People of the Year: Bob Taylor
The second annual HBSDealer People of the Year list includes some heavy hitters in the home improvement industry. These are executives who have displayed outside-the-box thinking, along with stick-to-your-guns discipline. They are the leaders of billion-dollar corporations, as well as family businesses. They are guiding huge mergers, and huge acts of charity.
In the next several issues of the HBSDealer Daily, we'll meet all of HBSDealer's People of the Year.
As the 70th Anniversary Do it Best October Market drew to a close in Indianapolis, so too did CEO Bob Taylor’s Do it Best Corp. career. He’ll be succeeded by executive VP and COO Dan Starr, effective Jan. 4.
The co-op’s last market was an emotional one for Taylor, a 40-year hardware industry veteran who began his career in the family business — Taylor’s Do it Centers of Virginia Beach, Virginia. And it provided plenty of opportunities for reflection on a career of lessons learned.
“Whether you’re sweeping carpets or washing dishes, it’s always about doing your best, and not being afraid to fail,” he said. “If you’re not making a few mistakes, you’re not reaching far enough.”
During his farewell message, Taylor had plenty of other SKUs of wisdom for independent retailers. For instance, embrace and maximize your role as a community institution. Also, ask more questions, and become a student of the industry. And of course, be honest.
“At the end of the day you gotta be able to sleep on the decision you made and move forward. Hopefully, most of your decisions are the right ones.”
There were a few tough decisions over the years, too — especially during the worst housing recession in memory. And the co-op’s ability to manage the downturn without a single forced layoff in the co-op’s retail support centers stands out as a memorable accomplishment. “I think we can all be very proud of the way we stepped up,” he said.
Taylor was only the fourth CEO in the co-op’s history. “Stepping away from this is not going to be the easiest thing in the world,” he said.