Recent Letters to CEOs

October 17, 2025

Dear CEO,

PepsiCo stands at a moment that calls for reflection as much as reaction. The company remains an icon of American enterprise, built on innovation, endurance, and global reach. 

Yet in recent years, growth has flattened and valuation multiples have narrowed against peers. Shareholders, investors and analysts alike are questioning whether the structure that once propelled success may now be restraining performance.

Recent commentary from Elliott Investment Management has revived the discussion around structure and focus. Proposals to evaluate refranchising of bottling operations, streamline divisions, and impose sharper capital discipline deserve serious consideration. These ideas need not be accepted outright, but they merit careful consideration. 

Markets reward clarity. Shareholders, large and small, respond to credible plans anchored in data and accountability. When material questions about structure and efficiency go unanswered, speculation fills the void. Silence can distort intent, and inaction can be mistaken for resistance.

Your Board has an opportunity to demonstrate confidence by outlining a clear process for review, including specific benchmarks, timeframes, and measurable outcomes.  Choosing constructive engagement with long-term shareholders can strengthen governance rather than compromise it.

Leadership is often tested not by external critique but by the willingness to confront it candidly. PepsiCo’s brands will endure. Whether its structure evolves quickly enough to sustain superior returns is now the essential question.

Respectfully,
Dear-CEO

(c) Copyright 2025. American Capitol Media LLC.

October 15, 2025

Dear CEO,

At a time when many executives speak in the sterile language of quarterly earnings, you spoke in the language of conscience.

Your candor about the widening gulf between affluent and struggling consumers was more than an economic observation; it was an act of leadership.  Few CEOs acknowledge, as you did, that the long-term health of the American marketplace depends on shared prosperity, not just shareholder returns.

Your insight captures a truth too often ignored in corporate America:  that when the customer base fragments, so does the social contract that sustains commerce itself.  Best Buy’s decision to broaden its product range and preserve affordability is not merely good business; it is good corporate citizenship.  You have reminded us that capitalism endures only when it serves both the buyer and the body politic.

Of course, this path is not without peril.  Inflation, tariffs, and global supply constraints strain even the strongest operators.  Yet the greater test lies in balance — in maintaining premium innovation for those who can afford it, while sustaining access and dignity for those who cannot.  That dual mandate requires imagination as much as management.

Here is our counsel that follows from your own example:

• Make affordability an ethos, not a tactic.  It is easier to discount prices than to democratize value.  A company that designs for inclusion will always outlast one that discounts for desperation.
   
• Tell the story of empathy.  Consumers remember which brands stood with them in hard times; employees remember which leaders understood their strain.
   
• Champion economic balance as a corporate virtue.  When leaders like you speak about inequality, it invites others to do the same — and may yet restore the moral center of the marketplace.
   

Your words at the Fortune Summit should not vanish into the news cycle.  They deserve to become part of a larger dialogue about the future of American business. Hopefeully a  dialogue that recognizes both the importance of margins and morals.

Leadership that listens, and companies that care, will define the next era of commerce.  Thank you for reminding us that even in a digital world, humanity remains the most powerful technology of all.

Respectfully,
Dear-CEO

(c) Copyright 2025. American Capitol Media LLC.

September 5, 2025

Dear CEO,

Like many Americans, we love Cracker Barrel. For over twenty-five years, our road trips from Virginia were planned with your restaurants in mind. They were more than pit stops. They were part of the journey. 

For our kids, Cracker Barrel meant rocking chairs on the porch, the curios in the country store, and meals that felt like home. And even today, my wife and I still think it's kind of special when the two of us can just stop in for an easy, simple, and satisfying Old Timer's breakfast. That is the magic of your brand.

The recent flap over your rebrand was, candidly, an unforced error. It was not the food, nor the service, that drew criticism. It was the perception that your team committed the cardinal sin of looking past the customer. You trusted consultants’ data more than the diners’ devotion.   Here is what you guys missed:

Cracker Barrel is a cultural anchor. People come because of the familiar experience, not because of design trends.

Your brand is Americana nostalgia itself. You are selling comfort food and comfort values. Updating the look is fine, but when you dilute the essence of nostalgia, you risk severing the very bond that has sustained your growth for decades.

Relevance is not the same as resonance. The goal is not to look modern; it is to feel timeless.

Data is no substitute for devotion. Consultants can crunch numbers and test designs, but they cannot measure the feeling of a child rocking on the front porch chairs, the joy of walking through the country store, or the memory of a road-weary family breaking cornbread together.

Cracker Barrel is not just a restaurant — it is a ritual. Families like mine don’t stop by because of fonts, logos, or “modernized” design schemes. We stop because Cracker Barrel is a place where tradition feels safe, familiar, and real.

Your customer is the compass. Loyalty like ours is earned over decades, not months of market research. It must never be taken for granted nor “reimagined” away in the name of progress. A logo cannot be separated from the feeling it carries. Change it carelessly, and you disrupt the bond with loyal customers.

Cracker Barrel does not need to reinvent itself to grow. It needs to reaffirm what has always worked — the warmth, consistency, and Americana that no competitor can replicate.

What this episode shows is the need for a clearer connection between leadership, brand vision, and the voice of the customer. That is where seasoned outside perspective can help. Not to tell you what to do, but to ensure your decisions never lose sight of who you serve.

Your success has always come from one simple truth: families trust Cracker Barrel to feel like home. Protect that, and the rest will follow. 

The lesson here is simple, yet profound: in the rush to be “relevant,” don’t lose sight of being revered. Your best growth strategy is not reinvention, but reconnection.

Cracker Barrel does not need to become something new. It needs only to become even more of what it already is — the great American roadside table.

Respectfully,
Dear-CEO

(c) Copyright 2025. American Capitol Media LLC.