S1:E7 Cultivating Excellence: Positive Culture in Retail Leadership with April Sabral
Hosts Ricardo & Casey speak with April Sabral, founder of retailu.ca & author of 'The Positive Effect' & 'Incurable Positivity.' With three decades of experience leading retail brands, April shares valuable insights on the significance of fostering a positive workplace culture & its impact on productivity & employee retention. She discusses the essential skills leaders need to inspire their teams & stresses the importance of leadership in developing a thriving organizational environment. Learn practical tips on creating a positive culture that motiv ates employees & improves business outcomes!
Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube
Meet your hosts::
Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360 named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.
Casey Golden, is CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2024 & 2023, & Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand & the consumer. After a career on the fashion & supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks & building retail tech!
Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.
Transcript
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 Ricardo Belmar: Welcome to our new Retail Razor show, Blade to Greatness,
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 our new standalone Retail Razor show, where we hear from a retail industry
00:00:14 --> 00:00:19 leader who shares their sharp insights and cuts of wisdom on how to excel in
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 this dynamic and competitive field.
00:00:21 --> 00:00:25 In this series, we learn about the essential must have skills and qualities
00:00:25 --> 00:00:30 that every retail executive needs to lead their teams and their business to success.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 Casey Golden: Whether we're talking about HQ or stores, we'll uncover valuable
00:00:33 --> 00:00:39 tips and advice that every retail leader can apply to their own retail career
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 path, raising your Blade to Greatness.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 Ricardo Belmar: I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:45 Casey Golden: And I'm your co host Casey Golden.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:52 Today we're speaking with April Sabral, founder of retailu.ca, an
00:00:52 --> 00:00:56 online leadership development portal for field leaders, and the author of
00:00:56 --> 00:01:01 two books, "The Positive Effect" and her latest "Incurable Positivity."
00:01:01 --> 00:01:06 After three decades running stores for brands like Starbucks, Banana Republic,
00:01:06 --> 00:01:11 Apple, Holt Renfrew, and DavidsTea, April's transitioned into coaching and
00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 training after seeing the impact of leadership firsthand on a retail business.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:21 Her current clients include brands such as Jimmy Choo, L'Oreal, Victoria's
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 Secret, David's Bridal, and More.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Ricardo Belmar: Today she's here to talk with us about one of the most important
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 skills every retail leader needs:
00:01:28 --> 00:01:32 how to cultivate a positive culture throughout your organization.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:33 Casey Golden: Welcome, April.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:35 April Sabral: Hi, good morning.
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 So yeah, today I'm gonna share a little bit more about that.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:40 It's really important.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 I don't know anybody who says that they wanna show up and go into work and just
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 not have a great experience, right?
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 And there's a lot of people, unfortunately, that are not
00:01:49 --> 00:01:50 having a great experience.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:54 I learned a long time ago, I had a boss that when I was a store manager, he was
00:01:54 --> 00:01:58 a regional director at Banana, and I said to him, how do I get your job one day?
00:01:58 --> 00:02:02 Like, I literally asked him that and he said, when people go home at night, They
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 spend a lot of time at the dinner table talking about what they've done all day.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 And usually they're talking about their work, what they've done,
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 who they've interacted with, and specifically their boss.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 And so he's like, you have a real impact on the way that people go
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 home and talk about you, the company.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 And those ripples go out to their family.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 And he said, and I want you to think about that.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 When you leave every day, what would they be saying about you
00:02:23 --> 00:02:24 at the dinner table at night?
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 And that really stuck with me 'cause he said they're either.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 Everybody in their family and friends group is either telling them to leave and
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 get another job 'cause it's not worth it.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 Right?
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 Or they're saying, oh, good for you.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 And like that person's coming to work and like actually putting
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 more effort in the next day because they love what they're doing.
00:02:44 --> 00:02:48 So there is proven facts statistically that when you have a positive culture and
00:02:48 --> 00:02:54 people feel good coming to work, that you get 10% more intrinsic effort out of them
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 that a pay increase just cannot do, right?
00:02:57 --> 00:03:01 And so when somebody's not feeling great, they just check out, call it quiet
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 quitting, whatever you wanna call it, but you're just not getting the effort.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:08 So positive culture's so important, and if you're not
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 working on culture, you have one.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 It just might not be the one you want.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 HR leader told me that a long time ago, and I was like that's just golden
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 because how many times do we talk about 'we wanna improve culture?'
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 I've been at executive tables where we're talking about culture and people,
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 but we don't have a plan in place to actually do anything about it.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:28 We're just talking about it.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 And culture is everybody in the organization the
00:03:31 --> 00:03:32 way you show up every day.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 How you make other people feel working for you.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:39 You ignite positive emotions, neutral or negative every day in the way
00:03:39 --> 00:03:43 that you interact, the way that you communicate, where your focus goes.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:48 And so, yeah I'm a big one on like positive culture and what that can
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 do for you and how you do that.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:51 And I believe it starts with leadership.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:56 It starts with leadership, knowing how to lead, develop, and
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 inspire those emotions in people.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:02 Casey Golden: Yes, it's a conscious decision, at the top that you have
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 to plan it, you have to think about it, you have to have a vision for
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 it, how to execute it, scale it.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:13 Do you think that more you've seen more companies with a culture that they
00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 the culture that they think they have.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:16 April Sabral: Oh, a hundred percent.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:16 Yeah.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:17 Yeah.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 People think that they have something, but they don't.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:20 You just read exit interviews, right?
00:04:21 --> 00:04:25 When I was leading stores, I read thousands of exit interviews, and
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 when somebody would resign, their boss would usually call me and say,
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 oh, they left, they got another job, they got an opportunity.
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 If we throw more money at them, I can get them to stay.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 And I would get on the phone with store managers, district managers
00:04:36 --> 00:04:40 at the time, and it was never about the pay, it was always about
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 the person that they worked for.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 So, top two reasons why, you know.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:48 People leave companies, specifically right now in retail as well, but
00:04:48 --> 00:04:49 I've only ever worked in retail.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:53 But it's general is number one, the person they work for, and number two, they're
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 not getting any career development.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:56 Those are the top two reasons.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 Pay is always the third.
00:04:58 --> 00:05:02 So, but they're not gonna tell you that in an organization because they don't
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 want to have that come back at them.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:04 Right.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 So if you do internal surveys, a lot of times it doesn't show up.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:11 If you look at the exit interviews though, it always shows up.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:16 But that requires then you as a leader to actually take that feedback.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 Take ownership and responsibility for that, and then start
00:05:19 --> 00:05:20 doing something about it.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 People just wanna love where they work, who they're working
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 for, and they wanna be developed.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 And development is the number one thing that gets dropped all the time.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 When sales are bad, we don't have time, resources are cut.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:33 All that stuff.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 And that's why I created retail You, that's just so affordable for
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 everybody to jump on because it's literally helping you develop your team.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:39 That's it.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, it is one of those things where we always hear.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:47 Retailers will say, we it's the year, this year, we need to invest in our people.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 But you're right, that you, that's always the first thing that gets cut
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 when there's a need to cut things because it's seen as a cost, not an investment.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:58 April Sabral: Yeah, but I mean, I've been working with a lot of brands this year,
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 specifically on positive leadership, right from the Positive Effect, the first
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 book, and it's being so well received.
00:06:05 --> 00:06:09 Just hearing, like, shifting the mindset, like having those coaching skills to
00:06:09 --> 00:06:13 develop their teams it's a skill at the end of the day, and we need to
00:06:13 --> 00:06:17 provide that for for our leaders to be able to create that culture, right.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:18 Every day.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:19 Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, absolutely.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:19 A hundred percent.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 Well, April, thank you so much for sharing these insights.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:26 We're so, so right about the need for that positive culture.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:30 And I think my big takeaway from that is that even when you aren't trying
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 to build that culture, just the fact that you're not trying is kind of
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 the culture you're setting, right.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 And it shows and is reflected in all of your teams, whether you realize it or not.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:42 So you do have to take control of what you want your culture
00:06:42 --> 00:06:43 to be in, in an organization.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 So thank you so much for sharing those insights with us today.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:47 April Sabral: Thank you.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 Casey Golden: if you've enjoyed our show, please consider giving
00:06:50 --> 00:06:54 us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts and Goodpods.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:59 Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player and tune
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 in on YouTube, so you don't miss a minute.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 I'm your cohost, Casey Golden.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 Ricardo Belmar: Please share your feedback with us on Twitter at Casey
00:07:07 --> 00:07:11 C Golden, Ricardo underscore Belmar, and at RetailRazor, or find us on
00:07:11 --> 00:07:12 LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:17 For the best highlights from each episode, shipped straight to your inbox, subscribe
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 to our Substack newsletter for full episode transcripts and bonus content.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:22 I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.
00:07:23 --> 00:07:23 Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 Ricardo Belmar: Until next time, keep cutting through
00:07:26 --> 00:07:27 the clutter and stay sharp.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 This is the Retail Razor Blade to Greatness.