Welcome to My Portfolio
Zachary Burns, Sales & Operations Leader
I'm a people-first sales and operations leader with 10+ years of cross-functional experience across retail operations, frontline commercial sales, B2B contractor account management, and multi-unit leadership. I've built my career around scalable turnaround strategies and high-performing, metric-driven team cultures inside some pretty complex brand-retail partnership environments.
I believe great leadership comes down to clarity, intentionality, and continuous improvement. This site is my attempt to actually show that, not just claim it: how I lead, how I think, and what I bring to a role or an organization.
About Me
I'm currently Sales Supervisor for Sherwin-Williams' Lowe's Business Unit (LBU) in Riverside, CA, directing a 10-store sales program with 20 direct reports across a distributed footprint. My career has moved through field sales execution, B2B Pro channel growth, regional turnaround management, and multi-unit operations, all inside one of the more complex retail-vendor partnership environments in the industry.
My leadership philosophy comes down to pairing real empathy with clear accountability. I don't chase short-term sales spikes that burn teams out. I'd rather build sustainable, repeatable systems through training, clear expectations, and a culture of ownership. When people understand the "why" behind a target, they take real pride in hitting it.
What I'm drawn to most is performance turnarounds: rebuilding a struggling territory by restoring trust, clarifying who owns what, and putting a structured coaching cadence in place that makes success repeatable instead of lucky.
What You'll Find Here
This portfolio is organized to make it easy to see what I've actually done. Here's where to look:
Resume
A detailed breakdown of my career, spanning Sales Supervisor (10-store, 20-rep footprint), Regional Sales Manager (4-territory turnaround), Pro Sales Representative (B2B contractor growth), and frontline retail operations.
Leadership Style
How I lead, coach, and build strong cultures, using frameworks grounded in Transformational Leadership, Situational Leadership, and the Sherwin-Williams SherCoach coaching model.
Professional Philosophy
The beliefs that actually drive my leadership decisions, including my 3-step Turnaround Playbook: Culture & Listening, Clarify Accountability, Structured Coaching Cadence.
Project Work & Case Studies
Real systems, frameworks, and tools I've built, including the PSR Toolkit, the FSA program dashboard, Coaching Hub, and territory turnaround case studies with real, measurable results (82% to 95% of budget improvement).
Long-Form Insights
Written pieces on leadership, team culture, problem-solving, and staying steady inside a fast-moving business environment.
Purpose of This Portfolio
This site is more than a pile of documents. It’s a reflection of how I actually operate as a leader and where I’m still growing. My goal is to give hiring leaders, peers, and future collaborators a clear, honest picture of what it’s like to work with me and what I bring to a team.
I believe in leading with clarity, setting real expectations, and helping people win. Everything on this site is here to back that up.