Retail Unwrapped - from The Robin Report

Episode 191: Succession Planning in Retail…Pepsi Has It Right

June 14, 2024 Robin Lewis and Shelley E. Kohan

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There was a time in retail when the route to the C-suite was from the sales floor, and future leadership was carefully groomed at companies like Lord & Taylor, Abraham & Strauss, and Macy’s. 

With many companies downsizing and eliminating training programs, plus integrating more technology, future retail CEOs may come from unexpected places. 

Pepsi has become the poster child for launching retail CEOs:  Brian Cornell of Target, Lauran Hobart of Dick’s Sporting Goods, Vivek Sankaran of Albertsons, and Mary Dillon of Foot Locker. Can retailers steal a page from Pepsi’s playbook?  

Liza Amlani, Principal and Founder of Retail Strategy Group joins Robin and Shelley to talk about how leadership needs to be able to connect products to customers, which typically happens when talent is groomed from within. They also discuss how retailers can retain talent by giving frontline jobs a quicker route to the top. 

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