Tillys board director Mike Relich on the AI business case a retail board of directors will approve.

Save $100,000 a year writing product descriptions, or cut $10 million of inventory. You can only fund one. Mike Relich, board director for Tillys, puts that question to every retail leader building with AI, and he says too many still pick the product descriptions.

Recorded live at RetailClub in Huntington Beach, this episode focuses on one leadership skill: working with your board of directors, especially when the ask is AI. Mike has sat on both sides of that table. He asked boards for capital as a CIO and CEO, and now he decides who gets it. Ricardo and Casey ask him what a retail board of directors needs to hear before it funds an AI project.

What You’ll Learn

• Why so many retail boards think AI means ChatGPT, and why educating them is management's job
• The $100K vs. $10M question, and why inventory is retail's biggest use of working capital
• The metrics Mike wants in every AI business case - sales, margin, markdowns, labor efficiency, and shrink
• How Reddit complaints end up in what the LLMs say about your brand
• Mike's pilot test: defined KPIs, the real total cost of ownership, and why free vendor pilots mislead
• Why he won't approve an AI project that IT owns
• What to call your data infrastructure project so the board doesn't turn it down
• Mike's four-part, plain-English AI primer for a board of directors

👉 Stay Sharp. Lead Boldly. Stay Human.

Brought to You By Retail Agent Con - November 17, 2026

Explore how AI agents fit into retail work at Retail Agent Con, a live virtual event on November 17, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern, produced by IHL Group with ClearSight AI.

Join retail leaders from Tractor Supply, David’s Bridal, Artisan Lane Furniture and Dr. Janet Sherlock on the org changes required for agents and humans to work together. Plus analysts from IHL Group and Retail Razor for practical conversations about agents in merchandising, order management, inventory control, store systems, and more.

Retailers attend free, sponsorships and individual tickets are available.

Learn more: www.retailagentcon.com.

Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Newsletter: https://newsletter.retailrazor.com/

YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight.

Mike Relich. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-relich-7395b01/

Non-Executive Board Member. Tillys. https://www.tillys.com

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

Steve Worthy on The Accelerator Mindset - founder fit, product market fit, and the question retail buyers are really asking.

Steve Worthy is back on Blade to Greatness to break down what he calls the accelerator mindset - how growth happens inside a retail business, and why the gap is almost never the product.

Steve admits honestly to Ricardo and Casey the part nobody says out loud. Retailers are cynical by default. They rarely name their real problems, because admitting a logistics failure or a buying mistake makes them look bad. So, retail tech founders walk in selling a fix for a problem the retailer won’t put on the table, the deck gets praised, and the check never comes.

The accelerator mindset is Steve's way through that. Start with founder fit and the story of why you're in retail. Move to product market fit as the retail buyer defines it. Then separate systemic problems from non-systemic ones - retailers only fund the systemic ones. Gregg Steinhafel, then CEO of Target, gave Steve the test years ago in an interview: one store with a problem is not a problem, but the same problem across many stores is a conversation worth having.

👉 Stay Sharp. Lead Boldly. Stay Human.

Sponsors

RetailClub. Retail and brand leaders can attend RetailClub AI Festival and receive $1,750 toward travel and hotel. From the founders of Shoptalk and Groceryshop, it's three days fully outdoors in Huntington Beach, September 22 to 24, with 2,000 senior leaders working through how AI is transforming retail.

W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. ASU is a leading public research university and its W. P. Carey School of Business is the largest in the United States. AI-Enabled Supply Chain Strategy is a 3-day executive program running October 5-7, built by the #2-ranked Supply Chain Management department. The program is designed for senior leaders setting AI strategy across procurement, logistics, and operations.

Register at https://specialevents.asu.edu/878064 with ID Code retailrazorasu for $1,500 off.

Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Info

Steve Worthy, https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveworthy/

Founder, Worthy Retail Global, https://worthyretail.com

Host of the Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy podcast https://worthyretail.com/podcast/

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

April Sabral has a leadership test that takes one meeting. Walk out and count the split. If you spent more than 20% talking, you’re still managing, not coaching.

Ricardo and Casey bring back bestselling author and leadership coach April Sabral for the manager to coach reset that retail needs. Retail leadership coaching is the topic, and April treats it as an operating change rather than a soft skill.

Her framing: ops consistency comes from systems, growth comes from questions. A leader who opens a huddle with "What did you learn yesterday?" gets a different day than one who opens with a to-do list. And when a target gets missed, "walk me through your process" keeps the person in the room. "You missed target" starts their exit interview.

April also makes the case that positivity is measurable. Track turnover, customer reviews, and productivity before and after coaching training, and the manager to coach shift stops being a theory you have to argue for. As she puts it, energy leaves evidence. She reads it on the face of whoever is standing in front of her when she walks into a store.

👉 Stay Sharp. Lead Boldly. Stay Human.

Brought to You By:

RetailClub. Retail and brand leaders can attend RetailClub AI Festival and receive $1,750 toward travel and hotel. From the founders of Shoptalk and Groceryshop, it's three days fully outdoors in Huntington Beach, September 22 to 24, with 2,000 senior leaders working through how AI is transforming retail.

Register by August 28 at retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast.

W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. ASU is a leading public research university and its W. P. Carey School of Business is the largest in the United States. AI-Enabled Supply Chain Strategy is a 3-day executive program running October 5-7, built by the #2-ranked Supply Chain Management department. The program is designed for senior leaders setting AI strategy across procurement, logistics, and operations.

Register at https://specialevents.asu.edu/878064 with ID Code retailrazorasu for $1,500 off.

Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight:

April Sabral. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilsabral/

Author, Positive Accountability for Teams, https://a.co/d/0eX42X19

Founder, Ripple Leadership, https://www.aprilsabral.com

Executive Director, Miami Business Council.

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S2E10 The Vitamin Shoppe’s Andy Laudato on How Retail Leaders Scale Innovation Without Losing Their Culture

Scaling innovation is one of the hardest skills in retail leadership, and it’s exactly what we dig into this episode. Andy Laudato, COO of The Vitamin Shoppe and author of Fostering Innovation, returns to share his playbook for scaling innovation across stores, systems, and teams without losing what made the idea good in the first place. It’s a conversation built for retail leaders who are tired of watching good ideas stall out before they ever scale.

We talk about why so much of what passes for innovation in retail is innovation theater: chasing the latest AI headline instead of solving a real customer problem. Andy walks us through how he defines innovation (doing something unique and different to serve the customer, not innovation for innovation’s sake), why he insists on a firm operational foundation before any team starts experimenting, and how psychological safety and Agile-style retrospectives turn failed pilots into paid-for education instead of buried mistakes.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to build the operational foundation that has to exist before scaling innovation

• Why psychological safety, not just great ideas, determines whether innovation sticks

• The retrospective habit that turns a failed pilot into an asset instead of a taboo topic

• How to think about the true cost model of scaling innovation from 1 store to 1000

• Why testing in your toughest, lowest-visibility stores beats showing off in the flagship

• How to spot and avoid innovation theater before it derails your team’s credibility

• A real look at vibe coding and composable commerce in action at The Vitamin Shoppe

If you’re a retail executive trying to move your organization from a cool pilot to a company-wide win, this conversation delivers a real framework for scaling innovation the right way.

Brought to You By RetailClub

Join 2,000 retail leaders at RetailClub AI Festival, September 22–24 in Huntington Beach. Dive deep into how AI is reshaping retail while soaking up the sun at a fully outdoor, beachside venue. Decision-makers from retailers & brands can attend with free tickets & up to $1,250 in travel reimbursement. Learn more at https://retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast

Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight:

Andy Laudato, https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlaudato/

COO, The Vitamin Shoppe

“Fostering Innovation,” https://a.co/d/d7JxrfJ

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S2E9 Future-Proof Skills - Ron Thurston on the human-centric skills AI can't replace

Everyone is talking about how AI is transforming retail. Far fewer people are talking about the future-proof skills that technology will never replace, and according to Ron Thurston, almost all of these human-centric skills start on the sales floor.

In this episode, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden sit down with Ron Thurston, best-selling author of Retail Pride and Human Pride, former senior retail executive, and host of Frontline Fridays and Retail in America podcasts. Ron makes a compelling case that while AI may be reshaping the tools of retail, the most resilient leaders are the ones who master human-centric skills like communication, empathy, adaptability, and influence.

Ron argues there has never been a more important time to learn technology and learn how to optimize the human potential of your team at the same time. One no longer exists without the other.

What you’ll learn

· Why the single most future-proof skill in retail is learning to sell

· How the sales floor builds confidence, credibility, and communication skills

· The Connect, Reveal, Transform framework for optimizing the human potential of your team

· Why frontline retail is the ultimate leadership training ground

· How Ron's "tell me your story" interview question instantly reveals a candidate's depth

· What the NRF Foundation retail accelerator program is teaching

Whether you lead a store team, a corporate function, or you're a student about to pitch for your first internship, this episode is a roadmap for building human-centric skills technology can't replace.

Brought to You By RetailClub.

Join 2,000 retail leaders at RetailClub AI Festival, September 22–24 in Huntington Beach. Dive deep into how AI is reshaping retail while soaking up the sun at a fully outdoor, beachside venue. Decision-makers from retailers & brands can attend with free tickets & up to $1,250 in travel reimbursement. Learn more at https://retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast

Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

YouTube channel:https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight:

Ron Thurston, https://www.linkedin.com/in/rthurston/

“Human Pride” available on Amazon: https://geni.us/humanpride

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S2E8 Andy Laudato, COO of The Vitamin Shoppe, on the leadership philosophy behind every high performing team

What does a diode have to do with great leadership? Everything, says Andy Laudato, COO of The Vitamin Shoppe and author of Fostering Innovation. In this episode, Andy joins hosts Ricardo & Casey to unpack the "be a diode" leadership philosophy — a simple but powerful idea that's at the heart of building high performing teams in retail and beyond.

A diode lets electricity flow one way & blocks it the other. Applied to leadership, that means praise, recognition, & credit flow straight through you to your team, while complaints, problems, & pressure stop with you. It's a small mental model with big implications for fostering innovation, growing trust, & helping high performing teams do their best work.

What You’ll Learn

· Why "be a diode" is the most underrated leadership tool

· How to hire for integrity, ambition, temperament, & intelligence — not just hard skills

· Why career development planning is the unlock for retaining A-players

· How to spot & celebrate the "quiet heroes" who keep high performing teams running behind the scenes

· The role of empathy, work-life balance, & listening to the team

· Why IT and operations leaders need to be their own marketing department

· A memorable Wizard of Oz analogy for setting direction and getting out of your team's way

If you're leading retail teams, this episode gives you a practical leadership philosophy you can apply now to start building stronger, high performing teams.

Brought to You By RetailClub.

Join 2,000 retail leaders at RetailClub AI Festival, September 22–24 in Huntington Beach. Dive deep into how AI is reshaping retail while soaking up the sun at a fully outdoor, beachside venue. Decision-makers from retailers & brands can attend with free tickets & up to $1,250 in travel reimbursement. Learn more at https://retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast

Subscribe to the Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight:

Andy Laudato, https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlaudato/

COO, The Vitamin Shoppe

“Fostering Innovation,” available at Amazon: https://a.co/d/d7JxrfJ

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S2E7 How pride-based leadership unlocks performance, retention, and emotional commitment

This episode of Blade to Greatness dives deep into pride-based leadership with bestselling author and retail culture expert Ron Thurston, whose books, Retail Pride and Human Pride, have reshaped how leaders think about people, performance, and purpose. Ron explains why pride-based leadership is more effective, more sustainable, and more human than the fear-driven tactics still common in retail today.

Ron breaks down how human pride leadership helps teams navigate uncertainty, especially in a world where AI and digital tools are rapidly reshaping retail roles. Instead of leaning on pressure or fear, Ron shows how leaders can identify each team member’s unique strengths, optimize their human potential, and build emotional commitment that lasts.

What You’ll Learn

· Why pride-based leadership creates stronger, more resilient teams than fear-based tactics.

· How to identify and optimize your team’s human strengths in a digital-first retail environment.

· Why turnover, time-and-attendance issues, and disengagement are often symptoms of low pride—not poor performance.

· How human pride leadership builds trust, connection, and long-term cultural health.

· Practical ways leaders can pivot away from fear and toward pride, clarity, and self-reflection.

If you’re ready to escape the leadership traps that keep even the strongest leaders stuck, this conversation will reshape how you think about retail leadership forever.

Brought to You By RetailClub.

Join 2,000 retail leaders at RetailClub AI Festival, September 22–24 in Huntington Beach. Dive deep into how AI is reshaping retail while soaking up the sun at a fully outdoor, beachside venue. Decision-makers from retailers & brands can attend with free tickets & up to $1,250 in travel reimbursement. Learn more at https://retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast

Subscribe to the Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel:https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight:

Ron Thurston, https://www.linkedin.com/in/rthurston/

“Human Pride” available on Amazon: https://geni.us/humanpride

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

S2E6- Steve Worthy on simplicity, self‑awareness, and leading with conviction

In this episode of Blade to Greatness, we sit down with Steve Worthy, founder and CEO of Worthy Retail Global and host of the Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy podcast, to explore why so many retail leaders unintentionally fall into leadership traps that sabotage clarity, confidence, and performance. Drawing from his upcoming book Simplify to Lead, Steve breaks down the TRAPPED framework and reveals how overthinking, perfectionism, rigid ideologies, and task‑over‑people habits quietly erode effective retail leadership.

Steve explains why simplifying your approach doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means elevating your ability to think strategically, communicate clearly, and lead with conviction. Through stories, practical examples, and his SMILE framework for approachability, Steve shows how leaders can shift from “doing everything” to leading with intention.

What You’ll Learn

• Why retail leaders fall into common leadership traps
• How “task over people” thinking derails retail leadership
• Why perfectionism is a silent performance killer
• How rigid ideologies limit team growth and innovation
• The SMILE framework for becoming a more approachable leader
• How to give a situation “what it costs — no more, no less”
• The mindset shift from doer to strategist

Key Takeaways

• Simplicity is a leadership advantage, not a compromise
• Self‑awareness is the foundation of effective retail leadership
• Leaders must evolve before circumstances force them to
• Emotional detachment leads to clearer, faster decisions
• Breaking leadership traps requires intentional practice

If you’re ready to escape the leadership traps that keep even the strongest leaders stuck, this conversation will reshape how you think about retail leadership forever.

Subscribe to the Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/

Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utube

Guest Spotlight:

Steve Worthy. https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveworthy/

Founder, Worthy Global Retail. https://worthyretail.com

Host of the Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy podcast. https://worthyretail.com/podcast/

Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.