Greg MD Blog

May 30th, 2019

My Earlier Years in Management

My earlier years in management has taught me to be the person whom I am today by seeing the reward of my contribution with my staff and company alike. My peers believed in my leadership role, as my team looked for guidance. My professional career is flourishing beyond imagination, yet this helped me personally, too.

In 1989 I was working two jobs. My main job was in a restaurant at a deli and catering, at The Crescent Hotel. I decided to look for another job so I could make more money. The second job was a retail gift shop, W.H. Smith, in the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Dallas. During this time, I had no direction in life, nor was I sure of what I wanted to do. I would help the store manager out by working at one of the other locations in the Fairmount Hotel. By this time, I had been with the company for about six months now. This particular night I had two gentlemen that came into my store. One gentleman had purchased a newspaper and dropped twenty-five cents on the counter, and both guys walked out of the store. Within ten minutes, both of the guys walked back into the store. One of the guys came to the cash register, and the other gentlemen walked behind the counter. At this time, I thought I was going to get robbed. They introduced themselves to me as one was company security, and the other gentleman’s name was Marc; he was Regional Vice President. The VP left his business card and wanted to speak with me that next week.
I called Marc the next week, and we met at another location downtown Dallas. He wanted to offer me a position as a supervisor. I accepted the job, which I never had any experience in this field, but I was up for the challenge. With this position, I had to communicate efficiently with my staff and peer? This position helped sharpen my skills quickly, but I was not afraid of learning. Within three months, I had five stores in the downtown Dallas area that I had overseen. I quickly learn how to organize each location by enhancing my skills in problem-solving by working with the staff at each store. I had to learn to have strong leadership skills to be able to communicate written or verbally with my employees.

I had fifty-plus employees working under me at that time. I had to create a positive relationship with my staff to be successful by achieving my sales goal for each location. I had to display strong leadership skills in directing my team to the best of their ability. The key to success was training my staff very well and taking the best interest in them. I could not do what I have done without my team.

In my leadership role, I had to follow and establish policies that we all had to adhere too. As the leader, my staff was watching me, so I had to set the right tone by example. I had no experience in retail or of managing people, but it seems as if I walked right into my position as if I have been doing this for years. Our business focused on excellent customer service as a top priority. I had to be the driving force for sales results of meeting our weekly budgets or exceeding our sales goal.

I believe this career direction was the best for me. I was able to build self-confidence that opened up so many avenues that gave me a sense of belonging to contribute to the success of W.H. Smith. The district I was in, the Regional Operation Manager: she promoted to Florida as the Regional Vice President. In a few months, Julie called to offer me a position at one of her locations. Well, that became a war between the two Vice Presidents disagreed, so Julie had contacted the President of the company about the situation. He informed both Vice Presidents that whatever Greg wanted to do, that would be the answer. The sales results and my work spoke volumes within the company. I accepted my new position in Orlando, Florida, at the Hyatt Grand Cypress.

I found this was challenging because I had no safety net to fall back on, family or friends. I only had two choices, to succeed or fail; failure was not an option for me. The stores were losing money with shrinkage of eighty percent, lack of trained staff with no leadership. The stores were not meeting their sales budget. I had to assess the location to see what my employees knew in their position and manage the daily operation of two stores and a warehouse with a sales volume of $1.5 million. 50% of business was men and women’s apparel. I reversed the declining sales trend and increased profits from 25% to 45% within three months. I knew with the dedication of my staff and training, with many hours we could turn this location around. I knew I could not work day and night, so I needed to train my supervisor first. While I was having them trained, I was also looking for my assistance out of the group. I emphasize within my staff that we are all equal regardless of race, color, gender, and religion.

I have never completed high school or even went to college. My success was surrounding myself with good people and on the job training, and my peers believed in my abilities. My reward was to bring the best out of people, by watching them succeed and flourishing beyond their imagination. Reflecting over the years of my accomplishments has, set the tone for the person I am today. Dedication!

Written by: Greg MD