Good morning.
I always enjoy listening in on the livestream of what is, in my opinion, the most impressive gathering of women in business anywhere: Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
I was particularly interested in hearing from the longest-tenured female Fortune 500 chief executive, Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber who spoke on stage Tuesday.
"I am, to a fault, loyal," she said. Alber became chief executive at Williams-Sonoma in 2010. She's pretty resolute about staying with the company. “I think if you're super present in what you're doing, then you're not always thinking about the next thing, which is counterintuitive to what most people tell you about careers,” Alber explains. “If you give it your all, people notice, and they connect better with you and you get more done. I just try to stay fully immersed in what I do, and that is Williams-Sonoma.”
For more than 20 years, Alber has worked at the retail company founded in 1956 and known for its kitchenware and home furnishings. She’s held various leadership roles, and spearheaded innovation and expansion into new markets, including the introduction of Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, West Elm, Mark & Graham and Rejuvenation, and most recently, new growth opportunities such as Business-to-Business and Marketplace.
Since Alber took over as Williams-Sonoma’s CEO at just 40 years old in 2010, the company has grown top-line revenue by more than $5 billion. More recently, she’s managed to keep Williams-Sonoma in good health, with its stock up 40% this year, in a turbulent macro environment. Alber is only Williams-Sonoma’s third CEO in 67 years.
Thinking about her longevity, “I feel like I have a lot of resilience,” she said. “It's been totally worth it. I do think I have the best job ever.”
Oftentimes, people leave a company before problems can be resolved, according to Alber. “There's a lot of jobs,” she said. “There's a lot of opportunity out there. But if you're at a company where the product is fantastic—the opportunities there might be worth staying through some of those tribulations,” she said.
Alber did acknowledge that the longer you stay at a company and move up the ranks, you’ll most likely have different bosses. And managers do have a big influence over an employee’s work experience, research finds. From decades of interviews and data Gallup found that 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.
Alber also said that “you can't base your future and your tenure on one individual, a single person.” Earlier in her career before Williams-Sonoma, “I went to a company to work with someone, and they were let go immediately after,” Alber explained. “It was a really bad mistake because I was then stuck at that company.”
It seems the youngest professionals, Gen Zers, may need insight on how they can work toward building a long-term career at a company. A study released last month by ResumeLab is based on a survey of over 1,100 U.S.-based Gen Z workers to examine their work expectations, demands, and habits. Almost all (97%) said that work is part of their identity. And 83% consider themselves job hoppers, one of the reasons—to find environments that align with their values and ambitions.
Alber did point to the value of storytelling about experiences as one way to connect with young professionals. “We tell a lot of stories at Williams-Sonoma…they're more memorable,” she said. “If you tell a story about starting a business, or a failure, to young women, she's likely to remember it.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
