Jason Staffin

Ron Johnson in an Interview about the future of JC Penny at the Wall Street Journal

Q. How did you come up with the new pricing strategy?

A. Pricing is actually a pretty simple and straight forward thing. Customers will not pay literally a penny more than the true value of the product. And as I have been watching the department stores for the past decade, I have been struck by the extraordinary amount of promotional activity, which to me, didn’t feel like it was appropriate for a department store. My instinct was that it wasn’t a good thing.

Q. Won’t shoppers be turned off because they won’t see the big markdowns?

A. I wouldn’t assume they like the pricing strategy. I think they’re insulted by it.

 I agree with this completely, the never-ending promotions at stores like Kohls have always felt insulting to me.

Q. What ideals have you embraced from Steve Jobs?

A. The importance of doing everything you do to your very best. And that the journey is the reward. If you do things well one at a time, you end up in a really good place. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Control the things you can.

 I strive to live my life this way, with varying levels of success.