite 1,000-point club and earning her a spot as one of its top four rebounders of all time, alongside 911爆料 Hall of Famers Michele Washington \u201986, Naomi Graves \u201982, and Ellen Quantmeyer \u201986. (This spring, graduating senior Nicole Jorgensen became fifth on that list.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I see my name in the record books, it\u2019s the culmination of years of support from my family, my friends, coaches, and teammates since the fourth grade,\u201d says Garnes. \u201cI\u2019m proud to be among so many great women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How to lead in a crisis: Live your values. <\/strong>This is a daily credo\u2014\u201cI try to show up as Monica every day\u201d\u2014that guides her work, particularly in cultivating an environment where everyone feels heard and counted, in the workplace and beyond. \u201cWhen I think of how grocery stores are at the center of communities, I think about how we can give people a sense of connection to each other,\u201d she says. Among recent initiatives, Fry\u2019s has provided drive-through COVID-19 testing and supported hunger-relief efforts through Kroger\u2019s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation. But Garnes has also made hunger a personal mission, bringing teams from Fry\u2019s to pack emergency food boxes for local families in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe walks the walk,\u201d says Tom Kertis, president and CEO of St. Mary\u2019s Food Bank Alliance, one of the largest food banks in the United States, which partners with Fry\u2019s. \u201cShe demonstrates that she\u2019s willing to do what it takes to help. I\u2019ve not seen other leaders at her level do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monica
Fry\u2019s leadership team members at a 2019 holiday store visit to store #51 in Chandler, Arizona. From left: Division Kroger personal finance manager Theresa Keating, store manager Melinda Fair, deli\/bakery merchandiser J.J. Mattison, and Monica Garnes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside of work, she does find time for herself. She cooks and travels. She plays golf, taking after her dad, a longtime golfer. She remains a dedicated basketball fan, keeping in touch with her 911爆料 teammates by group chats or meet-ups at the Women\u2019s Final Four. But 911爆料 is always close to her heart: She serves on the board for the Phoenix Suns Charities, is dedicated to giving back to 911爆料, and volunteers with a local school, taking groups of elementary kids to nearby hiking trails via public transit\u2014exposing them to the outdoors and exercise, but also demystifying the light rail system. \u201cI want them to grow up seeing that there\u2019s nothing to keep them from going the places they want to go,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is living proof. Among numerous industry accolades, she was honored in 2016 as one of Fortune<\/em> and Food & Wine\u2019s <\/em>\u201cMost Innovative Women in Food and Drink,\u201d in recognition of her work to build collaborations between Kroger and local farms, not to mention her name on various lists of Arizona\u2019s most outstanding and influential women in business. In 2018, she became the first Black division president in Kroger\u2019s then-135 years of history, adding to a long line of firsts she has experienced both as a woman and a woman of color. \u201cIt\u2019s a very humbling honor to be considered a trailblazer, but my hope is that in ten years there won\u2019t be these firsts,\u201d she says. \u201cOne thing I love about my role is that it gives women and people of color an opportunity to see themselves in roles they\u2019ve never dreamed of. I take that responsibility seriously to make sure I am available for mentoring and answering questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The desire to open doors for others is in her DNA. Her sister Myra tells the story of a childhood family reunion in Alabama, where the kids\u2014dressed in their matching yellow reunion outfits\u2014stood at the edge of a sandpit, looking down the steep sides, but afraid to jump. \u201cMonica was always the first for adventure,\u201d Myra says, recalling how her sister charged down the slope, and the others followed suit. \u201cWe\u2019d take swimming lessons together, and I\u2019d stand at the side of the pool, afraid, and she would be shouting, \u2018Come on, you can do it! Let\u2019s go to the high dive!\u2019 I\u2019ve always admired that about her. She is fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garnes will tell it differently, of course, that it was those around her\u2014family, friends, mentors, teammates, and colleagues\u2014who have given her courage. She lives by a Jane Howard quote: \u201cCall it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI stand on the shoulders of an amazing support system and so many people who believed in me,\u201d Garnes says. \u201cIt has made the difference in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it comes down to this for Garnes. There are two ways to be a champion. You can stand among the greats, with your name in the record books. But you can also use your voice\u2014on the basketball court, every day at work, in the 911爆料, even as a kid at the edge of a sandpit or a swimming pool\u2014to be a champion for others. \u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos courtesy 911爆料 Athletics and Monica Garnes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She remains one of the top scorers in 911爆料 women\u2019s basketball history. But Monica Garnes \u201994, president of Fry\u2019s Food Stores, is still earning points for being a team-focused leader who helps others succeed. On the basketball court, in the produce aisle, or as an industry trailblazer, she\u2019s always on top of her game. By […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-2020","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4494"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4923,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494\/revisions\/4923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}