Since taking the helm of Book Depot in 2009, CEO Wilf Wikkerink has led the company to become North America’s largest bargain book wholesaler and retailer with employees at the heart of the business. In fact, Book Depot has consistently been named one of Canada’s best-managed companies.
The acquisition of the company’s largest competitor three years ago was a significant accomplishment that is already transforming Book Depot. Wikkerink believes this deal will continue to produce long-term benefits for both customers and vendors, and for all the company’s team members in both the USA and Canada.
“As our business has grown over the years, I have had to let go of the day-to-day details and entrust those to our team,” Wikkerink said. “As an entrepreneur, I can best serve the organization by letting others manage the day-to-day details, allowing myself to think about the bigger picture and where we want to take the business in the future.”
Wikkerink is well known for fostering a culture of excellence at Book Depot where employees enjoy their work and collaborate enthusiastically to provide exceptional customer experiences.
Creating an Entrepreneurial Culture and Embracing Technology
An entrepreneurial culture has been central to the company’s success. They embrace technology to innovate and achieve operational excellence. Just over five years ago, Book Depot launched the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), which Wikkerink said has truly been a game changer for the organization. He explained that EOS is a simple set of concepts and practical tools to help you get better at running your business. Part of the EOS process is setting longer term goals (one-year, three-year, and 10-year) for the business and then developing a set of strategic priorities (known as rocks in EOS language) every 90 days to help achieve the one year goal.
As CEO, Wilf Wikkerink is passionate about sharing the vision of Book Depot with employees, customers, and suppliers alike, building lifelong relationships locally and abroad. He is focused on getting the right people on the team while investing heavily in improving operations through automation and technology.
Wikkerink regards Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an exciting trend in today’s marketplace, and embraces exploring its use. “While it is exciting, as with anything new, it can also be somewhat nerve wracking, as we are still only scratching the surface of how this will transform our workplaces, careers, and our day-to-day lives. The most exciting thing about AI is the way it will increase productivity, as we can eliminate a lot of mundane, repetitive tasks with AI, freeing people up to spend more time with higher value tasks that build organizations for the future,” he said.
Bullish on the Future of Books
Wikkerink believes the printed book business will continue to be a strong business in the future.
“We have weathered a few storms over the past year including the e-book and the Covid-19 pandemic. When the Kindle came out in 2007, there were many who predicted the end of the physical book business. A lot in our industry hunkered down in expectation of the worst, but it was during that time we decided to spend some time investigating how we could build our business for the future, to embrace new technologies and innovation to strengthen our company.”
Wikkerink said this was the beginning of Book Depot’s automation journey. The pandemic also proved that consumers love the physical book—when supply chains were struggling to deal with the increased demand of e-commerce and consumers had to wait weeks to receive their shipment of books, the largest percentage of customers still chose a physical book over an e-book, which they could have received in seconds.
“While e-books will always have their place in the market, today’s consumers have proved again and again that they love the feel and smell of a physical book,” Wikkerink said.
Staying Inspired and Motivated
For Wilf Wikkerink, the key to staying inspired and motivated during challenging times is to be grateful. “So often our first reaction, me included, is to ask why we have to go through this difficult thing, rather than to understand what we might learn through the challenge. If you start from a posture of gratefulness, it helps ground you and puts you in a better mindsight to deal with the difficulty at hand—how you might handle it and what you might learn from it. Being optimistic and casting a vision for your team is absolutely critical as a leader during challenging times.”
Winnkerink continued, “As leaders, we need to be purveyors of hope. I’m not talking about just painting a rosy sky when it is clearly grey, but rather, being honest about the situation you find yourself in, sharing stories of how as a team you overcame prior challenges, and speaking about some of the current options, even though you may not have all the answers. Constant communication is also very key during difficult times.”
One of the key elements to building and maintaining relationships, Wikkerink believes, is meeting face to face. “As good as technology is today, nothing replaces sitting down and sharing a meal together with your business partners or colleagues. A phone call or video call is less free flowing and tends to follow a more structured agenda or list of items you have to get through while a dinner meeting is more free flowing and conducive to brainstorming new ideas and opportunities. It is also a way to become more connected with the people you work with, learn about their family, their hobbies and interests.”
For Wikkerink, this creates trust, which then builds the relationship.
As busy as he is, Wikkerink stresses the importance of taking breaks, explaining that the business can operate without him during his vacations when he “goes dark.” Going dark involves leaving his phone behind and avoiding emails, calls, and texts. “It allows you to read great books, think more strategically about the business, and connect with your loved ones,” he noted.
