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Much has already been written about Gregg Steinhafel, Target’s recently departed chief executive officer. There’s little doubt that he was asked to leave in the aftermath of the now-infamous hacking scandal that rocked the retailer during the holiday selling season.
Much has already been written about Gregg Steinhafel, Target’s recently departed chief executive officer. There’s little doubt that he was asked to leave in the aftermath of the now-infamous hacking scandal that rocked the retailer during the holiday selling season.
Whether the hacking incident precipitated Steinhafel’s departure or the retailer’s lackluster Canadian rollout was the immediate cause is incidental. The major issue here is that one of the best and brightest executives in the mass retailing community is no longer running Target.
This is truly the turnover season for mass retailing executives. Over the past several months the president of CVS has departed, as has the chief executive at Walmart. The president of Family Dollar is no longer on the scene in Charlotte, N.C. The chief customer officer at Walgreens is now the chief executive at RadioShack. Safeway’s CEO has retired. Other examples abound.
All of the recently departed, including those who were compelled to leave, are highly qualified individuals. In earlier times those who were shoved out would likely still be on the job. But these times are not ordinary times. Senior managers, even the best ones, are under unprecedented pressure to perform, against unprecedented competition. And lapses that would have been excused, even ignored, in simpler times are now grounds for serious questioning — and possible dismissal.
Which brings us back to Steinhafel. His tenure at Target has been remarkable, not for the glitches that ultimately led to his departure but for the dramatic string of successes that largely erased the gap that had existed between Steinhafel’s company and its most formidable competitor, the one in Bentonville, Ark. If Seinhafel made mistakes, if his reign wasn’t perfect, if Target sometimes stumbled, if the Canadian entry was a misstep, if the hacking scandal was an acute embarrassment, one fact remains: Target is a better retailer today than it was at the start of Steinhafel’s tenure. That’s saying a lot, considering that Target, under Steinhafel’s predecessor, was an established world-class retailer by the time Steinhafel took over. Indeed, there is even now some talk, however premature or foolish, that Bob Ulrich might return to run Target, should no more viable alternative be found.
Which brings up the inevitable: Who will replace Gregg Steinhafel? Speculation abounds. Will it be the Macy’s man? The executive running the Gap? The man who recently lost his job at Family Dollar? The man who left Walgreens to run RadioShack? None of the above.
Point is, you don’t replace a man like Gregg Steinhafel all that easily. Even at this early date it appears that no one currently working at Target is a viable alternative. Nor does anyone at Target’s major competitors come readily to mind. The next chief executive at Target must come to the job with some degree of experience, ideally in a similar job at a similar, if smaller, company. The woods aren’t crawling with executives with those credentials. And even those few who have impressive resumes lack the experience, the skill, the intelligence, the retailing credentials of Stenhafel.
In other words, did Steinhafel leave Target too quickly? Were his mistakes of judgment and execution allowed to overshadow his more significant accomplishments at Target? Was perspective lost?
These questions will not be easily answered. Moreover, the answers, when they come, will be based on the performance of Steinhafel’s successor, not over weeks and months but over months and years.
In other words, Steinhafel’s legacy, when it is truly and accurately assessed, will be a hugely positive one, driven by Target’s position in the mass retailing community of the early 21st century. The Canadian situation will right itself. The hacking scandal will be forgotten, if never entirely forgiven. Other errors will be put into their proper perspective. And, likely as not, Gregg Steinhafel will, if he chooses, wind up leading another retailer — and once again admirably acquitting himself.
Can the same be said of his replacement? To put it simply, it’s too soon to tell. Way too soon.
