Within the wake of mass layoffs and a unstable job market, many CEOs say making cuts and restructuring choices might be powerful.
However for Levi Strauss CEO Charles Bergh, there’s nothing powerful about it.
In a brand new interview with CNBC, Bergh claims that he fired greater than half of the highest executives on the firm when he took over in September 2011.
“The best method to change the tradition is to vary the individuals. I had 11 direct studies, and within the first 18 months, 9 of them had been gone,” Bergh advised CNBC in an interview.
Profile shoot of Charles V Bergh, President & Chief Govt Officer of Levi Strauss & Co. (Getty Pictures)
When Bergh took over as CEO, the corporate was making an attempt to resonate with youthful patrons.
“The corporate’s efficiency had been actually erratic for greater than 10 years,” he mentioned. “One yr the revenues would go up, however the earnings would go down. The subsequent yr, they might repair the earnings, however the revenues went down.”
However as Bergh carried out modifications to the corporate’s enterprise mannequin, he advised CNBC that his greatest remorse was that he did not let sufficient individuals go quickly sufficient.
“My greatest remorse is that we did not lean into a few of these nice leaders, and we misplaced some as a result of I held on to any person longer than I ought to have,” he mentioned bluntly.
Bergh is about to step down as CEO subsequent yr. He will likely be succeeded by former Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass.
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Levi Strauss is coming off a rougher-than-expected Q2 2023 after reporting a excessive drop off in wholesale income and gentle gross sales in its U.S. market.
Total gross sales had been $1.34 billion, a 9% lower from the $1.47 billion in gross sales the corporate noticed on the similar time final yr.
Levi Strauss was down simply over 18.6% in a one-year interval as of Wednesday afternoon.
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