If I was a Fleet Feet corporate employee, I'd be pissed.
Probably wasn't ever posted as a job opening for anyone else even.
Why should they be pissed.
If they didn't post the job, i can understand. She's a celebrity. People want to talk to her a conferences. Randoms want to hear her talk at a running store.
People are just jealous they can't get a job like this.
People are just jealous they can't get a job like this.
Ummmmmm…..maybe you answered the question.
"Just freaking great! I work my butt off every day for this stupid company, in good times and bad, in hopes of getting promoted to VP of Marketing. Then they hire this ex-jock at twice my salary because she used to be elite?! I'll be putting in 60 hours a week and getting gray. What's the new CRO doing? A yearly canned rah-rah talk at the annual franchisee gathering, some photo opps with hobby joggers at a new store openings and expos, plus a monthly blog entry that amounts to four paragraphs of "You go, girl!" and "It's OK to be slow, just keep going!". Looking forward to being told that there is no budget for a real pay raise at my annual review, but Ms. Usta B. Fast and her husband fly first class and don't stay in chain hotels while I have to scrap with accounting over a $30 lunch at the O'Hare Chili's."
Her tour of all 50 states in her van with her husband is over and along the way she got a job. She bumped into the Fleet Feet CEO early in the trip and before it was over he approached her with a job offer.
Runners World wrote:
As Fleet Feet’s first chief running officer, Simpson will serve as a national ambassador and drive brand growth by optimizing athlete partnerships and shared resources. Her role will involve refining training programs, testing cutting-edge products and shoe-fitting technologies, and supporting local stores and coaches to enhance community engagement. “I think she's gonna be an incredible asset to our team,” (Fleet Feet CEO Joey) Pointer said. “She is such a unique and gifted individual that truly can bring together any number of people across varying degrees of community, and she can also connect with runners where they are in their own athletic endeavors.”
Despite all the trolls, I think this is a great hire by Fleet Feet. In an era of e-commerce, their franchisees can't possibly survive when the big online warehouses like Dicks can somehow make $ off selling Vaporflies for $120. There's too much overhead for most franchisees, mainly commercial space. The only way they're going to survive is if they figure out how to provide a standardized experience to people across stores, in terms of every Saturday is a 8 mile run, every Tuesday is a track workout or whatever. And getting people to pay for a season is pretty key. Let's say they get people to sign up to be part of a coached team for $100 a month. 20 people, they're paying their rent. Then it's easier to make a profit on the shoes, and also the community creates social pressure to not buy online.
So having a well known runner who is pretty much their target market be the face of a strategy they're already implementing makes sense.
This post was edited 51 seconds after it was posted.
If I was a Fleet Feet corporate employee, I'd be pissed.
Probably wasn't ever posted as a job opening for anyone else even.
Why should they be pissed.
If they didn't post the job, i can understand. She's a celebrity. People want to talk to her a conferences. Randoms want to hear her talk at a running store.
People are just jealous they can't get a job like this.
If they were looking for someone like Jenny to take this role, why would employees be pissed? Why would people want to apply for a job they had no chance of getting?
Good for them for taking a year to see the country. There are plenty of years left to sit in a cubicle and work.
I agree. Great move for Jenny and her husband. It's an experience unlike anything else and that they will never forget.
Fortunately during my mid to late 30s I was able to do the same type of thing every summer. Three months escape from furnace Las Vegas. I didn't manage all 50 states with my car and camper. But I did make 49 and most of Canada. Hawaii was the missing piece although I did eventually spend a month there later.
My old reliable Apache camper met its match on the Alcan Highway. Three times off the axle. Fortunately there were repair shows close enough for a tow every time. Once I had to wait 6 hours for them to find me. I thought I was going to have to spend the night in my Landcruiser.
Sadly I had to retire the Apache on the way home. Replaced 4 months later by a Trailmanor that now has been to 48 states and much of Canada.
Her tour of all 50 states in her van with her husband is over and along the way she got a job. She bumped into the Fleet Feet CEO early in the trip and before it was over he approached her with a job offer.
Runners World wrote:
As Fleet Feet’s first chief running officer, Simpson will serve as a national ambassador and drive brand growth by optimizing athlete partnerships and shared resources. Her role will involve refining training programs, testing cutting-edge products and shoe-fitting technologies, and supporting local stores and coaches to enhance community engagement. “I think she's gonna be an incredible asset to our team,” (Fleet Feet CEO Joey) Pointer said. “She is such a unique and gifted individual that truly can bring together any number of people across varying degrees of community, and she can also connect with runners where they are in their own athletic endeavors.”
This thread and the link description on the home page are underhanded cheap shots at Simpson. Why do Brojos and many on this website have such an animus against Simpson? I met her years ago and she is one of the nicest sweetest people I’ve ever met. I don’t get it. Who cares that she has put off some kind of boring career until being in her forties? Running at her level for so long was indeed a career. I don’t get the hate, it must be some kind of jealousy. If I saw any evidence over the years that Jenny Simpson was the @#$hole you people make her out to be, I would reevaluate. But instead all I’ve seen from her is honesty and determination.
Her tour of all 50 states in her van with her husband is over and along the way she got a job. She bumped into the Fleet Feet CEO early in the trip and before it was over he approached her with a job offer.
This thread and the link description on the home page are underhanded cheap shots at Simpson. Why do Brojos and many on this website have such an animus against Simpson? I met her years ago and she is one of the nicest sweetest people I’ve ever met. I don’t get it. Who cares that she has put off some kind of boring career until being in her forties? Running at her level for so long was indeed a career. I don’t get the hate, it must be some kind of jealousy. If I saw any evidence over the years that Jenny Simpson was the @#$hole you people make her out to be, I would reevaluate. But instead all I’ve seen from her is honesty and determination.
I fail to see the “cheap shot” on the front page. It looks pretty straightforward clickbait to me. There don’t appear to be many cheap shots in this thread, and certainly none by the Rojo crew.
Interesting PR for a company that's going to internally lay-off all employees that don't maintain a 15-hour work week come this June. Not corporate, but customer-facing employees doing the grunt work. Pay people that work in the stores lower than average wages, and instead of raising wages, give part-time employees benefits. Then firing anyone who can't maintain 15 hour work weeks, depleting some stores up to 50% of their trained staff. Lowers store purchase confidence, allows greater store expansion while decreasing store quality.
Worth looking into the smoke and mirrors. Partnering with FloTrack makes the two entities attempted monopolies in this space, both of which are driving price and product up with a lack of a real competitor. Story waiting to happen. Ask any manager of a Fleet Feet store to confirm.
Ya don’t need a Chief running officer to sell mens size 10 Brooks Ghosts (8.5 women), or mens size 9.5 Hoka Bondi’s (women’s size 8)……
Because that is alllll Fleet Feet does.
No ‘runners’ show up to these stores…
You write that implying real 'runners' are looking for more from a store than anyone else. When I lived in a place that had a Fleet Feet, there wasn't any particular reason to go to one running store or another or a big box store. Except the one running store that I went to all the time only because they always gave me the (whisper, whisper) 20% discount that they gave to probably a lot of other runners. . . anyone that did races at the local all-comer's track meet for instance. What kind of expertise or service does an experienced runner expect from a running store that Fleet Feet doesn't have? The shoe selection?
For me, just a large enough selection to be able to find a shoe that will work well and being able to try shoes on in person are the main needs. A big box store with shoes you can access yourself is actually the best for me in that because I don't need someone to wait on me. Unfortunately, the last big box store like that in my town (Sports Authority) went out of business.
Not wrong abut the standardization tactic. Problem is, all stores exist in different markets. No standardization when each store has a different demographic. Run specialty will never be a Dick's sporting goods. It's where people go when Dick's fails at their job to explain running shoes. But if stores are all run the same way. None are run the right way.
Most people on the messageboard are probably more experienced than people looking for their first pair of running shoes. And need less guidance than 99% of people coming into a store looking for their right shoe. Some people just like to nerd out about their shoes and want a place to do it.
Former manager doesn't realize that they do need a Chief Running Officer. Not to sell product, but the brand. Product sells, but something seems like the brand might be taking hits internally and externally. No big brand ever turns down free PR.