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It surprised mostly no one that Paul Pressler, CEO of Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS), resigned yesterday. Not only have sales been slipping, like, forever; not only has market share been dwindling; not only has the stock slipped about 25% since its high in July 2004; but the guy, well, he's just not a fashion guy. This criticism of him was voiced when he started at the company back in late 2002; this criticism of him was voiced a year ago; this criticism of him was voiced a few weeks ago when sorry holiday sales were reported.With scandalous whispers of commoditization and deep discounting and doesn't understand merchandising floating around Pressler's head like so many evil cartoon thought bubbles, I'd like to float my own theory: the guy isn't the sort of person who ever wore The Gap, and he just doesn't get it.
Maybe for some companies it's reasonable to hire a CEO who's disconnected with the target market, who wouldn't buy the product you produce. Say, a toy company might hire an older adult to run the business. Fer sure.
But for the vast majority of retail and manufacturing companies out there, the most important characteristic of a given CEO may be his or her passion for the product. Meg Whitman is passionate about eBay's auction business; Steve Jobs is passionate about the Macbook and the iPhone. Pressler wasn't at fault just for having a non-fashion background. He was at fault for not having fashion sense.
According to BusinessWeek, likely candidates to take over include Paul Charron, former CEO of Liz Claiborne, and Polo Ralph Lauren COO Roger Farah. I'd like to float this idea for the CEO search committee: find someone who shops in The Gap. At least, who used to shop in The Gap, when it was cool.
It's not cool any more, and those of us who used to shop there are now grabbing "vintage" baby clothes and casual staples at thrift stores and on eBay. We're buying from H&M and Target.
Find someone who knows the company, who used to love it just like us, and maybe, just maybe, we'll come back.
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