Tara Ricaud

Unlocking True Servant Leadership Quick-hitter tonight…my team is in town for #LeadersMeeting this week at #TractorSupply SSC and they are coming over for a cookout tomorrow so I better get back to cleaning the house. So here we go…. To me, servant leadership transcends all traditional leadership styles because it prioritizes the growth and well-being of the team members. At its core, true servant leadership involves actively listening, deeply empathizing, and nurturing an environment where every voice is valued. This approach requires not only humility but also a commitment to serving rather than commanding. To refine your servant leadership skills, begin by adopting a genuine service mindset—making it your mission to understand the needs and aspirations of your team. Establish trust through absolute transparency, and hold yourself accountable consistently. Engage in regular feedback conversations, contributing to a culture of open dialogue that empowers everyone. But is servant leadership truly the most effective way to lead? Research indicates that teams under servant leaders typically demonstrate higher engagement, enhanced performance, and elevated morale. Reflect on your leadership journey: what drives your motivations and values? What steps can you take today to actively support your team—be it through professional development, eliminating barriers, or encouraging collaboration? Every action you take matters. Servant leadership is more than a mere concept - it takes real practice grounded in intentional actions and genuine care for others. What experiences have shaped your understanding of leadership? How do you envision servant leadership impacting your team? #ServantLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #TeamEmpowerment #WeeklySundayPost

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Retail managers have to learn to be so multiple faceted in order to be a successful leader in their role.

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Experience vs. Opportunity: A Thought for Retailers Why are so many retailers hyper-focused on “experience” when hiring? I’ve realized something important: Experience Begins with a Chance. What does it say about an organization that isn’t willing to invest time in developing someone for a role? Why are so many companies hesitant to give someone the opportunity to grow into a position? The truth is, experience alone isn’t always enough. Skills can be learned. Passion, determination, and a willingness to grow are often far more valuable than years of prior experience. Retailers—and companies in general—need to think beyond resumes and focus on people’s potential. Organizations that value potential over convenience build stronger teams and future leaders. Giving someone a chance isn’t just an investment in them—it’s an investment in your company’s future. So, here’s the real question: Are you building future leaders, or just hiring for convenience? Let’s invest in people and give opportunities the same weight as experience. What are your thoughts? #Leadership #Development #RetailIndustry #Opportunity

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🚀 ALTA is Dominating the Industry/Breaking Boundaries-Join Us as a District Manager in Kansas🚀 This is not your average job offer—this is your chance to lead, inspire, and grow with one of the fastest-growing companies in retail! Alta has skyrocketed over the last 5 years, growing 40% and expanding from 3 states to 11. And we’re just getting started! We’re looking for a bold, visionary District Manager in Kansas who is ready to take this region to the next level. Why You Should Be Excited About This Opportunity: 💥 F: Lead 8-12 high-performing stores, driving profits, crushing goals, and fueling growth in one of our hottest markets. 💥 BE PART OF SOMETHING BIG: With our massive growth, there’s no ceiling here. Alta promotes from within, and this role is a launchpad for your career. We need leaders who want to move up, and we’re ready to invest in YOU. 💥 Shape the Future: You’ll be implementing high-impact strategies, growing teams, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in retail. Your leadership will directly shape the future of our brand in Kansas! What’s In It for You? 🌟 Unlimited Growth: As we continue our explosive expansion, your hard work won’t go unnoticed. This is where careers take off! 🌟 Make your IMPACT Felt: This isn’t just a job—this is an opportunity to build, innovate, and leave your mark on a company that’s breaking records in the industry. 🌟 The Fast Lane to Promotion: We’ve expanded from 3 states to 11 in the past five years, and we’re still growing. That means more opportunities for YOU to step up and move into higher leadership roles. Who We’re Looking For: 🚀 A seasoned leader with 5+ years in retail, gasoline, or food service management ready to manage multiple locations with confidence. 🚀 A people developer who can inspire teams, grow talent, and create the next generation of leaders. 🚀 A strategic thinker who can see the big picture and turn vision into action. 🚀 Ready to hit the road and drive change as a “road warrior” across locations. Ready to Grab This Opportunity? 💥 If you’re hungry for success and want to lead with confidence, this is your shot. Join us and become a key player in one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry. We’re looking for a leader like YOU to fuel our next chapter of growth. The future is waiting — take it! 🔗 Apply Now: http://tiny.cc/Alta1 📍 Location: Kansas #BigOpportunities #DistrictManager #RetailLeadership #UnitedPacific #CareerGrowth #FastTrackToSuccess #KansasJobs #TakeTheLead #PromoteFromWithin #ExplosiveGrowth

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The role of a store manager, manager, or leader is filled with challenges and stresses. Knowing that you may have made a positive impact on someone's life is what makes it all worthwhile. #Leadership #Management #Impact

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We have been educated with skills or have worked and built experience. Trusting our team, if trained enough, to execute is crucial. Supporting our teams through adversity, and showing them the way is essential. As leaders, we can't simply point, tell, and give direction. Sometimes, we must help problem solve, show, and demonstrate. This is the commitment we made when we became leaders. Leadership is more than the data on a board or spreadsheet it’s the work and behaviors that produces the data or results. Leadership is more than a title. #TrueLeadership

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At Ulta, we believe in the possibilities of our associates. The possibilities to dream big dreams. To be exactly who they are. To chart the course of their own career. If you have that same passion, click here to learn more: https://bit.ly/45CkYeK #MakeupJunkie #beautywithoutlimits

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The Store Manager of the Year category shines a spotlight on the extraordinary leaders who go above and beyond to create exceptional in-store experiences, drive sales, and foster a positive work environment. These individuals possess a unique blend of management skills, customer service acumen, and a passion for achieving outstanding results. In this category, we aim to recognise the pivotal role store managers play in the success of businesses and to honour their unwavering commitment to excellence. Their leadership and ability to motivate teams directly impact customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and overall business success. The nomination process will be as follows - A senior representative from your company (e.g. Store Owner, Director, CEO) will be asked to nominate their Store Manager of the Year.  You can do that by emailing [email protected] - Nominations will be analysed by the ASI Awards Team to ensure validity. - The senior representative of the company will be asked to complete a submission for their Store Manager of the Year. - The submissions will be reviewed and scored by an independent judging panel. The criteria for this award is as follows: - The Store Manager must have been employed in your business for at least the past 12 months. - The Store Manager must be nominated by a senior representative from your company (e.g. Store Owner, Director, CEO). - Definition of Store Managers: All individuals in the position of Store Manager of a retail outlet (online or shopfront) operating in the Australian Surf Industry are eligible. - Business owners who are the sole Store Manager do not qualify. Managers of multiple stores or Area Managers also do not qualify. Managers of purely online stores can enter if they could reasonably be defined as a Store Manager. The business must have been in operation for at least 12 months and continue to be in operation on 24 October 2024. You must notify us via [email protected] if this changes. , Entries must be in by 19th July, 2024.    Let's highlight these industry champions and celebrate their contribution to your business. If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

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Things I’ve learned being a people manager in retail: 1. People will amaze you everyday! I’ve had the pleasure of leading so many indivials that will show up and show out everyday, rain or shine. 2. Trust is built on the selling floor. Whether I’m connecting in between running go backs, or supporting a teammate on a deliverable; building trust with my team is done while we hustle together. 3. Give your team things to do that they love, and things that will challenge them. It should be a balance. Just giving a teammate tasks that they feel comfortable with can lead to stagnation and complacency. Don’t be afraid to mix it up, and who knows, they may find a love for something new! #retailjobs #leadership #teammanagement

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"Did you give them a corrective action?" "Maybe it's time for a performance improvement plan." "Are you documenting every time they are late?" Performance management in retail is a largely bullshit system that is ineffective at changing behavior. Too many companies, and a lot of peers of mine in most companies I've been with, are all too quick with the paperwork and documentation. Leading with empathy, and compassion. Allowing for grace, and room for error and failing, is more difficult than rote write-ups, and black or white declarations, and stead fast compliance with arbitrary rules. People will be late, they will have days where they perform under their baseline, they will fail, and err, and stumble. And when they do- it is our job as leaders to lead. To show them what better is, to support them, to help them grow, to allow them space to fuck up, and have it not be a big deal. My teams have achieved incredible, sometimes award/contest winning results. We have done this not through individual performance metrics and strict adherence to "policy," but through working towards a goal as a collective. My people know I have their back, and know that I am there for their betterment, whether within my four walls or not. Too much of the typical PM approach is based on each individual perfectly adhering to certain metrics, timeliness, and arbirtrary rules (don't get me started on most dress codes, what a waste of fucking time). I don't document a lot of my conversations with my team because they are organic and filled with compassion and honesty and not intended to be used at a later date as a "gotcha" in case I ever want to fire them (Often the purpose of such documentation.) That is not leadership, that is manipulative, and quite frankly, I think it lacks integrity. When I've shared this viewpoint with others, especially peers, the same question is often asked, "But how do you hold people accountable then?" And to that I will always say, Accountability does not equal punishment. And when people ask, "but don't your other employees get mad or lose motivation when so and so isn't punished for _____." If they do, then I have not completed cultivating the team environment. I strive to create an atmosphere where there isn't a petty need to tattle tale and watch for others to be punished in order to be motivated. My teams understand that their peers will have bad days, and when they have one, it's okay, we will lift them up too. And I'm going to repeat because I think some people may need to read this many times: Accountability does not equal punishment.

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Today, I had the pleasure of onboarding a new team member—someone I’m genuinely excited to work with and have high hopes for. However, I heard a recurring question from several colleagues: “They don’t have any retail experience. Why are you so confident in them?” My answer? Work ethic. I can train someone to run a register, serve customers, sell our loyalty programs, down-stack a truck, stock shelves, understand our metrics, and every other nuance of our jobs. But what I can not train is the drive to succeed and the attitude they bring to work every day. When I hire, I’m not just looking for a resume packed with years of retail experience. I’m looking for someone with the determination to show up and give their best effort. That’s what truly matters. If we only look for “relevant experience,” we may miss out on some valuable assets to our teams. #Leadership #Hiring #WorkEthic #Retail #GrowthMindset #CVSHealth

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A touchy subject that isn’t talked about enough in the retail world today, but so impactful as we go into the holiday season.🎃🦃🎄 I hope my fellow managers, staffers, leaders of company’s and their stores remember that as you’re hiring for seasonal workers that there is so much more to the person sitting across from you in an interview. In the current climate of the world we have so many people facing financial instability, longer commutes due to transportation struggles, concerns if they’ll be able to pay their bills this month or even put food on the table let alone the impacts on their mental health from dealing with all of that complied stress and so much more. I implore you to not be another reason this life is hard for them. Holiday months in retail are the months we require the most effort from our teams, do them justice by showing up for them in all the ways that you can. 🎃🦃🎄 Examples of this that are free (for all those with corporate company financial constraints): allowing grace for a few minutes late to shift, allowing an extra break when you can if they need to take a breath, gentle reminders to the team to stay hydrated, switching out jobs/tasks consistently so that the team doesn’t get burnt out, taking time to touch base with your team to make sure they’re doing okay, even giving them the space to voice their struggles and be a shoulder to lean on during tough moments, coaching through mistakes and mishaps that will happen within the season and letting it be more of a learning moment than a loss. 🎃🦃🎄 Holidays are hard and working through them even harder for most and nothing worthwhile is learned through cruelty only in care. Remember to be kind.

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Let's talk about #LifeAtPetSmart and #BelongingWeek as it comes to a close and what it means to myself personally. PetSmart has an #AWEsome tuition reimbursement program, which permits our Leaders and Associates alike to drive their own personal growth and development through academic avenues! Furthermore, this allows them to #LearnNewTricks in their field they are passionate about while helping mitigate out of pocket cost on tuition. Several years back there was an additional investment to elevate the program into an easy and efficient platform allowing more associates to have access. (Fun Fact: 129% is the average ROI) Have selected my dissertation topic, and could not be more proud of how my #PassionForPetsAndPeople have aligned with #LearnNewTricks in this academic journey along with my #PlayToWin mentality! As PetSmart has been instrumental to over half of my life, from coming in as a Pet Products Manager, moving my way throughout the organization to District Leader. Furthermore, during my tenure I have worked through my Associates, Bachelors, Dual Masters, and now Doctoral program and could not be more elated to have my research to be around what I hold near and dear. Without further ado, here it is! This research will fully encompass an analysis of the impact of corporate social responsibility initiatives on consumer behavior and brand loyalty in the pet industry. A mixed-methods study examining purchase frequency, customer retention rates, and consumer perceptions. The research will be mixed methodology of both qualitative and quantitative. Some of the research questions will be leaning into 4 categories with the primary general research question of how does corporate social responsibility influence consumer behavior and brand loyalty in the pet industry? 1) How do corporate social responsibility initiatives such as animal welfare and sustainability campaigns in the pet industry influence consumer purchase frequency? 2) What is the relationships between CSR initiatives and customer retention rates in the pet industry? 3) How do consumer perceptions of CSR initiatives affect brand loyalty in the pet industry? 4) What specific CSR activities are most effective in influencing consumer behavior and brand loyalty in the pet industry? #ClassOf2025 #LeadershipMatters #SMitten #MakingAName #PetSmart #PetSmartCharities #NeverStopLearning #EducationMatters #YouAreRemarkable #TuitionReimbursement #FirstGeneration

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For the first time in my retail career, I’m really struggling with the work life balance. It’s not that I work too much or possibly what readers may be thinking at this stage. In fact, it’s not even my job that is the issue. I love my job and nothing has really changed here for a long time. It’s the way that it seems all public service and retail expect some weekend coverage. This is the problem. Mrs McNee used to work in the food manufacturing sector is quality control. She unfortunately was made redundant after reducing her hours to part time and became a bit invisible and surplus quite quickly. However, with a young family and a house to renovate, she has focused on the house and family while I’ve worked and that seemed to work. Until recently. The children are now a bit older the house is complete and my wife is looking for work she can enjoy. Cafe work, retail work, a farm shop.. something like that. Similar to the enjoyable work I do. But, every job she goes for becomes a no go as we need at least one parent home on a weekend. This is effecting her mental health now to the point that I need to think about what I’m doing. Maybe it’s myself that needs a change. I enjoy what I do but it’s becoming an issue for my family and so there it becomes a work life balance issue that I never saw coming. If anyone is reading this running a store or cafe or another fun business local to us where you need a part timer that works mid weekdays, but isn’t needed at weekends or maybe only very occasionally. Please let me know. I have a good candidate. She’s smart enough to speak three languages and has two degrees, handy enough to put up shelves but is struggling to find a role that fits. 

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Leave the interviewing to professionals… I once worked at a retail chain during an acquisition, where store employees from the acquired company conducted employee theft interviews. It was a dated practice, so we instituted a change so that loss prevention specialists conducted all employee interviews. A district manager mentioned to me that some employee interviews were scheduled, so I stepped in to conduct them and offered for her to come along. We had a tip that the employees in question were developing film for friends without charging them (something that would be caught with Exception-Based reporting today). It was my first time working with the new chain, and I had just moved to the state, so I knew nothing else about the case.     All I had was a plastic bag with some journal tape rolls. I devised an elaborate story about being part of the acquisition due diligence team and that I was conducting assessments to identify issues before the deal was closed. Both candidates admitted to thousands of dollars in theft. After the interview, the district manager said, “Wow, I didn’t realize you did all that stuff.” I not only convinced the problematic employee of my cover story, but I convinced the district manager, too. Meanwhile, I had made up the story on the fly. This was the “old school” way of doing things; the team at Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates would not be pleased with this method today. Today, loss prevention professionals don’t fabricate detailed stories when interviewing. Instead, we speak in the generic, i.e “Some of the activities we do include ‘may’ include investigating stores for chain M&A.” The moral of the story here is that conducting interviews is an essential skill in loss prevention. Today, there are tests and certifications for forensic interviewing. The methodologies change over time, but trained professionals must conduct interviews. P.S. Professional interviewing skills come in handy as a parent. My kids try their best to fool me, but always fold like a cheap suit. 😂 #lossprevention #assetprotection

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💯 Spotlight on Ollie's Core Values: Be Real! 💯 Team Members at the Store Support Center spent some time getting REAL this week with Gratitude Journals! Spending just a few minutes each day reflecting on positive thoughts and experiences has been shown to reduce stress and improve one's mood. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your team is #BeReal with yourself about everything you're grateful for! What are some of the ways you practice gratitude in YOUR life?  #WeAreOllies #1Team1Jersey

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I think Ted Decker’s move to have The Home Depot executives work retail shifts is such a refreshing idea! 😃 It’s easy for leadership to lose sight of what frontline workers deal with, 😫 so getting in the trenches alongside them could spark some real understanding. Not only will it show appreciation for employees, but it could also lead to better solutions for improving daily operations. I love that this approach values empathy and creates stronger connections between the people behind the scenes and those on the floor. It feels like a step in the right direction! Do you think more companies should adopt these sentiment’s ? https://lnkd.in/e9RtHnxz

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