Timberland Co.

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Timberland Co. (TBL): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Timberland Co. | Fortune

Timberland Co. (TBL): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

[ MUSIC ] Steve, you've been CEO of VF Corp now for a year. What's the most important leadership lesson that you've learned so far? You have to be very articulate around the vision that you have, where you want to go And then work with your team to really break that down into sound bites. We call that strategy, choices, if that organization is able to align around. You've been making a lot of changes at VF, you've been and selling brands. You've been changing the senior leadership How do you motivate people at Vf to change with you? And also to execute the vision that you're heading out on? To get people to come along with you in a big leadership change is you have to be really clear on the vision. But you also have to show them that you're willing to get in and work with them on it. It's around empowering them in helping them understand what their specific role And then through empowerment comes accountability. And you know, this is your area to work. This is your piece of the overall puzzle. And when it all comes together, being able to constantly communicate and give prove points against how we're progressing against our strategy, what's working and, you know, what will we do more of? What didn't work? What did we learn? But in the end, you've gotta get down into the conversation, be part of it, and show that you're as willing to work as hard as they are. CEOs always talk about, let's innovate, let's experiment, let's try new things, but sometimes they don't work out. And what is your tolerance for dealing with failure and mistakes, and how do you convey that to your team, to say Keep trying. [ LAUGH ] We're celebrating the wins and we're talking about them, but we're also celebrating the things that didn't work well. Not to be negative, but to actually show that someone tried, what was the result, and then what did we learn in the behaviors that are changing based on that In that learning. Do you need to have a different breed of employee working at VF as you go through these changes? And you said that you value work ethic and streets smarts over books smarts, do you need more people like that? We need both, we need both. But I am a big believer In work ethic. It comes from I guess my upbringing. My parents were incredibly hard working middle class Americans and work ethic can trump just about anything else. In business, especially when you're directing it at things that matter. I guess a very clear set of strategic road maps. So many people, Steve, aspire to be a CEO of a big Fortune 500 company like Viad As you look back on your career. What were the key strategic moves that you made that got you to the top job? I think to grow in your career and to achieve great leadership roles like I have today you need to be willing to take some risks. In my early forty's' I had the opportunity to leave a very comfortable job. And jump into a turn around, to turn around at The North Face. Many of my friends questioned why I was doing that, but at that point The North Face was in some difficult situations. I felt I had some skills that were, you know, that would be amenable there. And I made a strategic jump and asked my family to move, you know, from a very comfortable life into a really interesting one. One. But it was that point in time where I was willing to take a leap of faith based on something I was deeply passionate about, but also where I had a set of skills that I could bring to bear in an environment that I really enjoyed. That put me in a position to learn, grow, and ascend to where I am today. As you reflect back on your personal and your professional life, what was the best leadership advice That you ever received, and why has it guided you throughout the years? Boy Scouts was a big part of my life and had a profound impact on who I am today. And there was a leader, a neighbor friend who was part of my scouting troop, and Harvey and I formed a very close relationship. Well, he caught me, and what he challenged me to think about was pushing myself Into situations where I was uncomfortable, where perhaps I might fail, and to learn the value of having a diverse capable team around me. You know, if you were to sit in some of my leadership meetings, you would hear me reference it constantly, and it is the strength of the diverse team Pushing ourselves to really move into areas where we can see great achievement but we may not be very comfortable. That's where great breakthrough performance can come from. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

This CEO Says Taking Smart Risks Leads to Breakthrough Performances

Leadership

VF Corporation's Steve Rendle says that taking risks may be a scary word to some, but really should be viewed as seizing opportunities.

Steve you've been talking to investors and wall street analysts here in New York and telling them that you want to transform the F corp. Why now and what are you doing differently? VF is long storied company. We're 119 years old and we've always been in the consumer business selling some type of apparel. Where we find ourselves today is in a market that's transforming around us, and for us to continue to compete with our powerful portfolio of brands we need to transform how we think, how we act, and ultimately how we work. We know that retailers are struggling, and we know that consumers are buying more stuff online How are you responding to all these changes? Consumers are moving quickly. For us to compete and stay in lockstep with our consumers, we need to change. So first, we're looking at our portfolio. And the portfolio of brands that align around our financial aspirations. But also brands that are able to connect at a very intimate level with the consumer to have a more one to one relationship We're changing how we work inside, we're transforming our end- to- end product creation and demand creation model to be again more Nimble, looking at consumer need and how we drive consumer demand in a much more efficient, quick, more agile way but more relevant to what our consumers are asking for. We know that you can buy for example North Face Jackets and Timberland boots online and also in your specialty stores. How important are physical stores to you success? Physical stores are very important. We know the consumers. Our data tells us consumers love to have a personal interaction. They do like to come into an experiential environment where they can feel Touch, smell, the attributes of a brand and the products new that those brands were selling. We need to marry our physical environment, with our virtual environment. And then there is Amazon, which is interestingly both your customers, but also your competitor. What is your Amazon strategy? I think it's striking the balance, what is it that Amazon Does that our consumers are looking for and what are the things that we can do to differentiate our offer and our other wholesale partner's offer? Amazon is a very frictionless environment. It's about selling items. We are to selling a story, about a lifestyle and what our brands enable you to do, where our brands allow you to go, the communities that you can become part of. That's the experiential aspect of the balance of our distribution. I hear that you've just hire a chief digital officer, this is a brand new position at [ UNKNOWN ]. What are you trying to accomplish? For us, is we look to the future. You know, digital is at the center of how consumers are really consuming content, how they're you know, purchasing products. We need to advance our capabilities. We're already pretty good. By adding a Chief Digital Officer, and having her help us think about our platform, our capabilities, but also the types of people that we should have inside our businesses to advance this thinking, It's a catalyst. It's a catalyst for us to get better, and be in front of our consumers in a more productive way. Let's talk a little bit about mergers and acquisitions. You have a long history of growing through acquisitions. You've been selling off some brands, like Nautica, and you've been buying other companies. What's the next big deal? Well, I can't tell you the next big deal. What I can tell is where we're looking. We're an apparel and footwear company. That's what we're strong at. But we're also a consumer- driven company that can drive really interesting and compelling experiences. So this last year, we announced the acquisition or the intent to acquire Ice Breaker. The Icebreaker brand is located in New Zealand, it's built on the natural merino fiber that's special to their environment. We're already in the merino business today. We have a brand called SmartWool that makes merino socks. IceBreaker is the dominant merino apparel manufacturer. Combined the two, we now have the strongest portfolio of brands to answer the consumer's request for more natural, sustainable products. You've been talking about transforming VF. So what would it take to do a Big transformative deal. For us to do a big transformative deal, we would need to be looking at a sector and a category where we see growth. Where we see new growth opportunities and where our scales and acapabilities would lend themselves to advance that company's growth. At the same time, we'd be looking for what capabilities do they have that could come back in the VF to make us a better company. But it's looking for new growth spaces, new consumers, new categories, new sectors. Would you like to do a big deal? Well I absolutely would. Yeah, we've been very open about that. M & A is our first choice for capital allocation. It's how we transform. It's how VF has transformed. Where we find ourselves today is in the opportunity, again, to transform in this rapidly evolving consumer marketplace. Where is the consumer going? How can we shape our portfolio to be there with them, to solve their problems, and to provide that experience? [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

CEO Steve Rendle says the company is looking to align itself to the quickly changing needs of the modern apparel consumer.

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