Great leaders don't demand, they persuade
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 17, 2002
ORLANDO, Fla. — A great leader is a confident communicator with the ability to persuade a team to buy into the need for change, said Don Hutson, chairman and chief executive officer of sales consulting company U.S. Learning.
Speaking at the National Home Furnishings Assn.'s Ask Me Anything all-industry convention here, Hutson noted that strong managers or leaders persuade rather than demand.
"With the wrong leadership style, you'll get compliance, but at the sacrifice of commitment," he said during his "Leadership Makes the Difference" keynote address.
Hutson, who developed NHFA's video-based sales training program, cited the importance of being accountable, setting a good example for employees, and of continually tweaking, fine-tuning and seizing new ideas along the way.
"All of us are smarter than one of us," he said. "Great leaders take advantage and tap into collective intellect. They do everything they can to pick the brains of their peers."
They also make sure they and their employees are good goal-setters, understand that everyone in the company is in the customer service department, and foster a team spirit by encouraging people to use the word "we" and leave "they" for the competition. And they change.
"As leaders, if you're not changing as rapidly as external forces are changing, your days are numbered," he said.
Hutson's remarks were part of a three-day conference that drew about 370 attendees, down from about 460 at the last NHFA conference in Boston, representing some 80 retailers as well as exhibitors, manufacturer sponsors and guests.
Throughout the conference, panelists and presenters stressed the importance of measuring and evaluating, empowering, communicating, mining for new ideas and for ways to refresh, change and improve, thus keeping up with the ever-changing needs of consumers.
The sessions were filed with tips from presenters as well as from attendees, who swapped best ideas at networking sessions.
In a session on print advertising, Leo Levinson of Prescott/Levinson Advertising noted some of the most common mistakes furniture retailers make in their advertising, including a lack of frequency and consistency, failure to differentiate themselves from competitors, commodity-like messages and too much information in one ad.
Samantha Kurtz of consulting firm Kurtz & Associates discussed change — and the fears associated with it — as well as a "service for success" approach.
She noted the importance of resolving problems on the spot, urging leaders to encourage and reward employees who look for and handle problems before the customer has time to complain.
If a delivery driver, for instance, discovers a scratch or ding on a piece of furniture and brings it to the customer's attention, saying it's unacceptable and will be addressed immediately, the store may be doing more to gain repeat business than it would have had the delivery been flawless, Kurtz said.
| U.S. Learning's Don Hutson makes a case for passionate, accountable and change-embracing leaders during his "Leadership Makes a Difference" address. |
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