German-born Peter Holicki has been based outside his home country for some time now, but as Dow's senior vice president of Operations, Manufacturing & Engineering, and EHS Operations, he brings an internationally forward-thinking perspective to the company's 2025 sustainability goals.
"Dow understands that profitability, sustainability and citizenship belong together and are equally important," he said. "This company keeps changing, and we do not live in the past.
"Our focus now is on our 2025 sustainability goals, particularly our three-part strategy for addressing plastic waste, one of the most important sustainability issues of our time. We are working very hard to keep plastics out of the environment, increasing our impact through global partnerships and maintaining a strong focus on delivering circular economy solutions."
Founded in 1897 by Herbert Henry Dow, the company continues to be driven by its founder's philosophy to "do it better." Through the decades, Dow's leaders have continually searched for better products, better ways to make them and a better understanding of the science that makes them possible.
"Inspired by this history of fearless entrepreneurship, Dow continues to reinvent itself to meet the opportunities of the era," Holicki stated. "Our ambition is to become the most innovative, customer- centric, inclusive and sustainable materials science company in the world, and our goal is to deliver value growth and best-in-class performance."
After earning degrees in chemical engineering and business in Germany, Holicki started working for Dow in 1987 at the Stade site close to Hamburg, Germany, where he was tasked with introducing a digital process automation system and ran several unit operations in the chemical plant.
After nine years in the same location, Holicki was called into the office of his bosses' boss, who informed him he would be taking a role in another country, handed him an airplane ticket and told him he would be starting the new job the very next week.
"Our young family had a great time in our new environment, and it was at that time I began to really understand how big the company was," Holicki recalled. "I really liked Dow's open-door policy and freedom to act. I always advise employees to keep their minds open, make less obvious connections, have broad interests and always strive to make the organization you work for successful. Quality will always make it to the top, not always to the very top but as far is it can go.
"When you leave school, you are a professional learner, but when you join the workforce, you have to migrate your learnings to application and delivery and later into leadership. You have to become an influential leader before you start setting and safeguarding goals and deliverables, let alone determining strategy and overall direction."
Holicki said a typical day for him consists of ample interaction with peers as well as teams and individuals that work for him, whether through direct meetings or via IT tools, and he still travels both domestically and internationally 40 percent of the time.
"We run a large global organization, and inclusion and diversity becomes ever more important," he explained. "If you ask your employees to go the extra mile, they must feel empowered and encouraged to do so. I need to have their back and ensure an environment that is safe.
"One key skill I believe is a must in this role is being humble, listening even if you know or think you know the answer. Developing talent and making sure we have a solid pipeline for all key roles within Dow is a needed skill. Spotting talent is vital in my role. As an executive, you have to see how to simplify the work, set priorities and prepare for the future through controlled risk taking."
In the first 20 years of his career, Holicki recounted, it was instrumental for him to have leaders who kept encouraging him to do more, reach higher and strive harder. "As soon as they saw I mastered an activity, they gave me more," he said. "They sent me into different locations and different functions and kept me on my toes. This allowed me to learn a great deal about Dow as a company. Later I realized I had to become more self-driven and learn the importance of networking. But right from the beginning, I knew there was no surrogate for performance.
"I like to keep my organization in a state of activation and have a bias against anything too settled. Mentors are simply not enough; you need sponsors who take accountability for your development and not just offer advice."
A future of continuous improvement
Holicki said Dow will continue to find strategic and sustainable ways to "do it better" in 2020 and beyond.
"We have to understand shareholder value isn't everything," he remarked. "We also need to pay attention to our societal and environmental responsibilities, and prevent our organizations from negatively impacting people's safety.
"Well over 90 percent of what we touch and see every day is enabled by chemistry. Any progress in communication, health, mobility, sustainability or food safety, just to name a few, is not possible without our industry. This is outright amazing.
"Since we are so diverse as an industry, it is often difficult to point out just one contribution. It's like parents who have to do a million things before their children are ready: Our industry contributes a broad array of solutions for others to flourish on."
Holicki added that the vibrancy of the chemical industry is evidenced by the dynamic rise and fall of many key players in recent years, as well as how fast the digital landscape is changing.
"Of the top 20 chemical companies 20 years ago, less than 50 percent are still here today," he noted. "We constantly see the rise of new players and those that exit as their strategy execution fails. To stay in the game, you have to be in tune with your markets and shareholders, deliver beyond your license to operate, and constantly try to grow and drive productivity. Dow's recent merger with DuPont and subsequent spin into three global leaders is the best example of our passion for always wanting to do better."
Tackling tomorrow's problems today
As the industry moves forward, Holicki said, talent, inclusion and diversity, and sustainability will continue to garner more attention as paramount social expectations.
"Finding talent and ensuring public policy is fact- and science-based are some of the biggest issues facing my profession," he explained. "In the U.S. alone, more than 100 million work in the service sector, 22 million in government and only 12 million in manufacturing. Emotional claims and allegations, many times unfounded in science, are made every day; yet we have a shrinking number of workers who can invent and make the products that will solve society's biggest problems. Finding a solution to these challenges will require the talent of young people engaging and having a passion for skilled trades, a knowledge of STEM, and the knowhow to make the things society wants and needs."
In the near future, Holicki predicts an ever-greater influx of digitalization within the energy sector. "This will bring entire value chains closer together, eliminate waste and allow for more custom-made production," he said. "New products will aim to preserve food better, improve health and comfort, manage climate change and provide answers to a circular economy."
As far as Holicki and Dow are concerned, these industry changes are welcome, bringing new and unprecedented benefits that will far outweigh the challenges.
"I want to make sure Dow remains in the game, has options going forward, and is recognized by all shareholders as a reliable, active and value-delivering partner. I feel grateful that I can play a role today and know the next generation will have even more success."
For more information, visit www.dow.com or call (989) 636-1000.
