I'm currently working on a leadership program for our company and was researching the topic when I found a great article from the Dallas Morning News on The Container Store. The story explores how the company is wrapped around selling "time and efficiency." Their CEO explains that in order to succeed they must also have employees that are experts in "time and efficiency." Two traits that are very rare to find.
Leadership is not something that you do to someone, but with someone. —Melissa Reiff
Their strategy? Hire the best, provide them training, and communicate through servant leadership. Everyone says that right? Sounds like they take it a bit more serious than their competitors. They only hire 6% of applicants. They invest 241 hours of training in the first year in comparison to eight for the rest of their industry. They train their leaders the importance of training and open communication-very open. Why?
With all the knockoffs and discounters, the only way for The Container Store to thrive was by have service so far beyond the competition that customers would either never want to leave, or always come back. That's a lot of happy closets.