This is tough news; Mike was a retail legend.
One of my favorite training sessions - several mid and senior leaders spent two days with Mike and our CHRO at the time. He did this often, without interruptions. He invested in people.
He taught the way he led, not through bragging or taking credit or trying to be the smartest person in the room (though often, he was). Instead, he shared stories of how and when he failed, what he learned, and inspired others to reach a bit higher than they thought was possible.
A couple of years later, I was recruited by a competitor - during the process, a senior executive said, "Mike sure likes the camera; he gives a lot of interviews!" Interestingly, during this leadership training, he had told us why he would do these interviews. He explained that not only was he speaking with shareholders, but with over 155,000 associates (at the time), oftentimes the only way that these associates would hear what was going on was through one of these articles. It wasn’t ego - it was his desire to connect with his people.
He talked about his "Sunday emails." He would make notes about the current business and what was upcoming, what was on his mind. For himself mainly, but since he was doing it anyway, he would send them to the board. He rarely would hear back, so he didn't really know if they were reading it. One Sunday, he wasn't feeling great, so he didn't put a note together - and around midday, he started to receive messages: "Is everything ok? Are we getting our update?" His point was that even when people don't acknowledge that they are listening, oftentimes they are.
I've often thought about sending him a note and thanking him for the lessons learned. I wish I had. I know that there are hundreds, maybe more who have benefitted from his leadership and learnings, and I know that what he taught will continue to impact retail positively.
He will be missed.
Head of Community @ Duel | Fashion & Beauty brand obsessive | Venture Scout @ Ada Ventures
6moIt's going to be an unbelievable event. ❤️