Andy Street who has been the managing director of John Lewis for the past seven years has won the Most Admired Leader Award at Management Today magazine‘s annual Britain‘s Most Admired Companies Awards.
The awards are based on a survey that asks the UK‘s largest public companies in 24 sectors to evaluate their peers. Which this year saw Street take the title from Sainsbury‘s Justin King.
“John Lewis is the post-crash darling of the UK high street,” said Matthew Gwyther, Management Today editor. “It is on a real roll at the moment. In a dog-eat-dog retail world of horse meat scandals, zero hours contracts, suppliers waiting 100 days to get paid and empty high streets, JLP is the act people admire and wish to emulate.”
Perhaps the success of John Lewis‘ Christmas advert has helped Street win this title. With close to 18 million views on YouTube and the advert creating a media frenzy. It therefore comes as no surprise that shoppers are now flocking into stores and online, spending a great deal. The High street retailer has also just announced a record week for sales driven by the “Black Friday” consumer spending spree.
MD Andy Street told Management Today that his success in the Most Admired leader category is down to the accessibility of John Lewis. “We have anticipated the changes in our customers‘ behaviour – their tastes and practices – and we‘ve acted and stayed ahead of the curve.” Andy Street earns around £750,000 and £1m a year and has made John Lewis less dowdy on the clothes front. He has invested very heavily in a seriously impressive web offering. Its click-and-collect service works a treat. For a retailer, Street is an unenthusiastic shopper himself, and like many men prefers a rapid view, evaluate, grab approach – ‘I‘m the type that just wants it to be an efficient process.‘
John Lewis‘ MD has certainly cemented his place as the UK‘s most-beloved leader and It seems as though Street was never knowingly undersold.
