April Sabral Reveals the Secret to Retail Leadership - A Positive Mindset

[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome to our new Retail Razor show, Blade to Greatness, our new standalone Retail Razor show, where we hear from a retail industry leader who shares their sharp insights and cuts of wisdom on how to excel in this dynamic and competitive field. In this series, we learn about the essential must have skills and qualities that every retail executive needs to lead their teams and their business to success. [00:00:30] Casey Golden: Whether we're talking about HQ or stores, we'll uncover valuable tips and advice that every retail leader can apply to their own retail career path, raising your Blade to Greatness. [00:00:42] Ricardo Belmar: I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar. [00:00:44] Casey Golden: And I'm your co host Casey Golden. [00:00:46] Casey Golden: Today we're speaking with April Sabral, founder of retail u.ca, an online leadership development portal for field leaders and also the author of two books, "The [00:01:00] Positive Effect", and her latest, "Incurable Positivity". After three decades running stores working for brands such as Starbucks, Banana Republic, Apple, Holt Renfrew, and DavidsTea, April transitioned into coaching and training after seeing an impact of leadership firsthand on the retail business. Her current clients include brands such as Jimmy Choo, L'Oreal, Victoria's Secret, David's Bridal, and more. [00:01:27] Ricardo Belmar: Today she's here to talk with us about one of the most important traits every retail leader needs to understand: [00:01:33] why having a positive mindset is an advantage in growing your business. [00:01:38] Casey Golden: Welcome April. [00:01:40] April Sabral: Hi. Nice to see you both. [00:01:42] Okay. Why is it important to have a positive mindset in business, specifically in retail? I mean all businesses, but you know, what I've learned over the years is, when I would take over teams and go into situations whether the company was in turmoil. I don't know why I always got given teams and [00:02:00] situations where the company was in turmoil. And sales and we had to turn it around and find talent right to, to make sure that we were building that business. Mindset is so important because if you go into any situation you just think about in your life where you are just looking at everything that's going wrong, negative it's gonna translate into your reality, and so when you show up and you're leading a team and you have a positive mindset and you're thinking positively, you're thinking in a solutioned based approach, and that influences everybody on your team. We know that we feel good when we're around people that have positive energy, right? Like everybody does. [00:02:37] You're always feeling better. And so specifically in business, it's important. It transfers into your customer experience, it transfers into your employee experience, and it's just the way that you get up and show up every day. We have 6,000 thoughts a day, and 80% of them are negative, and so. We're all fighting that. [00:02:54] That's a statistic. Yeah. It's from the National Science Foundation. So knowing that, that we [00:03:00] get up and we think about that and think negatively all day, we have to really fight against that. And so it's practices that you have to put in place to have that positive mindset. But that positive mindset goes a long way. [00:03:09] You know, you can't build a retail chain, retail stores without a team of people. Right. And nobody wants to work with anybody that's really negative and complaining all day. Just, it's just not fun. It's not a fun environment. So holding onto a positive mindset could be one of the most important things you actually do beyond everything else. [00:03:27] I truly believe that, and I've seen it. I've seen what positive thinking, positive mindset has done in my own career, in my own business, with the, with the teams that had to turn around. 'cause retail's a hard business. It's a hard business. It's not easy. [00:03:39] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, and I it's, even if you think of it from a customer's point of view, right? When you walk into a place I think you can tell the difference, right? You can see this is a place where everyone has a positive attitude, has a positive mind frame and I think it, to you as the consumer, as the customer, it shows in how people engage with you. [00:03:59] April Sabral: [00:04:00] Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Because we want everybody to be lifted, to have a good experience to, to want to come back. Nobody really remembers what you've said to them, but everybody always remembers how you made them feel. Right. And so that's an energy thing, and it comes from a positive mindset because your thoughts create your reality. [00:04:18] Create how you feel, create the beliefs that you have, create how you interact with people. It always starts with the thought. So yeah, I mean, if somebody comes in and you're just complaining about everything, how's that customer gonna feel? And there's a lot of people that just are naturally wired that way. [00:04:33] So I work with leaders now. So specifically, if you're gonna lead a team of people, whether that's a store manager, a district manager, a regional director, or an executive, you influence those around you. So it is really important that you have a positive mindset every day and think about what you can do, not what you can't do. [00:04:49] Casey Golden: Negativity is contagious. It just it's a phrase that I've used throughout my career called like sewered You can't sewer everyone. Like if [00:05:00] you're having a bad day, it's okay. Just take the moment because you're gonna bring the whole team down. How do you see about helping, what's your biggest trick to go in and like change that energy? [00:05:13] Because it is something sometimes you need to change in a week, in a day. [00:05:17] April Sabral: I mean, showing up yourself as that positive force and actually recognizing all the wins. Right. There's so many situations that we walk into life and it's just a perspective shift. So we could look at everything that's not working in the world today, or we could look at everything that is, and so it's just a choice of where you put your focus and attention. [00:05:38] So a lot of times when I'll go into a business, especially working with teams in the stores, I'll just really, find what's going well, and then build that momentum on it so that we can get that train going to be in a positive direction. Because there's always something you can celebrate, right? [00:05:55] It could be something small, but there's always something you can celebrate. So it's just shifting, shifting that [00:06:00] perspective. Recognition programs. That's why I think they're really good. It's just where you choose to put your focus and attention. So when you're going in today, think about if you can find three things to celebrate today and give yourself a pat on the back. [00:06:12] And, most of the times the way we talk to ourselves, we would never talk to our teams that way. We just wouldn't. Right. So sometimes it's like really literally just listening to what you are saying to yourself and going, would I actually talk to somebody else this way? Probably not. . So in the book, "Incurable Positivity", I talk about the whole practice of re releasing, reaching, and reframing your thoughts so that you can actually walk in, because it's a practice, you have to really, pay attention to it. [00:06:41] Casey Golden: Yeah, you have to choose. [00:06:42] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, April, thanks so much for sharing this valuable insight that we started out saying. I think every retail leader in any business honestly really needs to pay attention to and focus on how they're driving that positive mindset for the entire team. [00:06:57] April Sabral: Yeah. Brilliant. [00:06:58] Ricardo Belmar: Well thanks, for sharing it with us.[00:07:00] [00:07:00] Casey Golden: Thanks April. [00:07:01] April Sabral: Thank you. [00:07:02] Casey Golden: if you've enjoyed our show, please consider giving us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts and Goodpods. Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player and tune in on YouTube, so you don't miss a minute. [00:07:17] I'm your cohost, Casey Golden. [00:07:19] Ricardo Belmar: Please share your feedback with us on Twitter at Casey C Golden, Ricardo underscore Belmar, and at RetailRazor, or find us on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram. For the best highlights from each episode, shipped straight to your inbox, subscribe to our substack newsletter for full episode transcripts and bonus content. [00:07:35] I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar. [00:07:37] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us. [00:07:39] Ricardo Belmar: Until next time, keep cutting through the clutter and stay sharp. [00:07:42] This is the Retail Razor Blade to Greatness. [00:07:45]