Retail profile: Reflections on hardware leadership

There was no mention of Peter Drucker or any other business theorist during the retail leadership panel discussion here at the National Hardware Show. Neither were there any platitudes like "one plus one equals three."

Instead, three retailers shared their real-world thoughts on what has led to inspired teamwork based on their own experiences in the home improvement industry. 

Mentorship was a clear common theme expressed by all the panel members, including Jim Rivas, director of store operations for Friedman's Home Improvement. Family values, business passion, and a drive to succeed were also cited as key ingredients.

In Rivas' case, mentorship began when his career started at The Home Depot. A driven employee, Rivas rose to a position of store manager at the age of 24. "I was in charge of $68 million business a clue of what to do with it," he said. "Couldn't have survived without help along the way and good people in my path."

The panelists -- also including Josiah Gates, VP of retail innovation at Aubochon Hardware, and Christian Herrick, president & CEO of Randy's Do it Best -- took very different paths during their careers. Gates pointed to his early life on a farm as an important education. And Herrick was a missionary in Alaska before turning to business and home improvement. But the panelists share many common ideas on leadership and success.

And according to Rivas, one of the biggest steps taken on his own leadership journey was journey into fatherhood. "The change for me in my leadership role and growth was becoming a father, probably changed me the most out of everything in my life," he said.

That type of embrace of family values can be seen at Aubuchon Hardware, said Gates. "What got us where we are today are strong family values," he said. "That's attitude and willingness to learn."

Gates pointed to trust, integrity and authenticity as key qualities of leadership. As a store manager, Gates said this reputation can be nurtured by never asking employees to do things that you wouldn't do yourself. And when the move to the front office occurred, the challenge was to build trust with a new group -- all the store managers and the people in the head office.

"When you have that it makes it so much easier to move the company forward," he said.

Building trust Is one of the keys to the leadership style of Herrick, whose life experience includes missionary work in Alaska. Also important: empathy and flexibility.

"As a business we always say family first, and we really live that," he said. And support for employees who suffer illness in their family is one of the reasons for high morale at Randy's Do it Best, he said.

On the question of hiring for attitude or hiring for aptitude, Herrick had this advice: "You can't teach attitude. We learned that the hard way."

Inspiring trust across a business produces the very tangible benefit of open and honest communication.

"Silence is the worst thing that can happen in your business," said Rivas. "A bunch of people nodding their heads and agreeing with you, that's not going to get you where you need to go."