“We’re going to build the business by going back to the core of what made the brand unique and original ...”
When I read that Stefan Larsson — the new CEO of Ralph Lauren Corp. — said this, I thought, this guy gets it. I wish I heard more leaders would speak sense like this.
Frankly, his words were music to my ears. Not only because Ralph Lauren is my favourite brand of clothing and as a consumer I’d like to see the original inspiration live on today; also, what Larsson said represents absolutely sound leadership.
The common practice in today’s innovation craze is to always pursue the new and the different and to leave the past in the corporate grave. The assumption is that what happened before can’t be any good for tomorrow. And its every new leader’s temptation to redefine the company in order to fix its ills.
In Ralph Lauren’s case, some problems do exist — the balance sheet is sick: revenue growth went from a healthy 7 per cent in 2014 to 2.2 per cent in 2015 and to a negative 2.8 per cent in fiscal 2016. The corporation is facing difficulty. Yet the new CEO is avoiding the common error of trying to create something new by recreating the essence of the brand.
Instead of saying, “We’ve been doing it all wrong and let’s try to be the innovators of our industry”, Larsson has something else in mind. “What made us great to begin with?”
His aim is to make the company more of a reflection of Ralph Lauren by taking it closer to the original vision. “It fascinated me, in going through the archives, that Ralph’s early work is the closest to the core,” Larsson noted. “In interviews with young people and influencers, it struck me that they admire what Ralph stands for.”
Yet the brand had become diluted by focusing on too many initiatives and lines — trying to be too innovative — which is one of the inherent dangers when leading. I’d like to contrast Larsson’s action with the CEO who took over one of the UAE’s large family business. He succumbed to the temptation and did what’s fashionable — yet wrong — and tried to create a culture.
He wanted to make his mark by ditching the previous strategy, arguing that there wasn’t a corporate culture and to start from scratch on both fronts. But, it’s one of the worse things you can do.
Rather than doing what he should have done, he hired a team of consultants from a well-regarded European firm, who frankly didn’t know anything about this company nor about family business. And they applied their cookie-cutter approach through tapping focus groups as the basis for understanding what the business should become. The dialogue centres around what do you want the business to be.
This approach is an utter waste of time as the answer for your future lies in what made you great to begin with.
We tell our clients, it’s a very simple and speedy process to discover your culture, ethos and direction. Let’s sit with your owner and ask him to articulate what brought him his original success and made the business great. That is what you should focus on.
It’s exactly what Larsson did with Ralph Lauren. He realised the answer for the future rests in the past.
If you want to build your culture, shape your ethos and discover your direction, first, ask yourself, “What made your business a success to begin with?” That is where the secret sauce is.
Typically, your DNA from the entrepreneurial days is what will bring you future success. That is if you’re willing to bring it back to life.
The CEO of the family business who failed to do this, didn’t last long. Unfortunately, he’s a typical example of the leader who tries to change everything; while the successful leader is the one who returns to what originally brought the business its success and brings that back to life.
Being true to who you are is one of the more contrarian leadership habits. Being able to build this habit is highly dependent on your ability to ward off temptation — to not succumb to the urge to try something different. Look back to move forward.
— The writer is a CEO coach and author of “Leadership Dubai Style”. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com
