To Change or Not To Change?

When Lauren Hobart was named CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods in February, her impulse wasn’t to celebrate, nor was it to reflect on the decades-long business career that led her to this point.

Her first thought was that she had to dramatically change.

“In my time as chief marketing officer, I wrote weekly emails to the marketing team, and I would tell them stories about my kids, or about my mom, or a fight I had, or this or that realization about the business,” Hobart told the Wall Street Journal recently

“Now, I’m going to have to change absolutely everything. I can’t be posting selfies in emails to the whole group and to the whole company,” she added.

But when Hobart, the company’s first non-family CEO, expressed these concerns to her predecessor, Ed Stack, he pushed back.

“What got Lauren Hobart to be in this position is Lauren Hobart, and we don’t want Lauren Hobart to change,” he said.

One of the major challenges for any leader after rising to a top job is deciding what he/she needs to alter and what should remain constant.

We want to rely on what’s gotten us here, but we know we have new responsibilities. We want to be relatable, but we feel we must convey a sense of authority. We want to continue a tradition, but we also want to blaze our own trail.

Hobart’s methods have some lessons for us.

Her background is in marketing and planning, and since taking over, she has focused on what she knows, creating two powerful, one-minute ads targeting female athletes.

The “There She Is” campaign currently has almost 25 million YouTube views, while the “Mother’s Day 2021” has 13 million.

Dick’s Sporting Goods is also opening a major Public Lands store with a rock wall along with several other interactive locations around the country to bring in younger shoppers.

The initiatives have received rave reviews, and the company’s stock is soaring.

While Hobart may have tweaked her communication or management styles slightly, each day, she seems to be relying on who she’s always been to take the company where it needs to go.

“It was very natural to me to lead with a people-first approach, one that was about engaging teammates and engaging our customers,” she told the Journal. “It has been a huge strength.”

Whether we’re the new leader of a marketing team, the new head of a school district or the new coach at an athletic program, let’s not lose sight of what’s gotten us to this point or convince ourselves that we need to radically transform.

Be bold, be strategic, be brave, be ambitious.

But above all, let’s be ourselves.