Behind the Apron: The Building Blocks of Culture
Behind the Apron is a monthly short article series spotlighting leaders doing inspiring things to advance retail innovation and workplace culture at HomeDepot.com, Home Depot's award-winning eCommerce organization.
June's spotlight features Jay Steinfeld, CEO and Founder of Blinds.com; a division of Home Depot's eCommerce business and the world's number one online retailer of window treatments.
After spending time with Jay and hearing his story of bootstrapping Blinds.com as a startup back in 1996 to driving its growth to a $200MM company while creating 200+ jobs and guiding its acquisition by The Home Depot in 2014; I was struck by his conviction for people and purpose and how culture has played such a pivotal role in the growth of their business.
When I visit with our different teams and leaders I'm always putting myself in a candidate's shoes. How do I feel? Does this sound cool? Would I work here on this team? People always ask, "Philip, why are people so crazy in love with working at The Home Depot?". "What's going on over there?".
It's a great question. I usually smile and try to hold back my own spontaneous combustion due to my embarrassing amount of orange pride (tough to stay objective in these situations). The overwhelming sensation I can only try to describe is that you FEEL part of something bigger than yourself and that you are doing things to better people's lives in some small way each and every day with each and every person you touch.
When I connected with Jay he made me feel like I wanted to run through an orange brick wall with a 30 foot wide grin on my face. Really! No kidding. I looked down and realized I had floated three feet to the left - I was moved. It was inspiring. It was real. It was from the heart. I could hear the engine of passion for company culture red-lining all the way from Houston.
It's not just the leaders that make Blinds.com culture or any of our other teams special. It truly is the people. We are a team. We power a purpose. A mission. Everyday that I wake up and realize I'm heading to work for The Home Depot I'm thankful. I'm at the intersection of passion, purpose, technology and my favorite color - orange! I'm just glad my other 3,000 eCommerce coworkers wearing digital aprons today feel the same way!
For more details on life at HomeDepot.com, Blinds.com and how Home Depot is leading digital innovation visit here.
Read below for the full interview:
Software Engineer By Trade 🐦🔥 30 Years in Various Industries 🚀🔧 Building Software to help Businesses Scale Operations, Enhance Efficiency, and Ensure Compliance
7yGreat post. Thank you for sharing. I concur, these are exciting times at the THD. Committed and engaged leaders, genuinely motivated to creating value by solving customer problems.
President, Pattern Advisory - Ex. Newell Brands & Private Equity, Board Member, “The Retail eCommerce Club” Founder, “The CPG View” Podcast 🎙️ “eCommerce” is our middle name.
7yGreat leader, awesome companies.
Sabbaticalist & Succession Architect | Collaboratively Co-Design and Curate Immersive Leadership Experiences for Resilient People & Organizations | Author: A Traveler's Guide to Leadership & Life (Work In Progress)
7yHave seen some of the values-based leadership in action at Home Depot. Love hearing about the values alignment between Blinds.com and Home Depot in their post merger integration. Often talked about but not always played out in post merger integration. Thanks for the story, Philip!