He was the Regional Vice President. He was one of the last surviving higher ups that actually worked through retail at the store level all the way up. He just was in a store on a SUNDAY helping a new store manager who was understaffed. Running registers and helping "clients". He was that kind of an executive. He was well loved, respected, and supported by everyone from sales consultants, GMs, and DMs.
The company recently brought aboard this woman, Janet, from Williams-Sonoma. Whose position is apparently above Steve Gordon (who has been with the company for decades.) She has made is a point to cut the heads of several DMs and GMs. Advocating for outside hiring and denying almost any possibility . She implemented so many of the bullshit ass ideas that have popped up- such as the sales trackers, that have literal 0 impact on sales.
Office Depots sales as a whole company have been on a downward trend for years now. These ancient executives that have no idea where commerce is heading and are so unbelievably out of touch with the demographics that are currently spending the most money. Buying Compucom, hiring this Janet woman, firing people over failing numbers when the whole company failing. Continuing to force people into unethical sales positions over a constant looming threat of being terminated . The same unethical behaviors that cause that astronomical pay out to the FTC.
They don't learn and they refuse to listen. They should be investing in the ways of the future. Esports(i.e sponsorships with professional streamers or selling higher quality gaming/streaming equipment), YouTube( whether its YouTube ads or selling equipment for "vloggers" ). The board of directors are mostly in their 60s and 70s. They have no idea what those industries are worth and the buying power behind the people consuming content .
You know what would be brilliant? Get someone like David Dobrik to do a sponsored vlog where he does some kind of challenge or some shit where he goes into a physical Office Depot/Office Max location . Or, having streaming events set up in stores- where people could pay admission to attend/play in small numbers. "Taking Care of Business" this is a company that doesn't even know how to manage it's own business.
But no, let's spend millions of dollars "refreshing" stores that people still have no reason to step foot in. Let's keep telling GMs that it's THEIR responsibility to give their communities a reason to come into their store. Let's keep coming up with stupid fucking acronyms and boards and trackers(Because that's increasing our stocks). Let's keep chopping heads of the OGs that still care about the people in the stores.
I heard that Kevin Moffit is known to troll reddit. So, Kevin, if you need some help prioritizing where this company is headed- I can give you a list of GMs with brilliant ideas that could have netted you millions; who were shot down and shut up because you have facilitated a company of "yes" men. The companies that are thriving right now are the ones that do twi things- they respect and appreciate their employees , from the BOTTOM- up & they accept and adapt their business models to suit booming industries without discrimination.