Way back (around 2010) a CFO told me that his brand had a category (socks) that was the place where his brand developed talent. The category was < 5% of total sales, so as he said, "they can't muck it up". His company used the category as a training ground - the employees who marketed the product, the employees who sourced the product, those who wrote copy, those who managed inventory ... they formed a team ... and it was their job to grow their "business".
Every one of you runs a collection of micro-businesses. Here's Silk & Willow ... a whole collection of micro-businesses.
Now, you could develop employees in key micro-businesses / categories. That's a good idea.
It's also a good idea to understand how every category / micro-business fits together. When "business stinks", it isn't that business is bad ... it's that some of your micro-businesses are causing a cascading set of problems.
For instance, when I worked at Eddie Bauer, it was common to see a bad Women's Apparel business spill over into Home ... if customers didn't buy Women's Apparel, they didn't become good Home customers and consequently Home suffered. If Home suffered? No impact on Women's Apparel. Each category / micro-business played a role, but the role was different ... it was important to understand "what" role each category / micro-business played.
Do you understand the role each category / micro-business plays in your brand?
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