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Kohls has terminated its new CEO Ashley Buchanan after an investigation determined that he directed the retailer to engage in vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflicts of interest. Kohls named Chairman Michael Bender as interim CEO, effective immediately. In connection with the appointment, Bender will step down as a member of the boards audit, compensation and nominating and environmental, social and governance committee, according to the retailer’s regulatory filing. The news comes nearly four months after Buchanan, who had been previously the CEO of arts and crafts chain Michaels, took over the job on January 15. Buchanans appointment marks the third CEO for Kohls in three years as the department store struggles to reverse sluggish sales. Kohl’s said Thursday that Buchanans firing is unrelated to its performance, financial reporting, results of operations and did not involve any of its other employees. Kohls will conduct a search for a permanent CEO and said it will name a new chair in due course. The company couldn’t be immediately be reached for comment. Buchanan didn’t immediately return a message sent to his LinkedIn account. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Buchanan’s termination follows a probe conducted by outside counsel and overseen by the board’s audit committee. It found Buchanan had directed that Kohl’s conduct business with a vendor founded by an individual with whom Buchanan has a personal relationship on highly unusual terms favorable to the vendor and that he also caused Kohl’s to enter into a multimillion-dollar consulting agreement with the same individual who was a part of the consulting team. It also found that in neither case did Buchanan disclose this relationship as required under Kohl’s code of ethics. In connection with his termination and in accordance with the terms of his equity award agreements, Buchanan will forfeit all equity awards he received from the company, including the recruitment awards made as of January 15, according to the filing. Buchanan will also be required to reimburse Kohls for a pro rata portion of his signing incentive in the amount of $2.5 million, according to the documents. As a result of Buchanans termination, the board has determined to withdraw his nomination for election as a director of the company at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting to be held on May 14. Buchanan had succeeded Tom Kingsbury, who stayed on as an adviser and is retaining his position on Kohls board until his retirement next month. Kingsbury served as Kohls interim CEO in December 2022 and was named its permanent leader in February 2023. The firing comes at a time when Kohl’s, which operates 1,600 stores across the country, is wrestling with sluggish sales. Its middle-income shoppers have pulled back on discretionary spending in the face of still-high prices for necessities. It’s also faced stiff competition from Walmart and Amazon, which have been improving their fashion offerings at affordable prices. And like other retailers, it is confronting uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump‘s expansive tariffs. On Thursday, Kohl’s offered a preliminary look at sales and profits for the current quarter that showed continued weakness, though the expected results are on track to beat Wall Street estimates. It said that it expects to report a decline in comparable salesthose coming from established physical stores and online channelsin the range of 4.3% to 4%, and a loss of 24 cents to 20 cents per share for the fiscal first quarter. Analysts expected earnings per share loss of 54 cents and a drop in comparable sales of 6.4%, according to FactSet. It expects to report final fiscal first-quarter results on May 29. Shares of the company, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, rose nearly 9% in late morning trading. Michelle Chapman and Anne D’Innocenzio, AP business writers
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E-Commerce
For the second time in recent months, the Food and Drug Administration is bringing back some recently fired employees, including staffers who handle travel bookings for safety inspectors. More than 20 of the agencys roughly 60 travel staff will be reinstated, according to two FDA staffers notified of the plan this week, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. Food scientists who test samples for bacteria and study potentially harmful chemicals also have been told they will get their jobs back, but have yet to receive any official confirmation. The same uncertainty hangs over employees who process agency records for release to lawyers, companies and journalists under the Freedom of Information Act. About 100 of those staffers were recently eliminated, according to an agency official with direct knowledge of the situation. But in recent days the FDA has missed multiple court-ordered deadlines to produce documents, which could result in hefty fines. That’s prompted plans to bring back a significant number of those staffers. The apparent reversals are the latest examples of the haphazard approach to agency cuts that have shrunk FDAs workforce by an estimated 20%, or about 3,500 jobs, in addition to an unspecified number of retirements, voluntary buyouts and resignations. In February, the FDA laid off about 700 provisional employees, including food and medical device reviewers, only to rehire many of them within days after pushback from industry, Congress and other parties. The Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t detailed exactly which positions or programs were cut in the mass layoffs. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has repeatedly said that no FDA scientists were fired as part of the reductions. But at least two dozen food scientists who worked in a San Francisco testing laboratory and a Chicago research center were let go in March. An HHS spokesperson suggested the apparent mix-up was due to the fractured, outdated HR infrastructure we inherited from the Biden administration and are now actively overhauling. The spokesperson did not respond to specific questions about which employees are being reinstated but said the administration will streamline operations and fix the broken systems left to us. About 15 scientists working in FDAs Division of Food Processing Science and Technology in Chicago were told last week they be will reinstated, according to a staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. But a week later there has been no written confirmation and the scientists have not returned to the office. The groups research includes studying ways to prevent harmful bacteria from growing on produce and preventing the spread of microplastics and other particles from food packaging. I hope Commissioner Makary continues to assess these ill-informed cuts and works to bring back impacted employees expeditiously, said Susan Mayne of Yale University, the FDAs former food director. His legacy as commissioner is on the line. With more than 15,000 employees remaining across various U.S. and foreign offices, the FDAs core responsibilities are reviewing new drugs, medical products and food ingredients as well as inspecting thousands of factories. Makary has said no inspectors or medical reviewers were fired as part of the recent reductions. But current and former FDA officials note that those frontline employees are often supported by teams of administrative staff. FDA inspectors, for example, have long relied on travel bookers to coordinate trips to India and other countries that often involve visa permissions, security measures, ground transportation, tech support, translation services and other logistics. Inspectors can spend up to half the year traveling, a grueling workload that makes recruiting and retaining staff a challenge. For a brief period last month, inspectors were told they would be booking their own travel. The FDA set up a hotline to assist with making the arrangements. Then, agency leaders developed a plan to hire an outside contractor to perform the work. On Monday, staffers were informed that about a third of the fired staff who performed the work would be returning. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Matthew Perrone, AP health writer AP reporter JoNel Aleccia contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
Organizations look structured and logical from the outsideboxes and lines, reporting relationships, KPIs, and performance frameworks. But walk into any real meeting, and youll sense it: side glances, shifting energy, people going silent when one voice enters the room, unexplained resistance to change, and power dynamics no slide deck could predict. Thats not just dysfunction. Thats the system speaking, and most leaders arent listening. That is why we need something called systemic intelligence. Systemic intelligence is the capacity to sense and respond to the invisible forces shaping an organization’s behavior, culture, and outcomes. Its not about titles or tactics. Its about understanding: The unspoken agreements that guide behavior The loyalties people carryto past leaders, ideas, or roles The emotional undercurrents in teams and across departments The patterns of inclusion and exclusion that shape decision-making The stories that are being told, and the ones that arent If emotional intelligence helps you understand individuals, systemic intelligence enables you to understand relationships, fields, and patterns. Its what allows a leader to walk into a room and feel the temperature, not just the metrics, but the mood of an organization. Why This Matters More Than Ever The modern workplace is in flux. Hybrid work, generational shifts, AI transformation, and rising emotional exhaustion reveal how fragile many organizational systems are. And yet, most leadership development still focuses on logic, linearity, and surface-level skills. Heres the reality: 70% of transformation efforts fail, primarily due to hidden dynamicscultural resistance, misalignment, and lack of trust. Furthermore, only 27% of employees believe their companys values align with how work actually gets done. Most strategies fail not because they are wrong but because they are disconnected from the reality of the system they are trying to move. If leaders dont learn to see the system, they will be ruled by forces they don’t understand. A Moment That Changed Everything I once worked with a leadership team navigating the aftermath of a merger. They had a new vision, a reorg plan, and a glossy set of PowerPoint decks. But something was stuck. Meetings were tense. Morale was low. Alignment felt forced. So, we paused the strategy session and held a story circle. One leader finally voiced what everyone else had been feeling: I still feel loyalty to our former CEO. We never really said goodbye. And it feels like were not allowed to grieve the culture we lost. In that moment, something shifted. What emerged wasnt just emotion; it was clarity. The energy in the room softened, and trust began to rebuild. The team could finally move forwardnot by pushing harder, but by acknowledging what had been in the system all along. What you dont name, you cant shift. The S.E.E.N. Framework for Systemic Intelligence Systemic intelligence isnt about having special powers. Its about cultivating a new kind of leadership presence thats attuned to whats happening beneath the surface. You dont develop this awareness by accident. You create it by practicing small but powerful shifts in observing, listening, and engaging with your organization as a living, breathing system. To help leaders begin, I use a simple guide: S.E.E.N. Its a reminder that before you can shape a system, you must first learn to see it. S Sense the Field. Slow down. Listen beyond the words. Whats present, but unspoken? Whats the emotional temperature? Before jumping into action, ask your team: Whats the mood in the room right now? Then sit with the silence. E Explore Hidden Loyalties. People dont just commit to goalsthey commit to identities, past leaders, and unspoken rules. What loyalties are operating beneath the surface? For example, a team resistant to innovation may not fear changethey may be protecting the legacy of a beloved product or person. E Examine the Energy Flow. Where is energy stuck? Who gets centered, and who gets sidelined? Where does attention naturally go? Where does it get blocked? Map informal influencenot just reporting lines. Who really holds trust in the system? N Name What Needs to Be Acknowledged. Often, healing doesnt come from solvingit comes from witnessing. What grief, transition, or injustice needs to be seen and honored? What if your next strategic move began with a ritual of acknowledgment, not another set of objectives? How to Start Seeing the System You dont need to become a therapist. You just need to become more attuned to the emotional undercurrents, unspoken dynamics, and patterns shaping your team. Here are a few ways to begin: Host Campfire Conversations. Create spaces where storiesnot just updatescan be shared. Start with: Tell us about a moment that shaped your connection to this organization. Bring in Outside Eyes. Artists, facilitators, systemic coaches, or organizational psychologists can help visualize dynamics your team may be too close to see. Use Visual Mapping. Ask: Whats the formal structure? Whats the informal one? Whos at the center of decisions, and whos on the margins? Slow the Agenda. Build in white space. Let emotion, silence, or discomfort have a seat at the table. Intelligence lives in the spaces were often too quick to fill. Most leaders try to fix what they can see. But true leadership begins by learning to sense what you cant. Strategy is important, and structure is necessary, but without systemic intelligence, even the best plans will stall. Because whats unacknowledged gets acted out, and whats seen can finally start to shift. So, the next time your team feels stuck, ask yourself: Whats really going on here? Whats in the system that no one is naming? That question might be your most strategic move yet.
Category:
E-Commerce
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