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Our travels for the CEO series have taken us to companies of all sizes and scopes, and for this episode, we went to one of the simply enormous ones. Zebra Technologies is one of the most dynamic B2B technology companies in the world. They digitize and automate workflows for businesses, have approximately 10,000 employees, and generate approximately $5 billion in revenue. I had the chance to meet with CEO Bill Burns to find out how he manages to run such an important operation.
Below are some highlights from our in-depth conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full video above.
Global reach
“You see our Zebra company in everyday life. We are a digital solutions provider that enables businesses to intelligently connect data, resources and people. You see us at the checkout of a supermarket point of sale, when an employee of the post office is delivering a package to your home and many other places. Companies use our mobile devices to scan the package, get signatures and things like that. All the largest retailers worldwide – 86% of Fortune 500 companies – are our customers today. We look at them as retail, transportation, logistics, manufacturing and warehousing, healthcare and government.”
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The NFL Connection
“As a company, we support the NFL. We use the same types of labels that would be used in retail or transportation logistics to track packages or inventory to track every cleat, every shoulder pad, every helmet worn by a player The initial NFL use case was for fan engagement and improving the broadcast. And then the last few use cases are really about protecting the health and safety of players.”
The CEO’s journey
“I started my career in sales, at a large telecommunications company that sold to people like Verizon and others. And then I took on a role leading Europe, the Middle East and Africa on the sales side and expanded in marketing, services and other areas. And then I joined Zebra about nine years ago to lead the acquisition effort. Zebra was a billion-dollar specialty printing company. They bought two and a half billion dollars of revenue from Motorola to the company’s business and so overnight a $1 billion business became a $3.5 billion business.”
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Leadership responsibilities
“There are three legs of the stool, right? That’s how I see the company: our customers, our employees and our investors. Ultimately, we’re in the business to continue to grow and make money. But you have to do the right thing things first. You must be able to reward, attract and retain the best employees around the world. If you do this, you will best serve your customers. If you best serve your customers, you will increase your revenue, your revenue, your profitability and your stock will rise and you will take care of your investors.”
Leading through difficult times
“I think demand for our services skyrocketed during COVID and then in 2023, demand was back to 2019 levels. So we found ourselves in the position of having to do the normal things that most businesses would do .Look at your real estate and travel expenses and all these things internally. We’ve also done voluntary retirement programs. We thought about creating new opportunities for people within the organization. It’s worked great, but it’s always difficult to scale back. It’s always a lot more fun growing up. But sometimes you have to make tough business decisions.”
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Career advice for future leaders
“No one cares as much about your career as you do, but be patient because it doesn’t happen overnight. And if you work at a big company and have opportunities there, there’s nowhere else you’re more respected than at inside that company. They know you’re ready, so be patient.”
Discover more profiles of innovative and impactful leaders by visiting the CEO Series archives.