Bob Phibbs

NRF: The Power of Conscious Capitalism

January 18, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
A Super Session Tuesday at the NRF convention touted the merits of building a retail business around "conscious capitalism," or one providing value — whether emotional, social or financial — to all stakeholders in a business. Is conscious capitalism a reasonable goal for many retailers or only a select few?      [more...]

This is the crux of what must happen to have a successful retail store -- you must create an environment from which associates can come out of the shadows and shed the employee do's and don'ts to be themselves.

The best retailers will allow these brand ambassadors to shine by creating an environment that welcomes the personality of the employee -- not the lobotomized drones who shut up, put it out and scan the item then say, "Thank you for shopping x" with glazed eyes.

It is an exciting time to be in retail if you can set the intention to succeed using your #1 asset -- your people.