How a former Coach CEO would fix retail right now

00:00 Speaker A

You know, if you were still leading a retailer, a global retailer, how would you accomplish something like this?

00:05 Speaker B

Carefully. I think you need to be very careful about everything you do. Of course, you want to be careful before passing the costs on to consumers. and you also want to be careful not to put your suppliers out of business when you pressure them to join you.

00:30 Speaker B

You need to be thoughtful and careful and recognize that consumers may be more inclined to purchase cheaper products during this period and that you can develop more entry-level products for discerning and expense-concerned consumers.

00:46 Speaker A

I recently spent a nice day in Detroit with Ford CEO Jim Farley, and the theme of his conference at the time was: they can’t find workers to fill critical jobs.

01:00 Speaker A

He stated that there are currently 6,000 open positions in auto mechanics. I mean, I’m really impressed by this. Isn’t there anyone in the US who can or doesn’t have the skills to sew a gorgeous bag? Is that the problem?

01:13 Speaker B

We had these skills with our immigrant population 50 years ago, and it helped us become a prosperous and leading nation in the world.

01:28 Speaker B

And our country depends on new populations to feed jobs graduating Americans whose children may not want the same jobs their parents had. And the reality is that many jobs remain vacant in the United States, and if we do not find a way to attract immigrants from second and third world countries who want to live the American dream, it will become a significant problem in service industries, farming, factories, and other businesses in the months and years to come.