Raymour & Flanigan’s third-generation leadership team: Jared Boschan, left, Shira Boschan, Seth Goldberg and Adam Goldberg
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Seth Goldberg was multi-tasking.
The newly announced president of Top 100 retailer Raymour & Flanigan was coming from the company’s regular leadership meeting, which is now his responsibility to lead, and he needed a few minutes to clean up some meeting details with his predecessor and father Neil Goldberg before sitting down for his first interview in the new role.
Making the effort to reach out and request a few more minutes while simultaneously handling follow up to the meeting, the new president demonstrated the kind of attention to detail and conscientious professionalism that has come to define the company he and his siblings are stepping up to lead.
Raymour & Flanigan, the third-generation family-owned furniture powerhouse ranked No. 11 on Furniture Today’s most recent Top 100 report, generates nearly $1.5 billion in annual sales. Under the leadership of Neil, Steven and Michael Goldberg for the past three decades, the furniture retailer is in the midst of a transition, both to a new generation of leadership and to new methods of meeting its customers’ needs.
The newest generation to step into leadership roles includes, in addition to Seth, siblings Adam Goldberg and Shira Boschan and brother-in-law Jared Boschan. As they step forward to guide the company into the future, the previous generation remains very much available to continue providing guidance and support. Neil Goldberg, company president and CEO since 1982, will become chairman and CEO. Steven and Michael Goldberg, previously executive vice presidents, will become vice-chairmen.
And much as the previous generation’s leaders served in complementary roles to one another during their tenure, the newest leaders of the family business will as well.
Adam Goldberg is Raymour’s vice president of marketing, overseeing the marketing and credit departments. Shira Boschan is the company’s vice president of people development and heads the company’s training and development programs including the Learning and Development Institute. Jared Boschan is vice president of e-commerce with oversight of the website and endless aisle teams, as well as all aspects that touch on consumers’ digital experience.
“We’ve been fortunate to have been exposed to the business from an early age and to have had the opportunity to really learn all aspects of the business,” said Seth Goldberg. “You have to know the details of the day-to-day business. And you have to have the credibility of being in the shoes of a front-line store manager or an operational supervisor.”
In family-owned organizations, interpersonal and family dynamics play a critical role in determining the company’s ability to function smoothly over time. Those dynamics have served Raymour & Flanigan well for more than three decades, and that foundation has positioned the next generation to continue that legacy, according to Seth Goldberg.
“One of the things I’ve learned from my father, Steve and Michael is the criticality of great teamwork, great communication, and frankly, they’ve really modeled the way that family members can successfully work together and maintain great relationships beyond the professional environment.
“They have tremendous respect for one another, and they’ve been able to work closely, but also have their own responsibilities, which has allowed everyone to flourish. As the next generation, we’re in a great position to be doing that as well.”
The other transition now underway is adapting to the growing importance of e-commerce and digital communication in consumers’ lives.
It should come as no surprise that Seth Goldberg’s path to the presidency included leadership roles in the company’s technology, e-commerce and digital experience operations. And in announcing the appointment, Neil Goldberg credited Seth with helping pioneer the company’s rapid expansion across digital platforms while growing its customer base.
“I’ve been fortunate to have the ability to lead our technology efforts for the past few years and really learn from our other leaders within the company and from our partners,” Seth Goldberg told Furniture Today. “That, in combination with understanding consumers’ expectations today, is absolutely critical to being a successful business leader.”
He noted that continuing to evolve and invest in the company’s omnichannel guest experience is an important part of Raymour’s agenda both now and moving forward.
“Our recently launched new website and e-commerce platform is probably the best example of that,” he said. “It’s given us a tremendous platform on which to build our guest experience, which also has to be connected to our brick-and-mortar operations. Today an exceptional guest experiences means providing convenience, ease-of-use, great value and support to customers through the tools and the people that we have.”
As he and his fellow members of Raymour’s third generation take firmer hold of the reins to create their own legacy, Seth Goldberg shared his first words to the company’s leadership team at the announcement of his new role, a moment he described as humbling as well as energizing.
“I shared that I had recently seen this wonderful quote from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson from when he took over from Howard Schultz. He recognized the importance of the opportunity and hoped for the wisdom to honor and learn from the past, but to also have the courage to boldly reinvent the future.
“I thought that was the perfect representation of how I and the other members of the third generation of this incredibly successful organization have to lead going forward.”
"furniture" - Google News
March 08, 2021 at 07:55PM
https://ift.tt/3rs4rFu
Taking the baton: A third generation of Goldbergs ready to run - Furniture Today
"furniture" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YLhHcA
No comments:
Post a Comment