Sales is like swimming in acid and occasionally encountering water.
“
This talk contains so many remarkable pieces of foresight it’s astonishing.
I’m not sure what’s more incredible: how accurately he predicted what has eventually come to pass, or how successfully he was able to stick to and execute a vision that was almost 30 years old (in a field that changes so frequently, no less).
…there really is no way to imitate [Steve] Jobs just by looking at his management style. As Ellison put it, it’s like trying to paint like Picasso by wondering if you need more red.
Ron Johnson, Apple’s former head of retail made the jump to J.C. Penney last year to revitalize the flagging retail giant. On January 26th, he unveiled his strategy for the company’s new direction, and simply put, it’s great.
In his presentation, Ron clearly lays out the future of J.C. Penney, and it’s likely one of the best business presentations I’ve ever watched. For a long time fan of the Apple event Keynotes, that’s saying a lot. To be sure, Ron’s clearly borrowed heavily from Steve and his Apple experience, but he’s very open about it, and very good at it. Compared to Schiller’s presentation at the Guggenheim last week, this hits much closer to home.
Comparisons to Steve and Apple aside (of which there are several direct references in the presentation itself), here are a couple of key thoughts I took away from the strategy and its delivery.
