Lead Like No Other

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”―?Oscar Wilde

This quote also applies to leadership, it is easy to lose sight of who you wanted to be when you were growing up and early in your career. Life catches up or you forget about your dreams, personal vision and mission. It is never really over it is merely misplaced and waiting for you to restart it. It doesn't matter if you're 20 or 65, life is meant to be an experiment it is not meant to be sat out. This week we talk about retailing of course, the economy a painful reminder of what's looming and a look at leadership it is the rarest test of human courage you will face. The willingness to step up and out, and place yourself in the firing line to be judged. That's courage unlike any other.

First a Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends.

Retail: Consumer shifts

As we progress into 2023 we will encounter more retailers struggling as a result of trying to cool the economy. It is likely that there will be larger retailers who will either face very tough times or fail. 沃尔玛 has already begun with their low price messaging, this brand is a bellwether company predicting the coming future. I also believe that discounters caught on through the pandemic that there will be challenges and opened more stores. Dollar Tree Stores Dollarama L.P. in Canada and the US. However retailers are flush with inventory (Washington Post) with the likes of 耐克 and Gap there will be sales events to move product. However will consumers be in a position to buy if we keep squeezing them out with interest rate hikes? Or is our desire to consume greater than our desire to be individually economically sound?

This growing situation will also impact the restaurant industry and it will hurt business districts. I meet more and more people working from home these days, so there is a shift happening and we shouldn't be surprised with corporations downsizing their home offices especially to reduce costs. Here are some thoughts on how retailers should be responding to rising interest rates from an earlier post on (LinkedIn) last week. The challenge ahead is one of survival strategies and tactics, in addition to getting back to your grassroots retailing. Nevertheless it will be lean and it will be a challenge.

Lead like no other

The concept of leadership has always intrigued me. What makes a great leader and others just good leaders? Many executives in their career have hit a wall. That wall happens to be their own leadership journey, not well planned and or prepared for changes. Usually, they find what used to work is no longer effective, people and organizations lose interest in what they have to offer. The problem lies in values and beliefs, they do tend to get dated and either to far in one direction or never kept up. The greatest leaders are visionaries, please don't confuse them with futurists. A visionary ties the past and present together to create the next generation of growth and opportunities. Some create or conjure them seemingly out of nothing. That isn't really the case they are immersed in the current state of their world looking for that next move. They are daring and willing to fail even it costs them their job. When you lead without fear you are free to build everything anew provided that it isn't misguided. In fact, many of them are alchemists. Cobbling a future or new ideal together with what they have available to work with, or cultured inside the petrie dish of their individual minds open to new and challenging ideas which allows them to create. That's why I separate futurists from visionaries while they appear similar, however visionaries create the future, they don't predict it. Nevertheless what good is it to be a visionary if you are not willing to act and lead in a manner that is both aspirational and inspirational. The first thing to do is get out of your own comfort zone of why you don't need to do things and what your beliefs about executive life or leading is about. That's why learning and experiencing new things will define your future, as will the willingness to put yourself out there and even be willing to fail. The latter is what holds most people back. Leading like no other is being labeled as a visionary by others, not simply calling yourself that with a social media title. Leading like no other calls for you to get out of your comfort zone and as scary as that is I will tell you that this is where success and self gratification lie. If you want career growth you can't be a silent genius you need to do what you are capable of even if it is uncomfortable to your nature.

Personal Log: Stalling an economy to slow inflation

Since no one is talking about it, I will. We are in a looming economic crisis. Have bank governors gone too far? Or not far enough? Is it time to take their foot off the interest rate hikes a little? I do believe that they are about to hurt the economy and more than they think simply because they have never been in a pandemic and restarting the economy was going to be rough just the same. Then again they don't want a repeat of the 70's and 80's. We knew there would be a spike in demand and that prices were going to begin increasing and with the world supply chains shut down and yes greed, prices skyrocketed. But prices are declining in most categories, at least that's what David Rosenberg is suggesting that it has gone too far and that Central Banks are looking at lag indicators not the actual market.

Keep raising rates and businesses already struggling will get hurt even more and jobs will be lost, that will be our measure of success for fighting inflation. In this modern age it sounds like an archaic approach. The Toronto Star has a view that this economic turn will hurt more and last longer. Perhaps one more hike and then step back and ask some hard questions. Can we tackle this differently by addressing the bigger culprits driving inflation? Like the war in Ukraine impacting fertilizer costs, or ocean shipping and producers of food with little competition, or oil cartels?

Thank for reading this weeks edition of The Business Brief