SHOW NOTES
Pressure is constant in retail.
What separates great leaders is how they respond to it.
In this episode of FRONTLINE FRIDAYS, host Ron Thurston sits down with Lesley Hawkins, former Head of Retail at adidas Canada and leadership advisor.
With more than 30 years in the sporting goods industry, Lesley has built her career across wholesale, brand leadership, and retail. She stepped into leading retail for adidas Canada during the height of the pandemic, responsible for 1,200 associates across 32 stores at a time when teams were exhausted, disconnected, and under intense pressure.
What she quickly realized was that the challenge wasn’t just operational. It was cultural.
Store teams had become voiceless after years of top-down decision-making, and trust between frontline and head office had eroded. Instead of driving harder for results, Lesley focused on rebuilding connection.
She launched a listening tour across every store, asking three simple but powerful questions to every team member. Those conversations uncovered immediate fixes, long-term strategic priorities, and a clear path to re-engaging teams and restoring accountability.
Lesley explains why calm, intentional leadership is critical in high-pressure environments, and how leaders can create clarity, trust, and momentum without adding more noise.
She also introduces her philosophy on the power of raising your hand — and how small acts of initiative can create a ripple effect across teams, culture, and performance.
Ron and Lesley explore how leadership has evolved post-pandemic, why change is now the normal course of business, and what it takes to build resilient, empowered teams in today’s retail environment.
If you’re leading stores, districts, or retail organizations and navigating constant pressure and change, this episode offers practical, actionable leadership insight you can apply immediately.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- (02:10) Why pressure is constant and how leaders set the tone
- (04:30) Taking over retail during the pandemic and leading through uncertainty
- (07:15) Why store teams became disengaged and how to rebuild trust
- (09:40) The three questions that unlock honest frontline feedback
- (13:20) Turning quick wins into long-term strategy
- (16:05) Why listening is a leadership advantage, not a soft skill
- (18:45) The power of raising your hand and taking initiative
- (21:10) How small actions create cultural change across teams
- (23:50) Why change is no longer a moment — it’s the business
- (26:30) Building resilient and adaptable retail teams
- (29:15) Creating environments where people feel safe to speak up
- (31:40) The role of self-awareness in effective leadership
- (34:05) Why great leaders look inward before assigning blame
- (36:20) Leading with calm to drive performance and engagement
GUEST BIO
Lesley Hawkins is a keynote speaker, business strategist, and podcast host with three decades of leadership experience in the global sporting goods industry. As former Head of Retail for adidas Canada, she led 1,200 frontline employees through the chaos of the post-pandemic world. Her people-first leadership helped rebuild trust, boost morale, and reignite business momentum. Lesley brings warmth, empathy, and wit to the real challenges retail leaders face. She’s passionate about building inclusive, high-trust cultures where frontline teams feel heard, valued, and empowered. Her approachable style and contagious optimism reflect a simple truth: when people thrive, business thrives.
ABOUT FRONTLINE FRIDAYS
Your store teams feel it: more pressure, more change, less time to get it right. FRONTLINE FRIDAYS helps you turn that pressure into impact.
Built for senior retail + hospitality field leaders, each episode features candid conversations with execs from iconic brands, sharing tactics you can use today.
HOSTED BY RON THURSTON. Ron is a global retail leadership expert and two-time bestselling author of RETAIL PRIDE (2020) and HUMAN PRIDE (2025).