Minding the Store

8. Taking Over the Reins

8 Takjng Over the Reins AFTER THE BOARD MEETING at which I was made president, I gathered my brothers together to reiterate the need for continuing family solidarity and to caution us all that the test of this concept was about to begin. Heretofore, we had been held together by the colossal strength of a great man, our father, who was both the head of the family and the controlling stockholder of the company. "Now," I said, "we stand as four brothers with equal shares in the company, with theoretically equal rights as stockholders. I have been named president and chief executive officer and I shall be forced at some time in the future to make decisions which may be contrary to the judgments of one or the other of you. I shall attempt at all times to be fair and objective, but as long as I am the chief executive officer I shall expect you to accept my decisions, even when you may disagree." All three of them recognized my seniority in both age and experience, and pledged their sincere cooperation without reservation. Being the boss of three brothers with comparable financial stakes and a closeness in age is somewhat different from being the stock-controlling boss of four sons. No one of us was a shrinking violet, and our egos frequently collided. My father could rule by dictate; I had to administer by persuasion. The situation of four brothers, each separated from the other by only about four years 147 TAKING OVER THE REINS in age, operating within the confines of four walls and under one roof, was not ideal for any of us; yet in some ways we succeeded remarkably well, for a time, at least. Any successful retail business, in my opinion, must be the reflection of the aims and ideals of the executive director, who sets the basic policies for operation and who vigorously pursues the execution of them. This in no way implies that he does it alone, for he must have the collaboration of scores of able associates, but it does mean that the business cannot function well under a committee management. There must be a head who makes some of the tough final decisions after having heard all the arguments, pro and con, and some of those decisions may prove to be unpopular and even wrong. Nevertheless, he has to make them and make them decisively. My brothers did not always agree, but they did accept my decisions in good spirit. One eventually left the business for personal reasons and I resisted his subsequent attempts to return for business reasons which subjected me to a certain amount of public criticism. This is the type of hard decision which a chief executive must be prepared to make; it is doubly hard when family considerations come into conflict with sound business judgment. The integrity of management is at stake whenever it displays favoritism to a member of the family, and for that reason I have always insisted that members of the Marcus family conduct themselves in a manner as good or better than other persons in our employ. Nepotism is one of the most debilitating of all business diseases. The wartime bulge in sales did not disappear with the advent of peace; instead, sales continued to rise, further taxing our capacity to serve our customers with dignity and ease. We debated an expansion program in the downtown store and in a suburban area, but were concerned by the rising cost of construction. One night in 1948 I attended a dinner given in honor of the chairman of the board of Sears, General Robert E. Wood, who announced that his company was going to embark on a massive building pro148 TAKING OVER THE REINS gram, with major emphasis on Texas and the West Coast. After the dinner I asked the general whether he was concerned about building costs. He replied that he thought they were cheaper at that moment than they would ever be again. This bit of advice encouraged us to reassess our situation and led us to decide to add two floors to our downtown store, to build a suburban store for protection against any outside competition seeking an entry into the Dallas market, and to establish a service center to accommodate our receiving and marking functions, fur storage...