Amazon didn’t invent the “everything store”.
That was Woolworths, back in 1879. They pioneered mass-market variety retail.
But when the 70s came around, the world started changing. Instead of going to giant department stores, people were doing to malls.
So Woolworths made a brave call: they incubated a brand-new business inside the dying one. Premium sneakers, sold in malls.
That business was Foot Locker.
And it worked. For decades, Foot Locker owned American sneaker retail. If you bought a pair of Jordans at the mall, you probably bought them from a guy in a referee shirt.
Then the ground shifted again.
Stuff like StockX showed up, a whole marketplace for buying and reselling premium sneakers online. Big players like Nike started rethinking how they sold.
But unlike their parent, Foot Locker didn’t make a brave move.
They just sat there, withering on the vine, and earlier this year they sold to Dick’s Sporting Goods for about 30 cents on the dollar off its peak.
What gets me is that the company was capable of both: the bold pivot that created Foot Locker, and the slow drift that killed it.
It’s not just Woolworths either. Look at Sears.
For decades these giants face facts and make the hard choices. Then, at some point, they just stop.
I don't think the market is the villain here. Markets always change. The question is who's steering when they do, from the CEO to the board to the exec team.
A business rarely dies from a changing market.
It dies when the people in charge stop making the hard calls the market is demanding.
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3 questions to figure it out
Most of this comes down to one thing: do you have the right people?
There’s a three question framework in EOS I’ve mentioned before, called GWC. You ask it about each person in the company, or when you’re interviewing.
You ask:
Do they get it? Do they understand the bigger picture, the values, how it all ties together?
Do they want it? Do they actually want this specific job, not just any job?
Do they have the capacity to do it?
A great hire is a 10 out of 10 on all three. Almost every problem employee I've ever had was strong on one or two but failing on a the third. And I ignored it for way too long.
It comes from Traction. Probably the single most influential book on how I build businesses. Like paint-by-numbers for healthy companies.
We love you, Foot Locker. We hardly knew you.
Michael
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