Cover Story
Food for thought
How Judy Spires keeps her employees focused at Acme Markets by never losing sight of the basics
By Erik Cassano
Smart Business Philadelphia | October 2007
Page 1 of 4
Simplicity is beautiful to Judy Spires.
The president of Acme Markets Inc. says simplicity is the oil that
greases the cogs of any business organization, making growth and
good communication much easier to achieve. She believes in keeping her messages simple, her philosophies simple and her overall
leadership style simple.
Of course, trying to keep things simple can be a rather complex
process when you’re the president of a company composed of 129
supermarkets in Greater Philadelphia, New Jersey and Maryland,
staffed by about 16,000 people.
That’s why Spires has made it a priority to work at it and see to
it that her managers work at it.
“You have to be very organized and disciplined,” she says. “We
have a president’s meeting every Monday. The meeting has to be
meaningful, it has to be precise and concise, and people have to
come to the meeting prepared to share the key things they’re working on so we all understand each others’ priorities, and we’re
joined at the hip with regard to what’s going on.”
Spires says to keep things simple, you have to know how to
communicate and never lose sight of the basic principles that
guide your business. If you lose sight of the basics, your
employees will lose sight.
“You have to keep your goals stated very simply and keep
repeating them,” she says. “You have to make them a part of
everything you do. That’s how you keep people focused.”
