Brian Fitzsimmons’ Post

Check out the link to the webinar in the comments. Great insights into CEO succession planning!

"I experience a warm glow when I hear about Marks & Spencer doing well. It’s like hearing that my favourite auntie won a prize for something. It is so pluckily undefeated, permanently cheerful and optimistic, even when we are mean and call Per Una hideous and embarrassing. You want jeans? It’ll give you jeans. You like the underwear? Here, have six more knickers lines in technical fabrics that won’t show or shrink or crawl up your bum. You want calorie-counted, plant-based ready meals? They’re over there. Yesterday’s performance results from M&S showed that its can-do, no-offence-taken attitude has resulted in soaring success in most departments, with a record-breaking 38.2% market share in bras, and knickers sales up by 3%. Laugh if you want but this is a big deal" | ✍️ Esther Walker Here's why M&S is booming again ⬇️

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Vinay Narayana, Senior Director of Engineering at Levi Strauss & Co., share his career journey and insights on continuous learning. His message is clear: your career path is not linear, and the benefits of spending time with stakeholders and taking positive outcomes from difficult situations are invaluable. Check out his talk below to gain inspiration for your own career journey. #careerdevelopment #continuouslearning #techleadership

Very creative and clever.

Levi Strauss's decision to reduce its workforce, even in the face of rising sales, underlines the complex challenges and opportunities that retailers face today. It highlights the critical need for agility, innovation, and efficiency in an increasingly competitive and digitally-driven market. Such strategic moves not only impact the companies directly involved but also set precedents and benchmarks for the entire sector, influencing future strategies, operational models, and market dynamics. This shake-up could prompt other retailers to reevaluate their own strategies, leading to further changes across the industry. https://lnkd.in/g6HpckjY

Levi’s Names New CEO as Chip Bergh Announces Retirement. Levi Strauss & Co. Ahmed Ayub Naman Pataria Alekhya Akunuru Rahul Ghode Sujata Khandual V Varun Vidhyuth Franscina Peters Disha Shevade Kotresh K R Tarini Vikram Singh TANUSH CHOUDHARY Richa Mansukhani #pentoz #ceo #innovation #ai #news #newsupdate #update #january #january2024 #developmentcompany #appdevelopmentcompany #innovation2024

Michelle Gass took on the top job at Levi Strauss this week after a relatively unusual CEO handoff. When she left her role running Kohl's in 2022 to become president of Levi, the denim maker all but assured her the top within 18 months. This is rare on a lot of levels: It’s rare for a named heir to come from the outside. In fact, it’s rare for companies to pick an outsider at all; less than 20% of companies do it, in part because the data shows they don’t perform as well as homegrown talent. But in this case, the Levi board used a year-long transition to turn an outsider into an insider. It’s a bet that it will give them the best of both worlds — an injection of fresh thinking alongside a deep understanding of how the company works. More of this, please. Not necessarily the exact Levi model, but more companies willing to shake things up when it comes to CEO succession. It’s the most important job corporate boards have, and all too often they fail miserably. Research has shown that the market value erased by bad CEO and C-suite transitions among the S&P 1500 is almost $1 trillion a year. Nearly a third of directors say companies don’t spend enough time on succession planning. And getting it wrong has tainted the legacies of many otherwise exalted CEOs. Added bonus: This column was edited by the great Kristen Bellstrom, who just joined the Bloomberg Opinion team. Thrilled to be reunited with this all-around excellent human!

Succession planning, at all levels, is critical to long-term business success. If part of that plan involves hiring, then onboarding is the first critical, and often overlooked, step to successful succession. In this story about Michelle Gass at Levi Strauss & Co., a line stood out to me that applies to all organizations hiring talent: you have to “turn outsiders to insiders.” What do the twenty-year veterans in your industry or company know? What patterns, cycles, or trends have they lived through that a new person would benefit from? What needs to be learned to achieve success? And then there is the next set of questions. Where is the hockey puck going? How can an outsider pull insights, recognize new patterns, enhance the relevance, and provide a fresh frame to the deep knowledge that exists in your organization? That is when you have not only successfully made an outsider an insider (perhaps creating onboarding practices that allow you to do it again, even better), but you’ve also given your insiders fresh eyes. Thanks for the share Beth Kowitt. #leadership #succession #onboarding #impact

Here it is .. the next exciting collaboration with In The Now How teaming up with the Digital Sales Team at Levi Strauss & Co. A full 3-day program focused on deeper connections to self, others, and exploring personal "whys" and the wider team purpose. As Simon Sinek famously said, "People buy your why, not your what." This collaboration goes beyond standard business metrics and emphasizes the importance of purpose-driven work. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project! #IntheNowHow #LeviStrauss #PurposeDrivenWork