Digital pioneer and veteran eCommerce leader Johnny Russo is back on the podcast after several years, a new gig and a new book, "Mastering Mindful Leadership: 105 Ways to Become the Leader Your Employees Need You to Be". We catch up and talk about the current online retail environment, lessons learned, a look to the future, and the key lessons that will help you manage your teams and lead in the new world of work.
Hello and welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host, I believe in the power of storytelling to bring the retail industry to life. Each week I'll bring insights, perspectives and experiences from some of the retail industry's most innovative and influential voices. This podcast is produced in conjunction with the Retail Council of Canada.
Digital pioneer and veteran eCommerce leader Johnny Russo is back on the podcast after several years, a new gig and a new book, "Mastering Mindful Leadership: 105 Ways to Become the Leader Your Employees Need You to Be". We catch up and talk about the current online retail environment, lessons learned, a look to the future, and the key lessons that will help you manage your teams and lead in the new world of work.
About Johnny
Johnny is Chief Digital Officer (CDO) based on Montreal, Quebec, and leads Digital and Ecommerce growth at Lamour for numerous brands, including Thorlos, Crooks & Castles, Terramar Sports, MPomPon, and Papi Underwear, among other digitally-native brands. A graduate of Concordia University, Johnny has continued to supplement his education and continuous learning, with certificates from The University of Toronto and The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. As an avid competitor, Johnny has represented Team Canada 4 times at the World Ball Hockey Championships, winning gold twice.
About Michael
Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada and the Bank of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Today's Shopping Choice and Pandora Jewellery.
Michael has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels. ReThink Retail has added Michael to their prestigious Top Global Retail Influencers list for 2023 for the third year in a row.
Michael is also the president of Maven Media, producing a network of leading trade podcasts, including Canada's top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail. He produces and co-hosts Remarkable Retail with best-selling author Steve Dennis, now ranked one of the top retail podcasts in the world.
Based in San Francisco, Global eCommerce Leaders podcast explores global cross-border issues and opportunities for eCommerce brands and retailers.
Last but not least, Michael is the producer and host of the "Last Request Barbeque" channel on YouTube, where he cooks meals to die for - and collaborates with top brands as a food and product influencer across North America.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Hello and welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host.
I believe in the power of storytelling to bring the retail industry to life. Each week I'll bring insights, perspectives and experiences from some of the retail industry's most innovative and influential voices. This podcast is produced in conjunction with the Retail Council of Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 00:21
Digital pioneer and veteran eCommerce leader Johnny Russo is back on the podcast after several years, a new gig and a new book, "Mastering Mindful Leadership: 105 Ways to Become the Leader Your Employees Need You to Be". We catch up and talk about the current online retail environment. Lessons learned, a look to the future and the key lessons that will help you manage your teams and lead in a new world of work. Johnny, welcome back to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you, my friend?
Johnny Russo 00:51
I am good. I'm so happy to be back. Thanks for inviting me.
Michael LeBlanc 00:55
Well, it's great to have you on the mic. Just before we hit record, we were kind of reminiscing on the last time you and I were together in person; it was pre-COVID. And I kind of stuck a USB microphone in between us in your office in Montreal, we had a great conversation. So, it's wonderful to be back on the mic with you. And after so long, I'm really looking forward to catching up and you got a book out. I want to talk about that and your insights. So, thanks for joining me again. Well, as I said, it's been a long time since you and I've talked either on the mic or spoken together. And of course, some of the listeners may not have heard our first interview. So, let's start where we should, which is who are you? Tell us about yourself, your background and what you do for a living?
Johnny Russo 01:40
Sure. So, I'm Johnny Russo. As you mentioned, I've been lucky enough to be in eCommerce for 12 years and counting. And been in digital for over 17 years. I still feel young, but I'm getting older. It seems crazy to say, you know, 17 years in digital, but I'm from Montreal, I graduated in journalism from Concordia University. So, maybe that there's a bit of a tie into me wanting to write a book there, I guess. I moved to Ottawa and got a marketing job. And then just stayed in marketing and never went back to journalism. So, I started a little blog on the side. I moved back to Montreal and got another marketing role, since that time manufacturing on the digital side, in terms of like, you know, the websites and blogs and so on.
Johnny Russo 02:49
And then with a couple of startups, and I began this marriage of like, I love technology, and then I got a fantastic opportunity for Buffalo Jeans. And it was on the web marketing as we knew it then, digital today in the eCommerce side. So, I married retail, tech and eCommerce together. And that was my career. So, like I said, for the last 12 years, on the eComm side in retail, I've got to work with some organizations like Mexx, Bentley. And then I moved to Calgary a couple of years ago for Marks in the Canadian Tire Corporation. And now I'm the Chief Digital Officer at a company called Lemour.
Michael LeBlanc 03:04
Well, let's talk about Lemour. I was on the website and, and you know, looking at the background and the origin story, it's kind of a traditional or a wonderful story of people coming to the City of Montreal, which had a great reputation, it still does, it's a place where great apparel is made. But to talk about Lemour. How are you? Tell us a little bit about the company and, and what do you do there?
Johnny Russo 03:26
Yeah, so first off, it's a family-owned business. It's a fantastic family through and through. And Lamour is a manufacturer of socks, underwear, hosiery, really basics, like any of the basics category. And Lamour has several licenses for socks and underwear, including New Balance and (inaudible) Bench, Eddie Bauer, we just got the (inaudible) license for socks and many others and we work directly with retailers and big box stores as well, whether it's through our licenses or private labels, so Costco, Walmart, Joe Fresh and many other retailers, and we sell licenses to the Amazon Channel. And a couple of years ago, they wanted to diversify even more, and they started to acquire their own direct-to-consumer brands. And they didn't really have anyone to run it.
Johnny Russo 04:03
And when things started (inaudible) right around the COVID era. They reached out to me to help build and lead the direct-to-consumer vision and division. And we run six brands in our portfolio, including Thorlos, which is a performance sock brand, Crooks & Castles is a large streetwear brand, Terramar Sports is a leader in the base layer category. And another one that we actually just launched from scratch in July of 2022. It's called the Within, wearwithin.com is the URL but we built it from scratch, it houses all of our brands and licenses. So, it's like a little Lamour marketplace that anyone could go and buy basics for. So, basically any gender, men and women kids as well. So yeah, it's an interesting brand that we launched.
Michael LeBlanc 04:55
So, let me get this straight. You're a business that by and large made its name or made its trade in license and making products for brands that is then subsequently sold to retailers. Now do you guys sell to the retailer? Does the brand sell through to the retailer on that side of the business?
Johnny Russo 05:13
We do it, yeah. So, we do the licensing, just like any licensing deal, and there's royalty back to, to the brand. So yeah, we work really closely with, with, with many of the licenses and brands that I mentioned.
Michael LeBlanc 05:26
Right. So, you'll, you'll, your counterparts will call on retailers, as you mentioned, you mentioned a few of them, and bring them a library or a portfolio of products to choose from and formats. Now and on your side of the business, your purview is to move those products, sell those and offer those direct-to-consumer, right. So, that's where your business starts and stops. But you had a big portfolio, is that a good assessment?
Johnny Russo 05:53
Yeah, exactly. And the, and the brands, like I would say five of the six brands are their own brand. So, they let's say Thorlos is just on the (inaudible) like it's a brand and we manufacture those socks, it's actually a brand so there's not another brand on those on that let's say site, Terramar Sports the same, Crooks & Castles the same, although Crooks & Castles has a partnership with Snoop Dogg. So, with that Death Row Records sourced on Death Row Records apparel on that site. Now Within is different. Within is almost like yeah, all our licenses that we manufacture, all the brands that we own for license are on that site. So yeah, I think you nailed it.
Michael LeBlanc 06:28
So, it's like a house of brands. So, talk a little bit, let's talk a little bit about the tradecraft of that before we get into, there's a lot of stuff to talk about. So, I want to understand a little bit about how you go to market. You mentioned Amazon, as a direct seller. I mean, there's been so many interesting models coming, coming forward. I was in New York City and there's this new organization called Leap, which provides stores as a platform, for example. In other words, they take small, niche online brands, and they operate a store for them. Like, it turns the whole thing on its head, all of which is a way to say, you know, going direct is not easy. They need someone who's as skilled as you. Talk about how you take that brand directly. You know, I hear marketplaces, platforms, direct, just give us a sense of your tradecraft and what's been working for you.
Johnny Russo 07:19
It's an interesting time, because it's really, it's easy to, it's easy to set up, right. Especially, you know, we're a Shopify house and all our, all our brands are on Shopify Plus we're doing some B2B on Shopify as well. And so, it's easy to set it up. And then it's really hard to drive traffic, it's really,
Michael LeBlanc 07:29
Right.
Johnny Russo 07:30
Hard to build up a brand, it's really hard to convert and you know, so it's funny, because we're in that era, right? So, it's easy to set up. So, there's many people doing it, but it costs some money, right? It's, it's not all organic traffic, right? So, you gotta build your email lists your SMS list, your loyalty campaigns.
So, you know, the paid media side has shifted in the last couple of years and become more expensive with less attribution. So, complications there. So, yeah, so we definitely try, you know, within where we have our own direct-to-consumer site, and now we're reaching out to marketplaces also still there. Again, it's an easier way to gain more traffic, where you're paying, there's an offset of commission there to those marketplaces.
While we think it's good for our category. And some of the others, we're just sticking to a Shopify direct-to-consumer channel. Some of those we have Amazon, wholesale and retailor.com. So, it really depends on the brand and kind of where the maturity is in that brand. But, but, you know, we're I think we're figuring out the formula. I don't know, you know, any brand has to figure that out, right? Are they all retail? Are they some wholesale, some retail?
Michael LeBlanc 08:34
Yeah.
Johnny Russo 08:35
Do they want to play with Amazon? Do they not want to play with Amazon? That's usually the big question. You know, where does the Walmart marketplace fit in? Or walmart.com in some cases, (crossover talk).
Michael LeBlanc 08:45
Or Hudson's Bay, a Loblaw's you know, (crossover talk).
Johnny Russo 08:52
Zellers is back in, (crossover talk). We've had some conversations with them. They're, they're building out a marketplace too. So, who would have that in 2022 we're talking about Zellers again.
Michael LeBlanc 09:16
It's, you know, it's funny, it's Deja vu all over again, for me, I was on, I was on the pilot committee that opened the first Zellers in the Bay store at Queen Street in Toronto. So it's, as I've told those folks, it's Deja vu all over again, but they sound like they have a really interesting approach. So, you know, you raise a whole bunch of issues. And one of them is basically, you know, how do I build a brand in the modern digital ecosystem like what you said, you know, you've been in this business 17 years, I've been in it a little bit, a little bit more. Building the website, that's easy, right? That's, you know, it's flipped on its head. That's the easy part and now you've got to build that kind of traction and you've got to do it economically. Do you use social media as well? Is that a part of it? Are you looking at retail media networks? I'm so intrigued.
Johnny Russo 10:04
Yeah, it's funny, because we have six brands, everyone is a bit different.You know, like one of them was saying, hey, what about PR, like traditional PR, maybe it would work. We're on every single channel, whether it's affiliates, whether we use an agency to help us, or we run it internally through a ShareASale. So, we have different models, depending again, back to the maturity, right? So, we're on affiliates, we're doing media for all. We have organic channels and influencer marketing turned on for all. We're doing TikTok for I would say 60% of our brands were dabbling in TikTok. We have our own photo studio. And,
Michael LeBlanc 10:44
Right.
Johnny Russo 10:45
The team has, our content team has gotten really comfortable now with, with video, right? It, it, it, video is like always that thing that takes a bit of time, and you're never sure of getting published. Our team has, in the last couple of months, done a really good job of becoming like a content factory, churning out some content. We don't know if it's going to work, or we're going to try. So, all those levers are on and then we're looking at partnerships, whether it's collaborations with people or other brands that you know, could help each other out on the, on the business side, and move each round forward or each company forward, each organization forward, (crossover talk).
Michael LeBlanc 11:16
What about live streaming? What about live streaming? What do you think of live streaming? I had a chance to talk to the president of (inaudible) who's doing a lot of great work. I mean, live streaming to me often seems to be the next great thing still. But have you, have you dabbled in it, what do you, what are you thinking about it?
Johnny Russo 11:34
I've done a ton of research on live shopping because I feel like in the next two years live shopping and social commerce. So being able to just transact directly online, are going to take over and if we look at the trends and where eCommerce usually start those trends they start in China. And live shopping has seen explosive growth. The growth there, I think is forecasted to be like $425 billion in 2023-2024. And apparel, fashion, beauty are leading the way, right? So, we can all sit here and say, well, it will work for apparel because of sizing, and we want to try it on. No, it will work, it will work.
Michael LeBlanc 11:53
Yeah. yeah.
Johnny Russo 11:55
So, you know, in my network, we've talked about this a lot and, and the (inaudible) is not quite there yet, like if it would do live shopping. But it will be at some point. So, it's definitely on our roadmap next year, along with, you know, aspects of shipping globally and making sure that's profitable. We want to get better operationally. So, we're kind of, we're still a little bit of six brands. It's almost like it's a year and a bit of a startup. And we have that mentality about us. We're trying a ton of different things. We want to make sure the foundation and operational structure has shrunk. But live shopping and social commerce, I'm a big fan of each of those and I think they will hit apparel very soon.
Michael LeBlanc 12:46
Well, you've got, it sounds like you've got your hand on the pulse of everything moving. You must have a huge team. What three, 400 people by the sounds of it, right?
Johnny Russo 12:50
Minus, minus about 285. Yeah, exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 12:56
Yeah, you guys juggle a lot of balls by the sounds of it. But that, that sure keeps it fun. Let's talk about your new book. So, you mentioned it before, "Mastering Mindful Leadership: 105 Ways to Become the Leader Your Employees Need You to Be". Let's start at the beginning. Why did you write the book? Where did you think there was some whitespace on the shelf, so to speak virtual or real for a book like this? Talk about what you're thinking?
Johnny Russo 13:26
Yeah, I was thankful enough to have, I worked with an executive coach, and he introduced me to an author. And once she saw that I could do a manuscript, she said, yeah, I'm interested in helping, sorry, an editor, not an author, and editor.
Michael LeBlanc 13:37
You're the author.
Johnny Russo 13:39
I'm the author. (inaudible) end, introduced me to a publisher long story start podcast, but, but the editor asked me and said, why are you reading this book? And I thought about what I hadn't written down and then I didn't, and she's like, I love it. Let's go. But, over my career, I've had a chance to work with some amazing leaders and managers, some of which I think have been on your podcast. And you know, I've seen examples of how to manage greatly. I've seen examples of how you know, I would lead a team or management myself, and so I've been listening and learning a lot over the years you know I've read, I’ve read about 100 plus leadership books since my career began.
Johnny Russo 13:59
I noticed many of them are fantastic reads, but they're routinely aimed at the top ranks of the C-suite, direct and above level. I wanted to write a book about leveling up. You know, having a mindful leadership playbook. This is essentially a playbook on becoming a manager or managing people for the first time, getting from manager to leader, growing that, that ladder, how to inspire a team, how to lead your respect and values and inspire and do it with care, and I think it is the new age of leadership and it got lost for some time. I think it's back on track.
Johnny Russo 14:25
But the other main reason I was pushed, I pushed myself to write this, you know, I thought that many leadership books were written by consultants or authors who have their own agency or coaching or development companies. Which is fine, but I wanted to write it as someone in the trenches, someone who has employees and bosses, somebody who doesn't own the company, someone who doesn't get to just write for a living, someone who constantly deals with challenges and tries to solve them and action them. And yeah, works that proverbially, proverbial you know, nine-to-five job. And then write on the side of it like I said, I've kind of been learning and taking notes as I went and then kind of put it all together into this. But essentially, I just wanted to help people who were, it was never about making money. And that's why she poked and prodded when she asked me, why did I write this book?
Michael LeBlanc 15:35
Well, it's good, it's good advice. Because if you want to make money, writing a book is not the way to go unless you're like Stephen King or someone else. So, it's, you know, that's why I like to probe about why you wrote the book. Now, you spoke a little bit about your tradecraft. I was curious, I asked all authors, how they, how they, what their process is? I have, I've talked to authors who say, I'm gonna write 100 words a day, no matter if it's good or crap. And I'm just gonna write 100 words a day, or I have authors who write a priestess. And then I have authors who say, Listen, I've been taking little notes over my whole life.
Michael LeBlanc 15:57
And then a fourth one, I'm kind of curious which category you fit in. I started writing this book and, and by the process of writing the book, I came up with, you know, I started with 20 top tips, and I wound up with 105. I'm kind of making that up. But, what, talk about your tradecraft. You, you just alluded a little bit that you've been taking notes and, you know, have your own personal kind of way to write down your leadership style. How did it come together? And why is it 105? Why, you know why it is,
Johnny Russo 16:22
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 16:23
Not 99? Why is it not 125? Where does the 105 come from? You mentioned the question to the book but talk about that a little bit.
Johnny Russo 16:42
Yeah 99, I should have done like Gretzky ways to unload. It is interesting, because we didn't, we didn't talk about this before. And those four things like it's all of them that you've hit, especially number four. It's so funny that you said that. So, I think that shows I was, I moved to Calgary, and I also was going back and forth a bit from Montreal to Calgary. I moved to Calgary for four years to Marks. And four hours on a plane, I'm somebody who disconnects on a plane. So, I might watch a, you know, a downloaded Netflix show but I will connect to Wi-Fi. It's just my time to kind of be alone and connected all the time in digital that nothing closes, right. So,
Michael LeBlanc 16:57
Yes, (crossover talk).
Johnny Russo 17:00
Flying back and forth, four-hour flights, four and a half hour flights (inaudible) Calgary, (inaudible) Montreal, or wherever else I was flying to from, from Calgary, thankfully, it's close to DC and California and Vegas. So, it was a fun time. And so, I literally trained myself to watch maybe two hours of the flight, I'd watch Netflix, and two hours I decided I would write. And I want to write a book on digital transformation. That was, was my passion, is my passion. I was speaking a lot on the topic. And I was writing, and I just kept writing tickets. So, kind of like, like your point I was just writing, I didn't know, what I was writing,
Michael LeBlanc 17:18
Yeah.
Johnny Russo 17:19
I kept writing and I kept adapting it. And then at that time too, I just became really passionate about leadership and was over investing by learning on that topic. Just anything about being a manager, coach, development, personal development, coaching, leadership, all of that. And then I said, You know what, like, I'm going to pivot this and write a leadership book. And then I had this idea of writing this like a playbook for about 365 days, something that would help you each and every day that you read. Those cookbooks, you see that help you, (crossover talk)? And then I was like, okay, it might be too long to do that kind of like a cookbook, because there are pages now. And then, (crossover talk).
Michael LeBlanc 18:35
You would have needed a job in LA for that right now.
Johnny Russo 18:37
Exactly. A full time. No, no other work. Exactly. That's what I would of needed on the beach or something. And so, I, and I think I got to like 80-ish, or something like that. That's when I started reading, reaching out to the editor. And I said, like, I don't think I could write 365. It, it was, it was a lot, it was and like I said, like, you know, she had young kids and all that stuff going on.
Michael LeBlanc 18:49
Yeah, yeah. Of course.
Johnny Russo 18:51
I was working full time. And then I said, you know, what, what number makes sense. And I said, like, 105, like, there's 52 weeks in a year. So, you can kind of decide to do one a week, you know, and maybe this takes you two years to kind of implement them. Or you could do you know, once every, every two, or two, you know, every week and you know,
Michael LeBlanc 19:03
Right.
Johnny Russo 19:04
I can do this in a year. So, that's kind of the number so 52 weeks kind of double dip 104-105 became, became the number. And that's kind of where, where we went.
And even the title changed as we went from the editing process to the publishing process. It was, you know, we had a playbook in the title and then you know, the publishers like actually, let's, let's remove it and that's the double iteration with, ‘Mastering Mindful Leadership’. So, it all came together.
But yeah, I really started writing on planes and then finished it after I moved, moved back to Montreal. And yeah, it was, it was just a new process completely for, for me, and you know, not knowing the publishing process much even though I was in journalism, I didn't know anything about publishing processing. Do you self-publish? Do you get a publisher? You know, do you get a big publisher? Or do you get a small publisher? A Canadian or US publisher?
So, my editor was instrumental in helping me through that, Susan Crossman. And then she connected me to Manor House Publishing, which is a Canadian publisher out of Ontario. And, yeah, we read you know, manuscripts (inaudible) to do it. We worked together and lo and behold, it came to fruition in October 2022 on the print side.
Michael LeBlanc 20:20
Lo and behold, you're an author. Now, we won't take everyone through the 105 different principles. I did see, I did detect some kind of themes, like a bias for action, I kind of pay it forward. Now, what would you say, you know, to the, to the listeners, to get them engaged in the book, what, what were some of the themes that you explored in one of those 105 tips that you, 105 ways? Talk about that a bit?
Johnny Russo 20:59
Yeah, I think. And there's really no order to the book, like I thought about, like doing a topic on like communication or motivation, inspiration and then I just decided no, actually, it was like, you know what like, let people read this at their own pace, everyone's going to come into this, the titles are pretty self-explanatory, (inaudible), they can read them from 105, or kind of start with 77, if that's what they want to, want to do. And you know, they're each one to two pages of stuff that should be implemented or can be actionable, but essentially comes down to, like being mindful of the way you carry yourself, the way you speak to your team, the way you treat them. Sounds obvious until you actually talk to your team in a certain way that maybe is not the right way to motivate them.
Johnny Russo 21:19
Goal setting and just absolutely crushing it. If you don't have goals, how will you know if you have accomplished them? And will you be fulfilled? You know, something that I'm sure you hear a lot and I hear a lot is like, oh, yeah, continuous learning, I want to, I want to learn this year, but like, it's not measured, right? At the end of the day, like how do you know if you learned or not?
Michael LeBlanc 21:37
Yeah.
Johnny Russo 21:38
So, I make sure my team is accountable. It's like, if we agree, you're going to read 10 books, you're gonna be 10 books. If you're gonna take three courses, this year, you're gonna take three courses. And we go through that learning because, and then the other thing I make sure of is if they, if they do read something, or watch something, or listen to something, they take one thing from that. Taking one thing from that to implement in terms of personal development or something in your skill set. The other thing from a leadership perspective is to be passionate, be optimistic, and be kind. Not many people want to work with a leader who hates what they do, is perpetually negative, negative and treats people badly. I don't know many people that want to, I want to do that. So, instill passion, optimism and kindness into your day-to-day life. It may be hard for some people, but that's the world we are going to invest in and that's the world your employees want you to be. And I talked about performance reviews and tips for interviewing and hiring as well. And I spent some time on time management and planning, which you know, and all this stuff stems from my real life and stuff that I do, like anyone who knows me knows I spent a lot of time trying to figure out time management just to become better at planning. Like, I would say, like no one's giving you more time,
Michael LeBlanc 23:11
Right.
Johnny Russo 23:12
Not a single soul is gonna give you more time. So, you just have to figure out like, well, around the same amount of hours in a day that we're awake, we all have things to do. How do you become extra precise on all the things that you want to do actually that day?
Michael LeBlanc 23:22
So, you wrote the book during a very unusual time in our lives. And some would say, including myself, that it was a, you know, one of the lasting changes of the COVID era was how we work. And part of that is remote leadership or remote work. I talked to many retailers who are hiring people, in ways they never would have conceived of doing culturally pre-COVID The technology was there, but it just wasn't culturally appropriate. So, let's talk about that for a bit. What's your perspective on remote work and, and leadership in a remote working environment? And do you think it's here to stay? And do you hire remote employees? Talk about that.
Johnny Russo 24:00
I love this topic. And it's and it's one that I think I needed to change my stance on, if you asked me three years ago. But I used to be a huge advocate of 100% work from home. It's easier, you don't have to trudge through traffic, you have more time, you have your own schedules. And if you're really self-disciplined, you're in a good place, you're on a good path. I started a little more with a two-to-three-day hybrid. I think it started at two and then it shifted to three. And being new and starting a new division and getting to know the current team while onboarding a few new team members.
Michael LeBlanc 24;29
Yeah.
Johnny Russo 24:30
There's nothing that can replace face-to-face. So, I'm a big advocate now with three days in the office model somewhat flexible. So, some days the entire team should be there and in our case that's Monday and Wednesdays and scale up or down as need be like during Q4 and Black Friday or Cyber Monday. We, yeah, but there's probably want to be at the office five days a week, right? That's probably important just like to get everyone on the same page.
It's easier to talk than have tease meetings sometimes and scale you know, scale that down if you need to. If you feel like the team is just overwhelmed with too many meetings, or there's a snowstorm all week, maybe they stay home all week, you know. And, I do have two or more employees that are actually in Calgary.
So, I have people that I've actually worked at Marks Le. So, that's good, we had a bit of trust already. So, it's awesome that they know how I work, and I know how they work together, they are remote, we have two offices as well. So, like Crooks & Castles is another office. So, we're trying to merge those teams together. And I think we have but yes, it's almost like two different offices plus a couple of remote employees out of, out of Calgary.
So, I see advantages in both models and employees do create some flexibility. So, why not provide that in a form that works for the company and the employee, so long as results are there, keep it going. And if results aren't and you feel like you have to see everybody, then that's your call as a boss or an owner or president. And if they are and you want to scale it back, and you know, and it's summer and you're like yeah, maybe, maybe (inaudible) during summer of you know, X amount of days. So, I really changed my tune a bit on that. And I'm kind of in the middle now on, on, on, I think both are, are, are advantageous.
Michael LeBlanc 26:10
Now when you started at Lamour was it during, was it pre-COVID or during COVID.
Johnny Russo 26:15
I started when it was still during COVID. Because technically, it was like December 2021.
Michael LeBlanc 26:21
Okay, but then it was starting to wane a little bit, (crossover talk).
Johnny Russo 26:24
Exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 26:25
I just tried to timestamp that. Just by the way you said, you know, in person spending more in person. I was curious whether that was what the culture was before. What at Lemour, was the culture accepting too? Would it, let me ask the question differently? Would it be a culture that was accepting of remote work prior to COVID? And you said to yourself, you've kind of changed your attitude a bit? Was the overall organization kind of already heading that way, (crossover talk) or was it pushed out.
Johnny Russo 26:55
No, it was five days in the office. It was five days in the office so COVID changed it and, and I took the family's credit, they were open. And sometimes you don't see that right? Like a family run business, it's family.
Michael LeBlanc 27:08
Yes.
Johnny Russo 27:09
It's our way or the highway. And no, they really listened to employees and what they wanted. And that's kind of how the hybrid came about. And yeah, so it was okay, two days back in the office with masks. And then it was three days with masks. And there were no masks.
Michael LeBlanc 27:16
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Johnny Russo 27:30
So, at the latter end of COVID, but still, some of the restrictions for sharing in Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 27:27
Interesting. All right. Well, last question for you two and I'm going to put in two starts, one stop. And that's advice as a leader of people in the digital world. So, we've already been talking, I mean, really, our subject, mostly for today's conversation, has been leadership. But if you could boil it down, in advance of people picking up this great book, what are the two things they should start doing? And one thing they should do less of or stop in your experience as a manager?
Johnny Russo 27:53
Yeah, so I'll start with the starts, I guess. Digital moves at a speed unlike maybe anything out there right now in the world. And now like, you know, holidays came in check. CBT came out, like how do we? What do we do with this? So, so plan better, start planning your months and your weeks and your days better and get better at (inaudible) position and time management? Because like I said before, no one's giving you more time to do more effective work in the time you have. Digital's not slow paced, right? Retail is, is not meant to be slow paced, it's not for the most part, it's not a very long sales cycle.
Michael LeBlanc 28:14
Yeah, I know.
Johnny Russo 28:16
It's hours or days and so we gotta understand why some of them you know, (inaudible) on, on this site, and then why our ads aren't running at a ROAS of what we want on that. So yeah, if you plan better, you get a better handle on things, and then you need time to actually fix things. The other thing that I would say is start reading more and some people say well reading for me, then start listening more, listen to podcast, listen, (crossover talk) me, watch YouTube, whatever it is, but I say start reading where there are so many advances happening in eCommerce and retail and digital. You know, so whether it's digesting your own podcasts and where you have, you know, other, other leaders in the field, and some great books coming out on, on what you know, transforming your business digitally means?
Michael Leblanc 28:55
Yeah, yeah.
Johnny Russo 28:57
Just start reading more and find a topic that fascinates you, right? It doesn't, it doesn't have to be forced there but, but start reading to learn more. And then I'd say the stop would be to stop wasting time complaining and action once you want to change. I see a lot of that happening. You know I've been in retail for some time. Yeah, nothing's perfect, right? Everyone has these legacy ERPs that we work with, or the stores and the head office are not always (crossover talk). work closely together. There's always something right? Yeah. So, like, you know what book that meeting with your boss and your boss's, boss, like send that note out whatever it is. Like instead of complaining about it, try to be that change in action and fix it. Don't just sit around and let it get worse. So, I would just say, stop, stop, (inaudible).
Michael LeBlanc 30:11
Well, my guest is Johnny Russo. The book is "Mastering Mindful Leadership", Johnny, where can folks who are listening get a hold of your book?
Johnny Russo 30:18
They can find it on Amazon. So, yeah, just search the title, ‘Mastering Mindful Leadership’. There's a bunch of sellers and resellers on there. But Amazon would be the go-to.
Michael LeBlanc 30:28
Fantastic. Well, I'll put a link, I'll put a link in the show notes just to make sure people find it. But listen, it's been such a great time just chatting with you. I mean, you and I share a lot in common and I missed you. I haven't seen you in a while. I appreciate you for joining me on the podcast. Congratulations on becoming an author. I barely have time to read books, let alone write them. So, I'm always impressed by someone who can grasp the written word. And listen, I wish you much continued success. I encourage everybody to read the book. It's a great read. For myself, I learned lots from it. And so, I'd encourage everybody to get in. And once again, thanks for joining me on The Voice of Retail podcast.
Johnny Russo 31:07
Thank you for being such a big supporter, supporter of mine and continued success with your podcast.
Michael LeBlanc 31:14
Thanks for tuning into this episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, be sure and follow on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically each week. And check out my other retail industry media properties. Remarkable Retail podcast with Steve Dennis and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. Last but not least, if you're into barbecue, check out my YouTube barbecue show Last Request Barbecue with new episodes each and every week.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, Growth Consultant, President of M. E. LeBlanc & Company and Maven Media and keynote speaker. If you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co.
Safe travels everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
brand, book, retail, podcast, read, licenses, people, write, bit, Calgary, employees, Montreal, tradecraft, leadership, talk, eCommerce, author, digital