#28: Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s CEO—Tackle the Tough Assignments

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s guest is Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s. Have you ever taken over in a position after the previous person left under bad circumstances? If you have, then you know – those are some of the toughest situations to walk into. Marvin is amazing for a lot of reasons … but check this out: in EVERY new role during his 25-year career, he has taken over for someone who’s been fired or forced out. Now, that is a man who is not afraid of a tough assignment! Marvin was born as the son of sharecroppers and got his start as an hourly retail worker. He has risen through the ranks over the years with a ton of courage, taking the jobs other people didn’t want because he knew it was how he could prove his abilities. Marvin is also one of the few Black Fortune 500 CEOs in our country, and it’s an honor to have him here to teach us that incredible things can happen when we are brave enough to tackle the tough assignments. You’ll also learn: A valuable point of view if you ever find yourself working for a competitor One practical way you can avoid the leadership bubble and ensure you actually hear directly from your front line team members A priceless piece of wisdom for what to do when you don’t feel like you fit into your work culture One surprising element of work-life balance that doesn’t get talked about a lot Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to How Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world.
0:10.7	I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.
0:18.2	That's what this podcast is all about.
0:20.6	Today's guest is Marvin Ellison,
0:22.9	CEO of Lowe's. Now let me ask you a question. Have you ever taken over in a position after the
0:29.1	previous guy or gal left under bad circumstances? If you have, then you know those are some of the
0:35.6	toughest situations to walk into. Now Marvin is amazing for a lot of
0:40.3	reasons, but get this, in his 25-year career, in every new role, he has taken over for someone who's been fired or forced out.
0:49.3	Now that's a man who's not afraid of a tough assignment. Marvin was actually born as the son of
0:56.7	sharecroppers, and he has risen through the ranks with a ton of courage over the years. He took
1:02.3	the jobs other people didn't want because he knew that was how he could prove his abilities.
1:08.3	Marvin is also one of the few African-American Fortune 500 CEOs in our country,
1:13.2	and I can't tell you how honored I am to have him here. Let's jump right in and see what happens
1:18.7	when we're brave enough to tackle even the tough assignments.
1:31.5	Marvin, this is all about learning how you lead.
1:37.1	And I'd like to start out by hearing how you spent your early days as the new CEO of Lowe's.
1:47.7	Well, David, you know, as you know, I'd been in the home improvement industry for 12 years working for the Home Depot, and then I took a chairman CEO role in the turnaround of JCPen, which I learned more from that experience than I did
1:55.8	in my MBA program years prior. But I was, but I had a unique opportunity to come back into an industry that I love,
2:06.6	which was home improvement.
2:08.6	And I did something different and I learned from my transition from Home Depot to JCPenney.
2:14.7	And that is I jumped immediately in because I felt it was important for me to
2:18.3	get a chance to look at the pace of the business during the holiday season. And so I had really
	...

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