Retail is under siege. The disruption is unrelenting.
Brick-and-mortar retail is amid unprecedented challenges: mass store closures, the continued rise of online marketplaces, economic shocks, and continued fallout from the global pandemic. Equally distressing is the difficulty retailers face to secure customer loyalty through either online or in-venue purchases. Successful retail entrepreneur and business mentor, Mike Cosentino, knows these are times when leaders are greatly tempted to personally take (or take back) commanding control of their businesses.
It's Not the Bricks, It's the Mortar explains why this reaction would be a mistake. Drawing from personal crises and candid assessment of his initial approach to leadership, Cosentino now argues that a service-based business performs best when its team is expected, equipped and empowered to operate without ever-heavy involvement from the leader at the top. For sustained success, organizations must now:
- Embrace Uninvolved Optimization and Involved Maximization—two frameworks that shift how leadership drives performance.
- Implement powerful retail-related tools: Experience by Committee, The Service Quotient and The Immutable Laws of Resource Acquisition.
- Build a culture where teams feel ownership of both customer-facing moments and critical backend operations.
Highly respected by Sporting Goods industry professionals, Cosentino delivers his content in a friendly, story-driven style. This book is a field guide for leaders looking to create sustainable systems, unlock their team's full potential, and ensure their capabilities to grow. Anywhere service and performance matter most, it's the mortar - the enduring skills, adaptable systems, and empowered teams - that truly hold the bricks together.