Run Toward the Mess: What It Takes to Grow Into the CEO Seat with Owen Miller

Anderson Williams: Welcome to Bigger. Stronger. Faster. — the podcast exploring how Shore Capital Partners brings billion-dollar resources to the lower middle market. In this episode, I talk with Owen Miller, the CEO of 360Pack, a food and beverage packaging distribution business headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Owen joined 360Pack through the Shore Capital CXO Fellows Program in the company’s first year of operations. 

In less than five years, he moved from CXO to VP of Supply Chain and Operations to COO and now to the CEO seat. Owen talks about what it took to grow into each of these progressive roles, including learning the business alongside founders with decades of industry experience and what he’s had to learn in the CEO seat that he couldn’t have learned anywhere else. 

He shares why the ambiguity of the CXO role is exactly the point. It’s a role that demands intellectual curiosity, humility, and running toward the messiest parts of the business, all while building influence and credibility, typically without much formal authority. Finally, Owen offers some straight talk for anyone considering the CXO program. 

If you’re looking for a cushy, kick-your-feet-up kind of leadership opportunity, the CXO program is definitely not for you. If you’re looking to be pushed and to grow like never before, there is no better place to be. 

To get us started, will you just give us your name, tell us what you do, and where you do it? 

Owen Miller: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me, Anderson. Owen Miller, CEO with 360Pack. We’re headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and 360Pack, we’re a food and beverage packaging distribution business, so we work with food manufacturers as well as other industrial manufacturers and provide packaging and help them with everything supply chain packaging related. 

Wide range of SKUs, and we service the heck out of our customers, delivering just in time and take the complexity of, “What do I put my product in, and how do I make sure it shows up here when I need it?” and make sure it’s delivered on time for them every time.

Anderson Williams: So you started, uh, in the Shore Capital CXO program. Now you’re the CEO of 360Pack. Can you just kind of run us down that journey, how you got placed with 360Pack and how you’ve played a number of roles, but in a relatively short period of time, you’ve gone from CXO to CEO. Can you just give us a snapshot? 

Owen Miller: Yeah, absolutely. So I joined 360Pack right at its inception, its first year of operations. We were one location up in Portland, Oregon. And I came in, and my background is heavily in finance and with a stint at another operating company as well, so analytics, finance, and operations. And, and that’s really where my passion lay and wanted to dig into a company and work with a company and help them on that side of the business. 

So I joined 360Pack. We acquired two other businesses and helped integrate and improve on the operating side. And so I moved from VP of Supply Chain and Operations when I first joined as CXO to COO, and then was selected into the CEO role about a year and a half ago. So the roles changed quickly over that, you know, four-and-a-half, five-year period, and through that, I learned a lot. 

Through my team, I learned a lot, and I think that’s what set me up with the tools to step into each of those progressive roles and continue supporting my team to take on those challenges. 

Anderson Williams: I’m just curious how you have had to evolve and develop yourself for each of those progressive roles. It’s one thing to have that role put in front of you. It’s another thing to be able to, one, seize it and then succeed in it. So I’m just curious about your own growth and what that’s looked like. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. I mean, tremendous amount of growth, and certainly I wouldn’t be sitting here without a lot of help from folks both at 360Pack, at Shore, and along the way. I mean, a ton of functional learning that I had to do. 

How does the business operate? How do the partners and founders who started the business, how do they think about running the company? And then layering in things I’m reading, what I’m hearing from other industry operators, from our board, and bringing those together to try and take the company to the next level. 

So doing functional growth, how do I go roll out and improve our ordering cadence so we have the right level of inventory on the floor, to, you know, how do our customers think about their markets, and a lot of that comes through speaking with the customers as well as spending time with the individuals who started this business and have spent 20, 30-plus years in the business. 

I mean, there’s no way that I’m gonna catch up to their level of industry experience, but I can certainly learn from them and ride along with them and take them into the conversation and, and leverage their experience to accelerate my learning and then work closely with them to move the business forward. 

Anderson Williams: Given that you’ve been there from the beginning, and you’ve evolved with the company in, in your roles, what’s something that you’ve learned in the CEO seat that you just couldn’t have learned anywhere but in the CEO seat? 

Owen Miller: I think it’s a… You know, you, you talk about what do you have to do to make a business successful, and in the CEO seat, everyone’s looking at you saying, “What’s next?” 

And sitting in the seat, you have to really rely on others to be a part of that development journey of the plan, the strategy, ’cause you need the whole team in order to execute it. So I think that’s definitely stood out to me, and we have a lot of really strong folks on our team and a lot of amazing ideas and knowledge. 

Now, it’s challenging to wrestle all of those ideas into a concrete plan, but I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned and have appreciated, is coming to see kind of what the plan is through those different perspectives and leverage those different ideas to get to a really strong plan ultimately. And that plan’s gonna change, right? Markets change, opinions change, and being dynamic with the plan but also sticking to the heart of it is really important as well. 

Anderson Williams: It’s interesting, as I heard you, and I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I heard a combination of the CEO you’ve been sort of promoted to this singular seat, but at the same time, you’ve recognized that you actually need to work with and through others probably more than ever before. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of stakeholders that are here at the table and a lot of stakeholders that have very aligned incentives, and they want the same thing. But they’re sitting with different perspectives, and so bringing those together to make sure you’re pointed in the same direction is huge. 

Anderson Williams: I wanna jump back a little bit to the CXO program, and people who have joined the CXO program are generally aspiring to be a CEO or at least be in the C-suite. You’ve achieved that, and I’m curious when you joined the CXO program, what were you looking for? What made that the right opportunity? Obviously, it’s worked out in hindsight and pretty rapidly for you, but for somebody listening who may be considering this kind of an opportunity, take us back to your mindset and what that looked like when you just first started the CXO program. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. So I, I joined the CXO program for exactly that, to put myself in a position to learn and to grow so that someday, I didn’t know when, someday I would be in a position to take on a CEO role and be successful in that. That came sooner than I expected, but what I was looking for out of the CXO role was the opportunities to challenge myself and to be surrounded by folks in the business, by folks at Shore, and by other industry experts that I could learn from, contribute back to really through hard work, effort, open ears, listening and taking feedback and being very introspective and thinking about how I can show up every day and grow every day. 

And through that, I saw the CXO program as a path to keep my learning curve steep so that I could move towards that CEO role someday and contribute back to my employees, my company, and broader community from that seat. 

Anderson Williams: And what did that look like? When you think about keeping that learning curve steep, just practically speaking, what is the CXO program as it relates to ramping up or intensifying or expediting that kind of learning? 

Owen Miller: So the CXO program is, I think, by design, pretty ambiguous. You are a chief of staff dropped into a company that also doesn’t really have its direction fully figured out. Many, many times it’s, you know, a company that was family-run, put together with a couple other companies that were family-run, and now we’re gonna go grow up and become an enterprise, right? 

And those companies from where they came from, they do some things very well, right? But are they designed at that point in time to triple, quadruple, five, ten X in size and support that? Often not, and certainly, you know, we had some growing pains to go through as well at 360Pack. So the CXO program is putting you smack in the middle of that with a new management team that’s feeling each other out, feeling how we’re gonna tackle these problems, and it’s an opportunity to roll your sleeves up, get to work, and start to build trust and build capabilities with the rest of the executive team, ultimately supporting the CEO to become successful, grow, and go from there. 

Anderson Williams: And you’re here, we’re talking from Nashville. You’re here in Nashville because of the Music City in May CXO event. You’ve already achieved becoming a CEO through this pathway. Why are you here? Why are you back? Why are you still connected even after five years or so with a program that, you know, is basically kind of a two-year run? Say a little bit about why it’s important for you to be here. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. And I’ve talked a lot about what the CXO program’s meant to me from a personal professional growth and my ability to contribute to my company. But I think a big part of my growth has also been the connections I’ve made through the CXO program, as well as the programming and the training here in the CXO program. 

I’m still in touch with my cohorts that I went through these events with years ago. It’s, you know, the new entrants to the program now ask me when I joined the CXO program, and it, you know, half a decade ago now. Time flies. But I still connect with those CXOs. They’re professionals that I respect their opinions and leverage their insights to help me move faster at 360Pack and make decisions and learn from things that they’ve tried that worked or didn’t work, whether it’s strategies, whether it’s systems and tools that they’ve put in place, and then share back as well. 

So I’m here to share things I’ve seen in my five years through the program and help them along in their journeys because I’ve gotten a ton out of this as well, and I’ve learned a ton from my peers in this program as well. 

Anderson Williams: Yeah. And when I’ve talked with CXOs and they go back to thinking about what their options were coming out of business school, it’s, it’s kind of invest, consult, or operate. Like, which of these roads am I gonna take? And typically, if you’re coming to CXO program, you’re looking to join the operator side. Based on your background pre-CXO and pre-360Pack, what have you learned about operations? What have you learned about operating a company in the real world, a microcap company that’s backed by private equity specifically? Like, say more about that experience and what, when you think about a room full of thirty-five CXOs, what that operator conversation looks and sounds like a bit that you just couldn’t know unless you experienced it. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. So that’s what I was interested in coming out of graduate school is that operator. And I did join a private equity backed operating company and, and then joined the Shore program, a much smaller company in 360Pack. But in both cases, you know, it’s about taking what that business does well now and improving on it. And I think when you’re not in the operator seat and you’re on the outside looking in at a company, it’s very easy to write down on a piece of paper what should change with that company or critique what they’re doing. 

Be like, “Oh, the path is very clear to making this company way better.” And then when you’re actually sitting in the seat, there are dynamics, there are long lists of priorities and need to happen right now that pop up, and you have to manage all of those things and balance those in order to keep your team focused, executing, and ultimately be successful to do what is thought of as hard to write down on the paper. 

But that’s actually, in many ways, the easy part because the operator, you have to develop the plan and then go execute the plan and own the results of that plan as well.

Anderson Williams: You know, Shore talks a lot about investing in young talent. You’re a case in point of that. You talk about, in everything, a sports metaphor, you know, getting the ball in your hands early, early career energy. How have you approached being a young executive and stepping into, as you’ve described, some businesses that are family-owned, sometimes, you know, 10, 20, 30, even more years, deep industry expertise, founder dynamics, other executives, investment team. Shore, you do have a lot of stakeholders, and I’m just curious your approach in the midst of all of that, acknowledging, in many cases, you may have on paper the least experience in the room. 

Owen Miller: No question, the least experience in the room. I think throughout the journey, I still recognized that I brought something to the table that was likely different than anyone else around the table. And so while in five, six, seven, nine out of 10 categories I was the least experienced, there was gonna be a certain few areas that I could speak on a topic more knowledgeably than anybody else in the room, and that goes for, you know, sitting in the room with a company or even in board meetings. 

In many cases, I’m more knowledgeable about the ERP implementation that I was doing or the data of our company or what I’m seeing in a certain market segment through the data and through feedback from our sales reps and team than the board is in their long, long, long years of experience. And so through that, I can speak as an expert on that specific topic. 

My other perspective through all this is in a position where I need to leverage the experience and knowledge of the other folks around the table, and I also need to make up for deficits in knowledge and experience through hard work, showing up and being prepared and showing value that way to counterbalance for that lack of years and years and years of, of knowledge. 

Anderson Williams: Yeah, I mean, it seems maybe a little bit simple, but, one, when you’re going into an environment like that, you gotta know what you know and be confident in what you know, but also know what you don’t know and figure out how to navigate and compensate that for relationship building, for hustle, for rapid learning and all of those things. But those things you don’t know don’t neutralize what you do and what you’re confident in. 

Owen Miller: Right. Yeah.

Anderson Williams: I’m curious from your perspective, given that if you had to summarize what makes a good CXO. If somebody’s listening, whether they’re a part of the cohort today or someone who’s considering a CXO, becoming a CXO, what makes a good one? 

Owen Miller: I think intellectual curiosity is the biggest one, and it goes back to, hey, you’re gonna come in and have less knowledge about the industry or the, or the market or the company dynamics, and so wanting to be part of the solution to whatever the business is facing is huge. I, I mean, some of the other prerequisites are just in speaking with the folks in the most recent cohort, incredible levels of intellectual horsepower and experience in, whether it was consulting, investment banking and whatnot. 

So leveraging that horsepower through intellectual curiosity and, and going after the areas of the business that are kind of the messiest, kind of running towards the fire and helping make things better than they were. I think in these businesses that Shore gets involved in, and certainly in, in my business, 360Pack, it’s we’re not looking to build, you know, the Taj Mahal of certain processes. 

They don’t have to be perfect, but they have to be good, and in certain areas they have to be great. Where our customers are concerned, they expect the product to be delivered, you know, the day that they ask for it. And so we need to be perfect and dang near perfect and work with the team to deliver on that and look at the processes and the resourcing and the tools that have to be in place to deliver on that. 

But looking for ways to incrementally make things better, be a part of that journey and, and bring other people along on that journey is critical as a CXO. 

Anderson Williams: Yeah, and I, I think it’s a really important message. I think it’s easy to say, you know, curiosity is important, but when you look at the context and you think about most of the people coming into the CXO program, like yourself, have been high achievers, super successful, have been taught to have the right answer and get to the right answer and have been celebrated because you got the right answer, you got the best answer, and you’ve stepped into this environment that’s much more ambiguous than probably where your success has been. 

So that curiosity is much about the intellectual side as it is the humility to come into this environment and recognize where you sit in it. I just think it’s really interesting, and I don’t wanna skim over that because there’s some depth to that notion of curiosity given where you’re coming from and what you’re entering. 

Owen Miller: Yeah, absolutely. And remaining curious and staying motivated where– and achieving the projects that you set out for without necessarily having authority within an organization. You’re coming in, and I didn’t manage anyone for a number of years directly, but I still had to get projects done that required the input and the time, the buy-in and, and the work from other people in the group. 

And so, you know, the CXO’s a challenging role from the perspective of it’s ambiguous itself. It’s not clearly defined. You have to kind of grab responsibilities and define it yourself and work with your CEO to define those. You generally don’t have direct authority over certain areas, so you need to set the plan and get the team to motivate behind that plan without actually being the one in charge of those people and then owning the results that come from that. 

So there’s a lot of… I think you mentioned that there’s a lot of humility required in that and a lot of, you know, getting people excited to work on whatever you’re focusing on in order to bring it through successfully as CXO. 

Anderson Williams: Yeah. There’s, it, it– there’s a ton, as you’re describing it, of figuring out, again, not to overdo it, but being younger and newer and working through people. There’s a lot more of building your influence and your credibility than there is to implementing your authority or, or anything like that. It is, um, there’s a real art to stepping into this environment the way you have. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. The credibility, it almost looks different with different stakeholders. What you need to do to build credibility with Shore and the board is one thing, like, “Do you know your numbers? Are you hitting metrics? Are you getting done what you said you were gonna get done?” And then with some of your team, it’s, “Do they feel like you care about their future?” Right? And, “Are you listening to what they’re saying is the challenge in the business and converting that into output?” 

But, you know, both are equally as important. You need your team on board, and you also need Shore on board ’cause there’s a lot of amazing input that they can have on the business as well. 

Anderson Williams: Yeah, I think it’s a, a critical message around that influence and credibility among some very different stakeholders.

Anderson Williams: I do wanna come back to something you said before. You mentioned the word motivation, not just for the team, but for yourself. How, given the ambiguity, given the complexity, given the putting out fires, given… I suspect that having talked to other CXOs, you may be facing failure a little more often than you have historically in your career because of the nature of the environment. How do you stay motivated? How do you manage yourself in the face of that complexity, those stakeholders, those challenges, and so forth? 

Owen Miller: I think in some ways I’m drawn to those types of challenges and, you know, but there’s moments where it is tough, and you’re like, “Man,” like, “this is a tough day. I’m exhausted.” But I personally really enjoy solving hard challenges, and that can be, you know, all right, we’ve got a lawsuit. How do we address that? All right, we’ve got two people in the office who aren’t getting along. How do we make them get along? And I get a lot of joy out of the resolution and the wins as a team, when we win as a team. 

So, you know, I’ve been drawn to the private equity space for a long time because of how incentives are aligned between the company, your investor, and there’s no sitting still. There’s certainly no boring days, uh, in, in the operator role. But what that comes with is the stress of change, the stress of pressure, but I find that motivating because the resolution of that is very motivating to me. 

Bill Clendenen’s our lead independent director. He always loves to ask, and I still remember in the interviews he asked me, “Do you hate losing or love winning more?” And I still don’t know my answer to that, but I suspect I hate losing. And so a bad day is almost a bigger motivator to go fix that tomorrow and get in a room with the team and figure out how we fix that tomorrow. And so I think that motivates me as well. 

Anderson Williams: And, and I think that is an important message, and everybody will come to it their own way. But I think it’s important when you consider taking on this kind of an opportunity that you do the work beforehand to really have clarity on what you’re looking for and why and what’s gonna motivate you in this environment. That feels like some implied advice in that because just showing up because you’re whip-smart and because you’ve been great at business school or you’ve been really good in a consulting role or really good in a finance or investment role is a different beast. 

Owen Miller: Yeah. I mean, you know, private equity has a lot of buzz and glitz around it. When you get into an operating role, you know, it’s a roll your sleeves up, get to work type of deal, and leave any chips on your shoulder at the door and get ready to work harder than everyone else there ’cause you better not be there for the glamour. You’re there to get a job done and get other people excited about that same job. 

Anderson Williams: Yeah. As you’ve gone through this, you’ve obviously, you’ve worked with the CXOs, you’ve worked with your board, you’ve worked with the investment team, you’ve worked with your partners and founders in your team. I’m curious, what’s the best advice you’ve gotten along the way? 

Owen Miller: I think some recent advice that people remember stories. And so when you’re working on, you know, the plan, like spreadsheets and the numbers are the core of the decision for me, and the context matters and all that. But turning those into stories and then executing on that plan as a story becomes really powerful, and that’s a way that you can bring people along in the journey, and I like that. I think about that a lot and how I can embrace that more with my team every day.

Anderson Williams: If you had the chance to talk to someone who’s listening, who’s considering becoming or trying to become a CXO, what are a couple of pieces of advice you would offer them as they consider the opportunity? 

Owen Miller: I think being very introspective on what you want out of a career and out of, you know, the CXO program. If you wanna be, you know, sitting alongside a group of people that are incredibly hardworking, smart, supportive in the CXO group, and where you can bring that knowledge back to your team and, and work really hard to grow a company from, you know, some founder grown companies into a more polished organization and sell it, then the CXO program’s an awesome, awesome opportunity. 

It’s certainly not for everyone. It does take a tremendous amount of commitment, but it’s also very rewarding. The steep learning curve that I’ve found here has been tremendous. The amazing people at Shore. Shore’s– I’ve worked with a number of private equity groups and, and just awesome people that are also highly intelligent. 

And then you find people, like my team is fantastic. The knowledge and experience that they bring and how they challenge me every day, I love that, you know. But if you’re looking for a cushy, kick your feet up type of role, CXO is not for you. CXO program’s gonna push you, and, and if you’re looking to be pushed, this is an awesome spot to be. 

Anderson Williams: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure and check out our other Bigger. Stronger. Faster. episodes as well as our Microcap Moments and Everyday Heroes series at www.shorecp.university/podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts. There you will also find our new video podcast series, Raw Talent. 

Special thanks to Owen Miller.