Welcome to a new year, and maybe a new you, regarding your perspectives around leadership. My special guest is Steve Worthy, who, with over 27 years of North American on the front lines as a senior retail store leader and operator, brings a unique mix of executive coaching, training, and real-world experience to senior retail leaders and corporate teams.
Welcome to a new year, and maybe a new you, regarding your perspectives around leadership. My special guest is Steve Worthy, who, with over 27 years of North American on the front lines as a senior retail store leader and operator, brings a unique mix of executive coaching, training, and real-world experience to senior retail leaders and corporate teams.
About Steve
Steve Worthy, Founder and CEO, brings a unique mix of executive coaching and training to senior retail leaders and corporate teams. With over 27 years of experience as a senior retail leader, Steve's passion lies in guiding high-potential leaders to new heights in their careers. He embarked on his coaching journey in 2006, holds an MBA from the University of Maryland, and is certified in several personality profile tools such as the Enneagram, DISC, and Myers Briggs, establishing him as a go-to expert for leadership insights.
All of his insights can be experienced in his podcast, RETAIL LEADERSHIP with Steve Worthy, and his upcoming book “The Approachable Retail Leader.”
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, Retail Council of Canada.
Welcome to a new year, and maybe a new you, regarding your perspectives around leadership. My special guest is Steve Worthy, who, with over 27 years of North American on the front lines as a senior retail store leader and operator, brings a unique mix of executive coaching, training, and real-world experience to senior retail leaders and corporate teams. Let's listen in now.
Steve, welcome to the first episode of 2024, on The Voice of Retail thanks so much for being my guest. How are you?
Steve Worthy 00:41
I am doing well and I'm super, super stoked to be here and thank you so much for allowing me to be the first guest. Thank you so much.
Michael LeBlanc 00:50
Well, you and I had the chance to meet-, privilege to meet in-, was in New York at the LEAD in the summer, we crossed paths but never met in person. So, it's great to have you on the mic. Where am I finding you today?
Steve Worthy 01:03
Yeah, I am coming from the rainy but nice sort of temperature now here in in Alpharetta, Georgia outside of Atlanta,
Michael LeBlanc 01:14
saying that you happen to be traveling up and down a few times to Canada, what brings you to Canada so often?
Steve Worthy 01:20
The love of my life, actually, you know, thank you, thank you so much for that and you have been privy to some conversations back and forth and had a great opportunity over the last couple of-, you know, this last year to travel back and forth to Canada and now over a boxing day actually proposed to Cher Jones, who's actually my fiancée now and so I'm super privileged and I think they're trying to make me a Canadian citizen, because I'm constantly up there. So-
Michael LeBlanc 01:55
We'll do everything we can. Well, well, big congratulations. That's, that's huge and it's not your first time in Canada. We'll get to that true a little bit later, but we jumped in to tell us, tell the listeners I know a little bit about you, and I'd like-, I'd like to know more and tell them just a little bit about your origin story, your path and what you do for a living today.
Steve Worthy 02:15
Absolutely, absolutely. So just like a lot of us, you know, my retail journey started out with, with not being in retail. After my service in the Air Force sign finished up my, my undergrad in accounting and couldn't stand it, hated it, but it was that time of it was that time, now Michael, when you know the big six was, was around and so you could get your accounting degree and you could go back to New York City and you were making $60, $70k, which is really good money in the, in the mid '90s. However, I found myself in Charlotte, North Carolina, you know, looking for myself trying to figure out my next move and stumbled upon a Caribou Coffee and inside this Caribou Coffee, I ended up meeting the manager. She introduced me to her manager, he introduced me to the regional and within about two weeks, I was offered a job as a district manager in training and that that started my-, my journey into, into retail and so and-
Michael LeBlanc 03:16
You know, in my experience any-, for folks who've been in the service, they-, that you arrive to that with a lot of skills around people and, and focus and discipline and a whole bunch of other things. So, I guess they would recognize that in you right away, right?
Steve Worthy 03:30
So that's a great point, because-, because my first response to him was I have-, I have no understanding about coffee. Like even in the service and in college. I was a mountain dew guy. I was never a coffee guy and so, but that's exactly what he said, because I was a crew chief in the Air Force. So, I had oversight for-, for these, you know, hundreds of million dollars of planes, right. So that idea of trance, that perspective of, you know, monitoring and leading teams translated extremely well over into the private sector, if you will.
Michael LeBlanc 04:04
All right. So, from Caribou Coffee, you-, now you're a district manager, tell me tell me more.
Steve Worthy 04:08
Yeah, from, from they're just different-, different roles with different companies. I've worked for some of the largest brands from store managers, but I went back to store manager with Target and then moved back through with other companies to director of stores and so from there, it became a matter of understanding more about leadership. What I realized kind of throughout my-, my retail journey was that there was this gap that I had in my leadership that I wasn't receiving from my-, my companies. I would say I would tend to go outside and read a lot of books, attend a lot of leadership conferences, have mentors and these were all outside of my company and when I realized that I was doing without bringing a lot of that knowledge back into my retail experience.
Steve Worthy 04:55
And-, and interestingly enough, it almost seemed like I was sort of this-, this kind of rock star because I was bringing all this information back and I was like, hold on for a second, this information is readily available to all of us, to all of you here in the retail industry. However, the, what we noticed is that there are just a lot of organizations who are, are very from it from a training standpoint, they're very guarded and they don't provide a lot of information and training that I see that a lot of leaders need and so right now is when I started Worthy Retail, you know, our job, and our focus is to kind of close that gap, or our job is to close that gap of leadership from where they are to where it is that they want to be with their with our coaching and our training and our mentorship and also our new learning community called the campus and the ideas to make them more profitable from a personal and also professional standpoint. So that's where I'm at right now, as founder and CEO of Worthy Retail.
Steve Worthy 04:56
Fantastic. Now, you mentioned two things. One, earlier on, we talked about Canada, but two you mentioned Target. I think you were up here during Target adventures here. What were you doing up in Toronto to with Target.
Steve Worthy 06:08
The great expansion and then-, and then-, and then the great retraction, if you will. Yeah, I had oversight for Marquette and Central New York and part of that process was to get get with a team and connect with the team and bring a team over to Toronto, to help with the overall expansion of Target at that time and, you know, immediately one of the things of course, as we've we noticed, there was just a gap in training and knowledge and I think I think you and I may have had this conversation before, if not, here it is. One of the areas that I quickly discovered was relative to-, to Canada, and that process of us moving over there was that I think the biggest thing was that Canada, Canadians wanted more of a, an American perspective of Target and I think we tried to give them a Canadian Target and, and I think that's, that's where the kind of gap happened and so my job was, was to try to help transform some of that mindset and perspective, you know, with my team, and also with the also with the offerings and supply chain, all those aspects and until we realized that it was just an untenable situation, and we actually had to retract.
Michael LeBlanc 07:22
You know, we could spend a whole podcast talking about that Target episode. It's a big-, it was a big deal in Canada and, and, of course, you're not the only big international brand. That's, that's retreated. Lowe's just left, for example, and, you know, one of the things you mentioned, it's interesting, let's talk about it for just a bit as Canadians were-, it's funny, right, because the folks at Target and the even us analysts, we would say, you know, so many Canadians shop at Target, I think the number was, like, 30,000, Canadians had a target credit card, even before you got here. So, you know, we're like, this is going to be easy. And it turned out as exactly, as you said, is that and it wasn't all your fault, because there's just some weird rules and regs, you won't have the same product, for example, not even withstanding the language, but that the Canadians will-, they were so used to the Target experience in the US that when it came here, and it wasn't the same, it kind of felt like, uh, like, they were let down and some of that was, you know, some of that you guys would take ownership, and some of it was just, you know, thrust upon you. So, that was one of the symptoms, or one of the causes, would you, would you agree, I mean, it sounds like that was your experience as well.
Steve Worthy 08:32
No, I would agree. I think initially, you know, we did a great job of, of connecting with the community, Daryl Jenkins, actually, at the time, he was sort of the liaison if you will, from Target and on he was a Senior Vice President and he moved over to Mississauga and actually helped with the transition and making the landings sort of softer for us from a community standpoint, he did a great job of that but I think part of the loss in translation was, was simply around-, was simply around us you know, not maybe having our ear to the ground of course the product assortment and things along that line we're going to be we're going to be different but I think we didn't do a good enough job of pivoting quick-, quick enough also supply chain issues right I think we had we had a misstep there. So you know how that goes. Once you-, once you have backup in the supply chain and just everything else goes to pot-, and everything.
Michael LeBlanc 09:30
It's very tough. I mean, you know, anyway, my conclusion to that, I remember I've been asked 100 times and we talked about it a little bit, is too much too soon, too fast. I mean, you could have oh, you know if with 10 stores you could overcome any supply chain issue. You just muscle your way through it, but it's hard with you know, 130. Anyway, anyway, let's-, let's leave that one aside. Let's focus on-, let's focus on something else. Let's-, you've been in this retail game for-, for quite a while now reflect. I want you to reflect on your experience, about you know, the training and the frontlines, you've said you found some gaps and some opportunities that you were feeling, what is-, what's changed over the course of-, of your career, that, you know, you hear that a lot, everything's a little different now than it was before, but and you know, in the context of your practice, you know, what's the same and then what, what do you think has changed that we need to and you help us adapt to as an industry?
Steve Worthy 10:22
Yeah, I think the fundamentals, of course of business are always going to be the same, right, is, it's always about sales, less-, less-, less expenses than you have profit, but I think the velocity of the of that of that sales cycle, and also the connection that we make with customers, as changed, of course, you know, gosh, I remember, if we can just go back with one target standpoint, real quick, I remember the the great credit card breach, 2013, I think was 2000-, no two thousand and, maybe eleven, I want to say, and that whole situation changed dramatically. I think transparency as it relates to leadership, as it relates to what we're doing as a company and we're seeing that kind of still, still take place now. Where there are a lot of leaders now, where the idea around transparency and who they are, what they stand for, what are you going to get, for me, as a leader, those things are still in place.
Steve Worthy 11:23
Though, right now, with the advent of AI, with the advent of data analytics, and the decision-making processes that need to take place so much faster than what we have seen previously, before. I believe that leadership intuition is something that is it's something that is, is almost lost, but it still needs to be part of the overall decision making an equation where we get-, we get so focused in on the data and we forget about the human element that's associated with retail with leadership and so making sure that we don't lose sight of that human connection was one of my predictions, you know, for-, for this year, was just around AI powered leadership. I just did this the other week-, yesterday, actually, yesterday, on my when your week on weekly, live stream. The first prediction was about AI power leadership, how your leaders need to embrace generative AI, machine learning, you know, data analytics, and then how do you actually take all of that, and make an informed opinion and perspective on that, so nowadays, that's where we, that's where we're actually going to see more leaders kind of take an embrace as they move forward.
Michael LeBlanc 12:39
Say a bit more about that, like, lots of folks throw around AI, you've-, you've injected, of course, you've injected it there into leadership, talk a bit more about your perspectives around AI leadership, define, chalk that field for us a little bit.
Steve Worthy 12:53
Yeah. 100% and, you know, and I'm glad, I'm glad you, you know, you went a little deeper on this, because you can go to any conference, you can look at any, you know, paper that's out there research paper, and it's, you know, AI, AI, AI, and-, but what does that mean, for the leader. Right, what does that truly mean, and I think that's part of our, the genesis of a Worthy Retail is that what do all these things, all these initiatives from a 40,000 foot view, mean for the leader, like the person, the individual, Senior Vice Presidents on down to district managers actually have to implement these things. From an AI standpoint, it is getting familiar with it. I remember when we first got Zebra Scanners into-, into stores, that-, that-, that was-, that process, the adoption process took years, I mean years and now when we start to think about AI, the idea around adoption and understanding its impact on who you are and what you do.
Steve Worthy 13:55
Your-, not just your supply chain, not just your customer data, but also your ability to make decisions and so-, so an AI powered leader has to have the ability to understand what AI truly is, and its impact. We just-, we just created a learning lab on our campus and it's called generative AI for retail leaders and it's just a one-, one hour intense perspective around generative AI and what do you need to know definitions, perspective what are you currently using, from an AI standpoint in your personal life because I think that's the other part of it, is that a lot of people think about AI, but we're currently using it in our everyday life. So why not think about it from a professional standpoint and what-, what does that mean as well, so when I think about it, in general, when I think about AI powered, it's really building up your, your perspective and your thought process on how to use it, and how it's going to actually impact you and again, decision making as leader.
Michael LeBlanc 14:54
I wouldn't call AI a trend but let's talk about trends for a bit. Let's transition over to talk about your perception around trends, I mean, when I think of-, when I talk to retail leaders, and-, you know, I was interviewing longtime president of the big Canadian retail, and he said, if you would have told me I'd have this many loss prevention people 10 years ago, I would I would tell you, you're crazy. You know, that's one example, but there's a lot of other intersecting examples. When you think of, from a, hey, this is happening today in the store, what's-, what do you call it? Do you call that AI, again, that's probably not a trend, it's a-, it's a, you know, just like hand scanners, it's here to stay, but are there any things like, you know, violence in the stores is a real problem, right, how do you train around that and lead around those things, nobody wants to feel uncomfortable in the place they work, but and unfortunately, it's a bit of a reality, Yeah?
Steve Worthy 15:42
No, 100% and I think one thing that's never going to go out of style, and I did this as a projection for 2024, as well, was around sick of psychological safety. You know, when you think about it, as a- seems like a very soft topic and soft perspective, or, you know, something that just like, you know-, you need to sit down on the couch and talk to somebody about it's not, it is-, it is truly about creating a culture where you know, where your team feels safe-, safe and secure, you know, to encourage to kind of express their thoughts, their ideas, their concerns, their fears, everything without ridicule.
Steve Worthy 16:23
And so when we start to think about it, just to kind of talk about your, some your asset protection example, people want to feel safe, they want to not just not just say physically, but they want to feel safe mentally, where I can actually be able to come into a store, or come into a market and have a conversation with Michael, and then say, you know, what, what, what are you guys, what are you guys doing differently, how, what are you doing to make me feel secure, so that I can actually come in here and actually do my job professionally, right and so you're gonna start to hear more conversations around the psychological safety within stores that from a whether it's going to be from a conference standpoint, there's going to be senior vice presidents talking to their team on down the line, and how do we actually approach this conversation and I was just talking to someone the other day, I said, hey, you don't have to have a, you know, an, an agenda item that says psychological safety, right.
Michael LeBlanc 17:23
It's not a box to tick off. It's not in that conversation. Okay, good. Good, let's, let's move on to talking about inventory.
Steve Worthy 17:30
Let's move on. Did we cover that one, okay, good. No, it has to be part of the culture. It has to be the ethos of who you are.
Michael LeBlanc 17:38
That's a great point. That's a great point, that-, part of the culture. That's-, that's well spoken. Let's talk about leadership and you know, Steve Dennis, and I talk about and he talks about frequently a generation of leaders were at the very, very senior levels, you were, you know, you were-, you expected yourself, so to speak, to have all the answers now in the, you know, in the New World, you've got a leadership means maybe something different that there's partnership, you, you don't need to have all the answers and you need to lead a team in different ways. What do you-, what do you think about creating this culture, you mentioned culture, what's, what's the key today to creating these cultures of success?
Steve Worthy 18:14
You know, we-, we meeting and focus in on a concept that I've created that-, that's for an upcoming book called The Approachable Retail Leader and it's just the wrong approach-, approachability. You know, approachability isn't a- it's not a new term, the way you think about it in the context of retail, and I looked over my entire career and I looked over the career of other successful leaders. Their level of approachability was by far one of the biggest assets that they have, and we define approachability as the difference between being informed versus finding out.
Steve Worthy 18:15
When you-, when you approach and you think about approachability in that context, you're able to save time, you increase your retention, but more importantly, you increase your overall capacity as a leader. When you-, when you-, imagine the days of and I've had this happen. In my-, early in my career, I walk into a market and hey, Michael is leaving Michael. Michael just left. What do you mean, Michael just left the company, how did-, how did that happen? Right. So that's me finding out that Michael left the company and then as I grew my career, I realized that if I am able to develop approachability, I can come into a market and I can actually have a conversation with Michael, before Michael was even thinking about leaving, or Michael is just right at the beginning of thinking about leaving and if I'm approachable enough-
Michael LeBlanc 19:44
Or he can have a conversation with you-, or he or she can end the conversation with you, like you know, things aren't going so well. Like you know, that's a tough conversation to have, right, because you're like, if I take that first step, then I'm at a disadvantage by already saying that I could be there, right, like, that's their case and point.
Steve Worthy 20:01
Correct, correct, but if-, but if they're-, if you feel safe enough to be able to come to somebody and actually have those conversations-, I've saved, I've saved, I don't know how many people from, you know, moving, you know, moving out of the company, but I've also had the-, the, the reverse, where people will come to me and say, hey, I'm thinking about leaving, and my conversation with them will be like, well, okay, I think it's actually a really good decision that you do that and, and so it's the ability for people to be able to do that.
Steve Worthy 20:30
I was in a-, I was in a-, a Hyundai dealer and I remember, there was a gentleman who was, who was who was working with me, and I just I kind of remembered his face, but I didn't remember and he came up to me in the waiting room, and he said, hey, do you remember me, I said, I think I do a little bit and he said, I used to work for you. I was an asset protection specialist, and you came into the store, no one else was there, but you walked into the store with me. And we had a conversation about my role and what it is that I wanted to do, and you said, ‘Hey, do what you love. If it's-, if it's not retail, like don't-, don't do it’. So, he left, right, and I noticed is probably not a really great story for retail leaders in the context, but what I mean in the right now is that he's leading, now, an entire service department for a Hyundai dealership, and he's doing exactly what he loves. So if I wasn't an approachable enough for him to be able to have that conversation with me, he would probably be still be stuck in something that he doesn't really want to do and so I think part of this idea and concept around approachability is to help people really kind of embrace who they are, and find out where their passions are, and then you help cultivate that so that they can move forward.
Michael LeBlanc 21:49
Talk a little bit about your-, your smile framework go in a little bit deeper on that for us.
Steve Worthy 21:54
Yeah, I love it. You know, the-, the smile framework. You know, I believe every leader, every leader smiles differently. So, the S is for Self-Awareness. The M is for Mindful Listening. I is for Inspires trust. L is for Lead by Example and the E is for Effective Empathy. Self-awareness is one of those topics, of course, that everyone wants to talk about as it relates to strengths and opportunities. I don't think about it in that context, I think about self-awareness as a leader as a relates to your why and, and how you respond in certain situations because if you understand why you are in your leadership role, why you do the things that you do, why you make decisions, the way that you make them, and why you have conversation to communicate the way you do them, then you're actually at a-, at an advantage for who you are.
Steve Worthy 22:50
Now, we assess how you respond in certain situations. When you think about response, like Michael, what I see so much right now, especially in retail, is that we have two different responses, we have the initial response and then we also have the filter response, that filter response is what, it's the one that kind of keeps the status quo. It's the one that we respond to in a certain situation where we just want to keep the peace, but just imagine you've spent 10 years dealing with and, you know, articulating filtered responses. No one really knows who Michael is. No one really knows what Michael truly thinks. Neither does Michael because Michael has spent 10 years providing filtered responses and so the idea around approachability and utilizing it in that context is to help people understand and remove that-, those labels and that veneer around the filter response so that they can response-, respond in their authentic self. When you do that, guess what more people see you for who you are and then your approachability increases.
Michael LeBlanc 23:57
Fantastic. Now you've it sounds like you've taken the big first step, you're going to be writing or maybe you're already writing a book and, and what's it called The Approachable Retail Leader, love that title. Talk a little bit about the book and when we can expect to have it on the shelves.
Steve Worthy 24:13
Yeah, I mean, it's you know, the-, it's been a book that has been sitting in my-, my OneNote for probably the last six or seven years and I can-, I can be very honest with you. I'm like, man, I was so-, I've been so scared. I was so scared to write this book.
Michael LeBlanc 24:36
It's a heavy lift, man, writing books is a heavy lift, right?
Steve Worthy 24:38
Oh my gosh, I can read books all day long and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so amazing and then you take on this-, the arduous task of trying to write it. The idea around it is to-, is to follow a leader through their-, through their retail journey as they embrace the-, the framework and the perspective of approachability. At For levels within that within their leadership journey and then as most stories with the arc, it goes through where they start to turn, and they start to teach other people, they start to teach other leaders, the approachability framework, but it is-, it is a book that really gets into the the nitty gritty of retail leadership.
Steve Worthy 25:20
One of the things that we focus in on-, we have a newsletter called Worthy Retail, Worthy Retail News, the premise of that newsletter is very much throughout the book, where we-, we talk about the unspoken challenges that retail leaders face, whether it's from the interviewing process, whether it's from leading the team that doesn't look like you, whether it's from you know, hiring and staffing people balancing diversity and equity, managing intergen-, intergenerational relationships within-, within the company, within your stores, within your market. So, we-, we deal with a lot of that, and the approachability framework is kind of laced throughout-, throughout that book, as we follow this person through their leadership journey.
Michael LeBlanc 26:06
Fascinating. Well, we're gonna see that in 2024, or '25, what do you think?
Steve Worthy 26:10
It's gonna be 2024, it is in 2024. We're in the process of writing it right now and getting it edited every chapter as I move-, as I move forward and so the, it's-, it's a-, it's a slow burn, but I started the process.
Michael LeBlanc 26:24
Fantastic. Well, we'll look forward to that. All right, you've been giving us a lot of advice, kind of weaved into this conversation, but let's-, let's wrap it up with a-, a two start and one stop advice for the listeners, the retail industry listeners out there. So, two things they should start doing in 2024 and one thing they should stop doing maybe, you know, not that they're doing it wrong, maybe it's just changed or in your discussion with your clients is just not working? What are your two starts, one stop advice?
Steve Worthy 26:50
Yeah, I can, if I can, if I can, if I can start with the-, the one thing that these people need to stop doing?
Michael LeBlanc 26:56
Yeah.
Steve Worthy 26:56
It is, it is really to, to stop thinking that you are limited with where you currently are. In your-, in your role, we have this perspective of imposter syndrome that a lot of leaders have and when I say stop, I mean to stop the idea that you don't belong, and that you don't have a seat, that you don't deserve to have a seat at that table, you deserve to have a seat at that table, we have to stop thinking that we don't deserve that seat at the table and you do-, especially in 2024, as you move to through this new year.
Steve Worthy 27:34
Two things, two things to start doing. Community. It is, in its retail leadership space, I have seen it far too often, where leaders are feeling isolated, right, it's that-, statistics show it whether it's Forbes or Harvard Business School, where 70% of leaders feel lonely and what we have to realize is that you can't do it by yourself, you need community, you need to be able to connect with somebody to actually be able to, you know, kind of quote, unquote, let your hair down and I know it's kind of funny coming from a bald person can't really see, but to be able to be able to let your hair down, you know, as well.
Steve Worthy 28:13
And then number two, the number two to, to really start is to invest in, invest in, invest in yourself. Number two is going to be invest in yourself. What I have seen is that a lot of leaders are waiting for their companies to invest in them, they will invest in you at a certain level, but if you really want to move to where it is that you want to be, first of all, you have to define that and then you can-, you can-, you can take on the requisite resources to help you move forward, but investing in yourself, as someone who has done and continues to do it, I have a coach, I've had a coach for like the last 17 years, I can't stand the guy, but because he calls me on my stuff, and he tells me exactly what it is and I might-, I may be doing wrong, but he also just provides some perspective on some-, on some stale problems, problems that I've been dealing with continuously and he just provides a fresh perspective on that and so making sure that you are investing in yourself in 2024 is definitely something that you want to start doing.
Michael LeBlanc 29:16
All right, fantastic advice. Now you mentioned you do a live stream; how do folks get in touch with a LinkedIn person and drop some links and websites and how folks can go and where they can go to learn more.
Steve Worthy 29:27
Absolutely. You can get everything at-, on LinkedIn, that's at Steve Worthy. That is the first place to go to connect with me. From there you-, you get access to whether it's the community, our live stream or podcasts, you know, that we do, you know, as well as our coaching and our training as well. So, LinkedIn is going to be the best place to connect with me over at Steve Worthy.
Michael LeBlanc 29:49
Cool, fantastic. I'll put that link in the show notes. Listen, Steve, thanks so much for taking the time to join me on the mic. It's great conversation and listen, I wish you much success in everything you're doing and much continued success and get that book out and, and your trips to Toronto, so we've got to get together in person next time you're up in Toronto, but for now, thanks again so much for joining me on the mic. It was a real treat, and I wish you a great rest of your day.
Steve Worthy 30:16
Thank you so much. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Michael LeBlanc 30:19
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 E-Commerce 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
retail, leaders, ai, approachability, leadership, perspective, people, conversation, book, target, Canadians, great, talk, store, company, idea, training, feel, podcast, Canada