{"id":13959,"date":"2017-06-05T10:22:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.allamericanentertainment.com\/?p=13959"},"modified":"2019-05-03T08:20:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T12:20:36","slug":"randy-lewis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/randy-lewis\/","title":{"rendered":"Randy Lewis: Enabling the Disabled"},"content":{"rendered":"

The father of an autistic son, Randy Lewis<\/a> knew firsthand the struggles disabled people face each day.\u00a0 Most people with physical or mental disabilities are turned away from employment.\u00a0 If they manage to obtain a position, they are paid less than their peers.\u00a0 He saw how his son, Austin, was overlooked and decided to make a difference.\u00a0 Lewis, the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain & Logistics at Walgreens, did just that.\u00a0 He pioneered a model that created an effective and inclusive workforce.<\/p>\n

Lewis set out to disprove the misconception that people with disabilities cannot perform well at work.\u00a0 He asserts that Walgreens \u201cdidn\u2019t lower the bar when it came to performance, but we did have to open the door wider to include those who are routinely overlooked.\u00a0 The results exceeded our wildest expectations.\u201d\u00a0 The opportunity began when a new distribution center was built, more automated than ever before.\u00a0 Due to the efficiency of automation, Lewis could start the process of hiring more disabled workers.\u00a0 Now, ten percent of their employees also live with a disability.<\/p>\n

“Once you see a person with a disability as you, not them, other things fade away.”<\/h3>\n

In 2013, Lewis retired from Walgreens after 16 dedicated years.\u00a0 Inspired by Austin, in 2014 Lewis authored his memoir, No Greatness without Goodness: How a Father\u2019s Love Changed a Company and Sparked a Movement<\/em>.\u00a0 Bob Wright<\/a> believes Lewis is a \u201creal trailblazer\u201d and Temple Gandin<\/a> praised his book, stating it is a \u201cmust-read for everyone in business school.\u201d\u00a0 In his book, Lewis explains how he always remained focus on being a business, not a charity. \u00a0Walgreens held, and continues to hold, high expectations for their workers with disabilities.\u00a0 All workers must meet the same standards, and their model works.\u00a0 In fact, his program has been implemented in companies such as Procter & Gamble, Lowe\u2019s, UPS, and more.<\/p>\n

Lewis is a Peace Corps volunteer, Fortune 50 senior executive, Arthur Murray dance instructor, and, above all, an advocate for others.\u00a0 His mission to make a difference has altered countless lives.\u00a0 In a world where those with disabilities are ignored or underemployed, Randy Lewis is their voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The father of an autistic son, Randy Lewis knew firsthand the struggles disabled people face each day.\u00a0 Most people with physical or mental disabilities are turned away from employment.\u00a0 If they manage to obtain a position, they are paid less than their peers.\u00a0 He saw how his son, Austin, was overlooked and decided to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":13961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[660,347,306,798,331,789,790],"class_list":{"0":"post-13959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-speaker-spotlight","8":"tag-advocate","9":"tag-author","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-disabilities","12":"tag-disability","13":"tag-randy-lewis","14":"tag-walgreens"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Randy-Lewis-e1496411184369.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13959"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18766,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13959\/revisions\/18766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allamericanspeakers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}