Advice, adventure and too many emails

Whether out in the bush or forging a path in business, chasing waterfalls can pay off, as we discover speaking to SVP of Digital Operations Roger
Scholl. In part two of our interview, we leave behind Lean Six Sigma and dive into Rogers work-life balance, and the moments that make up the man.

In one sentence summarize what HBC means to you:

Roger: HBC is an innovative, dynamic, and unique environment for executing a modern department vision.

How many emails do you have and how are you adjusting to
Gmail?
Roger: Thousands. Gmail is nice because you get tons of
storage. Googles advanced search technology is also very
effective for searching emails in Gmail. At first I was concerned
about sorting by name, as I used the feature a lot in Outlook,
but you can just go to the search bar and type in from: with
the name and all emails from that person come up. One thing I
didn't like is if I had a meeting starting in 15 minutes, the
calendar would pop up and take over my entire screen,
regardless of what I was working on. Now Ive figured it out and
there is a place under Settings where you can stop that from
happening.

Are there any routines that you stick to?

Roger: I ride my bike to work every day even when the
weather is somewhat bad. Its only 10-15 minutes and I always
convince myself that I wouldnt be any wetter than if I was just
getting over to the subway.

What are you really into outside of work?

Roger: My kids. I have two small children. My social life is about getting to see them before they go to bed, spending time with them and taking them out
to do cool things. My daughter is 16 months old and my son is seven years old. Im coaching my sons Little League team for the second year this spring.
Its a two-day commitment every weekend, often at obscenely early hours. Its fun trying to get 7-year-olds to follow instructions and get a little better
each week. Im also into professional baseball. I like the New York Mets. It used to be the Yankees, but my family has been Mets fans for years. [Roger
laughs] It didnt used to be safe going to Yankee Stadium when I was a kid. The Mets are very family-friendly and the children can run the bases
sometimes after the games.

Whats your most unique travel experience?

Roger: I climbed Simangande Waterfall on Samosir Island which is in the middle of Lake Toba
in Sumatra, Indonesia. Its a large volcanic island and other travelers told us we could climb a
waterfall there. Theres no tour guide or anything, though, so we knew it would be a bit of an
adventure. My friend and I went to the jungle this is before people had smartphones with maps
or compasses and we got totally lost. Then this guy popped out of a tall brush holding a giant
machete. We thought we were finished but he said, Its okay! and offered to blaze a trail for us.
He just used this machete to clear the shrubs and make a path. I think we ended up giving him
about a months worth of local salary following our descent, because we were so grateful to have
survived he literally saved our lives. The waterfall is above a tiered rice paddy and the
villagers had created an irrigation system next to the waterfall, so we were using that to climb. It
wasnt a dry, concrete path but one carved out of slippery stone with a stream flowing underfoot.
At times we had to proceed upward with our bellies against a wall on a 2 foot ledge with a 300
foot drop just behind us. My glasses got knocked off by a vine while climbing and fell off the side
of the ledge, never to be seen again. No pun intended. That was a place where I thought I might
actually die. The photograph is of me and my co-adventurer at the top of the waterfall after
coming to the realization that the adventure we just completed was pretty amazing, and pretty
stupid.

So back in the city, before ecommerce, you were a chef in New York?
Roger: It began with The New York Times classified section. Im not sure if newspapers still
have those. After deferring law school and travelling for several months, I took a job at China
Grill in New York City then moved onto a French restaurant called Quatorze as a sous chef, then
later, other French restaurants in the Essex House and Parker Meridien hotels. Deciding it was
not conducive to my long term health or family life, an opportunity arose when a family friend
who ran a hedge fund spotted that I had a financial acumen. I spoke to this friend about an
investment Id made in a stock previously; he later did the same thing and said it had made him
a lot of money. He asked if Id considered a career change, and in fact I had. So I did an internship with his firm and then I joined a start-up ecommerce
business in dentistry, which was later sold to a company in Arizona. I decided that I didnt want to relocate there so I took the severance package and a
few months to decompress. Then a friends wife sent me an email about a job that was opening up at Saks. The roles and responsibilities were very
similar to what I had been doing at the dental company, but on a much larger scale. I became a Project Director and over time built out the Merch Ops,
Product Management, and QA teams for Saks.com.

What is your favorite dish? Any tips?

Roger: Health consideration be damned but I really like a good cassoulet in the winter. Its definitely a hearty French dish: duck confit, pork, sausage
and beans. I also traditionally make a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving. Thats the weekend I do a lot of cooking. I have a big outdoor charcoal grill, which
effectively works as a smoker. Its not an eight-hour smoking process more heat than smoke but rain or shine, it gets done. My tip - turkey is
underrated. Make sure you brine it for 24 hours before cooking though to keep it juicy.

What is your favorite app or website besides HBC?

Roger: Spotify. I have a shared account with my wife and son. Its really cool if she adds music, I can see it on my device. I can also play the music my
son likes for him when were together. You can pick what you want to hear offline and online. Theres also a good social component about it. If you are
interested in something, there are already multiple playlists already set up around that genre that you can access on the fly. Its like an endless supply of
the mix tapes we used to trade back in my college days.

Are there any ecommerce vendors that you admire?

Roger: I think it depends on the category of business. One of the benefits that Sephora or Zappos has is that they specialize in a finite number of
categories and they really execute well at what they are focused on. I read an article on Sephora continuing to outperform in our current challenging
environment, online, in-store and Omni channel. Its a very seamless, Omni experience. And they have a strong focus on in-store technology. Zappos
does a really good job with a focus on footwear and perpetuating their customer-first DNA.

What advice do you have for future leaders?

Roger: Be open-minded. Always look for opportunities to volunteer and take on additional responsibility. Dont wait for others and dont wait to be
identified. Demonstrate drive and determination. Take the initiative: if you ask for a promotion your boss shouldnt even have to think twice about
whether or not you are ready because you should already have been demonstrating the competencies necessary to succeed at the next level.