Be Courageous: Interview with Jeff Boutelle, CEO of Pharmavite

I recently went one on one with Jeff Boutelle. Jeff is the CEO at Pharmavite, the company that vitamins and supplements under the Nature Made brand. Jeff previously served as CEO of Beech-Nut Nutrition and worked for Abbott, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Jeff: Although working at large companies taught me incredibly valuable lessons, I‘ve always had this entrepreneurial spirit that has really helped me make big moves at smaller, more agile companies.

I’ve held a number of positions at large companies which due to their size, can foster an environment where it can be easy for someone to become anonymous. I think what helped me was this desire to stand out by seeking out challenges and opportunities, rather than waiting for them to come to me.

When I joined Beech-Nut Nutrition Co. as its CEO in 2012, it was an incredibly challenging time in the company’s history. It was facing declining market share, profit losses and significant employee morale issues. What it boiled down to was that there was a quality issue across the category. If you’re a parent feeding your baby, you only want the best quality food you can find. This lack of quality created a white space for Beech-Nut to step into and own. Beech-Nut taught me a great deal about how to transform a business and how to lead employees in a way that renewed their faith and excitement in a company. It also helped prepare me for my next opportunity as CEO of Pharmavite.

When I joined Pharmavite in 2017, the company and its core brand, Nature Made, held a strong position in the marketplace, but what was desperately needed was a plan for the future. That meant re-investing in innovation, streamlining commercialization processes, and understanding the changing needs of our consumers.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Jeff: For Pharmavite, the key has been to protect the company’s solid foundation while identifying how to build off that foundation in ways that will strengthen the business. In 1971, Pharmavite pioneered the VMS space by creating quality products backed by science that offer consumers meaningful solutions to support their personal health. At the time that meant delivering products that filled key nutrient gaps in the American diet and helped consumers proactively manage their health versus over-relying on prescriptions.

Over the last 50 years, we’ve become an industry leader whose growing portfolio of brands are trusted by consumers and healthcare professionals alike because they are built on that foundation of delivering quality products backed by science.

Moving forward, our focus is on becoming a more multi-dimensional company. We’ll continue building off Pharmavite’s foundation by leveraging consumer insights and science to create solutions that address unmet health needs, working with partners to identify the health benefits of new phytonutrients, and focusing more on supporting women’s health, just to name a few. 

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Jeff: Being a people-focused leader is absolutely the hallmark of great leadership. If you truly care about your employees’ ongoing growth and development, it will pay off significantly. Invest in the people around you, and they will return the favor. 

Also, being someone who loves challenges. There is no shortage of challenges and obstacles to overcome as a leader, you need to have a constant drive towards improving.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Jeff: There are great opportunities in big companies, but they are also environments where you can fade into the background, so the important thing is to find a way to have an impact. 

I never viewed myself as a ‘big company’ person. I’ve always felt I have been an entrepreneur working for big companies, but I was comfortable in the environment. The common thread is that there are opportunities out there, and you just have to avail yourself to them.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Jeff: Job One is to immediately build the best leadership team you can—you can’t do it all yourself, and you need a team with strong complementary skills, the right motivation, and the right chemistry—people who are there for the team and for the mission.  One bad apple can become a cancer on your agenda and take you off course quickly.  Conversely, with a great leadership team you can do wonders—at the moment, I’m blessed to be working with the best leadership team I’ve ever worked with, they are the best in the industry.

Second, seek out problems to solve and challenges to take on. The quickest way to learn is to expose yourself to new things, new challenges, and new opportunities.

Last but not least, have a meaningful, substantive company purpose that acts as your company’s north star. And along with that, never underestimate the importance of your employees. Don’t just think about what they can provide you or the company, but demonstrate how you’re truly invested in them, both as people and employees. The more you give to them, the more they will give back. It’s a mutual relationship.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Jeff: Going through this pandemic and navigating an entirely new world has taught me so much about how to lead and manage teams. We worked towards maintaining a cohesive culture by really ramping up communication efforts, so employees still felt connected and by finding opportunities to improve morale to maintain a sense of community.

We increased company town halls from once a month to every other week and we’ve also included a Q&A so that folks can ask the questions that are on their minds. We increased the number of “Java with Jeff” sessions, which are informal conversations that I have with a small number of employees in a more intimate setting. Some of my leadership team have also started to do something similar with their respective teams.

Building a sense of community goes beyond making sure our employees know what is going on with the business. The complications and additional stress that the first wave of the pandemic added to our lives, really took its toll. It was key to create moments to help improve morale while also reinforcing that safety message of protecting yourself and your family.

For the 4th of July last year, when most of our employees were under some form of shelter in place, we gave them an annual subscription to Disney+ so that families could celebrate Independence Day by watching the filmed production of Hamilton together. Prior to Labor Day weekend a couple months later, we sent every employee the Ticket to Ride board game - a game my family loved to play during the early months of the pandemic - to offer up a fun activity at home. 

We’ve also found other ways to engage our workforce and reinforce our company’s purpose. In the fall, we launched a program where employees could send a pack of vitamins and supplements to a friend or loved one looking to create healthier habits. This program was a literal manifestation of our purpose and allowed employees the opportunity to share the gift of health to someone special in their life.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding?

Jeff: As I mentioned before, there is no replacement for understanding your consumer. Invest deeply in data and research and let it guide you towards those needs and gaps in the market. Then, find what makes you and your company unique. How can you help meet those needs and fill those gaps in ways that others can’t?

Adam: What are your best tips on health and wellness?

Jeff: One of the things I’ve learned working in food and health-related fields is just how little people know about nutrition and its impact on health and wellbeing. Changing that starts with looking at our relationship with food and understanding that not all food is created equal when it comes to nutritional value. The nutrients in our food are what fuel our overall health and wellbeing and the more nutrient-dense foods we have in our diet, the more our bodies can function at an optimal level. At a time when convenience is key and whole foods remain out of the grasp of many, supplementation can help fill in key nutrient gaps.

When it comes to making changes, focus on making small, gradual ones. These tend to be the healthy habits that stick. The same goes with exercise. Start with something you can maintain and build from there. What will make exercise a part of your daily life finding something you like to do.

Last but not least, get regular, quality sleep.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Jeff: Be courageous.  Great things don’t get done by playing it safe.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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