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Send us Fan MailBeing ready for the next opportunity does not guarantee you get it. Steve learned that the hard way - outperformed for a role he thought was already his, by someone who simply showed u…

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Send us Fan MailBeing ready for the next opportunity does not guarantee you get it. Steve learned that the hard way - outperformed for a role he thought was already his, by someone who simply showed up to win that day.That is the first of three things retail leaders need to hear right now.The second: 30,000 people at Oracle got a 6am email that changed everything. AI is not just a tech story. It is a retail story. And the leaders who survive it are not the ones who fear it — they are the ones who have built a valued opinion on the business that no algorithm can replace.The third: the glossin…

Send us Fan MailI wasn't planning on recording this morning. Good thing he did.This unscripted episode covers three things retail leaders are sitting with right now: how to outlast the doubt whe…

Send us Fan MailI wa…

Send us Fan MailI wasn't planning on recording this morning. Good thing he did.This unscripted episode covers three things retail leaders are sitting with right now: how to outlast the doubt when you're building something others have already tried to talk you out of what specific problem your leadership solves and so you actually know the answerthe difference between being known and being seenNo agenda. Just straight thinking.Learn more at worthyretail.comChapters:00:00 This wasn’t planned (and why that matters)02:45 When everything starts competing for your attention04:00 The mo…

Send us a textPart II is about the moment most leaders mishandle.After a conference, leaders return energized. New ideas. New language. New urgency. And almost immediately, they start pushing initiat…

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Send us a textPart II is about the moment most leaders mishandle.After a conference, leaders return energized. New ideas. New language. New urgency. And almost immediately, they start pushing initiatives into an organization that hasn’t changed its capacity, priorities, or decision rules.In this episode, I break down why post-conference optimism hides execution friction, and why execution is always the first thing to break when leaders confuse excitement with readiness.You’ll hear why real Innovation doesn’t happen when ideas are added, but when excess assumptions, excess work, and exce…

Send us a textPart III is about the mistake that kills most conference ideas.Leaders come back with insights, slides, notes, and energy. They share the information. They post about it. They talk about…

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Send us a textPart III is about the mistake that kills most conference ideas.Leaders come back with insights, slides, notes, and energy. They share the information. They post about it. They talk about it. And then nothing changes.In this episode, I break down why ideas don’t fail because they’re bad, they fail because no one owns them. Conferences create inspiration. Organizations require ownership.We talk about why initiatives create motion but ownership creates outcomes, why leaders must embed themselves in the learning process instead of outsourcing it to their teams, and how ideas dec…

Send us a textThe Discipline to Say No (The Decision That Determines Everything)This is the decision most leaders avoid.After the conferences. After the ideas. After the pressure to “look at everyth…

Send us a textThe Di…

Send us a textThe Discipline to Say No (The Decision That Determines Everything)This is the decision most leaders avoid.After the conferences. After the ideas. After the pressure to “look at everything.” Part IV is about the one move that determines whether all of this turns into leverage or just more noise.In this episode, I break down why conferences expand possibility, but leadership requires subtraction. Why saying “we’re looking at everything” is the safest answer and the most dangerous one. And why the strongest leaders don’t win by adding more, but by being brutally clear a…

Send us a textAfter NRF: Decide the Real Problem (Part 1 of 4)Most conferences don’t fail because the ideas are bad.They fail because leaders come back with volume instead of judgment.NRF expands wh…

Send us a textAfter …

Send us a textAfter NRF: Decide the Real Problem (Part 1 of 4)Most conferences don’t fail because the ideas are bad.They fail because leaders come back with volume instead of judgment.NRF expands what feels possible. Leadership is deciding what actually matters.In Part 1 of this four-part series, Steve Worthy focuses on the first and most important post-conference decision: deciding the real problem you’re solving this year.NRF pushes solutions. Vendors do their job well. The risk for leaders is acting before reality is clearly defined.This episode explores:Why conference energy fades fast…

Send us a textThere were years when things looked fine from the outside, but they weren’t fine.Professionally, I was doing the work. Personally, I was carrying more than I should have. I had a coach…

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Send us a textThere were years when things looked fine from the outside, but they weren’t fine.Professionally, I was doing the work. Personally, I was carrying more than I should have. I had a coach, a tighter inner circle, and the right intentions, but I still found myself drifting. New ideas kept pulling at me. New opportunities kept showing up. And I didn’t have a reliable way to decide what deserved my energy and what didn’t.That’s when I started using a Word of the Year.Not because I needed inspiration. I needed something stable. Something I could come back to when everything felt…

Send us a textIf you’re a founder trying to sell into retail, this episode may save you months of missteps. If you’re a retail leader evaluating new Technology, it’ll reflect what you often wish…

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Send us a textIf you’re a founder trying to sell into retail, this episode may save you months of missteps. If you’re a retail leader evaluating new technology, it’ll reflect what you often wish vendors understood.In this conversation with Ang Nayyar from StrutFit, we get into the realities of how retailers think, decide, and evaluate solutions — far beyond what’s visible from the outside.This episode is especially for:Founders and product teams trying to land their first or fifth retail partnerRetail innovation leaders who want tech partners that understand operationsVCs and advisor…

Send us a textWhat Happens When You’ve Outgrown Your Role?In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Holm from Helzberg Diamonds, and we get right into the real tension many retail leaders feel but rarel…

Send us a textWhat H…

Send us a textWhat Happens When You’ve Outgrown Your Role?In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Holm from Helzberg Diamonds, and we get right into the real tension many retail leaders feel but rarely talk about — the moment you know you’re ready for more, even if you haven’t said it out loud yet.Ryan’s journey from Dunkin’ Donuts to leading innovation in a Berkshire Hathaway company is filled with the kind of insights leaders need right now.In this conversation we cover:How to know when the spark is fadingWhy targeted upskilling outperforms “learn everything” developmentThe adv…

Send us a textRetail is not complicated. It is hard work. This episode gets us back to the basics that keep a store alive: profit, time, and turns. I sit down with Maximilian Anderson, founder of SKU…

Send us a textRetail…

Send us a textRetail is not complicated. It is hard work. This episode gets us back to the basics that keep a store alive: profit, time, and turns. I sit down with Maximilian Anderson, founder of SKUMAX, to talk about seeing your true cost of goods, why every item should pay rent, and how to make better decisions with the data you already own. If you lead stores, this is a clean reset on what to measure, what to move, and what to let go. Try the free trial in the show notes and see how long your inventory has really been sitting.What you’ll learn:A simple way to see real profit in real tim…

Send us a textConference fatigue is real. The solution isn’t bigger booths. It’s better design.In this episode of Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, Jamie Hancock — founder of Buying Time and …

Send us a textConfer…

Send us a textConference fatigue is real. The solution isn’t bigger booths. It’s better design.In this episode of Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, Jamie Hancock — founder of Buying Time and Commerce Futures — breaks down how to build events that create real learning and real pipeline without turning the room into a pitch fest.We cover:Designing your event like a sales motion: ICP, personas, shared problems, clear outcomesWhy putting customers and practitioners on stage beats vendor decks every timeWorkshop formats that produce value you can capture, anonymize, and share with your t…

Send us a textRetail technology often gets lost in hype. But what does it actually mean for leaders on the ground?In this episode of Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, I sit down with Ricardo Belmar…

Send us a textRetail…

Send us a textRetail technology often gets lost in hype. But what does it actually mean for leaders on the ground?In this episode of Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, I sit down with Ricardo Belmar, Producer and Host of The Retail Razor Podcast Network.We cover:Why “perfect test stores” can hide scalability failuresThe difference between replacing tasks and replacing people with techAI’s real challenge: implementation and process readinessThe skills leaders need to guide retail through the next five yearsRicardo’s perspective cuts through the clutter and gives leaders a clear, pract…