By refusing to submit to the tyranny of the ‘all or known’ syndrome, devotees of chaordic systems willingly and enthusiastically embrace the paradox that exists between chaos and order.
To be sure, the ‘AND’ dance (as I call it) is a dance on the razor’s edge. On one side, is compelling uniqueness and breakout success.
On the other, lies the crushing weight of trying to be all things to all people, ultimately representing nothing.
With these bifocaled lens as the backdrop, read ‘Target’s Inner Circle,’ an excellent article on discount retailer, Target, in this month’s Fortune Magazine.
Target is a company that in so many ways embraces the paradox between chaos and chaos. Its corporate motto, ‘Expect more, pay less,’ is the quintessence of the mass/class bifurcation, a discounter that nonetheless encourages budget-constrained consumers to aspire for good quality, brand names and designer touches. Its commercials play like the height of high fashion.
The success of this approach has enabled Target to grow into an iconic brand existing on a plane that Wal-Mart, Sears, and many other retailers now residing within the discounter’s graveyard, just can’t touch.
What is unquestionably one of the more buttoned-down, home grown corporate cultures, nonetheless drinks from the firehose of a decentralized, chaotic marketplace via a system known as Creative Cabinets, an ad hoc assemblage of third parties from all ages, disciplines, demographics and geographies that help the company discern what products from what manufacturers targeting what consumer needs should find their way onto Target shelves.
A perfect snapshot of the marriage between chaos and order at work is the fact that while the Creative Cabinets definitely shape product decisions, they have no real authority and individual members never meet as a group, perpetually working independently from one another.
As Michael Francis, Target’s marketing head puts it, “There's no power in bringing them together as a body. The power is in their working independently. We're the cross-pollinator. We're the integrator."
To be clear, EXECUTING on such a strategy is really hard. Remember Gap? Once, a mid-market ubiquitous, well-liked brand, first they misread the fashion market one too many seasons and then they spread themselves too thin. Now, no one talks about Gap anymore.
Similarly, the Starbucks freight train that introduced us to $4.00 coffee, baristas and seemingly cannibalistic concentrations of Starbucks locations in every locale has lost its mojo.
Such is is the challenge for Target to maintain its brand and market status over the long haul. In a world where Wal-Mart is about doing one thing and doing it exceedingly well -- compete on price -- Target, to be successful, not only has to be price competitive, but is dependent on innovation, design and quality as well.
Therein lies the paradox. To be a creative type and everything that that implies or to be a control and execution freak. The answer is an unqualified YES for Target’s CEO, Robert Ulrich, who has been with the company for 23 years.
“We micromanage and we think and sweat about every little aspect of the guest experience...we take the time to communicate to our broad organization what they do, why they're doing it, how it fits the whole,” he says.
Hard to argue with that logic.
Related link:
- The Marriage from Hell (Great CondeNast Portfolio article on Kmart Sears Merger)
