What’s the one thing you should do and the one thing you should not do as a C-suite leader?
Four executive women weighed in with personal insights during the 2025 Women in Retail On the Road: Chicago event, held Oct. 14. Jenica Myszkowski, CEO of CAMP, emphasized the need to set boundaries and not be scared to hire talent smarter than you.
“Be conscious of how you show up,” remarked Rosalind “Roz” Johnson, senior vice president and chief people officer of Build-A-Bear Workshop. “Our words, our body language and our tone really can make or break someone’s spirit.”
Sarah Casalan, president of The UPS Store, believes great leaders should never stop pushing for innovation.
“Be yourself,” said Janice Tennant, global brand president at Merrell, as she recounted a time she was told that someone who looks and dresses like her could never hold an executive position. “Be you because you will give other women permission to be themselves. Don’t underestimate what your presence — who you are as an individual — brings [that] might unlock something for someone else.”
Find out all four executives’ dos and don’ts in this clip from their panel session, Retail Leadership Unfiltered: Insights on Growth, Grit and Getting Ahead. The discussion was moderated by Annette Repasch, former group vice president of apparel, home and product design/development for Meijer.