Want To Survive The Pandemic? Put A Woman In Charge Of Your Retail Business

As we know, the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus has affected pretty much every corner of the world, virtually no country has been left unscathed. And inevitably league tables of cases and tragic deaths have been published for some weeks now. And an interesting trend has emerged.

What do the likes of Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland, Taiwan and Finland all have in common? On deaths per million of population, they are amongst the most successful at fighting the virus… and guess what, they all have female leaders.

At the outbreak of the pandemic in Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg dedicated time to answer children’s questions about the virus, reassuring them and telling them that, “It is OK to be scared when so many things happen at the same time”.

Donald Trump, Boris Johnson or Jair Bolsonaro – anyone would be hard pressed to imagine the same kind of behavior from any of them.

In a Korn Ferry
KFY retail CEO report, in an analysis of 200 retailers, they found that in 2019, just eleven employed female CEOs. And the proportion of female representation at the top of the industry was just 23%.

A few years ago I attended the AGM of a leading supermarket here in the U.K. and was struck by the make-up of the Board. There they all sat at the top table in the room, and apart from just two, the other eleven were white caucasian males in their early fifties.

Could it be that the female qualities of empathy and intuition, rather than the male characteristics of ego and competitiveness, are not solely reserved for managing a pandemic but are equally relevant to nursing a retail business through the same crisis?

Those more enlightened retail businesses will have, of course, realised this. But sadly, the truth is that those who steadfastly remain resolutely attached to their male dominance will discover the hard way that in these completely new times, the old ways are no longer fit for purpose.

Because, the new consumer, about to emerge from their familiar and safe surroundings, will be seeking equally safe and familiar surroundings when they go out to shop once more. They will need to feel assured, they will need to feel that metaphorical arm around their shoulder that everything is alright, that shopping is once again safe in this unsafe world.

That lends itself to a certain type of leadership. One, that as we have seen, is an endangered species in the corporate boardrooms of retailers. Empathy, engagement, recognition and interaction will come to characterise post-pandemic retail which will look and feel very different from its pre-pandemic cousin.

The only question remaining is; how many retailers will grasp this reality before it’s too late?