By George Anderson
Terry Lundgren, the chief executive officer of Federated Department Stores, wants employees of May Department Stores focused on improving business and not wondering whether they'll be keeping their jobs or not when the planned merger between the two companies finally takes place.
In a letter to employees from Mr. Lundgren and May's CEO John Dunham the two wrote, "We are announcing that Federated has committed there will be no work force reductions or job eliminations as a result of the merger prior to March 1, 2006."
"We want everyone at May to be able to take a deep breath and realize that there is time for Federated to learn more about May, and there is time for May associates to learn more about the new company and the potential opportunities it will provide."
Moderator's Comment: What do you think of the announcement coming from Federated and May promising not to cut jobs before March 1, 2006?
Even for the glass half-empty crowd this has to be seen as welcome news.
With this one move, Messrs. Lundgren and Dunham seem to have demonstrated almost of all the qualities of the best servant-leaders enumerated by Larry Spears, chief executive officer of The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, in our discussion from Wednesday, RW 05/25/05, What It Takes to Lead.
- Listening
- Empathy
- Healing
- Awareness
- Persuasion
- Conceptualization
- Foresight
- Stewardship
- Commitment to the growth of people
- Community building