Dustin Woodward (FrieslandCampina): 'Focus on things that truly make a difference'

You have hands-on experience in three different markets in the dairy sector, both operationally and strategically. Initially in a general strategic function, followed by six years in Africa, then three years in the Netherlands and then, since last year, in the rest of Europe. How do you reflect on that?
‘With gratitude, pride and humility - after all, there are still many challenges ahead of us. In 2019 I was still living with my family in Ivory Coast, can you imagine that? It was a great adventure, both professionally and privately. Based in Abidjan, the largest city and former capital of Ivory Coast, I was responsible for 42 African countries. You cannot get closer to the heart of our mission: to make healthy food available at an affordable price to a growing world population. There is no other place where there is a greater need for healthy, reliable and affordable food and, at the same time, where access to food is so limited. It is a difficult market, with huge differences between North, West and East Africa. There are tremendous contrasts between rich and poor, circumstances are far from safe, there are cultural differences and there is great volatility due to rapidly changing import legislation, currency fluctuations and high inflation.
Upon my return to the Netherlands, I expected more stability. And then came the pandemic and the Ukraine war. The scenarios I had worked with in Africa suddenly turned out to be very valuable for dealing with the inflation in the Netherlands. In Africa one learns to be agile and to act quickly and solution oriented.’

Was there a constant, or do the African and Western markets differ to such an extent that there are no similarities?
‘My goal is always to get the maximum value out of our dairy farmer members' milk, and by doing so provide them with a good income and long-term security. That is the constant factor. The economic dynamics on the African continent are different, of course. Purchasing power is low, so you need to find ways to keep dairy products affordable. In the Netherlands, the high street is defined by a small number of large supermarkets. In African countries, the retail landscape is very different and fragmented with countless micro-shops in big cities and rural areas. To actively serve all those small stores, you need to build a sophisticated distribution system.
Another major difference is the consumer’s need. In Western countries, dairy products should primarily taste good, although functional nutritional value is more important than ever. The popularity of drinking yoghurts enriched with protein, fiber or probiotics is a good example. Yet this is a whole world apart from African countries, where product varieties are a luxury and the availability of milk powder often is already a matter of life and death, because malnutrition is a reality.’

What is expected from you in your role as President Europe?
‘My job description is pretty simple: I am the link between where we are today and where we want to go as an organization. I orchestrate this transition with my business group primarily by putting the right people in the right place and creating an environment that brings out the best in everyone. As the manager for the European consumer market, it is my mission to ensure that we maximize the value of their milk for our members. We do this by translating ‘the good things about dairy’ into a wide range of branded products. Our product portfolio is tailored to common preferences across the region, such as a healthy breakfast, a functional snack or a tasty dessert.
Another important priority for me is talent development and diversity. FrieslandCampina is a good employer in Europe, where European talents can enjoy working, growing and making a meaningful contribution. And in my role as a member of the executive team, I help the organization to ensure it has everything it needs for short- and long-term success. Close collaboration across business groups and functions is essential to that. We have made significant strides here.'

To equip the company with the right people and resources, you need to be able to bring them together. Are you a connector?
‘Yes, I do believe so. I am interested in people, their motivations, and their needs. I like to understand what drives someone. Why does someone do what he does? What is it that gets them out of bed in the morning? In Africa, people go to work because they need to support their families and want to improve the quality of local communities. In the Netherlands, that urgency is much less and we either want to work at a company that is commercially successful, or at an employer that takes a leading position when it comes to climate transition. If we understand what drives us, we can formulate a common, higher purpose together. That higher purpose gives an organization great energy and the belief that we can grow together.
The further from the operation, the more important connection becomes. Connection also means moving together in the same direction and defining how each employee contributes to the greater goal. The connection between strategic goals and everyday practice is essential. I therefore like to go out into the field with my team to see how our execution on the shop floor is and whether we are succeeding in capturing the right price points and shelf positions.’

How do you describe your leadership style?
‘First and foremost, I strive to provide my team with a pleasant environment in which each person can express themselves freely and be the best version of themselves. I like to gather critical people around me, who keep me on my toes. And to let them coach me. Conversely, I expect everyone to apply themselves to the best of their ability. I am enormously driven and set the bar high, a trait that comes from enthusiasm, curiosity and a touch of impatience. I also expect my colleagues to be driven.
My biggest development point is that I sometimes need to temporize. Whatever it is I have in mind, I would like to see it translated into practice as quickly as possible. Sometimes I need to look backwards to see if everyone is keeping up. In Ivory Coast, when I arrived, I was given a painting of a group of elephants with the text: if you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together. That remains an inspiring lesson to me.’

Is it possible to be an inspiration to your team while, at the same time, you need to make tough choices?
‘I certainly strive for that. People value clarity over uncertainty. In a rapidly changing environment, that constantly requires tough decisions. In the first place, employees need to feel safe. I try to give confidence to people around me. These are very capable, experienced managers who manage their own teams. We agree with each other on how we will embark on the journey together and with what attitude. Not just on direction, but in terms of our priorities, how we measure success and how we bring people along and motivate them.
It is important to keep coming back to why we do the things we do. That gives meaning to our activities. That is also why I think we should send our people out with only a few goals. We focus on a small number of things that can really make a difference. That also means making tough choices to stop many small projects, support fewer brands and put all our attention and resources into a small number of priorities that we can optimize across Europe.’

What is the biggest challenge in the organization right now?
‘I often see that there is limited overview within disciplines and people are concerned mainly with their own partial task. As a manager, I do have that overview. It is my job to understand, in time, where dots do not connect or where the synergy is lost. What are we overlooking? Who can step in where?
I want to create more focus in what we do. In our portfolio, 20 percent of our products create 80 percent of the sales and profits. We will have to look critically at that other 80 percent. Not only here, but in all European countries. It may seem interesting for a brand manager in the Netherlands to market a new flavor of drinking yogurt for one customer, but from the bigger picture, that sometimes creates unnecessary complexity and costs in our factories - which might be a barrier to a more extensive product launch in three other countries, for example. That is why it is important that we keep the big picture in mind by using common themes and priorities, by observing, analyzing, listening to what is going on and making choices.’

With its climate plan Nourishing a better planet, FrieslandCampina is pursuing a purpose-driven strategy. How is the sustainability of the sector progressing?
‘In our climate plan, we are trying to find a balance between providing affordable, healthy food and better income for farmers on the one hand, and a climate-neutral future on the other.
Since 2015, we have already reduced 39 percent CO₂ equivalent on Scope 1 and 2 - production and logistics - and 28 percent on Scope 3 - member milk, on the farm. On average, Dutch dairy farmers emit half the CO₂ per liter of milk compared to the global average, and our best farmers are another 25 percent below that.  So, we have come a long way, but at the same time we still have far to go.
By 2050, FrieslandCampina wants to have a net positive impact on biodiversity on and around members' dairy farms. Also, by 2025, 100 percent of our packaging must be recyclable or reusable. We also aim for 100 percent responsible sourcing and traceability of our key agricultural raw materials.’

According to future scenarios, the number of dairy farms will decrease in the coming years, but the demand for dairy products will remain. What scenarios do you take into account?
‘To work with scenarios, you must first have a baseline scenario. That is the most likely route, although it will probably never manifest itself exactly as we had imagined beforehand. We can always fall back on our base scenario, but from there we need to identify what internal and external events might affect our plans, and what adjustments it requires of us to still achieve our goals. There are no perfect answers, in real life everything always goes different, but the important thing is that you have considered alternatives as a team and you can adjust along the way. Then you will eventually be able to mitigate faster and more completely.’

What do technological innovations mean for the dairy industry?
'The impact is huge, but we are only beginning to understand what it can mean for us. An example: FrieslandCampina uses forecasting, where AI models predict supply and demand. Factories then set up efficient production schedules for that, using historical data and seasonal patterns. We can already see that the predictive ability of AI is better and more reliable than our best analysts. But it also offers solutions in the farmyard. Almost every farmer has a control room with screens tracking cow productivity. They can even analyze KPI's. The challenge is to integrate the technology into existing business processes. I cannot wait until we can further exploit this potential also in our commercial departments. We are already working hard to bring together internal and external information. Then we can serve our customers even better based on ‘live’ data, and tailor our portfolio and promotional activities even more relevant to consumers.’

When are you successful in your role?
‘Of course I want FrieslandCampina to win on commerce, with a leading milk price, strong results and successful brands across Europe. But I also want to be successful on the ‘soft’ side. We can better fulfill our social role by offering our farmers encouragement while at the same time taking steps towards sustainability. I am still convinced that we can be a net climate-neutral dairy company by 2050. That is an ambitious goal, when you consider that the income of dairy farmers is under significant pressure. The farmer experiences enormous pressure from the nitrogen rules, increased raw material and energy prices and the phasing out of the derogation, which allows less animal manure to be spread - derogation costs the farmer easily thousands of euros per year. Think for yourself. If you are in the red, you cannot do green. That is why the farmer needs the support of the chain - the dairy sector, but also supermarkets, consumers, suppliers, NGOs, the government, and scientists.
The fact that we are a cooperative is an advantage: cooperation is already firmly embedded in our DNA. I want to strengthen that cooperation even further, because by joining forces, sharing knowledge, and learning from others, we can again become a leading player. In the ideal situation, every farmer, supermarket, and producer would commit to a soil standard, for a fair fee that we set together as a chain. Economic and geopolitical trends are so volatile that we can no longer rely 100 percent on government policy. It is also difficult to arrive at a uniform policy within the EU, which can lead to incomparable competitive positions. Becoming more sustainable is something the sector must partly do itself. And I want to contribute to that.’

How has your leadership evolved?
'Leadership remains situational, and what I have especially learned is to sense which style is most effective in what situation, while staying true to myself. At the same time, I also make mistakes and want to learn from them. In Africa, I received feedback that I was not directive enough. Employees wanted clear instructions on what to do. I wanted them to learn to think critically for themselves and to proactively solve problems together. In the Netherlands, people thought I was too directive! Here people also like to decide for themselves and you have to give them room to do so. However, even in our consensus culture it is true that in the end a decision is made.
Furthermore, in recent years I have also realized that I am a role model in the way I balance my home situation with my work. I have not been very good at that in the past. I asked a lot from my wife and children. So now I am really making the choice to fetch my kids from school more often. I am open about this and ask my team to help me make this possible. This creates a culture where we continue to hold each other accountable for results, but also create flexibility to be the parent you want to be at home. That leads to happy employees who are better balanced, and they always perform better.’

What are your drivers?
‘What drives me is growth and development, not only of our people, but also of the society in which we operate. By working well together, I want to achieve things which we thought of at the beginning of the year to be too ambitious. What you do big, you have to do small. At home we constantly talk about where our food comes from, what is or is not sustainable, and what is or is not healthy. Then my kids ask me if I make good choices myself, and what else I can do to make a positive impact. By talking about this, my wife and I hope to help our children become conscious and responsible global citizens. They are the future generation. For them, I would really want to leave the world a little better place.’

This interview was published in Management Scope 01 2025.