Thought Leadership

2013

2014

2015

2016

  • Jan (0)
  • Feb (0)
  • Mar (0)
  • Apr (1)
  • May (1)
  • Jun (0)
  • Jul (0)
  • Aug (0)
  • Sep (0)
  • Oct (0)
  • Nov (0)
  • Dec (0)

2017

2018

 

  • Perspectives on Conscious Business

    Ever since the publication of John Mackey and Raj Sisodia’s seminal book Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business five years ago, the idea of “conscious business” has spread far and wide throughout the world. As a big proponent of the Conscious Capitalism movement, The Container Store truly believes in the importance of creating a business where ALL STAKEHOLDERS can thrive together – including our employees, customers, vendors, shareholders and the community. So, on the

  • Perspectives on Creativity

    “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein This famous quote demonstrates the incredible importance of creativity. Great minds are often not driven by what they know but what they’d like to know, and getting there involves a certain amount of imagination and creativity. Of course, creativity is not just important to theoretical physicists, but to everyone, especially in the business world. Creativity fuels innovation and adaptation, and virtually no business would ever be

  • Perspectives on Fun and Humor at Work

    Unless you’re Angela Martin from NBC’s “The Office”, most people like to have fun at work. (Of course, if you try to have too much fun, you might end up becoming Michael Scott. Don’t do that either.) While it might sometimes be a tricky balance, cultivating a fun, humorous atmosphere in the workplace can ultimately increase camaraderie and productivity. In fact, our own CEO Melissa Reiff even lists a good sense of humor as one of her 15 Heartfelt Characteristics of a Great Leader! We recently

  • Our Favorite Posts of 2017

    Now that 2017 has ended and a new year has already begun, we wanted to take a quick look back at some of our favorite What We Stand For blog posts from the past year. In a way, choosing our favorite blog posts is kinda like choosing amongst our own children, but in this case our children are inanimate objects who won’t get their feelings hurt, so it’s all good. ;-) So, without further ado, a few of our favorite blog posts of 2017! (*insert drumroll here*)   “Melissa Reiff’s 15 Heartfelt

  • Perspectives on Productivity

    With a new year comes the inevitable New Year’s resolutions, and for many people that means the resolution to get more stuff done (“I will read more books,” “I will exercise more,” “I will advance my career,” etc.). Productivity is something that relates directly to one’s own creativity, stress level, and the amount of sleep you get, so here are a few articles to help you start the new year off right! “Five Daily Habits For Future-Proofing Your Brain” by Tara Swart (via Fast Company) “In an

  • How To Recruit the Best Talent in Retail

    Much like other retailers, we at The Container Store are constantly striving to recruit and hire the best talent out there. Despite being rated as one of the Best Companies to Work For, we still face stiff competition in the recruiting game every single day; but it’s been healthy competition that has taught us a great deal about hiring and retaining great people. I’ve been reflecting on this as both a consumer and as The Container Store’s Recruiting Manager, and here are a few of the lessons

  • Perspectives on Strong Leadership in Business

    “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” - John F. Kennedy It’s a simple fact: great companies can’t survive and thrive without great leaders. And great leadership requires the ability to grow, learn, and adapt as the world changes. In keeping with our belief that “Communication IS Leadership,” we’d like to share a few great articles that offer valuable leadership advice to those in the world of business: “Four Strategies for Cultivating Strong Leaders Internally” by Bernard

  • Perspectives on Strong Company Culture

    Regardless of your generation, corporate culture is a hot topic among all members of the workforce. Many job seekers are prioritizing companies that they feel share their values, even if those companies don’t pay quite as much as their competitors. Similarly, many executive leadership teams are now focusing more on meeting the needs of their employees as much as their customers. At The Container Store, we’ve always believed in what we call an “Employee First Culture,” which means developing a

  • Are You A Courageous Leader?

    At The Container Store, we’ve always believed that leadership and courage are inextricably linked. No matter if you’re on a battlefield or a sales floor, it takes a great deal of integrity, drive, and compassion to take on a leadership role and positively impact the people on your team. In the business world there are many ways to be a courageous leader and several great ones are described in the recent Forbes article,  “6 Courageous Acts of Bosses We Love.” The article keys in on these acts by

  • How “Hackathons” Jump-start Innovation

    Our Information Systems team at The Container Store recently held our first-ever “hackathon.” For those new to the term, a hackathon is an event where computer programmers, software developers, project managers, and other IT experts come together to collaborate on a short-term project. It’s an intensive but fun way to engage both our creativity and problem solving skills, and the resulting ideas and camaraderie have been tremendous. Though the word “hacking” tends to bring up thoughts of

  • Why You Should Celebrate More at Work

    As our chairman and co-founder Kip Tindell shared recently, we LOVE to have fun at The Container Store! Not only do parties, celebrations, and other fun activities boost morale and bring people together, but they can also spur creativity, communication, and productivity. On the surface it may appear counterintuitive, but we’re certainly not the only ones who feel this way. Just think: if your company makes you happy, wouldn’t you want to work even harder for them? And how many times has a

  • Managing Up

    What does it mean to “manage up”? While different organizations might have varying definitions of this phrase, at The Container Store we’d define it as simply putting yourself in another person’s shoes (particularly your manager or supervisor) to understand what they expect and help them accomplish their goals. But this isn’t only applicable in retail – you can use it in ANY business or company! Successfully managing up (or down, or all around!) is all about support, initiative, anticipation,