Walter Robb: Whole Foods’ other CEO on organic growth

Walter Robb: Whole Foods’ other CEO on organic growth

By Geoff Colvin, senior editor-at-large @FortuneMagazine May 6, 2013: 9:31 AM ET

Company culture compels Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb to fly coach.

Selling groceries is a grinding, low-margin business — except forWhole Foods (WFM, Fortune 500). The world’s largest natural and organic grocer is a financial powerhouse with a market capitalization matching that of Kroger (KR, Fortune 500) which is eight times its size by revenue. Keeping the magic alive as Whole Foods (No. 232 on the Fortune 500) expands aggressively is partly the task of Walter Robb, 59, who shares the CEO job with founder John Mackey. Robb started a 1,000-square-foot natural and organic food market in 1977, not long after graduating from Stanford, then built a grocery business and sold it to Whole Foods in 1991. He talked recently with Geoff Colvin about making the chain more competitive on price, the power of its culture, flying Southwest Airlines in the middle seat, and much else. Edited excerpts: Read more of this post

Execs and investors from Pandora, IDEO, Andreessen Horowitz, SoundCloud, and Kleiner Perkins, among other masters of disruption, share the wisdom they’ve gathered on the way to the top

8 SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS GIVE THEIR YOUNGER SELVES LESSONS THEY WISH THEY’D KNOWN THEN

EXECS AND INVESTORS FROM PANDORA, IDEO, ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ, SOUNDCLOUD, AND KLEINER PERKINS, AMONG OTHER MASTERS OF DISRUPTION, SHARE THE WISDOM THEY’VE GATHERED ON THE WAY TO THE TOP.

BY: GRACE NASRI

Looking at the success trajectories of today’s disruptors–from Pandora cofounder Tim Westergren to Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales–it’s easy to think that they had everything figured out from a young age. But many of today’s success stories learned lessons later in life that they wished they had known as they were beginning their careers. The eight investors and entrepreneurs below share the advice they wish they had gotten in their early twenties.

Tim Westergren: Avoid the risk of not trying and the regret of wishing you had.
Tim Westergren, the founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Pandora, said if he could offer his younger self one piece of advice, it would be to realize from an early age that it’s far more haunting to live with the regret of having not followed your instincts–even when those instincts required a diversion from the beaten path–than to have followed your gut and failed. Luckily for Westergren, he was one of the few who did follow his passions and that pursuit led him to found a company with a market cap of $2.5 billion.

“Be sure to ‘notice’ ideas when you have them. Stop. Take the time to consider them seriously. And if your gut tells you they’re compelling, be fearless in their pursuit,” Westergren said. “For most people, the idea of chasing a personal passion or being entrepreneurial is simply something they don’t think of themselves doing. We’re so programmed to walk well-trodden paths. But, we live life only once. So, rather than avoiding the risk of trying, avoid the risk of not trying. Nothing is more haunting than thinking, ‘I wish I had…’.” Read more of this post

Chinese internet company Sohu CEO Charles Zhang says his generation has no value system or principles 张朝阳：我们这代人实际是没价值观也没原则

张朝阳：我们这代人实际是没价值观也没原则

2013-5-9 8:10:00　 云科技　 　 阅读：1206

导读：张朝近日对话云科技程苓峰，谈到搜狐的发展，也谈到他个人如何战胜精神的苦难，学会与自己相处。以下是对话全文： Read more of this post

Panera Bread’s founder Ron Shaich: Every Leader’s Job: Discover Tomorrow Today

Ron Shaich

Founder, Chairman, & Co-CEO at Panera Bread

Every Leader’s Job: Discover Tomorrow Today

Alan Kay, the renowned computer scientist, put it memorably some forty years ago: “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Aside from masterful technologists like Mr. Kay, few among us have the capacity to actually create the future. But I have no doubt that the foremost responsibility of any leader is to discover where the world is heading and prepare the organization for tomorrow’s arrival.

We all look to innovation as a prime source of differentiation and growth. Discovery stands at the core of every innovation effort. Whether it’s a breakthrough technology, an emerging business opportunity, or a better way to work, every successful innovation starts with a novel insight that profoundly changes the way we do what we do and ultimately yields substantial value for its creators.

Think of the entrepreneur’s most valuable asset. It certainly isn’t money. After all, capital is a renewable resource. What’s far more valuable is the entrepreneur’s ability to discover an untapped market, unsullied by cutthroat competition, where outsize profits await. Successful entrepreneurs aren’t capitalists. They’re opportunists. They see the white spaces in the market that others don’t and exploit those opportunities. Read more of this post

Sir Alex Ferguson: “They gave me the confidence and time to build a football club, rather than just a football team”. Alex Ferguson’s managerial lessons stretch far beyond football; Despite his success, Sir Alex never kidded himself that he knew everything; He knew his players’ pre-match toilet habits (and checked if they were going more than usual).

May 8, 2013 8:33 pm

Manchester United’s global brand reaches crossroads

By Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent

Like Margaret Thatcher’s death, the announcement that Sir Alex Ferguson wasretiring after 26 years as Manchester United manager had the capacity to shock.

Supporters of both knew their respective departures had been coming, had even braced themselves for the moment, yet still could not quite believe it when it came.

Where they differed was that Lady Thatcher’s death did not move the markets, whereas the retirement of Sir Alex, a life-long supporter of the left, did. Shares inManchester United fell 4.1 per cent when New York opened for business.

It is a mark of Sir Alex’s longevity and success, with an accumulation of 13 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League trophies, that his departure should strike at the core of a club as financially strong and dominant on the pitch as Manchester United.

As Emmanuel Hembert of consultancy AT Kearney said: “It’s like Apple losing Steve Jobs. What’s next is the big question.” Read more of this post

What Eyeware Startup Warby Parker Sees That Others Don’t

What Eyeware Startup Warby Parker Sees That Others Don’t

Published: May 08, 2013 in Knowledge@Wharton

Shortly after Neil Blumenthal launched Warby Parker, the e-commerce eyeware startup known for its $95 retro-cool frames, customers emailed asking if they could “stop by” the company’s Philadelphia headquarters and check out the glasses for themselves. There was just one problem: Warby Parker — the brainchild of Blumenthal and three Wharton classmates, Andrew Hunt, Jeffrey Raider and David Gilboa — didn’t have a showroom. So they improvised.

“We said, ‘Sure, you can come to our… apartment,’ and we laid the glasses on the dining room table,” Blumenthal says.

When those would-be customers visited the makeshift shop back in 2010, “something special happened,” according to Blumenthal, 32. “They saw us sitting on the couch working our laptops, responding to orders, talking on the phone with customers. They saw the people behind the brand, which is so rare,” he says. “We realized we could learn from those customers — what they liked and what they wanted. Those people became some of our best advocates.”

Today, Warby Parker is a beloved and booming brand. The company’s hipster eyewear, coupled with its customer-centric strategy and socially conscious business model, has won over shoppers and impressed top-notch investors. In February, Warby Parker closed a round of financing worth $41.5 million, including funds from Millard Drexler, the chief executive of J. Crew, and American Express. The retail world is watching as the company embarks on its latest venture — an expansive store in New York City’s Soho neighborhood, across from the Apple store and next to Ralph Lauren. Read more of this post

Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology

Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology [Hardcover]

Bob W. Lord (Author), Ray Velez (Author)

Publication Date: April 29, 2013

The leaders of Razorfish share their strategies for merging marketing and IT

To create rich, technologically enabled experiences, enterprises need close collaboration between marketing and IT. Converge explains how the merging of technology, media, and creativity is revolutionizing marketing and business strategy. The CEO and CTO of Razorfish, one of the world’s largest digital marketing agencies, give their unique perspective on how to thrive in this age of disruption. Converge shares their first-hand experience working closely with global brands—including AXE, Intel, Samsung, and Kellogg—to solve business problems at the collision point between media, technology, and marketing.

With in-depth looks at cloud computing, data- and API-enabled creativity, ubiquitous computing, and more, Converge presents a roadmap to success.

Explains how to organize for innovation within your own organization by applying the principles of agile development across your business

Details how to create a religion around convergence, explaining how to tell the story throughout the organization

Outlines how to adapt processes to keep up with and take advantage of rapid technological change

A book by practitioners for practitioners, Converge is about rethinking business organizations for a new age and empowering your people to thrive in a brand, new world. Read more of this post

Tales and fins from the heads of online ad agency Razorfish: Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology

May 8, 2013 5:38 pm

Tales and fins from the heads of Razorfish

Review by Emily Steel, US media and marketing correspondent

Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology
By Bob Lord and Ray Velez, Wiley, $29.95/£19.99

This story starts at a point in time that most observers predicted it would end. The year was 2002. The internet party was long over. Pets.com and other high-flying digital darlings were defunct. It was the dark days for the few survivors of the dotcom bubble, and Razorfish was barely hanging on.

The brash online ad agency that had come to symbolise the arrogance and frivolity of the era had slashed its staff from 1,800 employees to just 230. The company was sold for $8.2m – a minuscule fraction of its $4.2bn market value just two years bef­ore. One journalist asked the new owner if he was nuts for buying the shop.

Razorfish kept its grip, however, convincing one corporation then another that the internet was not a passing business fad. The once separate worlds of marketing, media and technology had started to collide rapidly, offering fundamentally new ways for businesses to operate and connect with consumers. Read more of this post

It’s Becoming Increasingly Difficult To Fake A Great Corporate Culture

It’s Becoming Increasingly Difficult To Fake A Great Corporate Culture

Dan Schawbel, The Fast Track | May 8, 2013, 5:18 PM | 2,399 | 1

Corporate culture is becoming increasingly important in the war for talent and retention at companies of all types around the world. Corporate culture is the personality of a company and it can’t be faked. Through social networks, review sites and word-of-mouth, a company’s culture is revealed. If employees are happy and fit in the culture, then the company gets a strong name and more people want to work there.

Some of the elements of culture include management techniques, shared values and mission, work ethic, daily work practices and language. Companies are not only competing for customers and revenue, they are competing on the basis of how they treat their employees and what they represent. If you have a strong culture, people will not only want to work for you, but they won’t want to work for anyone else so it’s well worth the investment of money and time.

Here are three companies that are doing it right: Read more of this post

Ottavio Missoni, Founder of Italian Fashion House, Dies at 92. Missoni founded the fashion company in the 1950s with his wife Rosita

Ottavio Missoni, Founder of Italian Fashion House, Dies at 92

Ottavio Missoni, founder of the Italian fashion company known for its zig-zag knitwear, has died. He was 92.

Missoni died “peacefully” in his home in Sumirago, a town near the northern city of Varese, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. It didn’t give additional details. Missoni was released May 1 from a hospital in Varese after being treated for a respiratory problem, Corriere della Sera reported the same day on its website.

Missoni founded the fashion company in the 1950s with his wife Rosita. With designs worn by celebrities including Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, the fashion house has expanded its store networks and diversified its business by designing hotels and tableware. A lower-priced line, M Missoni, was introduced in 1998 to broaden the brand’s customer base. Read more of this post