David Schottenstein’s wife was at her breaking point. If this
was what life married to a CEO was going to be all about, she wanted no part of
it.
“I was on a holiday trip with my family, and it was supposed
to be a vacation,” says Schottenstein, founder and CEO at Astor & Black
Custom Clothiers Ltd. “But I spent 99 percent of my time on the phone,
literally sitting on the beach with my wife. … And my wife told me, ‘Listen. I
don’t care how much money you make. I don’t care how big this company gets. If
this is what it’s going to be like, no thanks.’”
Schottenstein had become a micromanager. His 80-employee formal
clothing business, which did $11.4 million in 2009 sales, was growing and
required a lot of hands-on leadership. But that leadership was coming at the
expense of his family. And as it turned out, it really wasn’t helping his
business either.
“It limited growth because one person can only be in so many
places at one time,” Schottenstein says. “It’s very difficult to let go of any
aspect of your business. It’s kind of like a child. You put all this time and
energy into it and you don’t want to let it go. You’re always scared some idiot
is going to come along and mess it up and ruin your reputation.”
But Schottenstein knew he had to change and get others
involved in leading his business. He began by accepting that he wasn’t the best
person for every job in the company.
“If someone looks at the areas they are involved in and says,
‘Well, I’m just fabulous at everything I do,’ then I would tell you to get
real,” Schottenstein says. “We can’t be good at everything. That’s the best way
to identify the spots you need to take a step away from.”
Schottenstein was pleased with suit sales but noticed that tie
sales were “lagging horribly.” He was also concerned that Astor & Black
didn’t have a defined social media strategy.
