
Management

In a world where professional titles help people advance their careers, earn more money and gain stronger social status, Zappos.com is saying goodbye to what so many professionals work so hard to gain — job titles. This past November, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh first announced that the retailer would soon become a "self-governing" system, aiming to have transparency among all workers. Known as holacracy, this type of management style encourages self-lead workers and teams of workers — also recognized as circles — with Zappos planning to have around 400 circles by the end of its roll out in December 2014.
Despite having a pulse this year after a disastrous 2013, J.C. Penney can't secure a permanent CEO to take the reins from current leader Mike Ullman. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Mindy Grossman, CEO of Home Shopping Network and a highly regarded retail industry executive, turned down the chance to become J.C. Penney's next chief some two months ago. That means Grossman turned down the gig around the time of J.C. Penney's May 15 first-quarter earnings report, in which it delivered both top- and bottom-line results that were ahead of Wall Street expectations.
Guru Hariharan spent half-a-decade at Amazon.com, but says he had little face-to-face contact with the man he considers his idol, CEO Jeff Bezos. A former junior engineer who rose up the company ranks before departing in 2009, Hariharan only ever talked to Bezos once in his five-and-a-half year Amazon career, answering questions for him and his senior executives during a three-hour annual review. "If you think about labor as the most painful thing in life, that surpassed it probably," says Hariharan, who remembers spending several weeks preparing a six-page document on the successes of Amazon Webstore.
Ron Johnson, who has been keeping a relatively low profile since he was ousted from J.C. Penney in April 2013, took to the podium in May, as a guest lecturer at Stanford University. Johnson discussed with Stanford Graduate School of Business students J.C. Penney, Apple and Target, and the lessons learned over his career in retail. Looking back on his time at Penney, Johnson believes it was the pace of his transformation plan, as opposed to the plan itself, that was wrong. It was too fast for a company as traditional as Penney.
American Apparel will get $25 million from investor Standard General LP in an agreement that shakes up the board and lets the struggling retailer pay off a $10 million loan, a person familiar with the matter said. Under the pact, Standard General will add three board members to American Apparel and two other directors will be chosen mutually, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn't been made public yet. Co-Chairmen Allan Mayer and David Danziger will be the only current directors staying on American Apparel's seven-member board, according to the person.
lululemon athletica's founder Dennis "Chip" Wilson is sniffing around options to take the company private, people with knowledge of the matter said last week. Wilson has met with private equity firms, including Leonard Green & Partners, to explore his options, although no deal is currently in the offering, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Target is "respectfully" requesting that shoppers not bring guns into its stores. The retailer posted a notice on its website Wednesday and quickly drew attention on Twitter — #ontarget. "Our approach has always been to follow local laws and, of course, we will continue to do so," the notice says. "But starting today, we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target — even in communities where it's permitted by law."
Zale President and CEO Theo Killion and most of his top team are leaving the company in a dramatic Signet corporate reshuffle that includes bump-ups for longtime execs Mark Light, Ed Hrabak and George Murray, and the resignation of Signet's chief financial officer. George Murray, the former Sterling marketing vice president who has held the title of chief integration management officer since May, will replace Killion as president of the Zale division, which includes the assets of the former Zale Corp.: Zales, Gordon's, Piercing Pagoda and Zale Canada. Zale will continue as a separate division.
Dollar General announced on Friday that company Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling is retiring, potentially reducing the chances of a merger with discount rival Family Dollar, according to at least one analyst. Dreiling will retire effective May 30, 2015, or upon the appointment of a successor. He's agreed to continue serving as chairman for a transitional period after a new CEO has been appointed. Dreiling has served as CEO since January 2008 and was named chairman in December 2008. Since his arrival, Dollar General's annual sales have increased more than 80 percent to $17.5 billion in 2013.
O.K., that's a bit of an exaggeration. Angela Ahrendts, the former Burberry chief executive lured away to revitalize Apple retail and e-tail did not exactly speak - she wrote a diary entry-cum-inspirational post about her new job, titled "Starting Anew," on LinkedIn. That alone is worth