Dollar General Corporation
Leadership is the art of human relations.
“To me, there is no leadership secret, nor does effective leadership conform to ‘technique,’” says Cal Turner, chairman of retail giant Dollar General. “To the extent leadership secrets exist at all, they are available in the most widely published but least read of all books: The Holy Bible.”
What does the Bible have to do with business leadership? Says Cal, “Leadership is the art of human relations. The fundamentals of the art, the dynamics of relationships, are right there in the good book.
“Mature self-knowledge is the prerequisite of effective leadership. A God-centered discovery of self is one’s best determination of the what of leadership (mission, purpose, and intended results) and also the how of eliciting followership from other flawed human beings. It is ‘ psychological’ (spiritual) maturity, which prompts the leadership mandate and the followership response.
“The Bible is all about being grounded in solid values and a long term mission that matters. So is leadership, whose true test is consistent long-term accomplishment. While communication is the highest skill of a leader, even effective communication that is short term or manipulative is the mere personality projection of a nonleader.
“My best lessons have been my failures. Every leader knows that the best insights are out there where the problems occur. Problem solving genius resides in the common sense of the persons with firsthand experience of the problem. Yet gleaning that wisdom has been my greatest challenge in management. How many of my failures do you have time to consider? Three actual examples now come to mind.
“First, hourly paid store employees at Dollar General have proven to be better merchants than company merchants not in daily relationship with our customers. Our merchants once decided to get a bigger sale from our popular three for $1 microwave popcorn. They tried an eight for $2 package (greater value than three for $1—right?) The resulting fall-off in sales had them baffled. But a store employee explained, ‘Mr. Turner, our customers can only spend a dollar at a time on popcorn.’ That insight got our business popping again, thanks to the new package of four for $1.00—great value at the right price point.
“But a retailer’s real strategic marketing geniuses are her customers. Oh, for the skill of truly getting what the customer is saying! Here are two of my mistakes. The first involves not understanding the customer’s lingo or terminology.
“An African-American customer who regularly shopped us and our major competitor once told me our prices were lower in every category except health and beauty aids. Back to our merchants I went to survey pricing on toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, and aspirin. Our prices were all lower. I decided the customer was mistaken.
“However, a couple of years later I learned that our prices on ethnic hair care products were higher because they were distributed by a third party, while the competition directly distributed these health and beauty aids. My failure to clarify the customer’s definition delayed great category sales by two years.
“My second mistake involves aggressive ego-centered communication for a misunderstood customer message. Touring one of our stores with the manager, I tried to help an elderly lady who was disappointed by our Advil out-of-stock. Convinced that our house brand Ibuprofen (with my signature on the bottle guaranteeing satisfaction) was just what she needed, I applied my best CEO salesmanship. She refused adamantly because she did not like the color. Well, I told her, ‘I could change the color for you, maybe!’
“’Young man,’ she said blushing, ‘you definitely cannot change the color even if your signature is on the bottle. After I leave the store, let your manager tell you what I mean.’
“Later the manager told me he knew I would fail to make the sale because that lady was convinced that our Ibuprofen turns her urine a funny color.”
Cal’s final piece of advice for being a better leader: “Listen to your followers. What are they really saying? What are they leaving unsaid?”