Welcome to How Leaders Lead. I'm Kula Callahan here to bring you another edition of three more questions with David Novak.

Well, thanks, Kula. And today we're discussing my conversation with Brian Cornell, the CEO of Target.

Brian took over Target eight years ago when it was really in a downturn, and he had to do what it

takes to really turn that business around. But he really believed in the brand, and he really

believed in his people, and he really looked really hard at what needed to be done. And believe

me, this guy has been on a tear. He has attacked this business and made some really big things happen.

The interview is fantastic, but I want to dive right into the three questions for today's

three more questions. So let's get into it. All right. Hit me with those questions. I'm ready to go.

All right. Question number one. In your interview, Brian talks about the tough decision he made to

shut down the Canadian piece of the target business and focus on their U.S. market.

And before he made that decision, he got crystal clear on why that Canadian business was failing.

David, I'm curious, do you have any tools that you can offer leaders that

will help them really understand the reality of their business before making a big decision

like Brian did? Well, you know, when you go into a new job or you go into a turnaround situation,

the first thing you have to do is understand the reality of the situation you're facing.

And I always focus on four realities. The first

is the customer reality. Nothing should motivate you more than what your customers are telling you.

So you really got to understand, you know, how consumers are really thinking about your business.

The second thing is the team reality. Figure out what your team really thinks about

and what's working and what's not working because you've got to be able to motivate your team to

execute. The third thing is the competitive reality. Know how you stack up in comparison to your

competitors and also look at them as a source of ideas and possible ways that you might attack the business.

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