Today’s news that Dame Sharon White is to step down from leading Britain’s best-known partnership next year should not come as a huge shock despite John Lewis’s reputation for boardroom longevity.
The former Treasury civil servant and Ofcom boss was an eye-catching appointment when she took over from Charlie Mayfield, who served a 13-year stint, in 2020. She arrived with no retail experience and, in truth, little has gone right since.
Dame Sharon rightly identified that change was needed to modernise a business caught by the long-term trends of the pivot to online shopping and the shorter-term maelstroms of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
That John Lewis has survived those is something to mark on the positive side of the ledger.
Yet there have been many missteps that shook confidence, both within and outside the partnership.She considered ending the staff ownership model to bring in new capital, a battle she eventually lost. The business has been sustaining huge losses, falling £234 million into the red last year.
The staff bonus was axed altogether, with little hope that it will be restored this year after a £59 million deficit in the first half. John Lewis also said that its turnaround plan would take two years longer to deliver than expected, with the dividends not being reaped until 2027/28.
John Lewis regular shoppers say that in-store service is not what it was. Sales staff were famed for their level of knowledge about the products they sold.
After years of decline, and bonuses that fell sharply before being cut altogether, it is not surprising that shop-floor morale has been damaged.
It will be another 16 months before Dame Sharon’s successor take over. Orderly succession is the John Lewis way. But that is also a long time for a business to drift under leadership waiting to leave the building.
