When US retail industry veteran Mindy Grossman was three days old, she was adopted and as a child her parents constantly told her: “You are the future, you can do anything you want, you’ve got to believe in yourself and you’ve got to do it.” She took that seriously and became the first person in her family to attend college. Fast forward many years later and Grossman is now one of the most influential women in retail in the world. During her career, she has had a string of impressive exe
ve executive roles, from being the global vice president of Nike and president and CEO of the Polo Jeans Company to being the CEO of the Home Shopping Network. Grossman was also CEO of Weight Watchers International, where she partnered with Oprah, and is now partner at investment firm, Consello Group.
Last week, Grossman was inducted to the Hall of Fame at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona and shared with attendees the leadership lessons she has developed during her career, from being discerning and open to reinvention to building an agile culture and resilience.
What it takes to be an agile leader
“I think you need the ability to both see what’s next and be able to take the risk, but you’ve got to develop the capabilities within all of that. Transformation can be one of the most overused words. It’s a large, wholesale radical change and you need to have the vision and build a culture that is completely aligned against that vision.
“You have to have the support of the board, the investment dollar and you better have resilience. It’s not going to be a linear journey.
“Culture trumps strategy – if you don’t have an aligned culture that is collaboratively working together and you’re not inspiring [your people], you won’t make it through.”
The future of retail is boundaryless
“We have to really embrace this idea of boundaryless retail. It’s not a channel, it’s everywhere. Think of every single touchpoint someone has – and every touchpoint of retail isn’t necessarily putting a credit card into it. It’s creating an experience and community. How is somebody going to interface with you all the time? Of course, you want great product to inspire, but what’s going to motivate them?”
“[At the Home Shopping Network], I spent 11 years sitting in a producer booth for hours, just watching for that moment someone wanted to buy something. They may have seen [a product] five times before, but all of a sudden, it just goes off. We have to remember, it’s not [about] just the transaction at the moment, it’s every touchpoint when someone is going to feel, ‘this is what I want and how I want to interact.’”
Why you need to develop a purpose filter
“I worked four years with Oprah, who is one of the most discerning people in the world. It’s more important what you say ‘no’ to than what you say ‘yes’ to. Every one of us – brands and people – need a purpose filter. It’s a list of 15 questions you ask yourself to make sure you’re true to yourself and that a decision is being made with that in mind.”
On being open to reinvention
“I think the things that interest me are brands that are completely re-envisioning themselves, even if they’re doing really well. It goes back to disruption.
“I’ve been on the board of Fanatics for six-and-a-half years. Michael Reuben had a successful vertical commerce company around sports. There was no reason to disrupt it, he could have continued to grow it. When I joined, it probably had a valuation of about US$3 billion.
“But Michael saw a different thing – he was gathering all these fans. What else could he do with them? So what was a vertical has since become the biggest complete sports platform with 80 million fans for commerce, gaming, and collectibles in one. And now it has a valuation in excess of $US30 billion. It’s about rethinking your business in more expansive ways.”