Development Highlighted at NRHA STIHL Leadership Conference

Melanie Moul, hardwareretailing.com – August 7, 2017

The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) hosted the first NRHA STIHL Foundations of Leadership Conference Aug. 2-3 at the NRHA conference center in Indianapolis.

Retailer attendees were current students and graduates of programs offered through the NRHA’s Retail Leadership Institute, including the Retail Management Certification Program and the Foundations of Leadership program, and former Young Retailer of the Year honorees.

Presentations covered topics such as aligning your personal and professional values; how to lead your team through organizational change; the qualities that make a strong entrepreneurial leader; developing servant leadership and giving back to your community; and developing strong employee engagement.

In addition to leadership experts, attendees also heard from several retailer peers, including Bill Aubuchon, chairman of Aubuchon Hardware in Westminster, Massachusetts; Jeff Cardwell, owner of Cardwell Do it Best Home Center in Indianapolis; and a retailer panel, including Scott Jerousek, owner of Farm & Home Hardware in Wellington, Ohio; Ryan Ringer, owner of Gold Beach Lumber in Gold Beach, Oregon; Jonathan Miller, principal of Miller Hardware in Valdosta, Georgia; and Matt Woods, owner of Woods Hardware in Cincinnati.

“NRHA takes a lot of time to research the experts and the best people for these programs,” says Adriane Naillon, store manager at Wilco in Vancouver, Washington. “The information presented here is something that’s going to affect your business today. You’re going to learn something.”

Naillon recently completed the 16-week online Foundations of Leadership program. She and Salem, Oregon, Wilco store manager Lynsey Mansfield say they both really enjoyed the online program.

Mansfield, who graduated from RMCP in spring 2014, says they also have two employees enrolled in the next RMCP course, which begins Sept. 12.

“Through RMCP, I learned a lot about business in general outside my own company,” Mansfield says. “At these events, I feel very invested, and I feel rejuvenated when I go back home.”