Ms Sharon White has asked the John Lewis board to begin a search for her successor. Photo: Nicky Johnston
Ron Katchik writes: “It's sad that whoever decided to appoint Dame Sharon as CEO of The John Lewis Partnership made a big mistake – she needed retail management skills and she doesn't have them.”
Roy Jeans said “an inability to focus on detail is what let Dame Sharon down” and said she was “completely unsuited to the fast-paced, cut-throat world of retail.”
p>John Fothergill says her tenure was “a complete demonstration of why no one with such public service experience should be employed in private industry.”
As for her replacement, Kenneth McNaught believes the partnership may have “already found one in Will Kernan, who was hired as transformation consultant a few weeks ago.”
Mr McNaught says: “He is the only senior person with retail experience who knows what the client wants from JLP [John Lewis Partnership].”
Meanwhile, Ms Johnson believes Nish Kankiwala, who was appointed as John Lewis' first chief executive earlier this year, could be a future chairman.
On how to change the business, readers agree that John Lewis needs to refocus on customers and their employees who are part owners of the business.
Diane Hettle says: “The customer no longer matters compared to the profit margin; employees are partners in name only.
“It used to be a pleasure to shop at one of the partner stores and believe that customers and partners were valued. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case and it appears that the JLP has lost what was created and nurtured over many decades by John Lewis and his son.”
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