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Head. Heart. Gut.

Erikjan Lantink
5 min readNov 22, 2024

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Credit: Vladislav Chornly

Earlier this week, I had a thought-provoking coaching conversation that dug into the complex art and science of decision-making. This conversation sparked a series of reflections on my past experiences and the lessons I’ve learned. It also reminded me how culture influences decision-making and, therefore, performance.

One reflection brought me back to a conversation with a CEO in the food retail company where I worked many years ago when we decided to invest heavily in the ready-made meals category.

When you walk into any supermarket in a developed country today, you will see many ready-made varieties. When you work in London, as I have done now for a while, you find stores at every corner that sell nothing but convenience-fresh products, including a selection of meals from everywhere around the world.

High-quality fresh meals ready to serve within minutes are now part of our lives.

It wasn’t like that when I started working in retail. All the data we gathered then indicated that this idea would not succeed and would cost a lot of money in terms of food losses.

Retail is a data-driven industry, and rightfully so. Operating tens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of stores, the consequences of a wrong decision can be disastrous. But… Because there is a but.

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Erikjan Lantink
Erikjan Lantink

Written by Erikjan Lantink

Business & Leadership coach. Interim Leader. Writer. Speaker. Former Retail Executive (general management; operations; HR)

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