In middle school, Career Day was one of the most exciting times of the year because I had a chance to hear from a collection of professionals about the work they do while also taking a break from schoolwork. Though the real world was several years away, being able to hear how an author or FBI agent went about their day brought a fresh change of pace.
Now in the HCM software space, I get to approach careers in a different manner by supporting HR executives and leaders through their technology purchasing journey. As the editor-in-chief of the Oracle Cloud HCM blog, I have the unique opportunity to write about interesting topics, whether it’s the evolution of recruiting technology or a direct line to industry executives—such as Michael Forhez, who helps retailers adopt Oracle’s suite of technologies in these changing times.
In celebration of National Career Development Month, I wanted to deviate from the discussion of role of HR in retail and ask him directly about his career journey.
Michael, Happy National Career Development Month! Tell us a little about yourself. Where have you been and where are you going?
Ah, the big questions! Few will want to read the CV of a 30 year+ corporate road warrior, but I can offer a capsule. As you’ve already mentioned, Albert, I spent four years selling cosmetics at Revlon as the youngest District Manager ever hired (to my knowledge) right out of school. That was the start of a grand adventure, including stints at Unilever, Kraft Foods, and Tambrands—now part of Proctor and Gamble. These I’d represent as the formative years “serving in the industry” as we say. Later, I’d do two start-ups, and a turn through the consulting ranks, before landing at Oracle where I’ve found my best “gig” yet…and I really mean that.
How has retail as an industry changed since you began working in it?
One could more easily, and probably should, explain how it has changed in the last eleven months. But I’m getting ahead of your question. First, like any evolutionary cycle—slowly. Then, in certain catalyst-driven moments, very quickly. Considering the period from when I started working professionally, up to just before Covid-19 appeared, we’ve moved steadily and incrementally, though the biggest changes began to emerge as the power of the internet took hold. More recently, like various other technologies—personal digital assistants, IoT connected devices, edge computing, AR/AI, etc.—attached themselves, we’ve begun to experiment with a vast range of modern customer experience models previously only dreamed of in Science Fiction.
Now in the midst of a global pandemic, we are living through a moment of wholesale reinvention at a near-unprecedented speed; and what might have taken three to five years to implement looks now to happen in half that time. The next 24-60 months will see a combination of technology deployment and customer-focused expertise, with aligned cross-industry teams working ever faster, fundamentally altering retail as we’ve known it for the last fifty years.
How do you recommend HR leaders build the workforces of the future? What are some skills needed today that weren’t around when you first started?
I’ve been speaking for a while now on the distinction between new skill-sets and fresh mindsets. The first includes everything from product knowledge to customer attentiveness, to how new technologies enable both. These we can train for. The second is trickier because it means leaving much of the past behind in favor of new ways to listen, absorb, imagine, design, launch, and support new product and service offerings.
The workforce of the future won’t be the “cog in the wheel” we saw in the past, but an integral part of the enterprise, whose relentless focus on the customer journey won’t end with a sale, so much as mark the near beginning of an ongoing, more authentic relationship between seller and buyer. It won’t be enough, though, just to identify and recruit such talent. Today’s and tomorrow’s leaders will need to pay far more attention to nurturing, supporting, and even inspiring the new-age professionals that will hold the key to continued long-term success as they seek to serve and satisfy better informed, more expectant customers. Management will also have to re-think career growth, as Gen X-Z aren’t just working for advancement, but with an intention for a different kind of meaning and purpose than those who came before them.
You’ve just spoken about the role that emerging technologies are playing in retail. How do you think these are going to shift the industry, and which technologies excite you the most?
Well, as I’ve just suggested, technology will (as it already has) change how we approach and an ever-connected shopper. That iPhone in your hand right now is one of the clearest expressions of this. But we’re also seeing how voice, AR and AI are creating accelerated pathways for frictionless commerce, or what I called five years ago “Commerce at the Speed of Thought,” riffing on Bill Gates 1999 tome.
Which technologies excite me the most? Not so much what we have today but what I think, with 5G, we’re on the cusp of seeing tomorrow. Even now, few can imagine how all of us will very soon be living, working, playing and, yes, shopping with technology that will reinvent what it means to have and hold what we need and want. Not just the thing, but the experience of it, both before we buy it and while we are living with it. That may sound vague but realize, as an example, you needn’t even visit a store today to see what a new custom-made couch in your home might look like a few days from tomorrow. I know because I did this fully three years ago.
What is your favorite thing about working in retail? Least favorite?
I love everything about retail: from the simple satisfaction of knowing I had a hand in serving a shopper’s needs, big or small, necessary or luxury. Another reason? While almost two-thirds of consumer spending is on services, the remaining comes from personal consumption. That’s a lot of impact and, not incidentally, what I find so exciting about the Consumer Markets.
As to least favorite, I’d have to say it’s related to obtaining value for time. Basically, I’m an impatient person. Yes, I will do all the research required in finding the right product, at the best price. But, even with all the tools now at my disposal, I’m still surprised when I find many of my shopping experiences more about what a retailer wants to sell me, than what they should want to know about me. That’s beginning to change, but not fast enough to my thinking. And I think I’m not alone in feeling this way.
How about young professionals who want to build a retail career? How do you recommend they approach an ever-changing landscape?
My best advice is to first understand why you are interested in going here vs there…whatever “there” might be. Retail is a demanding profession, requiring a mix of physical stamina contingent on the category, with the need for a high emotional quotient. The last is more necessary than ever. That said, and even with the challenges faced in an omnichannel world and with a global pandemic, there is much to suggest a bright future in retail as we move from a world defined by decades of doing much the same year-over-year, albeit with incremental improvements, into a brave new world premised not so much on selling lots of stuff, as making a difference in people’s lives.
Great discussion! Final thoughts, Michael?
OK, a story, then. A twenty-three-year-old man, fresh out of college and just starting his post-academic journey, walks into a beauty salon. He introduces himself to the salon operator and proceeds with his first product pitch. A minute into his presentation he lowers his eyes to the woman in the salon chair whose purpose in being there makes clear it may not be just about the buyer, but the buyer’s buyer. He immediately shifts some of his focus to her. He smiles and asks what she thinks of this product. Would she like to try it? How does it make her feel? Would she like to take it home with her today?
That was the first sale I made for Revlon and the moment I realized I wasn’t a salesman. I was a beauty consultant. I was a man offering a woman the chance to express what beauty meant to her, not me. And in that very moment, I became a professional.
Michael Forhez is Global Managing Director for the Consumer Markets Industry Strategy Group at Oracle. He brings over 30 years of diversified sales, marketing and management consulting experience to his current role. Forhez is frequently called upon to write and speak on various subjects germane to the consumer products and retail sectors. He serves as an evangelist within the consumer markets and has committed his career to engaging with various stakeholders to better understand and reflect their collective requirements.
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