Macy's CEO Tony Spring shared these 4 career tips from his 4 decades in retail

Shut up and listen, link pinch your coworkers, and make a stellar first impression.

Macy's CEO Tony Spring shared those 3 pieces of profession advice, drawn from astir 4 decades of moving successful section stores, during the latest section of the "How Leaders Lead pinch David Novak" podcast.

Before taking the apical occupation astatine Macy's successful February 2024, Spring spent astir 35 years astatine Bloomingdale's, climbing the firm ladder from a shop trainee successful 1987 to CEO betwixt 2014 and 2023.

Here are 4 cardinal lessons he learned on the way:

Listen and learn

Don't deed the crushed running, Spring said connected the podcast.

"I'll trim your legs off," he joked. "Hit the crushed listening."

"Honeymoons travel once," Spring continued. "You want to learn. This is your time. No one's expecting anything. You really person the clearest position erstwhile you travel into the company."

New labor don't cognize capable astir their employer to person the correct answers, but they bring a caller position arsenic they "see things that we've stopped seeing," he added.

Spring has made listening a privilege for himself. "I publication each customer statement I receive," he said during an net telephone past fall.

Show your heart

Spring said that early successful his career, he planned to support his caput down, get things done, and outwork everyone astir him.

But he recalled 1 of his bosses telling him that group could spot his shirt, his jacket, and his glasses, but "only you tin show them your heart."

Those words are a reminder, Spring said, that "smiling, laughing, sharing immoderate stories, being willing astir what their lives are each about, is the smallest and simplest point I tin do, and tin make the biggest difference successful really group consciousness astatine work."

Clean the parking lot

Spring recalled that erstwhile he turned up for his first time of activity astatine Burger King astatine property 16, he was dispatched to clean the parking lot.

The early Fortune 500 CEO only recovered retired why aft he was done. His squad explained to him that the parking batch was "the customer's first impression, and everyone who useful astatine this edifice has to understand how important that first belief is."

Spring said the 2nd point he learned was that "even though it looked for illustration a batch of nosy to activity the fryer, it gets very hot."

"Get retired of the fry position arsenic quickly arsenic possible, study really to activity the drive-thru," he quipped.

Stay humble

Spring said that "humility is not the absence of assurance aliases competence."

He said that arsenic a CEO, he's recovered it valuable to fto his workers telephone him by his first sanction and spot him wearing jeans. He makes a constituent of talking to them astir their families, and acknowledging erstwhile "something typical aliases thing unspeakable happens successful their lives."

Spring said that he sees Macy's arsenic a "big family" whose members "care astir each other."

"And if we do that, past we're going to attraction moreover much astir the consumer," he said.