The Beer Boss’ Big Challenge

It’s the question that keeps even the best and brightest leaders up at night: Will the strategies that got us to where we are now take us to where we need to go in the future?

But for new Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris, the answer was easy: No.

“For the last 10 or 20 years, we had a strategy that was very simple and very repeatable,” Doukeris recently told Fortune Magazine. “Very good cost management, very good cash generation, and excellent, excellent M&A capabilities.”

But the circumstances have dramatically changed in recent years.

There’s now a major global perception that liquor is far more appealing than beer. The way retailers and consumers wish to purchase Anheuser-Busch products has shifted as well. And government regulations have restricted some potential acquisitions that the company might’ve turned to in the past.

So how does Doukeris maintain Anheuser-Busch’s reputation as a staple of the industry and prevent it from becoming obsolete?

How does a leader transform an organization that’s operated in a particular fashion for decades and adapt it to new industry trends?

For Doukeris, the answer really lies in data analysis, product evaluation and creating a long-term action plan.

He is focusing far more on the company’s increasingly-popular premium beer brands like Michelob Ultra, which generate about 30 percent of revenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Anheuser-Busch is also pushing into biotech. It’s turning to plant-based proteins for its beverages and away from the now less-popular malt barley products.

But, perhaps most importantly, Doukeris has created not a one- or five-year plan to transform the company, but a 10-year plan. He’s scrutinizing micro industry trends that he expects to become pervasive over the next decade (the use of apps by smaller retailers with various promotions, for example) and ensuring Anheuser-Busch is ahead of its competitors in acting on these.

While it’s early in his tenure, “AB InBev’s sales growth has improved dramatically in recent quarters, and its shares gained about 4 percent on Monday,” according to the Journal.

The lessons of this approach aren’t just isolated to Anheuser-Busch, though.

Whether we’re the new coach of a high school sports team, the incoming principal at a floundering high school or are now occupying the corner office at a previously-struggling company, Doukeris’ strategy has some key takeaways.

When trying to bring macro change to an organization, we must:

1. Observe industry trends: What, if anything, has changed in our industry and are we keeping up with the times?

2. Respond to the demand: What do those we’re leading or aiming to serve really want? How can we really meet their needs?

3. Create the long-term action plan: How do we bring about change that’s not short-term reactionary but long-term sustainable? How do we make sure we’re still around in five or 10 years? What is the goal and what is our time frame to achieve it?

Whether Doukeris’ plan launches Anheuser-Busch InBev to new heights in the years ahead remains to be seen. There will be challenges and external threats he can do little about.

But he has observed, assessed and created a tangible actionable plan that he feels responds to current challenges while simultaneously taking the company in the direction it needs to travel.

Any leader can drink to that.