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There may be some truth to the sentiment ‘it’s lonely at the top’. However, for today’s CEOs, the more work and responsibilities they take on, the more they need a sounding board and input from mentors to navigate management challenges such as staff retention, brand building and work-life balance. At Saks Fifth Avenue Inc., the luxury department store retailer, Chairman and CEO Stephen Sadove has built a distinguished marketing and consumer products career spanning more than 25 years with the support and guidance of mentors.

“I went to graduate school, got my MBA and decided I wanted to go into a career in marketing and joined General Foods,” said Sadove. “In some ways it was like a post post-graduate education because there were some of the best and brightest thought leaders in the business community working there. In the first number of years I learned a tremendous amount about consumer marketing.”

Sadove described the working environment at General Foods USA (now Kraft Foods, Inc.) as “extremely collaborative” and during his time there he held various positions of increasing responsibility including executive vice president and general manager of the desserts division. While a formal mentoring program wasn’t available, Sadove learned from peers and other senior leaders and received support and advice through informal mentoring opportunities.

“There were quite a number of people who took me under their wing and helped me acquire skills that contributed to my professional growth,” he said. “Mentoring happened informally either during lunches out or sharing common interests. There was a lot of camaraderie and networking that went on and it enabled me to learn from a number of people and through their accomplishments.”

After leaving General Foods USA, Sadove joined Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in 1991 as president of Clairol. In the following years, he assumed positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in his appointment as president, Bristol-Myers Squibb Worldwide Beauty Care and Nutritionals where he led Clairol to become the number one hair care business in the United States, relaunched the Herbal Essences brand into a $700 million business, and completed the sale of the beauty care business to Procter & Gamble for approximately $5 billion. In January 2002, he joined the management team of Saks Incorporated as vice chairman and in March 2004, he assumed the additional post of chief operating officer. In May 2007, Sadove was named to his current post of chairman and chief executive officer.

In addition to learning from others’ experience and accomplishments, mentors played a pivotal role in guiding his career as he faced various challenges and frustrations.

“Early in my career I was at a career crossroads and had been thinking about alternatives and remember a mentor giving me sound advice,” said Sadove. “I thought it was time to leave but my mentor helped shape my thinking in terms of what was the best way to approach the situation and I ended up staying. It worked out much better from a career development situation.”

While every career has its challenges, the expectations of a CEO are intense. They’re expected to run the business, create strategic vision and long-ranges plans, build a strong team and enhance shareholder value. So who does a CEO turn to when they need support? Often, it’s the board of directors or CEOs from other organizations.

“As CEO, your board of directors plays a role as a sounding board along with CEOs from other companies who face similar issues and challenges,” said Sadove. “There are also outside organizational development consultants who can offer an alternative viewpoint. In the retail industry, we’re in the eye of the storm in the recession, and high end retail certainly had a tough road in the last year. In many ways the CEO is the chief cheer leader yet has to be realistic about everything while keeping an organization motivated. In an environment like this I have relied on my mentors as a sounding board to discuss ideas, vent frustrations or get a new perspective.”

Sadove doesn’t just rely on his peers, board or leadership team to get a fresh perspective on the business. To understand what’s happening with the culture of the company and ensure individual objectives align with corporate goals, Sadove also reaches out to junior members of the staff.

“You can learn from everybody,” he said. “I get a good sense of how we’re communicating and what the tone and culture of the company is when I talk to junior people in the organization. If you only talk to people at the top you get a very jaded view.

In any organization and at every level, mentoring is an important component of personal learning and development.”

Posted on December 4th, 2009 under The Magic of Mentors • Tags: brand building, leadership, mentoring, professional development, retail, retention. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback