FRONTLINE FRIDAYS with Ron Thurston

The best leaders don't just build great stores. They build the people who build great stores.In Season 2, Episode 18 of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Mike Love, Chief Retail Officer at Boot Barn, to explore what it really takes to develop the next generation of retail leaders — and why most organisations leave that work to chance.Mike came up through buying, planning, and operations across nearly four decades at some of retail's most formative organisations before taking on stores at Boot Barn. Today, he leads a store network of 550-plus locations with ambitions to reach 1,200 — and he's built a leadership pipeline to match. Nearly half of Boot Barn's district managers came up through the stores. Every regional vice president over the past eight years was an internal hire.Ron and Mike explore Love's Law — Mike's framework for understanding why the skills that get you promoted are rarely the skills the new job needs — and what that means for every ambitious leader on the floor right now. They dig into Boot Barn's Level Up programme, the balance between internal and external hiring, why community investment pays dividends no spreadsheet can capture, and what Mike looks for when he walks into a store and wants to know who the future leaders are.His answer: engage and be curious. Two words. Consistently applied.If you lead people, develop people, or are trying to figure out your own path in retail, this episode is for you.What Boot Barn's Chief Retail Officer Knows About Building Leaders — Frontline Fridays, Season 2, Episode 18 is available now.Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrohqoj-V_gskdgonZVHPSVNYO0K2mtpOInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinefridayspodcast/Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-love-2348181/Ron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/YOOBIC: https://yoobic.com | https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

FRONTLINE FRIDAYS S2 Ep.16: Calm Under Pressure: The Leadership Skill Retail Needs MostPressure isn’t the problem. How leaders respond to it is.In this episode of Frontline Fridays, Ron Thurston sits down with Lesley Hawkins, former Head of Retail at adidas Canada and leadership advisor.Lesley stepped into retail leadership during one of the most challenging moments in modern retail — leading 1,200 associates across 32 stores as teams faced burnout, constant change, and growing disconnection from head office.Instead of pushing harder, she chose a different path: slow down, listen, and rebuild trust from the frontline.By asking three simple questions in every store, Lesley uncovered what teams really needed — and used those insights to reset culture, re-engage teams, and shape a more resilient retail organization.Now, she helps leaders across industries navigate pressure, lead through change, and build teams that can perform without burning out.In this conversation, she shares:how to lead calmly when everything feels urgentthe three questions every retail leader should be askingwhy listening is the fastest way to rebuild trusthow small acts of initiative create powerful cultural shiftswhy “raising your hand” is the key to growth and innovationHer message is clear: pressure is constant — but calm, intentional leadership is what drives performance.🎧 Linktree:https://linktr.ee/frontlinefridays👤 Lesley Hawkins:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-hawkins/👤 Ron Thurston:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/💡 YOOBIC:https://yoobic.com | https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

The Four Pillars of High-Performing Retail Stores — Frontline Fridays, Season 2, Episode 14Retail teams don’t fail because of effort. They fail because of disconnect.In Season 2, Episode 14 of Frontline Fridays, Ron Thurston sits down with Monika Espinoza, Founder & Principal Operator of Better Way Operations and former retail leader at Louis Vuitton Americas.With more than 25 years in retail, Monika has built her career in operations — the part of the business often overlooked, but critical to performance. Her perspective is clear: operations isn’t a support function, it’s a profit driver. And most retailers are underutilizing a significant portion of their store teams because of how they think about and communicate with them.In this episode, Monika shares why high-performing stores are built on alignment, not silos, and why the biggest opportunity in retail today sits within operations teams. She introduces her STEP framework — Strategy, Team, Efficiency, and Performance — and explains how leaders can use it to unlock productivity, improve collaboration, and drive results across the entire store.Ron and Monika discuss:Why front-of-house and back-of-house teams often operate in silos — and how to fix itHow operations teams can maximize the top line while protecting the bottom lineWhy communication gaps are costing stores productivity and profitHow to develop operations talent into business-minded leadersIf you’re leading stores, districts, or retail organizations and looking to improve performance without adding headcount, this episode offers a practical and powerful shift in how to think about your teams.The Four Pillars of High-Performing Retail Stores — Frontline Fridays, Season 2, Episode 14 is available now.🎧 Linktree:https://linktr.ee/frontlinefridays👤 Monika Espinoza:https://www.linkedin.com/in/monikabwo/👤 Ron Thurston:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/💡 YOOBIC:https://yoobic.com |https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

Retail will always face disruption. Great stores still win.In Season 2, Episode 12 of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Rachel Williamson, Chief Strategic Retail Advisor at Running Great Stores Retail Consulting, to break down her 30-day blueprint for running high-performing stores in any environment.From tariffs and global pandemics to AI and shifting customer expectations, Rachel argues that disruption isn’t new. What matters is what leaders can control inside their four walls. Drawing on decades of experience transforming underperforming divisions into top performers, she shares the fundamentals that never change: disciplined self-leadership, clear expectations, behavioral accountability, and operational urgency.Rachel explains why telling teams to “get conversion up” isn’t a strategy, why KPIs are simply numbers driven by observable behaviors, and why modeling standards on the floor matters more than announcing goals in a huddle. She also challenges traditional hiring assumptions, making the case for hiring for attitude and training for skill, and unpacks how urgency, when defined as focus and purpose rather than panic, fuels operational excellence.Ron and Rachel explore the real tension between store teams and digital demands, why only 39% of employees feel their manager cares, and how clarity and care directly impact customer experience and revenue. This conversation is practical, unfiltered, and rooted in lived retail leadership, not theory.If you’re leading stores, districts, or frontline teams through change, growth, or performance pressure, this episode offers a field-tested roadmap for building stores that execute consistently and perform at a high level.30-Day Blueprint for Running Great Stores — Frontline Fridays, Season 2, Episode 12 is available now.👤 Rachel:https://www.linkedin.com/in/runninggreatstores54/👤 Ron:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/💡 YOOBIC:https://yoobic.com |https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

Most strategies don’t fail because they’re bad ideas. They fail because execution breaks down where it matters most.In Season 2, Episode 10 of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Kevin Ertell, CEO of Mistere Advisory and a veteran operator with more than 30 years of experience across brands like Nike, Tower Records, and Sur La Table, to unpack why execution is where strategies so often stall, and how field leaders can change that.Drawing on a career that began on the shop floor and led to global retail leadership, Kevin introduces The Six Cs of Execution, a practical playbook designed to help leaders bring clarity to complexity and turn strategy into daily action. He explains why execution is always a people challenge before it’s a process one, why leaders need to slow down to speed up, and how co-creation, clarity, and capacity set the stage for success long before rollout begins.Ron and Kevin dig into the reality of frontline leadership, from navigating the “messy middle” between headquarters and stores to building alignment across functions, communicating under pressure, and coaching teams through constant change. They explore why most rollouts fail in the handoffs, how to create shared ownership on the floor, and what field leaders can do every day to make strategy stick.If you’ve ever watched a well-intentioned initiative unravel once it reached stores, or felt the gap between ambition and reality on the frontline, this episode offers a grounded, experience-led framework for closing the execution gap.The Six Cs of Execution: A Playbook for Field Leaders — Frontline Fridays, Season 2, Episode 10 is available now.🎧 Watch on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrohqoj-V_gskdgonZVHPSVNYO0K2mtpO👤 Kevin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinertell/👤 Ron:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/💡 YOOBIC:https://yoobic.com |https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

The real challenge in retail execution isn’t ambition or strategy, it’s the constant pressure on frontline leaders to decide what matters next while the business keeps moving.In this episode of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Fabrice Haiat, Co-founder and CEO of YOOBIC, to unpack how AI is beginning to change how stores actually run, not in theory, but in the real decisions made on the floor every day.Drawing on Fabrice’s upbringing in a retail family and years spent shadowing store managers, the conversation explores why so many retail initiatives break down at execution. Store leaders are overloaded with information, pulled into reports and inboxes, and forced to interpret strategy while managing live operations. Fabrice argues that frontline AI only delivers value when it removes that burden, replacing noise with clear, contextual priorities for each store.Ron and Fabrice dig into what personalization at scale really looks like for frontline teams, why AI delivers some of the fastest ROI in retail, and why 2026 will mark the shift from pilots to real adoption. They also explore the human impact of better execution, from reduced burnout and stronger retention to giving store leaders the confidence to lead in the moment, not after the fact.If you’ve ever seen strong strategy stall at the store level, or felt the weight of nonstop decisions without clear direction, this episode offers a practical way forward.AI for Frontline Teams Is Changing How Stores Run — Season 2, Episode 8 is available now.🎧 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrohqoj-V_gskdgonZVHPSVNYO0K2mtpO👤 Fabrice: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabricehaiat/👤 Ron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/💡 YOOBIC: https://yoobic.com | https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

The strongest retention strategy in retail isn’t a program or a perk — it’s the leader who shows up.In this episode of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Billy Kissel, Head of Stores (East) at Office Depot, to explore why visibility, presence, and culture-building are the real drivers of keeping great people. After 35+ years leading teams at brands like Gap, J.Crew, West Elm, and Office Depot, Billy has seen one truth hold steady: people stay when leaders lead with intent.Billy shares how being present — in stores, on video, and in moments that matter — builds trust at scale. He and Ron dig into what great field leadership actually looks like, why recognition needs to be real and earned, and how closing the loop on feedback transforms culture from the inside out.They also unpack the true cost of short staffing, why compensation is only one piece of retention, and the urgency required to turn frontline insight into meaningful action.Why Retention Starts With Leaders Who Show Up — Season 2, Episode 6 is available now.🎧 Watch on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrohqoj-V_gskdgonZVHPSVNYO0K2mtpO📱 Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/frontlinefridayspodcast/👤 Billy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/billykissel/👤 Ron:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/💡 YOOBIC:https://yoobic.com | https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

Safety isn’t a slowdown — it’s a performance strategy.In this episode of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Dean Correia, Founder of Correia Security Resources, to talk about what it really takes to run safer stores without slowing teams down.With over 30 years of experience leading security and operations for brands like Walmart, Starbucks, and Gap, Dean shares why “the safest place to work is the best place to work.” He and Ron unpack how safety drives engagement, reduces shrink, and builds trust from the sales floor up — and why leaders should treat safety as a culture, not a checklist.They also explore the rise of retail crime, how to make incident reporting simple, and the one daily habit that helps every team feel safer and perform stronger.How to Run Safer Stores Without Slowing Teams Down — Season 2, Episode 4 is available now.Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrohqoj-V_gskdgonZVHPSVNYO0K2mtpOInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinefridayspodcast/Dean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deancorreia/Ron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/YOOBIC: https://yoobic.com |https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

Developing talent isn’t a program — it’s a practice.In this episode of Frontline Fridays, host Ron Thurston sits down with Adam Lukoskie, Executive Director of the NRF Foundation, to talk about what leaders often miss when it comes to growing their teams.They dig into why people development so often gets deprioritized, the simple questions every manager should be asking, and why real growth starts with everyday conversations, not big programs or strategy decks. Adam also shares how the NRF Foundation is helping build the next generation of retail talent through initiatives you can sign up for today.Watch on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrohqoj-V_gskdgonZVHPSVNYO0K2mtpOInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/frontlinefridayspodcast/Adam:https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamlukoskie/ |https://nrffoundation.org/Ron:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronthurston/YOOBIC:https://yoobic.com |https://www.linkedin.com/company/yoobic/

Purpose without action is just decoration. Chris Freeman, SVP of Store Operations at Michaels, believes brand values need “batteries included” — lived daily, not laminated on a wall. In this episode, he shares how a servant leadership mindset can transform store culture, reduce turnover, and build lasting commitment. You’ll walk away with practical ways to embed values on the sales floor, model purpose through your own leadership, and open career paths that keep teams engaged.

Luxury retail and hospitality may have started in different lanes, but the future belongs to leaders who blend them into one seamless experience. Nailah Ayeshia Nash, Director of Retail at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, has spent nearly a decade proving that retail can elevate guest satisfaction and loyalty to new heights. In this episode, she shares how to forge powerful brand partnerships, anticipate the needs of high - end clients, and deliver unforgettable retail experiences that keep guests coming back.

Retail is high stress by design — constant change, nonstop customers, and pressure to perform. The result? Burnout and turnover. Fil Farinaccio D’Urbano, Chief Leadership and Mindfulness Officer at Ardene, believes the missing piece is mindfulness. With 40+ years in HR at brands like L Brands and Groupe Dynamite, Fil has woven mindfulness into Ardene’s culture with game-changing results. In this episode, you’ll get practical practices to lower stress, improve performance, and strengthen how your teams show up every day.

Customer loyalty isn’t built on quick sales — it’s earned through real connection. Few know this better than Lance Orso, General Manager of Dallas Harley-Davidson and a third-generation rider who’s turned relationship selling into a repeatable process. In this episode, Lance shares how to teach teams to build bonds that outlast transactions, balance freedom with professionalism, and create in-store experiences that keep customers — and employees — coming back for more. Practical, no-BS advice for retail leaders who want loyalty that lasts.