Weil an example for retail

If you were born in the 1970s, you probably remember the "trolley for trolley" ad that sported the portly frame of Clive Weil, former CEO of Checkers. He effortlessly crept into our hearts.

Weil, who died in December, will be remembered for both his understated charm in this advert and the indelible mark that he left on the retail industry. With the help of that signature advert, Weil helped pull Checkers from the precipice of insolvency in the 1980s.

The fact that South Africans got to connect with the CEO of their favourite supermarket probably did more of the rescuing than Checkers realised. Do our modern-day retail CEOs connect with South Africans in the same way? Leadership needs to have a human face for people to truly connect with its brand (and this applies to employees as well as customers).

If Pick n Pay’s below-forecast earnings and subsequent dip in share price are anything to go by, the challenges facing the retail industry are not budging just yet. Weil has left a legacy of leadership lessons about connecting with both customers and employees. Now, it is up to our retail leaders to strategically add those lessons to their shopping cart.