I ask retailers lot of questions and one of my favorites is, “What keeps you up at night?” One of the most telling answers came from a senior supermarket executive several years ago who replied: “Waking up in the morning […]
Surviving Merger Mania Read More »
Let’s be clear once and for all—Jeff Bezos doesn’t care if he sells you broccoli or ball gowns. Therein lies Amazon’s greatest strength and the potential chink in its digital armor. This strategy of being the “everything store” will be
Amazon’s Acquisition Game Read More »
Remember Ronald Reagan’s farewell address from the Oval Office? His vision of that “shining city on the hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere … free ports that hum with commerce where walls have doors that are open to
Many of you may remember Rodgers and Hammerstein’s iconic 1949 musical South Pacific and a song that rings as true today as it did nearly 70 years ago. “You\’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You\’ve got to
Tuning Up Diversity Read More »
In a world of “fake news,” “alt facts,” “crooked media” and terrible Tweets, consumers are asking the biggest question since “who shot JR?”— namely, who do you trust? It’s certainly not the political and ideological spinmeisters floating around Washington’s bureaucratic
The Credibility Crisis Read More »
When did baby monitors and election booths become weapons of mass disruption? At what point did a GPS or our own F-16 fighter jets become potential tools for America’s enemies? This makes no sense; of course a fighter jet will
Best Retail Advice – Go Hack Yourself! Read More »
I am not Amish, a Luddite or one of those people who long for the simple agrarian life of the 19th century when the most recent innovation was shock absorbers for horse-drawn wagons. But as the world swoons over drones,
Unleashing the Retail Muse Read More »
Lately I’ve been hearing more “trash talk” than at an NBA playoff game. But this isn’t the usual on-court banter. It’s the conversation about food and solids reaching large proportions. It’s happening as activists, government agencies and even some in
The battle of the sexes is as old a story as human history. But it’s taken a new and somewhat disturbing twist lately, becoming a national debate on transgender rights. Or, as it’s been called, the Bathroom Wars. At the
Surviving the Gender Wars Read More »
Recently, word reached me that an old friend, colleague and an important mentor early in my career, had died. Aside from an unwelcome reminder of my own mortality it made me wonder whether the art of mentoring is becoming as
Mentoring On a Two-Way Street Read More »
