UPS is easy to like: the lion’s share of its drivers are unionized, and nearly half of its board of directors and 33% of its C-suite are women. The company led the industry in on-time delivery in 2021, moving more packages than ever while posting $13 billion in profit. To achieve this, it raised prices and turned away lower-yield businesses, rather than trying to build capacity that may not be needed down the road. “The COVID-19 crisis became a great crystallizer,” says CEO Carol B. Tomé, who, after 24 years at Home Depot, came out of retirement to head UPS just weeks before the pandemic hit. “We honed our purpose. We strategized. We reorganized. We prioritized.”
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