24 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2018
STANLEY BERGMAN:
LEADERSHIP LESSONS
By WARREN STRUGATCH
Born in Port Elizabeth, South
Africa, Stanley Bergman earned his
accounting degree in 1973 and emigrated
to the United States shortly
thereafter. After a stint with BDO,
he joined Henry Schein, the world’s
largest dental and medical supplies
distributor, as chief financial officer
in 1980. Nine years later, he was
named chairman and chief executive
officer of what is now Long Island’s
lone Fortune 500 company. Henry
Schein, Inc. is LI’s largest publicly
traded company as measured by
sales, which totaled $12.5B in 2017.
For most of us, our parents are
our first influencers. How have
your parents influenced you? My
parents, Arnold and Ruth, were refugees
from Germany. They came over
to South Africa in 1936 and opened
a store. This was during the apartheid
era. We lived in an area called
Port Elizabeth. It was a remarkable
community where mixed-race people,
blacks, descendants of people
who had been slaves, Malay people,
Chinese people, Dutch people and
Huguenots, lived together. They
created these phenomenal communities
during the apartheid era. I was
fortunate enough to grow up in one
of them. While growing up I learned
you can get things done by understanding
other peoples’ cultures.
What do you mean? Businesses
can thrive by being involved in the
community. My father was very involved
in the community. He taught
me that if somebody is poor and has
a challenge, you help that person and
the whole community will respect
you. They’ll work with you to make
sure your business is successful. He
was beloved in his community. When
he walked down the street, if someone
stopped him and asked for his help,
he gave it. I learned from his example.
If someone knocks on the door right
now and says they have a problem, I’ll
excuse myself and try to help. I know
I’ll get paid back in spades.
You’ve mentioned Nelson Mandela
as a major influence. Mandela’s
autobiography was a thick book and
not easy to get through, but well
worth reading. About 10 years ago
another book was published Mandela’s
Way: Lessons for an Uncertain
Age, by Richard Stengel and Nelson
Mandela. I was impressed with Mandela’s
insistence on always looking
like the leader, even when he was in
shackles. He addressed people like a
leader. He also communicated that
bravery is not merely the absence of
fear. Having fear doesn’t mean you
can’t be brave also.
Meaning you can’t use fear as an
excuse? Everybody is fearful. That
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something
when circumstances call for it.
What else did you learn from Mandela?
I remember how after he was released
from prison, one of his first acts
was to invite his jailer to visit his home
as his guest. They ate together. That
impressed me as an act of leadership.
Speaking of leadership, what does
it mean to you? Authenticity. Leadership
is about engaging people. Authenticity
is the key to engagement. If you
are authentic you will engage people.
If you engage everyone you will win.
Hardly an easy task. The key is
to find people who believe in your
company’s DNA. Leaders are DNA
carriers. You can lead by putting
people in roles for which they might
not be technically perfect, but if they
carry the DNA – that is, if they’re
culturally qualified – they can lead.
These are the people who are culture
missionaries. They go out and spread
the culture.
Why is that important? We have
thousands of competitors around the
world. There is nothing whatsoever
that Henry Schein does that others
can’t do. We are the biggest by far
because we have the best culture.
Culture is about values. Culture
adapts over time, but the values you
build your culture on have to remain
constant. The ways they align with
your constituents are what makes
you successful.
C-SUITE
Stanley Bergman is CEO of Henry Schein, Inc., Long Island’s lone Fortune 500 company. (Photo by Bob Giglione)
HENRY SCHEIN, INC.
Melville, N.Y.
Global distributor of healthcare
products and services
Fortune 500 ranking: 235th (2017)
Revenue (2017): $12.5B (Up 8 percent
over 2016)
Number of employees: 22,000+
17 consecutive years on Fortune’s
World’s Most Admired list