There's an expression that you should never try to BS a BSer. Either Edward Lampert, CEO of Sears Holdings, isn't familiar with the expression or he truly doesn't see how badly he has mucked things up since merging Kmart and Sears under one holding company in 2005. Those are the only plausible explanations I could come up for his recent claim that people are being "unfair" for criticizing how Sears Holdings has performed under his leadership in light of the factors that affect all retailers today.
Newsflash for Mr. Lampert: The people who are criticizing you understand that retailing is tough. One of the contributors to this forum continually reminds us, "Retail ain't for sissies."
But, here's the thing. The criticism isn't anything new. Mr. Lampert has been called out for his failures many times over the years and he's even claimed those criticizing him simply weren't bright enough to see the genius of his grand strategy.
Photo: Sears
In his most recent letter, Mr. Lampert patted himself on the back for progress made in recent quarters improving EBITDA. Those improvements had very little to do with retailing and pretty much everything to do with Mr. Lampert's brilliance in getting value from assets. Put another way, he's figured out ways to sell or license the most valuable parts of his company to generate cash. That, in turn, partly masks the miserable condition of his retail business. Same-store sales for Kmart and Sears were both down about seven percent in the fourth quarter. That's on top of many of negative same-store reports.
More than two-and-a-half years ago, I wrote that Mr. Lampert needed to fire himself as CEO of the company. I pointed out that he has been criticized for failing to adequately invest in his company's stores and a variety of other missteps. If it had been someone else in charge of Sears Holdings, would the board have allowed them to stay this long? I think not. That's why Mr. Lampert shouldn't run the company anymore. He needs to do what he should have done a decade ago. Find a retailer, stay out of the way, and hope it's not too late.