mark a. cohen · 2020. 7. 21. · mark a. cohen bio: practitioner •buyer men’s furnishings...

Mark A. Cohen

Director of Retail Studies and Adjunct Professor

“High Velocity Retail Leadership”

World Retail CongressAmsterdam May 2019

Mark A. Cohen BIO: Academic

• BS Electrical Engineering Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science• MBA Columbia University Graduate School of Business• Past University Professor (by contract) Columbia Business School• Currently Director of Retail Studies/Adjunct Professor Columbia

Business School• Past Contributor Forbes (forbes.com)• Current Contributor The Robin Report (therobinreport.com)• Independent Consultant• Talking Head CNN/CNBC/Bloomberg/Fox Business/etc.

Mark A. Cohen BIO: Practitioner

• Buyer Men’s Furnishings Abraham & Straus (Federated)• General Manager Logo Stores (GAP Inc.)• Divisional Vice President Menswear Lord & Taylor (Associated Dry

Goods)• Regional President/Executive Vice President Mervyns (Dayton

Hudson)• President Goldsmith’s Department Stores (Federated)• Chairman/CEO Lazarus Department Stores (Federated)• Chairman/CEO Bradlees Stores• President Softlines/Chief Marketing Officer Sears Roebuck• Chairman/CEO Sears Canada

What Exactly is High Velocity Retail Leadership?

What Exactly is High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• High Velocity Leadership suggests leadership capable of contemplating and quickly acting upon necessary change.

What Exactly is High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• High Velocity Leadership suggests leadership capable of contemplating and quickly acting upon change.• Suffice it to say High Velocity Leadership and successful

leadership should be considered to be synonymous.

• High Velocity Leadership suggests leadership capable of contemplating and quickly acting upon change.• Suffice it to say High Velocity Leadership and successful

leadership should be considered to be synonymous.• This does not imply that change in and of itself, whether

necessary or optional, can always be thought of as High Velocity.

What Exactly is High Velocity Retail Leadership?

What Exactly is High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• High Velocity Leadership suggests leadership capable of contemplating and quickly acting upon change.• Suffice it to say High Velocity Leadership and successful

leadership should be considered to be synonymous.• This does not imply that change in and of itself, whether

necessary or optional, can always be thought of as High Velocity.• In many respects, High Velocity Leadership is leadership in the

normal course, especially during turbulent times such as what we are witnessing in retailing today.

The Role of a Successful High Velocity Retail Leader:

Let’s First Talk About the Underlying Skill Set A Retail Leader Must Have

I Refer To These Skills As The 3 A’s of Leadership, Notably:

•Acknowledgement

•Assessment

•Action

The 3 A’s of Leadership

• Acknowledgment, Assessment and Action are the three dimensions of leadership that I use in my classroom to fully encompass the skills and behaviors that successful retail leaders must possess and exhibit.

The 3 A’s of Leadership

• Acknowledgment, Assessment and Action are the three dimensions of leadership that I use in my classroom to fully encompass the skills and behaviors that successful retail leaders must possess and exhibit.• These are characteristics as seen through the lens of a

former retail practitioner such as myself, not those of a professional academic.

The 3 A’s of Leadership

• Acknowledgment, Assessment and Action are the three dimensions of leadership that I use in my classroom to fully encompass the skills and behaviors that successful retail leaders must possess and exhibit.• These are characteristics as seen through the lens of a

former retail practitioner such as myself, not those of a professional academic.• Despite the seeming simplicity of my description, I think

these three dimensions fully capture the essence of leadership.

Acknowledgment

• Acknowledgment is the process of recognizing and understanding the internal processes of the enterprise (how things actually work and who within the organization actually carries out the work) Acknowledgment also encompasses the external factors exhibited by competition (past, present and potential future competition) and, the ever-present changing behavior of customers. Acknowledgment is a never-ending leadership requirement.

Acknowledgment

• Acknowledgment is the process of recognizing and understanding the internal processes of the enterprise (how things actually work and who within the organization actually carries out the work) Acknowledgment also encompasses the external factors exhibited by competition (past, present and potential future competition) and, the ever-present changing behavior of customers. Acknowledgment is a never-ending leadership requirement. • Unfortunately, many if not most, senior leaders become increasingly

unable and/or unwilling to apprize themselves of the detail of the work their organization engages in, the ever changing competitive playing field, and, the always challenging behavior of customers.

Assessment

• Assessment is an activity best described as plan building or blueprinting on behalf of the enterprise. Groups of people, as a necessary condition of success, must be able to work within the framework of plans – both strategic and tactical.

Assessment

• Assessment is an activity best described as plan building or blueprinting on behalf of the enterprise. Groups of people, as a necessary condition of success, must be able to work within the framework of plans – both strategic and tactical. • If Acknowledgment forms the basis of a map, then

Assessment is the assignment of a destination.

Assessment

• Assessment is an activity best described as plan building or blueprinting on behalf of the enterprise. Groups of people, as a necessary condition of success, must be able to work within the framework of plans – both strategic and tactical. • If Acknowledgment forms the basis of a map, then Assessment is

the assignment of a destination. • Many retailers who perform poorly or outright fail do so

because, they either have no real strategy other than maintaining the status quo, or, they are unable to understand and embrace the plans that their leaders have tasked them with.

Action:

• Action is the management led process of executing plans. Execution of a plan is every bit as vital as the integrity of the plan itself. Novelist and Nobel Prize Winner John Steinbeck has famously said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” Brilliant retailing plans fail when they cannot be understood by the people who must carry them out, or, they are too expensive to be completed, or, they are too inflexible and therefore cannot adapt to changes in the competitive or customer universes in which they must operate.

Action:

• Action is the management led process of executing plans. Execution of a plan is every bit as vital as the integrity of the plan itself. Novelist and Nobel Prize Winner John Steinbeck has famously said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” Brilliant retailing plans often fail when they cannot be understood by the people who must carry them out, or, they are too expensive to be completed, or, they are too inflexible and therefore cannot adapt to changes in the competitive or customer universes in which they must operate. • A destination chosen is all well and good just as long as an

organization is given a road map and a full enough tank of gas with which to go the distance.

High Velocity Retail Leadership• Think of High Velocity Retailing Leadership as Retailing

Leadership on steroids.

High Velocity Retail Leadership

• A High Velocity Retail Leader must have hyper powers of Acknowledgment. They must not only be completely in touch with their environment past and present but increasingly importantly they must be in touch with the foreseeable future.

High Velocity Retail Leadership

• A High Velocity Retail Leader must have hyper powers of Acknowledgment. They must not only be completely in touch with their environment past and present but increasingly importantly the foreseeable future. • A High Velocity Retail leader must be a highly skilled master

plan builder capable of both Assessing necessary strategic change, and, leading the work done by strategy planners within their organization to fully blueprint change.

High Velocity Retail Leadership

• A High Velocity Retail Leader must have hyper powers of Acknowledgment. They must not only be completely in touch with their environment past and present but increasingly importantly the foreseeable future. • A High Velocity Retail leader must be a highly skilled master plan

builder capable of both Assessing necessary strategic change, and, leading the work done by strategy planners within their organization to fully blueprint change.• A High Velocity Retail leader must have an extraordinary Action

orientation.

High Velocity Leadership is a Continuous Activity That Never Ceases

Acknowledgment

Assessment

Action

Now Consider The 3 Dimensional Universe in which a High Velocity Retail Leader Resides

The Retail Universe Is All About The Customer, The Competition And The Company

The X Axis is the Customer

The Y Axis is Competition

The Z Axis is the Company

Today, Unfortunately, A Retail Leader Is Often Considered Either: A Peacock

Or: A Feather Duster

Realistically, However, Retail Leaders Usually Don’t Deserve Either Characterization

Leaders Are Rarely As Smart, Or, As Stupid As They Are Made Out To Be

(There obviously are exceptions)

In Reality Please Consider This Anatomical Reference As A More Appropriate Characterization Of A Retail

Leader’s Personal Skill Set:

I Believe A High Velocity Retail Leadermust have pronounced left AND right brain skills

(As You May Know Left Brain Connotes Analytical Skills/ Right Brain Connotes Creative Skills)

Some Right Brain Retail Leaders Have Been Historically Characterized as Merchant Princes (Or Princesses)

Other Left Brain Retail Leaders Have Been Characterized as Mere Bean Counters

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And Yes, It Must Be Said, Some Retail Leaders Cannot Be Characterized In The Normal Course

(You Can Decide For Yourself What To Call This Individual)

In Reality, A Successful High Velocity Retail Leader (And The Enterprise That He Or She Leads) Must Be An Amalgam of Creative AND Analytical Capabilities Without Regard To The Vagaries Of The Leader’s

Personal Skill Set Alone

And It Goes Without Saying That A High Velocity Retail Leader Must Be An Effective Change Agent

In Addition To Setting Strategy -Setting Goals And Objectives Are A Retail Leader’s Principal Role And

Responsibility

The Goals And Objectives That A Retail Leader Sets Must Meet Both Internal And External Expectations - Especially If They Are

leading A Public Company

In Addition, A Retail Leader Has A Principal Responsibility For Mitigating Risk

This Introduces The Paradox Of A Risk Management Strategy: Playing It Safe Versus Not Playing It Safe

High Velocity Retail Leadership

• Needless to say, during periods of rapid change and challenging performance, playing it safe as a retail leader may not be a safe stratagem at all. Far from it.

High Velocity Retail Leadership

• There is, of course, a fine line between inappropriate inaction and mindlessly reckless behavior. (By way of example, in 2011, JC Penney desperately needed a change agent to rescue it from its hopelessly mediocre performance. But it was unable to survive the process of abandoning large numbers of its core customers as it did in 2012 and 2013. This when a new CEO set in motion mindlessly radical changes that were not and could not ever be successful)• I should note that retail leaders who are just ”doing things”

don’t qualify as being High Velocity Retail Leaders.

Now Consider A Retail Leader’s Inputs and Outputs As You Would An Upright And An Inverted Funnel:

Everyone Outside the Enterprise Has Something to Tell, Advise and/or Sell A Leader

• Shareholders• Customers

• Merchandise vendors• Service suppliers• Consultants• Unions• Regulators

• Significant others• Neighbors and friends• His or her mother

Everyone Inside The Enterprise On The Other Hand Often Has Their Own Outlook, Agenda and Turf To Protect And Defend

The Issue That Must Be Confronted Is: How Does A Retail Leader Communicate To Their Organization The

Changes They Believe Are Necessary?

• Command and Control vs

• Collaborative Management

Decisions In The Normal Course Make Sense From A Command And Control Point Of View

“JUST DO AS I SAY” Is Admittedly Sometimes the Best Way to Approach Decision Making

But High Velocity Decisions, Out Of The Normal Course, Are Often Best Inserted Or Seeded Within The Company

By A Leader For Adoption By Middle Management In Their Own Regard

Thus, The Right Practice With Regard To High Velocity Retail Leadership Is Often To Invoke The Power Of

Collaboration

In This Regard, High Velocity Leadership is All About the Consideration of, and Management of, Change At

Speeds Greater Than Ever Before

In This Regard, High Velocity Leadership is All About the Consideration of, and Management of, Change At

Speeds Greater Than Ever Before

• Change is never successful unless fully articulated and endorsed by leadership and fully embraced by an organization in its entirety.

In This Regard, High Velocity Leadership is All About the Consideration of, and Management of, Change At

Speeds Greater Than Ever Before

• Change is never successful unless fully articulated and endorsed by leadership and fully embraced by an organization in its entirety.• In many cases, certainly in retailing recently, necessary

change has often been avoided by leadership and when finally introduced, largely ignored by the rank and file.

In This Regard, High Velocity Leadership is All About the Consideration of, and Management of, Change At

Speeds Greater Than Ever Before

• Change is never successful unless fully articulated and endorsed by leadership and fully embraced by an organization in its entirety.• In many cases, certainly in retailing recently, necessary

change has been avoided by leadership and when implemented, largely ignored by the rank and file.• The all too common default in behavior by both leaders and

followers is to maintain and protect the status quo.

In This Regard, High Velocity Leadership is All About the Consideration of, and Management of, Change At

Speeds Greater Than Ever Before

• Change is never successful unless fully articulated and endorsed by leadership and fully embraced by an organization in its entirety.• In many cases, certainly in retailing recently, necessary change

has been avoided by leadership and when implemented, largely ignored by the rank and file.• The all to common default behavior by both leaders and

followers is to maintain and protect the status quo.• A High Velocity Retail Leader is fully aware of these tendencies

and is completely capable of counteracting and overcoming them.

Unfortunately The Retail Industry Is Still Mired In Legacy Behaviors Rooted In Not Much More Than Guesswork

And Reliance Upon “Same Old, Same Old”

Old Habits Die Hard, Especially When Then Are Held By Senior Leaders Who Have Limited Capacity To Consider

Change

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• Amazon is the gold standard for successful High Velocity Retail Leadership - hands down. Jeff Bezos and his teams have not only created the ecommerce genre as today’s new marketplace, they continue to innovate and expand with regard to products and services at virtually all legacy retailers’ expense.

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• Costco is one of the world’s largest and most productive retailers, not because it has made impulsive changes to its operating model but rather because it has taken a measured and methodical approach while zealously guarding the underlying behaviors that have made it famous in the minds and wallets of its customers.

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• Apple has not deviated whatsoever from its devotion to product, presentation and service excellence. In recognition of the community like flavor that its stores have taken on, it is now carefully reconfiguring the stores to take further advantage of this highly differentiated characteristic.

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• Best Buy looks like a successful legacy retail survivor. Having falsely relied upon the disappearance of a principal competitor, and, having almost foundered as a result, it has, under new leadership, radically refreshed and renewed its relationship with consumers. It has achieved this through a re focus on compelling and competitive products, pricing and presentation in both its stores and web business.

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• TJX is another extremely successful legacy company that has succeeded based upon adherence to operating standards that made it famous in the first place. This with virtually no reliance on ecommerce, rather, consistent focus on compelling value driven fashion assortments at store level all the time, everywhere they do business. TJX’s High Velocity Retail Leadership is its mastery of its original market differentiation. Much the same can be said for Ross Storesfor the same reason.

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• IKEA was one of the first global retail powerhouses whose consistency has been the backbone of its ongoing success. Only now is it working on adjusting its stores’ size and format while it ventures into ecommerce as well. Though criticized for its conservative view with regard to change, just look at the pace of change that the company is exhibiting now.

Now Who Are Today’s Successful Retailers That Exhibit High Velocity Retail Leadership?

• Zara is the gold standard for world wide apparel retailing. Its mastery of speed to market, operating efficiency and extraordinary merchandise and merchandising standards across a network of over 7000 stores is unparalleled. Rather than revise its operating strategy it remains devoted to refreshing and renewing it as it ventures increasingly into ecommerce and aggressively introduce new technology features into its stores. Zara is a High Velocity Retail Leader on a par with Amazon.

Briefly, What Is My View Of The Outlook For Retailing Today?

Today There is No Shortage Of Customers Worldwide

Today Customers Worldwide Are Increasingly Economically Viable

And Today, Customers, World Wide, Remain Slavishly Devoted To Satisfying Both Needs And Wants. Wants As Soon As They

Are Capable Economically

Absent War, Both Military And/Or Trade Wars, Or, Other Calamities

The Retail Industry Is And Will Continue To Be Just Fine

But Unfortunately The Rising Tide Does Not Lift All Boats

Talent Abounds Throughout Most Retailers’ Organizations

But For Some, Capable Leadership Is Absent

In Closing, I Leave You With 3 Very Important Questions To Ask Yourself Throughout This “High Velocity Retail” Themed

Conference:

1. Does your leadership align with my Three A leadership characteristics: Acknowledgement, Assessment and Action?2. At what speed does your organization operate with regard to consideration of and implementation of change?3. What steps can you take to increase the velocity of movement of your organization?

Thank You