Jim Fielding's dynamic career has spanned senior leadership roles at top global brands, including Disney, DreamWorks, and Twentieth Century Fox, anchored in experience and an early career at The Gap, Lands' End, and as CEO of Claire's Stores; He joins me in an exclusive interview to talk about this new book ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically with leadership, retail and life lessons you need to hear.
Jim Fielding's dynamic career has spanned senior leadership roles at top global brands, including Disney, DreamWorks, and Twentieth Century Fox, anchored in experience and an early career at The Gap, Lands' End, and as CEO of Claire's Stores; He joins me in an exclusive interview to talk about this new book ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically with leadership, retail and life lessons you need to hear.
About Jim
Jim Fielding is a partner at Archer Gray and president of its Co-Lab Division. A retail and media industry veteran, Jim served as president of Disney Stores Worldwide and led global consumer experiences at DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox. His early career experience included top international brands, from The Gap to Lands' End. Jim later served as CEO of Claire's Stores, Inc. He is the author of ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically (Wiley, August 15, 2023). Jim's expertise combines storytelling, product innovation, merchandising, and consumer experiences. He is an active community leader and philanthropist, a founder of the Queer Philanthropy Circle, and serves on the board of directors for the Indiana University Foundation. Jim has served as an executive-in-residence for IU's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and a board member for GLSEN, Make-A-Wish International, and the American Red Cross. He is based in Atlanta, GA and Northport, MI.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host. This podcast is produced in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
Jim Fielding's dynamic career has spanned senior leadership roles at top global brands, including Disney, DreamWorks, and Twentieth Century Fox, anchored in experience and an early career at The Gap, Lands' End, and as CEO of Claire's Stores; He joins me in an exclusive interview to talk about this new book, ‘ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically’ with leadership, retail and life lessons you need to hear. Let's listen in now.
Jim, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing this morning?
Jim Fielding 00:44
I'm great. Thank you so much for having me.
Michael LeBlanc 00:47
Well, thanks for joining me on the mic and listeners will hear my voice is a little different. My-, Jim and I were talking off mic. I'm having dongle problems and my-, my microphone isn't, isn't connecting, but you know, I'm so looking forward to our conversation. Where am I finding you this morning?
Jim Fielding 01:04
You are finding me in my home office in Atlanta, Georgia, a beautiful spring day in Atlanta, Georgia.
Michael LeBlanc 01:12
Fantastic. You know, I was having dinner with someone last night who was from Atlanta. And they were telling me about a real estate development program that was kind of like the High Line in New York. What was it called the-,
Jim Fielding 01:26
Ponce, it’s this Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market, we have two. Ponce City Market used to be a Sears distribution warehouse. Really cool and-, and Krog. I'm not sure what Krog was before Krog Street Market, but it's one of the things-, I've only-, I moved to Atlanta, It'll be three years in May and one of the things I loved about moving here is there's some exciting retail in-, in the city and, and specialty retail like still that kind of mom and pop curated, edited stores, little shopping areas. It's a-, it's a retail friendly city.
Michael LeBlanc 02:09
You know, it's not really the topic of our talk today, but you know, this-, this revitalization of downtown-to-downtown struggling with the post COVID reality of, you know, work from home is really challenging downtown's to be more than just a place where office buildings are right. The savvy downtowns, as you say, you know the-, the independent merchants are just so important to all of the cities and you know, it's a bit of a struggle but so I'm glad to hear Atlanta. It was very-, it was a great discussion. So glad to hear you're-, you're from Atlanta.
All right. Well, listen, we're gonna talk about your book, ‘All Pride No Ego’, but I want to know a little bit about you first, like, who are you, what do you do for a living, talk about-, you got-, you're steeped in retail and a whole bunch of other amazing things. Tell us about your personal, professional journey for a bit.
Jim Fielding 02:58
Sure. I mean, I-, you know, I was born and raised. I'm a proud Midwestern-er born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, went to Indiana University, graduated with a degree in political science and business and then really was on you know, that kind of 1980s-, 1990s traditional retail path I went through the executive training program at depart-. Dayton Hudson department store company in Minneapolis. So, I got my department store training. Then I spent nine years at the GAP, working under the leadership of Mickey Drexler, which I always say is like getting an MBA in retail, I mean the day to day of the gap. And I did a stint at the J Peterman company famous from Seinfeld, and then went to Land's End because a big catalog and online company in Wisconsin because I wanted to learn direct marketing and then I got recruited to Disney and so really, the first half of my career, I would say, was very traditional retail.
Jim Fielding 03:59
The second half was always retail and consumer products, but in large media and entertainment companies. I was at Disney for almost 12 years, including four years as president of Disney Store worldwide. I left Disney to become the CEO of Claire's stores, the girls and accessory stores based in Chicago and then went back to LA to do DreamWorks and AwesomenessTV and then ultimately ended up at 20th Century Fox and in a weird Lion King, Circle of Life moment Disney bought-, Disney bought 20th Century Fox and so I was out of a job and it was literally-, it closed about six months before the pandemic and I-, I was kind of taking a sabbatical because I'd been through two major mergers and acquisitions in five years and I wanted-, yea, wanted a break and, and then the pandemic came and so then I completely shift gears-, shifted gears.
Jim Fielding 04:59
That's when I left California, moved here and started working my day job. As I like to say, I'm the partner, and President of the colab division at Archer Gray, which is a small, independent media company based in New York. I do, I work on all of our branding and marketing for our projects, but I also do consulting and advising for clients through there and so I'm, you know, I'm always under NDA, so I can't say who my clients are, but I-, I'm working with three clients right now in the experiential retail space. So it's keeping me fresh, you know, around retail.
And then the book, you know, the book was kind of a, it was an incredible project and I mean, it wasn't really a side hustle, because I didn't see it as changing my life, but the reaction to the book has changed my life and so I'm starting to spend more time not necessarily on a book tour, but I'm doing more corporate speaking, company advising, really diving into authentic leadership and what it means to manage authentically and live authentically and so I'm really enjoying my life right now, because it's a big variety. Yeah, I mean, any day, any day, I could be working on the book or, you know, speaking gig or I could be advising one of my clients on their projects and I love the-, I love the variety.
Michael LeBlanc 06:37
Wow, what an interesting life now, so many questions.
Jim Fielding 06:40
Sure.
Michael LeBlanc 06:41
As I said, I'm actually here in Vegas, there's a big conference called Shop Talk.
Jim Fielding 06:46
Shop Talk. Yes.
Michael LeBlanc 06:49
So, we've been interviewing leaders here, we talked to folks from-, from Brooklinen and Home Depot, actually from Atlanta as well. It's my Atlanta day or week. I can't have you on the mic. I'm going to take a little-, little side angle here. What's your impression of post COVID retail? I mean, you know, this-, this spectrum that we like to talk about, that this bifurcation of retail, either you're experienced, or efficiency or luxury, or value and somebody in the middle as my partner, Steve Dennis says it's kind of in the unremarkable middle. Do you see it that way? As well, you've got to-, you've got to pick a spot and if you're kind of somewhere in the middle of that you're not great at any of those. You're good at those that-
Jim Fielding 07:32
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 07:33
Probably. Is that your experience?
Jim Fielding 07:35
Yeah. I mean, I have so much respect for Steve, you know, I've followed him and known him for years. I agree. I think, you know, I not-, I don't necessarily think it's about-, you know, I do agree with the bifurcation and I do think there's kind of a mass and class thing going on here, but I think the most important statement and what you're talking about, and what Steve said is, it's pick a lane and know who you are, and be true to yourself and be consistent, because I think the days of trying to be all things to all people are kind of over, right. It's really hard to play and I think that's what we're seeing happen with department stores. I think it's-, I think it's what we've seen happen with specialty stores who have lost their way and you know, I think you can't out Amazon, Amazon, I always say right, so let-, let Amazon be what Amazon is, but that doesn't mean your ecommerce strategy has to say be Amazon, you know what I'm saying, Micheal? It's like-
Michael LeBlanc 08:33
Don't stick your chin out. Don't stick your chin out with those fists of concrete and try to be more efficient, yea.
Jim Fielding 08:37
Right, for your brand, and your store or your concept and your customer. More importantly, your guests, your fan, whatever you call them. Like what, what do they need in eCommerce, what do they expect with you, what do they expect from you in omni-channel and I-, that's kind of what I mentioned at the beginning about Atlanta, I see a return to specialty that really makes me happy, right, I seen a return-, you know, listen, I shop on Amazon probably more times a week than I should, right, but I shop on it for a very specific need, right for basics and refills and things that I don't want to go to the store for. When I want to shop or trying some new clothes or buy a gift for somebody, I tend to want to go to a specialty store and see what's out there and see what's been curated for me and so I think I think these days of retail is you have to know who your customer is, know what your brand is, know what your offering is and then be true to that and be consistent.
Michael LeBlanc 08:39
Well, it's-, it's interesting days, so well listen, thanks for that. I'm glad you brought up the department stores given your background.
Jim Fielding 09:32
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 09:33
You know, and I spent a bunch of years with Hudson's Bay as well, so I've got the department store background in my-, in my roster as well. So, it's-, I mean just listen to Tony Spring, the new CEO of Macy's telling about-, telling us about the future. So, maybe we're-, I think he's gonna come on a Remarkable Retail pod, but he says, let's-, let me deliver first and then I'll come tell you how I did it.
Jim Fielding 10:09
Right. I'm pulling for him.
Michael LeBlanc 10:12
We said, you know, from-, from your lips to God's ears, let's-
Jim Fielding 10:15
Totally I-, totally I have a lot of respect for Tony, I met Tony through the industry quite a few years ago when I mean when he was still at Bloomingdale's, and I'm pulling for him. Like I'm pulling for everybody. Like, I love retail as an industry and I-, and I think we're better when we have variety. I think we're better when we have competition. I think we're better when we have innovation. So, I'm pulling for everybody.
Michael LeBlanc 10:41
All right, well, no shortage of that. Well, thanks for that little, little tech. Let's get back to the book, ‘ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically’, so let's-, let's start with diving in. I want to learn a bit-, before I get into the book, I want to know your process or your, your tradecraft, and writing the book-, is this a book that was kind of percolating for many, many years, and it all kind of said, I, this is how I'm living and this is how I'm leading, and I need to get it down onto paper like, Was it easy to write the book, did it all-, these are the principles I live by or, or talk a little bit about your, your journey in actually writing the book?
Jim Fielding 11:21
That's a great question. I think it had been percolating, I don't-, I'd had people in my life, say, you should write a book and I would kind of, you know, slough it off. I've been a journaller my whole life and I've told other people this, like, you know, people who want to be a writer and like start being a journaller and, again, in the pandemic, as I was kind of, you know, those projects you do when you're kind of housebound, I went-, I went back and I put I pulled all my-, my journals that were in a bunch of different drawers and places into like one place and as I was doing that, I just started flipping through them and reading them and reminding myself of stuff and I think-, I think the book kind of came out of that.
Jim Fielding 12:05
And I had time on my hands. I was on sabbatical. I, I literally Googled, how do you read a book treatment, you know, I mean, I didn't, I didn't know, I didn't use AI. It's me, but I literally-, I was like, oh, I you know, I knew people in the publishing industry from my time at, you know, Disney and Fox. Not this kind of book industry, but I did call some people and say, gosh, if I ever wanted to do this, like, you know, what do I need to do, and you know, what, what really happened is I had a couple of publishers that were interested, I did not have a book agent, which is unique and so I was basically doing it myself and I ended up the publisher I'm with John Wiley and Sons, who's been-, it's just been an amazing experience.
Jim Fielding 12:51
The unlock that the executive editor that made the deal with me, she had a Vargo did, was, she said at the time, I was 56. She said, write the book that 26 year old Jim wished he had, like 56 year old Jim should write a book, basically to yourself, like what-, what book do you wish you had at 26 that doesn't exist and that really-, that really was the unlock and then I started you know, the book is organized around these 10 kind of leadership life lessons. That's really how I started the book, Michael was, I wrote down like, what are-, you know, the 'Jim'-isms? What are the-, I had about 15 or 16 guiding principles, and then you know, narrowed them down to the 10 that are in the book, but it wasn't easy, but it was really fulfilling. It was-, I learned a lot about myself and other authors I've talked to like I couldn't-, I started out saying okay, I'm gonna write an hour a day and that was horrible because that-
Michael LeBlanc 13:57
That's the Dan Pink style.
Jim Fielding 13:58
Yeah, exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 13:59
Dan Pink tells me, I, you know, I started this time, I start-. I stop at this time and like, it's so interesting because different authors even first timer authors have different-, different processes, right?
Jim Fielding 14:11
Totally. I was not good with-, I felt pressure like saying I was gonna write every day from nine to 10 and so I kind of wrote when the inspiration hit me, you know.
Michael LeBlanc 14:22
Yeah, well luckily, you're-, you were pretty inspired. So, let's talk about-, let's get into it. So you know, you the, you know, the through line you talk often about the importance of bringing your whole self to work and leading authentically was there a moment do-, was there a moment or an epiphany in your career where this struck you as the key facet of leadership did you-, were you always kind of like that or talk about that, pre-traditional corporate world man. You-, you know you're in middle America corporate world, right.
Jim Fielding 14:54
Yeah, I had my Oprah, ‘aha’ moment epiphany, for sure, and it's really when I was in the department stores because as much as I was learning in the department stores, I was living a double life in the department stores. You know, I was really presenting as straight, you know, changing pronouns, you know, not really involving my personal and professional life and I was doing well, by the way professionally, but I started to have some physical and mental stress ailments that a person at my age shouldn't have had, you know, I was having migraines, I was having some GI issues and as I was going to a doctor trying to get better, they kept talking to me about stress-, stress-, stress-, and I was like, no, no, I don't have stress. Well, of course, I had stress because I was living a double life and really, that's really why I made the decision to leave the department store and, you know, GAP was recruiting me.
Jim Fielding 15:48
And I really did my homework on GAP. And, you know, again, this is the late 80s, early 90s, but GAP being based in San Francisco, they had incredible, they had an incredible culture, they had incredible policies. It was-, it was just a very exciting dynamic company and I think that was my 'aha' moment was when I interviewed for the GAP and I probably had five or six interviews. I interviewed to be a district manager in training. I basically interviewed fully as myself, you know, it doesn't mean that I like wore rainbow sweatshirt into the interview, but it was, you know, if they asked me, if they asked me anything that started to get into the personal, you know, like, what do you do on the weekend? What do you do for fun, and I wouldn't change, I would talk about my partner and I use he, instead of she and, and I was kind of almost using that as a litmus test to test with her reaction was going to be and if I saw any negative reaction, then I that would have been a yellow flag, right, So and there wasn't, and so when I arrived, as a district manager and training at GAP, I arrived fully as myself and I think my career took off at that point. I wrote about it in the book, because I was bringing all of me like they were getting the full version of Jim. Right,
Michael LeBlanc 17:09
Fantastic and you're right about the GAP. I worked for Levi's for a couple years.
Jim Fielding 17:15
And a lot of people went back and forth between those two companies. Again, a really good culture. Levi's is a really good culture and I-, I loved my time at the GAP. Like I said earlier, it was like getting an MBA of the-, in retail.
Michael LeBlanc 17:30
Yeah, and Mickey Drexler still gave it those degrees, too. I just listened to him on another podcast, so I can't listen to him enough.
Now, you've had, you know, your career trajectory from there just was fantastic. So, as you said, big, big iconic brands, big leadership positions, as you as you worked in these diverse environments, how did it-, how did it shape the lessons that you share in the book?
Jim Fielding 17:55
I try to share, you know, in the book that I did have an amazing career, I took some lateral moves, which I encourage people to do, you know, I wasn't always getting promoted and taking on more responsibility I was trying to learn every day, I was blessed to work for some amazing bosses and mentors and I firmly believe that their mentoring of me, and they're honest, and direct feedback, allowing me to make mistakes, you know, I think that's something else I talked about in the book is that I-, I wasn't perfect, I was allowed to make mistakes, as long as I kind of failed forward and learn from those mistakes. I worked-, I worked really hard, and I trusted that-, that hard work was going to be rewarded.
Jim Fielding 18:45
And I think, again, that goes back to the quality of the leaders that I was working for and if I ever got to a point with a company where I felt, I kind of peaked, and you know, there wasn't that next move for me, which is, you know, honestly, when I left the GAP, I kind of stalled a little bit at the GAP and-, and I felt-, I felt like I needed another, you know, I needed a boost. That's, you know, when I opened myself up to being recruited, I ultimately landed at a much smaller company called the J Peterman company.
Michael LeBlanc 19:13
Yeah.
Jim Fielding 19:13
But again, I learned-, I learned things at the J Peterman company that I would have never learned at the GAP, right, and so I think my-, you know, the second lesson in the book is 'Stay constantly curious and be a lifelong learner'. I really did embody that in my career, I was always-, I never wanted to be done. I still don't want to be done today. You know, even, even with the clients that I'm working with now, you know, I'm doing some things, you know, learning about AI, learning about frictionless POS, you know, things that are new for me, these are new skills and that I have to study in order, you know, to be an effective consultant to be an effective advisor and to help my clients and I love that. I love that I'm constantly learning.
Michael LeBlanc 19:58
And let's anchor that, and your 10 actionable leadership lessons that you've mentioned, so, you know, what-, we were talking a little bit about the state of modern retail is, is there any, I don't know, it's kind of like picking. They're all great, I'm sure, but is there any one or two that stand out, as-, listen, if you don't, if you don't, for whatever reason, think or do the others. These are the ones that are kind of like, sometimes Steve and I talk about table stakes versus differentiators, these you gotta do, but these will make your life, your career, your leadership materially different, any of those, out of the 10 jump out at you?
Jim Fielding 20:35
Yeah, I mean, I think the first one, which I intentionally put first in the book, is 'Control the controllable that leaves space for the possible'. I think-, I think that is retail 101. I think retail is detail. I mean, all these cliches are about retail, but you know, retail is detail. I think-, I always say that I never wanted to be a victim of the change, right, I never wanted to be sitting there and saying, oh, poor me, Amazon stole my business or, you know, the, the traffic left the mall and, blah blah, blah, like, and so, you know, I kind of live my life on the 80/20 rule where I try to control 80% of, you know, my business 80% of my life and, and in retail, like, you know, when Christmas is coming every year, right, you know, you know, when Halloween is, you know, again, you know who your customer is, and what there's a rhythm holiday. There's a rhythm to it and-, but at the same time, you can't be so controlling and so anal retentive, that you cut yourself off from reacting to trends, right.
Jim Fielding 21:38
And so I think that's, you know, what I really talked about in the first learning is this art of balancing being control and being detail oriented and managing projects, but at the same time leaving yourself open to when new input comes in, or new stimuli comes in, or something changes in the world, i.e., a pandemic, right, that you have, that you have the ability to flex and you have the skill set to flex to me, I think-, I think retail requires especially retail in these days requires such a huge degree of nimbleness and flexibility and I think-, I think the other probably the other chapters or the other learnings in the book are more about also knowing-, knowing yourself and knowing what your mission and vision is, because again, I think that applies to retail. It's like why-, why does your retail brand exist, why does your why does the world need your store?
Jim Fielding 22:35
I used to say that when I was president of the Disney Store, Michael, all the time and Disney still says that I used to say all the time, like there was nothing at Disney Store that we were selling that was filling a basic need. I mean, let's be clear, right, like you to survive. You don't need a princess costume, right, but what we were doing was selling a wish-, or like wish fulfillment or magic or a gift or a present and when you think about that, that everything in your assortment has to kind of stoke that magical emotion, it becomes a really important filter and how you design that product, how you source that product, how you price that product, how you market that product, and I-, I think that's really-, really important, right, because to me, I admire retailers who literally are playing the price game, right, there's some people who are really, really good at the price game, the mass game we talked about earlier. That's not me. Like I-, I have so much respect, I have friends that work in that mass channel, that dollar channel, the Walmarts of the world, I can't play that game. Like, I-, it's not my particular skill set. I know people that have that skill set, and I admire them. My skill set is more on the experiential, and a little bit of that-, the emotional part of-, of shopping.
Michael LeBlanc 22:40
I mean, structurally, we call that discretionary.
Jim Fielding 23:05
Exactly. I'm much more in discretionary, which also meant, I also knew when things get tough, that my business could be impacted, right, because discretionary means if mom and dad's budget gets cut-
Michael LeBlanc 24:10
Yeah.
Jim Fielding 24:11
That they're gonna pull back, right and so you also have to be smart enough to prepare for that.
Michael LeBlanc 24:17
I want to follow-, pull on the thread here a little bit. You know, the-, you know this industry, like you go to these conferences, and there's all these trends and, you know, I'll pick one as an example like the metaverse, right. So suddenly everybody is talking about something like the metaverse. There's a lot of people with agendas to say, Listen, hire me, I'll tell you all about it. It's the next big thing and how do you how did you and your career and what's your advice about sussing out and processing, the difference between unknowing call them authentic or real trends, and-
Jim Fielding 24:48
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 24:48
And you know, Steve and I right away with our experience, we don't have-, we put the metaverse through our filters and we thought it was just nonsense.
Jim Fielding 24:57
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 24:58
But-, but not everybody did and maybe I'm sure we've gotten a couple of those wrong and how did you-, how did you approach, you know, I heard about a trend. Is this real, what-, did you have a process for that, instinct?
Jim Fielding 25:10
I did-, I did, I-, Well, I think-, listen, and I think what you and Steve have done, like-, retail and many other industries, to me is a blend of art and science, right, it's a blend, it's a blend of data, and intuition, right. So, when something new gets hot, or all of a sudden, everybody's pitching you, and I'm old enough, Michael, you know, like, I remember when we weren't in doing ecomm, right, like, I remember when I started, right. So, I think again, it goes back to my lifelong learner philosophy, is that you've got to, like I would meet with people, I would take a lot of meetings, right, you've gotta you-, gotta kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince or princess, right.
Michael LeBlanc 25:53
Right.
Jim Fielding 25:54
So, I would take a lot of meetings, I would-, I would gather data. The other thing is, about retail, I would surround myself with smart people who were technical experts in these things, right and have them take meetings, and then almost present papers to like, teach me right, like, okay, teach me about this tool, or teach me about, teach me about this new technology and then, at some point, I think, again, depending on where you are in the leadership chain, as my mother always used to say, to me, that's why they pay you the big bucks.
Michael LeBlanc 26:25
Right.
Jim Fielding 26:26
You have to balance that with your intuition and say, and your experience, like intuition, to me, is your-, your gut feeling. But it's also based on your years of experience, right?
Michael LeBlanc 26:35
Yeah.
Jim Fielding 26:36
And you say this is applicable to me or this is not applicable to me, right, the Metaverse, for example may be applicable. If you're like a gaming brand, or, you know, your target customer is, you know, gaming, the gaming industry. The Metaverse might be really, really important to you,
Michael LeBlanc 26:54
Or youth, or if you got a young-
Jim Fielding 26:56
Young brand, like if you got a young brand that's very youth focused. PacSun, yeah. PacSun Abercrombie. You know, like that. If you're, you know, if you're a high-end jewelry brand, I don't think it's as applicable to you. I mean-, it doesn't mean you can ignore it, but I think-, so again, I would say my advice is, gather the data, take the meetings, use your team, and-, and then balance it with your gut and the other great thing about our industry, Michael, is you can test and roll, you can test and roll, you don't have to bet the farm, try some stuff, right.
Michael LeBlanc 27:32
Right.
Jim Fielding 27:32
Try some stuff, read the data, does your customer respond to this new tool? You know, I mentioned earlier frictionless retail right, this self, you know, beyond self-checkout, literally like the you know, like the Amazon GO stores, right.
Michael LeBlanc 27:45
Yeah.
Jim Fielding 27:46
I have studied and studied and studied those the last three or four years, because I'm really-, I'm really intrigued by them. Right. Really interesting technology. I've studied that a lot, trying to figure out where it's applicable, how it works. How do you merchandise that way?
Michael LeBlanc 28:02
I'm intrigued, I'm intrigued by the lack of success commercially, right.
Jim Fielding 28:04
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 28:06
You know, I think there's an index between how much it costs and how much you can actually do and we've seen that and in different places and, and, you know, it's fascinating stuff. All right, listen, last couple of questions for yea,
Jim Fielding 28:16
Sure.
Michael LeBlanc 28:17
You've been very generous, generous with your time.
Jim Fielding 28:18
Sure.
Michael LeBlanc 28:19
You've been an advocate for diversity inclusion throughout your career. So it's kind of advice time. So for the leaders who are listening, and the organizations that are rep-, they represent how can, what's your advice, how they can more effectively embrace diversity to create a sense of safety, belonging, and, and just accelerate their people's careers like yours got accelerated talk-, talk about-
Jim Fielding 28:40
Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, my-, yeah, my advice is, regardless of what you know, a government does or a legislature does. And, you know, whether there's a DEI initiative or not, like, DEI is important for your business, for a variety of reasons. Number one, the workforce that's coming up is the most diverse workforce we've had in American history. You know, how they-, ethnicity, their sexual identity, gender identity, you know, so basically, if you're managing if you want employees that are under 30, or 35, they're gonna come at you very differently than if your employees were 50 plus. The second thing is, and I think this is where I always came from, because at the end of the day, I'm a capitalist, and I had goals to make and I wanted to sell stuff, right, is your customer base is the most diverse customer base we've ever had in history and I always felt-, I always felt that your employee base or your team needed to look like your customer base, right, I always thought it was dangerous. If you had a bunch of, you know, 50 year old white guys sitting together trying to figure out what jewelry to sell it Claire's, right, because-
Michael LeBlanc 29:03
Which was a historical challenge for department stores.
Jim Fielding 29:56
Very historical.
Michael LeBlanc 29:57
The executives did not look like their customers.
Jim Fielding 29:59
At all. The executives, their board of directors, their advisors that they used, do not look like the customer and-, and so I think that's-, that's my advice to leaders, is doing diversity is smart-, embracing diversity embracing belonging, embracing inclusivity is smart business, because if you think you're going to manage, you know, a bunch of 50 year old, straight white people and that your entire team is going to be 50 years old and straight white. Like you're going to be left behind, right, you're not going to be an employer of choice and I think, you know, I spent a lot of time with this book and this book tour on college campuses, this younger-, this younger generation that's coming out is very-, coming out into the workforce is very aware of a company's standards, principles, morals and ethics and they want-, they want companies that align, maybe not 100% match what they believe in, but align and honestly, what I always come back to my goal and I know I'm a little long winded on this answer, but I have lived-, I have lived and died by the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have done unto you and I think any of us as human beings, we want to embrace-, be embraced for our full selves. So as a leader why wouldn't you do that for your team?
Michael LeBlanc 30:07
Well, my guest is Jim Fielding. The book is ALL PRIDE, NO EGO: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically. Jim, if people want to get in touch, how do they do that, or learn more? Are you LinkedIn guy?
Jim Fielding 31:30
Yeah, by LinkedIn, I'm on LinkedIn, they'll find me under James D. Fielding, they can follow me on Instagram @allpridenoego. Website www.allpridenoego.com. It is me if you DM me, send me a message I answer it's not an AI bot answering you. It is me and I have-, I have loved connecting with people around the world frankly and across the United States as I do this tour.
Michael LeBlanc 31:57
Well, Jim, such a treat to talk with you. It's such an interesting story and- and congratulations on-, on your success personally, professionally and thanks so much for taking time to be on. The Voice of Retail podcast. It was a real pleasure.
Jim Fielding 32:09
No, really a complete honor and pleasure.
Michael LeBlanc 32:13
Thanks for tuning into this episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, follow on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically each week and be sure to check out my other retail industry media properties, the Remarkable Retail podcast with Steve Dennis, and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, senior retail advisor, keynote speaker, ReThink Retail: 2023 Global Top Retail Influencer. If you want more content or to chat, follow me on LinkedIn.
Safe travels everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
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