How we lead in our lives and in our careers needs to be reinvented. In order to create a regenerative and sustainable world it’s time to excavate what keeps getting in our way. If each of us taps into and supports ourselves in being our best, everyone will benefit. When we take the time and receive the support to uproot old subconscious programming and patterns, we uplevel how we lead in every area of our lives.

The last two years of my own life is proof. I have reinvented my life and my leadership style, right along with the major reinvention of the world as we know it. We have all been through so much. And how we do one thing is often how we do everything. This upcoming series of posts is sharing my leadership story from the very beginning of my career. An expert in corporate leadership and retail, viewing all of this now through the lens of a highly trained leadership coach. I share what I’ve learned with the hopes that it will benefit someone to see and begin to build anew. 

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How it Started

My love affair with Retail began a little over 20 years ago in college with my part time job at J.Crew. This is not the J.Crew of today, but the iconic one whose catalogs were greeted with excitement in every home (and lots of items coveted and circled!). Digital commerce was still in its beginning stages and store footprints were growing across the United States. 

Not only did I get great joy out of making the store look stunning (🙋🏻♀️ — excellent and proud denim wall folder), I loved the constant movement and busy-ness, and most importantly the client interaction. Seeing their faces when they found an outfit for that event, that fit and looked amazing on them, and happened to be within their budget was all I needed to keep coming back day after day. These tiny moments of joy really did make a difference. 

That is when I decided I wanted to be within the corporate walls to empower the decisions that I saw impacted the customers.  

What I Loved

The art mixed with science, attention to product detail and fit, the story behind the brand and the item, the joy in creating and in learning customers reactions, and the process of a fine-tuned supply chain and efficient product development are still things I love about what I learned once I started at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. And you should know, with my love of cooking and upbringing built on PBS cooking shows, I internally squealed when the founder, Chuck Williams, held the door for me on week one. 

What I See Today

The retail I left in 2020 and the retail I see today are missing the magic that started my love affair. I know this is applicable across many other industries. And as a friend reminded me many moons ago, I can choose to be a part of the change, a part of bringing the magic back. It has nothing to do with the growth of digital, but everything to do with retail resting on its laurels and avoiding the long overdue changes it needs to make. 

Product is lackluster at best, quality has diminished, sizing is all over the map, stores are overcrowded with a lot of styles that just look the same, and customers have been taught to wait for markdown sales. All of this impacting bottom line financials, the customer experience (they can’t shop as much now, might as well make it amazing when the do!), and hindering agility to react to an unpredictable environment. 

How We Can Begin to Shift

I saw it in my last few years in fashion, which also involved a lot of bathroom crying, spin, indecision, and lack of executive support for my mid-management leadership role. Now that I’ve been trained in coaching skills, heightened my own self-awareness, and dug deep into my subconscious programming, I see so clearly the changes that can positively impact retail and the planet (the pollution created by the industry has an even easier solve, right size your assortments from the very beginning… but more on that another day).

It’s time retail (and all industries) has the leadership tools to center back in on vision and uproot the toxic culture that has invaded it. It’s time companies nurture it’s mid-management leaders with leadership skills and tools to ride the waves of change, enhance agility, empower tough conversations, and reduce the ego driven nature of the business. 

Art, joy, and the goal of surprising and delighting the customer with just that item that makes their life a little better, easier, prettier can only be center when you excavate all the other bad habits that have gotten in the way. 

Stayed tuned here as I share weekly tips and learnings that I hope will serve and impact those in the industry and leaders across other industries. If you’d like support where you are now or have any questions please feel free to send me an email or check out my linkedin.

#letsmakeretailfunagain #reinventedleadership #leadershipcoaching #retail #tinymomentsofjoy #mindset #subconsciousprogramming