Show notes
DR'We Know We Got This Wrong': Target Apologises and Pulls 'Offensive' Halloween Costume After Racist Backlash; Target Executive Chair Brian Cornell Sells 50,000 Shares for $8.2 Million; WHO DO YOU BLAME?Executive Chair/former CEO (since 2014) Brian Cornell: still 21% influence!CEO Michael Fiddelke: 16% influence; started at Target in 2003; formerly COO and CFOWhy does the corporate page not list his years of service in two separate bios??Dmitri Stockton: 8 years tenure; the double-DEI hater (Deere & Company) Mr. Stockton provides the Board with senior leadership, marketing / design / brands, human capital management, capital deployment, information security / data privacy, financial management, risk management, reputation management, and sustainability and governance skills developed over his more than 30 years of service with General Electric Company in senior leadership positions with escalating levels of responsibilityMarketing / Design / Brands: Target's brand and focus on style and design are the cornerstones of our strategy to offer a preferred shopping experience for our guests that differentiates us in the marketplace.Reputation management: To be successful, we must preserve, grow, and leverage the value of our reputation with our guests, Team Members, vendors, and our shareholders and appropriately respond to crisis events affecting them.A random executive?Chief Merchandising Officer Cara Sylvester: joined Target in 2007Chief Community and Stakeholder Engagement Officer Kiera Fernandez: joined Target in 2001Chief Stores Officer Adrienne Costanzo: joined Target in 2004Black CFO representation falls 25% from 2021 peak as diversity levels off: The number of Black finance chiefs in Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies ticked down to 15 this year, according to the report from Crist Kolder Associates. WHO DO YOU BLAME?Tractor Supply Co.: Fully eliminated its DEI goals, retired carbon emission targets, and withdrew sponsorships from social and cultural events.Deere & Company: Ended participation in social awareness parades and pledged to eliminate diversity quotas and identity-based affinity group funding.Target: Scaled back its "Racial Equity Action and Change" roadmap, modified its strategy for Pride Month merchandise, and adjusted internal diversity goals.Walmart: Ended key equity training programs, modified its third-party seller guidelines, and scaled back specific minority supplier programs.Lowe’s: Ended participation in external LGBTQ+ advocacy surveys and consolidated its employee resource groups under a centralized oversight structure.Ford Motor Company: Scaled back internal diversity targets, stopped participating in third-party workplace index surveys, and unlinked executive pay from DEI metrics.Harley-Davidson: Discontinued its dedicated DEI function, eliminated diversity quotas for supplier contracts, and ended HRC index reporting.Molson Coors: Removed DEI quotas from executive incentive plans and stepped back from external diversity rankings.Meta: Reorganized its human resources departments, eliminating specialized DEI teams and specific supplier diversity programs in favor of broader recruitment practices.Amazon: Phased out several internal affinity programs and explicit representation targets for hiring.McDonald’s: Retired numerical demographic goals for senior management roles and paused external workplace diversity surveys.Goldman Sachs: Ended its policy requiring companies it takes public to have at least one diverse board member.The double (and triple?) dippers:Dmitri Stockton: director at Target & DeereJohn May CEO/Chair Deere & Ford Motor directorMarvin Ellison: CEO/Chair at Lowe’s after 15 years at TargetJim Farley: CEO Ford Motor & McDonald’s director & former Harley-Davison director MMTrump 2.0/ElonShareholder opposition to executive pay eases globallyEurope: NO VOTES for past year fell nearly 6 percentage points year-over-year to 25.2%, the lowest average level sinc

