Photo Courtesy of Lululemon Athletica
Reprinted from The Commerce Times
Ted Rogers School of Management
Ryerson University
By Denise Law
As the CEO of one of Canada’s most beloved brands, Christine Day is as warm and friendly as the staff who greet you at lululemon stores. But Ms. Day is no stranger to the retail and hospitality market. Before joining lululemon in 2008, she worked for Il Giornale (Starbucks’s predecessor) as an administrative manager and then president of the Starbucks International Group, helping to push the iconic coffee chain to international success. And despite the recent recession, Ms. Day has maintained a strong and loyal lululemon culture among its customers and employees. Her advice to retail management students is simple: gain as much practical experience on the floor as you can.
Christine Day – Couretsy of lululemon athletica
Education: BA, Central Washington University; graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
DL: What sparked your interest in the retail management industry?
CD: I started working in the restaurant industry when I was in high school. I think it’s really tough, hard work, but I don’t think there is anything that prepares you for the business world better than working on the front lines in the retail or hospitality industry. It’s truly where you are making the sale happen and satisfying the guest. And then I went away to university and worked throughout university in the hospitality industry. When I graduated, I went into banking and missed that deep connection with the guest.
When the opportunity came to work at Il Giornale with Howard [Schultz] in the service sector, I was really excited about it because I really believe it’s a place where you can make a difference as a leader. You get instant feedback about whether or not what you’re doing as an organization is really making a difference in the marketplace.
DL: Why is it so important to work on the floor?
CD: When you’re working beyond the front lines, you can really see how your guests are responding immediately and I love that immediate feedback for the hard work you’ve been doing. It’s a people business, both for the people you are developing and for the guest that comes in the door.
“If I’m going to lead a more simple life, then there are things I will give up in order to invest in other things.”
DL: What kind of advice would you give to undergraduate students who are interested in a career in retail management?
CD: The best thing you can do is get out and work in the stores. I am a great believer in MBA degrees, but having the practical experience on the retail floor as a manager, you’ve learned supervisory skills, people management and delegation. You’re touching marketing and dealing with guests and with the supply chain. You really have a small business that you’re a CEO of.
I really encourage people to go do that first, then come into corporate offices, because you reach a point in your career where somebody will look at you and say, “You’ve got the MBA, you’ve got the education and you’ve been doing this finance job, but you don’t have any people leadership skills. And so it’s really hard to go backwards at that point, so getting it early makes it so much easier. The reality is you can never touch a number or change a number without changing a behaviour.
DL: Do you think it’s a misconception when students think that an MBA will quickly get them where they want, failing to realize that a lot of those experiences often come from working in the industry and on the floor?
CD: I definitely think there is tremendous amount of value in the practical working experience. It’s great to go from undergraduate to true working experience. Because you see everything come together in real time. All the different functional strategies play out in that front-line environment. But then I think spending time both in the store and then doing a corporate job, whether it’s in finance or planning, or supply chain, and then getting your MBA, you have so much more to bring to the table, even as a student. You’ve really seen the whole business. It shifts those subtle perspectives.
DL: So more on lululemon: Girls love it. Women love it. I love it. What’s so special about it that makes people want to connect with the brand, despite its higher-than-average prices?
CD: I think number one, we’re always focused on function first, with great design, and high quality. You know you get a lot of value for your wear and its multi-purpose. First is to create a great product. The second is women are emotional shoppers and part of the reason lululemon has been so successful in this space is that it is a retail environment, as opposed to most athletic wears sold in big box stores or wholesale environments, so there’s no emotional connectivity. That is one of our biggest competitive advantages is we’re really a model that’s built for women – it’s social. We like to call it a kitchen party in the stores. It’s like shopping for your pants in your best friend’s kitchen.
Then we have our grassroots marketing – all of those things combined – we call it known-by-known. So if I know you and you know you love that product, that’s actually what influences me more. So that’s where our whole ambassador program about having them wear the product and highlighting them in their careers. Women relate to that instructor and the women in their class. And that’s what influences them to buy. Our whole program is really designed around a woman. And that’s what makes us so beloved.
DL: I remember reading in a magazine that people who work at lululemon wear the clothes and embrace the product. Loyalty seems to be a key ingredient in determining a company’s success, especially during difficult economic times. Is this the case for lululemon?
CD: Absolutely. Unquestionable. The amount of loyalty we saw as people were paring back their purchases. They didn’t give up their lululemon, because it also connotes health and wellness. If I’m going to lead a more simple life, then there are things I will give up in order to invest in other things. Health is one of them. We’ve definitely seen that shift.
DL: What specific skills did you bring from Starbucks that you were able to apply directly at lululemon?
CD: A real focus on the culture, the people and the pipeline – and the real practical operating systems of running a retail business. Chip [Wilson] had not really run a retail organization before and Bob Meers had come from the wholesale side. So that focus on stores – everything from your real estate strategy to operating models and IT systems – all of that I was able to bring practical, hands-on experience. And then really how you grow a culture as you get more and more locations that are away from the head office. How do you create a culture about the stores?
DL: When you wake up in the morning and go to work, what kind of attitude do you like to bring?
CD: I really believe that the opportunity for excellence is in every moment. I am always committed to anything I’m doing – 100 per cent committed. I don’t think I’ve had a day where I’m thinking, “I’ll give it 30 per cent today.” Stupid things happen, but there are obstacles that get in your way. It’s that resiliency of just saying, “OK that didn’t work. How do I get around it?” There are possibilities. I think what I bring to work every day is an atmosphere of possibility and a can-do attitude.
DL: In your life, how have you overcome work and personal challenges to achieve success?
CD: It’s recognizing that failures are just good tries. It’s more important to figure out the lesson learned and what you’re going to do next than obsessing over what you did wrong and how you feel about it. Actually people look at it and see how you’re wearing it – and if you are like “OK I will try again” – then everybody else lets it go too. If you genuinely feel that you should apologize for it, then make it right. It’s about taking full accountability for it and the ability to get back up that makes a difference.
