I think JD would see a Kate Swann as a Euan Sutherland type. Her background is Tesco, WHSmith, and now SSP (food and beverage). Not denying that there’s a great deal of skill in her bag, but it’s a different kind of retail. Books and pens, supermarket, foods. Different ball game altogether. Sutherland wasn’t without a skill set. Did it match SDRY? Clearly not. I would also question intention with some people. Some people might rapidly grow a business in order to serve a purpose other than the long term benefit of the co. You understand.
Sure as eggs are eggs, top of the list of JD’s requirements (having been burned by an aggressive ego), is trust. He doesn’t want a repeat of a ceo that comes in and railroads there way. Needs a collaborative ceo that is doing something now that he respects from a brand perspective, that he feels is doing the things that need doing in this fast changing time for brands like SDRY. I’m pinning my vote on it being a female because I think this dynamic needs the soft skills of a good leader to guide JD and persuade him where he’s off beam, without it becoming an ego contest.
I guess they are zooming their search on to the brands that JD respects, and SSP probably isn’t one.
Neither good or bad, per se, for me. What it does say is that there’s a hell of a lot to do behind the scenes. Personnel, structure, strategy all needs a shake up. Turns out it wasn’t the weather after all, nope, just a dash for growth (bonuses) without any proper brand management or development. I think everyone understands that now. Sunday Times Business section runs a story on Jack Wills. Looks like they are deep in the mire and need finance. I remember the Sunday Times many months ago running a story on the newly appointed CEO Susanne Harlow. She’d been brought in to help sort Jack Wills’ decline. The reason I bring it up is that I wondered back then how it would play out. She’d been at Debenhams for like 29 years in product. Debenhams!?!?! My thoughts were, ‘how is someone who’s been at that fashion and retail vacuum for 20 years going to help a brand like J Wills?’ I rest my case. So SDRY? Mr Dunk? Who’s coming in? Someone not from Debenhams, Hof F, Millets, Screwfix! Someone from an actual, relevant, respected brand please!
Annual report just a month away. Can’t see them announcing a new CEO before then. I’m sure JD will not want to keep on with him in that role for much longer, though. I see John Lewis have announced new chairman. Sharon White, former civil servant. There’s a trend of pursuing high flying women into senior roles these days. Sharon White starts with a base salary of £990k. She’s has a finance background. I do wonder how it all slots together with a department store business in these demanding times for retailers. I don’t think the pure finance side of things is the key challenge in survival. Anyway, good luck to her of course. What’s the betting on SDRY opting for a female CEO? I think JD will be wary of another power grabber like Sutherland turned out to be.
Imagine hearing this from a recently victorious Sutherland. How sickening would that have been? Things are worse, and what concerns me is that the team that Sutherland built around him and that spoke his language, remain in executive positions. Take Paula Kerrigan (please,someone). She has followed Sutherland around for a decade, Kingfisher, Coop, Superdry. Amusingly, in the midst of the battle in January, Sutherland made her the COO. She didn’t walk. How does JD or any incoming CEO deal with that? Good luck.
Let’s be fair, the previous management allowed this brand to achieve almost ‘junk’ status, at least in the UK. Not irreversible, but a hell of a lot more difficult a situation than the one Sutherland walked into. I don’t think JD is the man to ‘sort it out’, rather he was the guy that halted the rot (which of course, has its own momentum, like a tanker), and hopefully has learned what type of CEO he shouldn’t hire. In this respect I guess he has learned a lot, the hard way. He needs someone that understands brand, that understands the customer in this arena, and that allows the brand to develop in a way that JD can get on board with. Let’s be honest, what worked 15 years ago when JD was younger might not be the way forward. I hope he has someone in mind, or the Chairman does, or this could be difficult. It’ll be challenging even with the right man/woman. I can’t think of anyone. Any suggestions? :)
WW. I think it was always obvious to retailers that there were fundamental problems in the way that retail for SDRY was being operated. I do recall saying more than 3 years that this was going to go wrong from the moment ES began to build his little empire around him. It was clear that it was his way or the highway, replicating the stance he took at Coop. For a little examination of this, look up ‘ the self destruction of Euan Sutherland ‘ on google. He played the same ‘back me or sack me’ card at SDRY and failed again. I think if JD could have taken all the IIs around Regent Street to show the problems, rather than merely try to articulate them, they would have got behind him en masse. As soon as ES replaced the retailer at SDRY with the guy from Tesco’s bakery (I mean seriously?????!!!), the standards were on the slide. As I said a couple of months back, Regent street was a disgrace. How bad is the rest? I was in NYC and saw a pop up store that was literally like a junk shop. Wow! Appalling brand destruction. I haven’t heard that the Gloval Retail Director has gone, but if not, he should be fired and head back to the bakery. I think JD is going to find things ARE worse than he thought. I don’t think he’ll need to pretend in order to give him the comfort cushion.
WW. In an attempt to wind you up again....Brigitte Danielmeyer. ;-) I wonder how JD will get on with Nike man? I wonder if he’d prefer Danielmeyer? I wonder if, as I pondered she left because ES is a prize ****, and might return now JD is back. That could be good move and her experience would seem to be a better fit than Nike Footy....
Investec brokers were advising the SDRY management, meanwhile Investec Management were supporters of JD as shareholders. There’s obviously a distinct line between them. It was Investec as brokers that were paid advisers, I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean they 100% bought into their ideas. Makes you wonder if a nod was tipped about the state of affairs. That would be entirely unprofessional of course and in no way am I suggesting that happened. You understand
TBH, non execs for me are a required role, and I understand it, but let’s be fair, they’re not much more than a group of self aggrandising freeloaders. Bet they’ve loved being under ES and all his jolly’s to see stores in the US etc. My point on John Smith, is really that he didn’t follow the herd. I was only paying lip service to his skill set ;)
...it's been a disaster for him. Failed again.
Im not worried that the bulk of the board has gone, they all aligned themselves to a failure. There's loads of people itching for non exec positions, handsome rewards for a few days out of their retirement. At least John Smith stayed on. He a 'stand up guy', with good brand experience (Burberry) and he only joined last year, so he was less involved with ES.
When ES joined, this brand was flying high. Look what he did... It's a different ball game now. He has left SDRY a basket case. This is now a rescue scenario. There have been so many bad decisions and directions taken. There is a mountain to climb. New finance director is less of an issue. What will be absolutely key here is the filling the gap in the disastrous state of the retail channels. These have been mismanaged terribly, and the morale is bombed out. What JD does in this area is really going to determine how this plays out. If we assume he has the inherent ability to get the brand and product back in order, he needs a superstar partner that he gels with to get the execution in the right way. These individuals aren't ten a penny, so I dearly hope he's got this covered.
n1. I said ‘at least 3 months’. Also, they don’t ‘have’ to be put on garden leave. Also, if they resign, they are not entitled to a payout in these circumstances as it is their choice. They are contractually obliged to work the notice period if that is the requirement of the Co. Often not the requirement for a number of reasons, but notice periods do serve a purpose.
After unanimously rejecting JD, and going as far as they did with their ‘reasons’, and having threatened resignation over it, they HAVE to go. Talked themselves into it. I don’t give two hoots about the non execs. The executive board presumably have notice periods of st least 3 months. They should honour that and be professional. Make Sutherland sit at his desk 9-5. No flights to Vegas anymore