Starbucks: Doing the Right Thing, and Doing Well as a Result
Starbucks’s CEO, Kevin Johnson, absolutely did the right thing and showed more courage than most company leaders when he took personal responsibility... Read More
Brexit and Retail in the UK
Brexit is not a physical thing. It’s just the beginning of a whole lot of processes, and it will be going on... Read More
When Authentic Relationships Are Hijacked by Organizational Processes
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This is where big companies and organizations usually lose it. This is where they substitute “process” and programs—using 20th-century Human Resources theory—for... Read More
The Karma of the Place
New York restaurants are among the most successful retail operations anywhere on the planet. It is true that, in the past, some... Read More
Exercise: Applying Putting “People First” to Your Retail Business
Graph your organization as a circular model rather than a hierarchical pyramid. It doesn’t matter where you personally are in the organization.... Read More
Put People First: Employee Recognition
There are a lot of visible, structural things you can do to put people first in your retail business, or any kind... Read More
Putting Customers and Employees First
Here’s a great story from my days working in the department-store business. I worked for a store called The Emporium. We had... Read More
A Successful Retail Example of Putting People First
I was working for Pottery Barn when we celebrated the work anniversary of a woman named Bertha, the longest-tenured employee of the... Read More
5 Reasons Why Selling Marijuana Is Just Like Selling Shoes
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On January 1, 2018, California became the ninth state to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational as well as therapeutic use.... Read More
“Never Let Them See You Sweat” (Protect Your Customers)
Something that contributes to a negative retail culture is failing to protect the customers when things aren’t going so well behind the... Read More