ecalling his early days in the spring of 2001 as executive vice president of
human resources at Home Depot Inc., Dennis Donovan says he felt a sense of
homecoming.
As the son of a hardware store owner in Gardner,
Massachusetts, he had, in a way, come full circle. Even today, his now retired
85-year-old father, Frank Donovan, still provides him with professional
expertise.
"He goes in our stores and gives me the scoop on how we’re
doing," Donovan says. "He knows this business cold."
Though Donovan himself knows a thing or two about home
improvement, it’s human resources where he’s proved himself to be one of the
sharpest tools in the shed.
Among the nation’s 10 highest-paid human resources
leaders, he’s No. 2, pulling in more than $5.4 million in total compensation,
according to Workforce Management’s 2004 list of the 10 Highest-Paid
Human Resources Executives.
"When people ask what I do, I say, ‘I change things,’ "
Donovan notes with typical understatement. "Every time I start a new job, it’s
to put in the infrastructure so the organization can change effectively."
Donovan’s manner and casual dress are low-key, but there’s
nothing laid-back about the way the 55-year-old executive works.
"When I came here and started outlining what we were going
to do, I think people thought I was crazy," he says. "Nobody believed that we
could implement this amount of change in such a short period of time."
His immediate challenge was to place a human resources
person in every store. The cost to the company was a penny a share, but Donovan
garnered support for the initiative and filled 1,300 human resources slots in 12
weeks.
He’s a big believer in the power of momentum. "Velocity,"
he says, "is our friend in the game of change."
Donovan’s résumé includes stints as senior vice president
of human resources at Raytheon Co. and chief of human resources for the power
systems business at General Electric Co., where he formed a close relationship
with Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli.
"I can definitely say I came to Home Depot because of Bob
Nardelli," he says.
Donovan, a fellow of the National Academy of Human
Resources and a member of its board of directors, earned a bachelor’s degree in
industrial relations in 1971 and an MBA in 1972 from the University of
Massachusetts. While working for General Electric, he also earned a law degree
in 1979 from Western New England College School of Law.
Donovan says he’s been fascinated with human resources
since he worked at a furniture factory as a high school student.
"I saw people working incredibly hard and not being
treated that well, and I just got so interested in the employment relationships
and how important work was in people’s lives," he says. "I saw some people who
were lousy leaders--and I worked for one--and you’d find yourself sitting there
hoping they’d fail rather than working hard to help them to succeed.
"Then there were others who were terrific leaders, and I
watched how they got their people behind them."
For a man who has plenty of experience in restructuring
and downsizing, he says that the responsibility of adding about 100,000 new jobs
in the past few years has been a distinct pleasure.
"I absolutely have a lot more fun growing a business than
restructuring or consolidating one," he says.
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