Humility and demanding/fostering teamwork. Actually practicing the skill of listening and learning. There have always been a lot of moving parts in retail, but now most of those parts are in a state of flux and change — evolution. And those moving parts still have to mesh. It’s not enough to be a great merchant prince anymore. Too much uncharted territory out there. The boss has to demand a level of humility from the whole team that keeps them in a learning mode. Explore + Experiment = Experience.

The four traits cited by Glassdoor apply equally to retail CEOs as well as other successful CEOs. I would add a couple that may be unique to retailing, but represent two sides of a CEO’s skill set:

1. The ability to impart a sense of urgency throughout an organization: Retail is a business of tight deadlines — Christmas is on December 25th whether you’re ready or not — and customer expectations for fast execution are higher than ever.
2. The ability to keep an eye on your long-term strategy: It’s too easy to react to the daily sales trend, or the quarterly earnings, at the expense of your three-to-five year objectives. But long-term investments usually pay off — see Walmart’s short-term pain and long-term gains a few years ago when it invested heavily in the store experience.

The majority of retail employees are in front of customers, so it’s really important for CEOs to foster a culture that enforces their unique brand promise so every interaction between those employees and their customers is a positive experience. That’s what sets many of the top companies apart from those that have a short lifespan.

I think a lot of this comes down to fairness. People like to be treated fairly and admire leaders who inject that ethos into an organization. Inspiration is also important: leaders must have a clear vision for the company and be able to communicate that clearly – and that means listening as well as talking!

I see two top traits for a retail CEO – the first is culture. Good corporate culture starts at the top, as the Glassdoor data suggests. For a retailer, this means exemplifying a culture around treating employees well to encourage delivering a great service and experience to customers. Second, a vision for change and strength to execute that vision. As we’ve seen repeated over and over in recent years, retail is an industry of constant change now, no longer can CEOs accept what has gone before as the way forward. CEOs need the strength to execute that constant level of change to make their brand better and better in the eyes of their customer – it’s the only way to be customer-driven and customer-first in the Amazon era!

What’s not to agree with in the comments made and to be made. There is one huge criterion that makes a great leader: when they can show everyone the scars on their fingers from putting store fixtures together in their past and doing literally every job a retail environment requires, then you have a leader that understands just what it takes and who has empathy.

I will never forget the best retail lesson I learned from a boss: I was being transferred out of a department store to another, and asked my present boss if he would give me any advice as I was leaving. He looked up from his desk and said, “the ladies bathroom on three is out of toilet paper. Go take care of it.” At first I was upset, but then realized that the lesson he imparted was that I must constantly be aware of everything that was going on.

Strong CEOs tend to exhibit similar traits across industries. That is probably why Lou Gerstner was successful in senior leadership positions at RJR Nabisco, American Express, McKinsey & Company and IBM. Very diverse businesses to say the least. However, I do agree with Dick Seesel and others that retail has some special characteristics that make it important for leaders to acknowledge in order to drive great results in our industry.

For any leader — including retail leaders — I believe advice from my mentor and father applies: “Always lead by first putting yourself in the shoes of those affected by your decisions.” There are some that may argue that this approach is over-rated. For me, remaining humble, empathetic, and aware can never be bad advice.

When I think of successful leaders, the recently-departed Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines comes to mind. He would help baggage handlers load planes and interacted and remained accessible to all levels within the company … this led to passion, success, and unparalleled growth in market share.

Having a CEO that exemplifies what the company stands for and puts themselves on the line for significant positive change is key to culture. And culture is the key to everything (what it’s like to work there, why everyone is there and what new ideas come up/are embraced, etc). Supporting those same traits amongst the team is a success recipe that transcends any strategy, technology or trend.

Leadership is quite broad, and there are many ways to lead. Retail leaders are more beholden to the customer than other industries. Most retail employees are customer facing. Hence, retail leaders must be able to lead employees with that factor in mind. Other than that, there is a wide diversity across retail leader traits that exceed far more than the narrowed viewpoint shared by GlassDoor.