THE True Champion!
In the heading of Do it Best’s LinkedIn profile lie the words of the hardware cooperative’s creed, the mission statement which defines its purpose. A principle so elemental it sits above the co-op’s name, swearing allegiance to it no matter the corporation’s identity.
“Champion of Independents.”
That independent ethic courses through the members but not through the veins of CEO Dan Starr, whose recent partnerships with Sherwin-Williams have left the co-op with hardware’s worst paint offering. Though that may be the least of Starr’s problems, with his cooperative simultaneously facing crises in capital flight, debt and a decay in earnings quality. The results of ill-fated investments in Nation’s Best and True Value Hardware, debacles which left Starr with few supporters among the members and former members who have reached out to this point.
And concerns for Starr’s leadership extend beyond the group’s abysmal financial performance—which was the topic of my podcast this week—with a number of Do it Best (DiBCo) members expressing concerns for their CEO’s ethics, which would go a long way toward explaining the capital flight.
Starr told his members about the co-op’s $39 million cash infusion into Nation’s Best only after he committed the funds, receiving a 25% stake in the hardware retailer, leaving the remaining 75% in the hands of a shadowy syndicate of undisclosed owners. Including possibly Starr himself, a conflict insinuated by a number of the members (and former members) who have contacted me. A question those members have yet to see answered, so I thought I’d help by asking DiBCo’s General Counsel and Board President if Mr. Starr had disclosed any conflicts to them.
Leaving little doubt to those members, who is the true champion independents.
(Messrs. Furst and Sturdivant declined to reply)
Pittsburgh Paints CEO Brian Carson ordered layoffs last week, costing an unknown number of employees in his stores division their jobs, a purge sources tell me was originally intended as a “bloodbath” before getting scaled back late. Saving some the sting of that experience—at least until the next round—always on the horizon until Carson finds a buyer. Which he’s had no luck doing to this point, but with this round of cuts made I’m sure he’ll call everybody back, thinking it will make a difference.
For those laid off it’s a destabilizing experience bringing a loss of connection, income and health care coverage, explaining the spikes in depression and anxiety common after getting cut. The casualties of a fatal economic accident, with those remaining forced to bear witness to their trauma. Or worse, forced to participate by deciding who gets purged, often selecting from among their own friends, creating its own unique stress. Stress you can hear in the voices of all three who participated in one termination call I received a recording of, which included the employee, their manager and the HR mercenary brought in for this task. All three working to end the call quickly, with the recording I heard lasting less than nine minutes, before reaching that awkward moment when there’s nothing left to say.
It’s a stress you can hear in the original recording that you can’t in this snippet, which has been altered to maintain the privacy of all involved. Still, it allows a peek into this macabrely intimate exchange, not as a voyeur—though I admit it doesn’t feel that way, but rather as a recorder of these types of events, which affect so many lives.
On the subreddit for Sherwin-Williams employees last week, the post receiving the most engagement was from an employee wondering who gives a shit at work. And what to do when you have to, while working the store alone.
Closing the store seemed a violation of one policy, while leaving it open and unattended seemed to violate another, leaving employees who work alone up Shit’s Creek. A conflict faced daily in countless smaller Sherwin-Williams stores, which schedule just one employee to work unrelieved from open to close. A harried experience that I’ve been through, and one which countless Sherwin-Williams employees go through each day, working in stores which schedule just one employee. With store managers getting paid for only eight of the up-to 12 hours they work, a scheme which allows Sherwin to steal as much as $200 million per year from that category of employee. Working grueling schedules just to maintain their jobs, often working without breaks for basic human necessities.
Leaving me thinking that I’d rather work for Pittsburgh, though Brian Carson shouldn't take that as a compliment!
