Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Michelle Obama talks about her new healthy drink startup, Sha’Carri Richardson defies controversy as the new fastest woman in the world, and Stitch Fix shows the limits of the consultant-to-CEO pipeline.
– Training ground. Do management consultants make good CEOs? The Stitch Fix case study is an argument for “not always,” my colleague Phil Wahba explains in a new Fortune story.
Elizabeth Spaulding took over as CEO of the personal styling brand Stitch Fix from founder Katrina Lake in 2021 after a transitional stint as the company’s president. A Bain & Company alum, her pedigree impressed investors and analysts. But she stepped down at the beginning of this year with the e-commerce business in dire straits; Stitch Fix’s stock price had fallen 93% over Spaulding’s tenure and the company made several rounds of layoffs. Spaulding exited the business, and Lake returned to try her hand at saving the company until it found a permanent CEO.
Analysts ultimately concluded that Spaulding had an impressive tech background, but lacked on-the-ground apparel industry experience that would have helped with parts of the job, including inventory. Typical consulting cost-saving solutions—like reducing the flexibility afforded to Stitch Fix’s stylists—ended up backfiring. Spaulding didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story.
While many factors were at play in the fate of Stitch Fix, Spaulding’s tenure is a recent example of what can happen when executives go straight from consulting to the corner office. As Joel Bines, a retired managing director at AlixPartners, told Phil: “There is nothing about management consulting that prepares anyone to be a CEO of anything.”
Consulting alumni are eyed by headhunters for the ability to see patterns, problems, and solutions from a bird’s-eye view. Years at firms like McKinsey, Bain, and Accenture can be like “B-school on steroids,” Phil writes.
But the lessons learned in consulting don’t cover everything. So a more typical path than jumping straight to CEO is when high-level consultants make an operational pit stop before claiming a top job. In the Fortune 500, 47 CEOs have management consultancies on their résumés, but only three arrived in the C-suite straight from those firms—and none went straight to CEO.
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser is one such CEO who followed that path. She was a McKinsey partner focused on finance before moving to Citi in 2004 and climbing the ladder at the bank. She became CEO in 2021.
Read Phil’s full analysis here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Michelle's market. Michelle Obama is speaking up about her new beverage startup, Plezi Nutrition, and its ability to "jumpstart" healthy food innovation. For the longtime health nut, the new healthy drink line is a natural extension of the policy initiatives she started while her husband was in the Oval Office. Fast Company
- Speedy return. Sha’Carri Richardson, the American track star who made headlines in 2020 for a positive marijuana test that disqualified her from the Tokyo Olympics, is now the fastest woman in the world. Richardson earned the title after a first-place finish in this week’s World Athletics Championship 100-meter dash. New York Times
- Instagram to in-store. Eva Chen, head of fashion partnerships for Instagram, is releasing her own line of children’s clothing at H&M. The collection, which Chen describes as “meant to be handed down,” is sustainable, gender neutral, and 90’s-inspired. Women's Wear Daily
- Beauty hoops. Glossier has officially become the first beauty partner of the WNBA, the culmination of multiple collaborations over the past three years. The relationship between the two partners is set to bring an emphasis on self-care to the women's sports world and affirm Glossier's dedication to equity and inclusivity. Essence
- Sneaking through safety. Democratic Texas State Rep. Ann Johnson just made it legal for women to receive life-saving abortions in the largely pro-life state. To do so, Johnson had to discreetly hide abortion legislation so as to not scare off fellow lawmakers. NPR
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Ankler Media named London Sanders as head of sales. Facet Wealth promoted Shruti Joshi to president and chief operating officer, and Facet promoted Bini Lee to vice president of planning and advice. Laura Bassett resigned as editor-in-chief of Jezebel.
ON MY RADAR
Megan Rapinoe answers the critics The Atlantic
What about the women in hip-hop? The Cut
I wrote The Care and Keeping of You for girls. This wasn’t the future I imagined for them Elle
PARTING WORDS
"You're the GMOAT."
—Alexis Ohanian on his wife, Serena Williams, welcoming their second child, Adira River Ohanian
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