Bryan Gott’s Post

Y’all. You know how much joy I get from recognizing the hard work of others. 🤗 Yesterday I had the privilege of recognizing MA Specialist Tyler from Store 3104. When we spoke about LPP and how much it benefits our customers, he stated: “I wouldn’t buy an appliance without it”. 🥹 That simple phrase makes a world of difference to our customers. Every consumer wants to know that you trust your product enough to not only recommend it, but use it as well! Tyler thank you for connecting transparently with your customers and ensuring they have the peace of mind they deserve when purchasing appliances. There hasn’t been a goal you haven’t exceeded. You are a great representation of Lowe’s and a true winner all around. 🏆 …and you know what winners get? Sprinkles (well, in this case cookies and an LPP Recognition Bag). 🙃🍪✨ Tyler, keep up the outstanding work! Onward and Upward! 📈 #lowes #loweslife #lpp #region5 #levelup #partnership #progress #passion #success #successmindset #service #servantleadership #HungrytoWIN #HungrytoWIN2024 #support #learning #development #coaching #growing #teaching #movetheneedle #recognition #recognitionmatters #dreamteam #onwardandupward Chad Alberda Jesse Krug Andrew Bradt Jennifer Clark Brian Deal Danny Gates Chris Grimley Jessica Chalk

Getting your product to your consumer! Day 3 Hosted by Marks and Spencer at their Marble Arch store - things got very real! Kicking us off was Lauren Mallon bringing real energy and honesty in sharing her career journey - important theme being just how far attitude takes you in unlocking breadth & experiences. Hantian Wang brilliantly brought to life the magic of range & spacing - how to stand out and insight into what your customers (Buyer) are prioritising. Our teams were joined by some outstanding graduates Niamh Timpson Hannah Connolly Gregor Munro Millie Stewart who took our teams to stake out different channels (Stores, Restaurants, Pubs etc.). Prompted some excellent thinking around the right channels for the right brands. This is part of the magic of the industry: it's so very relatable and the deeper you dive, the more interesting it becomes. Our delegates felt the same - teams were getting strategic about who was staying/who was going: there's some tension brewing with laptops being slammed shut as soon as anyone who isn't in your team approaches! A huge thank you to the team Marks and Spencer for a brilliant and thoughtful experience - particularly Becky Cock who took the reins mid-way through and delivered such a cracking day. Over half-way now! The energy levels have been sustained, the quality questions keep coming - what a treat to have a front row seat! Psalt

Last week, Walmart and Sam’s Club associates from all over the world gathered here in Bentonville, AR for Associate’s Week. The spirit and energy that this annual event breathes into our collective hearts as Walmart and Sam’s Club associates cannot be overstated. It is invigorating to have so many people here in our relatively small city at the heart of Walmart, USA. It’s a richly diverse gathering, not just in terms of cultures and countries represented, but also in diversity of career journeys, life experience, educational backgrounds, and so much more. This was the first year I was able to attend the Associate Celebration that wraps up the week. I saw incredible entertainment (Lizzo, anyone??). I also heard from Paris Hilton and Robert Downy, Jr. about their products available at Walmart. I enjoyed the lighthearted antics of host Peyton Manning, hearing leaders from different parts of the company talk about our future, and seeing the unique things happening at various stores around the world. What was most impactful to me though, was the message from CEO Doug McMillon as he recognized three amazing associates for their dedication and the difference they make every day. He spoke about the impact of consistent effort towards achieving goals, the importance of celebrating wins and success, and the inspiration to be found in moving targets. I really needed that message. I’m personally coming out of the most difficult year of my professional life to date. That idea of “moving targets”, for whatever reason, really clicked and resonated with me. We have been experiencing a lot of change recently in Walmart Global Tech, some of it unprecedented for many of us. It’s been a challenge to stay optimistic and seek out success in times of uncertainty. It’s so easy to lose sight of positivity when things are happening around us that we can’t control. But there are always things we can control, even in the midst of the unknown. Through that lens, moving targets are a really positive thing - an opportunity for a different way of working, a chance to discover a spark of creativity, a moment to foster new ideas. Change can stifle us with fear, or motivate us towards evolution. The rest of this year, I will be working on the latter. Here’s to an incredible remainder of FY25 at Walmart. I look forward to what the future holds! #WMT2024

"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 ⬇️

What do Nike, Outback Steakhouse, Victoria’s Secret & Co., Honda, Rastelli Foods Group, Inc., Tarte Cosmetics, PBS, ESPN,The Walt Disney Company, Goldman Sachs, eBay, SAP,Wawa, Inc. and Major League Baseball (MLB) have in common? These influential organizations were researched by my Rutgers University students to deliver custom plans & recommendations for large-scale change. Culmination of 15 weeks of insightful dialogue, tangible solutions, career-building, and social impact in "Strategic Communications for Organizational Change." #RevolutionaryThinking #SocialImpact #OCM #ChangeManagement #DeepLearning

Verizon, AT&T, Target, Neiman Marcus, Choice Hotels, Optum, Caterpillar, Pepsi, and others helped contribute to a successful event discussing all things planning at Globe Life Field. The shared thoughts on how to add better flexibility, collaboration, and streamline processes were some of the biggest takeaways for me. Excited to be a part of Pigment, which is leading the next generation of planning. #pigment #gopigment #planning #workforceplanning #salesplanning #epm #globelifefield #financialplanning

Happy Monday Friends! I haven’t posted in a while because honestly, I have been quietly plotting my next move. Like too many of us out there, I was impacted by a layoff in my last role. After countless coffees, meetings, interviews, consulting projects and networking with lovely people who totally dug what I brought to the table yet role/timing/values/etc. didn’t align, I got real with myself. I decided the next chapter MUST do 3 things (otherwise: keep on walkin’): Work stuff: leverage my strategic and creative expertise, expand my network and offer exposure to broader sectors of industry. People stuff: enable connections with dynamic, sharp, kind and genuine people from varied backgrounds whom I can learn from and have FUN with. Life stuff: offer a culture that embodies the values and boundaries I have around family and personal well being. (Probably the toughest ask of the three.) Enter Pinnacle Performance Group, where I recently joined as Director, Consulting + Client Services (check us out below!). Will it be uncomfortable to learn new significant areas of practice beyond retail / product design and development? Yes! (Still consulting there, too). Do I stand to massively stretch and grow? Hell yes! Does Pinnacle pass all my criteria and gut check? ✅ Here’s to everyone navigating change. The landscape looks very different than it did just a few short years ago and can leave you feeling vulnerable - despite how supported, successful or secure you may have felt in the past. I’ve learned that by staying true to YOU, leaning into your network and - most importantly- being open to walking through new doors, you may find really cool things on the other side. Thanks to my peeps for the supportive messages below from Pinnacle’s post 🥰

Yesterday, July 10th, was my 1 year mark serving my 4th generation family owned company, Weber's Brand 💛 I started with so many ideas and goals, but had no idea where to start. 1. Establish Weber's Brand as an every day household brand and name 2. Take back Buffalo and the Western New York community as the true dominant mustard of the region in every category (retail sales and restaurant facings) 3. Modernize business practices and efficiency 4. Create a powerful online presence 5. Push expansion efforts further than the company has ever dreamed 1 year later, those goals continue to run through my veins. I know deep down what this company can look like one day. Everything is on me, and that's just how I want it. I believe I have made a lot of improvements, but there is still so much work to be done.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a hidden treasure in my desk - coins that brought back memories of a unique recognition program I developed. During my store visits, exceptional teams were awarded these coins for their outstanding work in customer care, merchandising, and overall excellence. These coins, when accumulated, could be redeemed for rewards like paid time off, gifts, and more. Those who received these coins were celebrated as "LINDA'S ROCK STARS" throughout our company, comprising over 500 locations and 2000 employees. Everyone wanted to get these and the stores would actually call me and ask me when I was coming to visit. And, if I forgot to hand them out, they asked! 💫 This recognition program fostered a culture of appreciation and excellence, boosting morale and driving performance. The average tenure of our team was 15 years. 15 YEARS. With all the struggles we have today just finding staff, think about what you are doing to retain them? Simple yet powerful recognition goes a long way. Who wouldn't want to be a Linda's (your name) Rock Star? 🏆 Recognition matters – it's a simple yet powerful way to motivate and inspire teams. Let's continue to celebrate and acknowledge the exceptional efforts of our colleagues. If you want more information or help building your recognition program, contact me today. 🌟 #EmployeeRecognition #Motivation #Appreciation #retention #employees #recruiting #hiring #training #retailers #TopRetailExpert International Retail Group, LLC Ron Thurston RETHINK Retail Liza AmlaniWendy GannawayMelissa MooreChris IgweTorben Valsted

I get asked alot of times on what made me successful in running my businesses. My answer was simple. Rule #1: Take care of your people. If you take care of your people, your people will take care of you! Rule #2: Take care of your customers. If you take care of your customers, your customers will take care of you!! It's not rocket science! But so many people and companies get caught up in projects or the numbers and sometimes forget about these two critical things. If you always focus on these 2 things, everything else will fall into place. I promise! 😉 Because if you take care of your people then you build a culture where your people love to come to work at. Where they view each other as family. Where it is a TEAM TEAM TEAM mentality. Which the customer experience is the recipient of getting a positive more wonderful experience. Because they see people who truly care about them and all pitching in to take care of them. Plus, this leads to people wanting to join this "team" and be a part of this winning family oriented culture. I can testify to this as well as many of my past associates or customers. I am not saying that we were perfect. No. But we strove for perfection. And we had very little to no turnover. Extremely high promotions from within the program. Many who went from part-timers to full-timers to supervisors to upper management. And I have had a handful that became store managers (mostly women). Over the last 10 years, while many businesses struggled to hire, we were blessed to always have a strong base and a waiting list of hires. Typically only replacing my part-timers from high school and/or college after they finished school and went away. Hiring was never an issue. Thus, culture matters! And at the same time, I was also very blessed by God to also have successful year after year in sales. A result of taking care of our people! Anyone who knows me knows those are my 2 biggest passions. Because I firmly believe in being an advocate for my people and my customers, always! 😉