The Men's Wearhouse

The Men's Wearhouse

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Servant Leadership

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February 1, 2017

The Men's Wearhouse

There are many organizations that value servant leadership, and one of those companies is The Men’s Wearhouse, which specialize in men's apparel. They are able to offer their customers a personalized service because they recognize that they need to mentor, train, and build their employees self-esteem, so they can master their sales technique. Founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) George Zimmer appeared in Men's Wearhouse commercials in 1985, demonstrating the authenticity of the brand by mentioning his famous line "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it." From this motto, he then found the key to run his organization, and he saw the untapped human potential of his employees as the key asset rather than property or equipment. He also believed that the top stakeholder of the company was it employees, then his customers and so on until you finally reach the shareholders. Zimmer believed that if you took care of stakeholders first through mentorship, the value will trickle down to the shareholders (Cherian, 2009, para. 3-5).   

The Men’s Wearhouse applies servant leadership by putting the employee first and the customer second, which is a very different ideology. They do understand how important their customers are to the success of the business, but they believe a valued member of the organization will take ownership of their department of the business through coaching. Furthermore, they adapted a culture where sales managers were not out for their own personal sales growth, but always looking for a way to improve their employees, so they can realize their maximum potential. Guidance and mentorship are highly valued in the company. In fact, they believe that mentoring their employees is the key to success within the company. In addition, they want all managers to train lower-level employees and mentor them personally. Even the CEO would visit multiple stores for personal training and mentoring. Being a good mentor and servant leader is taken very seriously within company (Ray, 2011, para. 4). 

A culture that implements servant leadership, and mentorship means that employees will receive fair compensation. Furthermore, employees will see performance appraisals, advancements, and career development at all levels. Research shows it is an extremely effective for employees to develop new skills within the workplace, so they can learn how to navigate diverse problems and understand how to deal with a variety of different people. Additionally, those who receive support from their supervisor perform better, see salary increases and might even earn a promotion. “Also, employees on both sides of the relationship have higher job satisfaction, increased loyalty and lower turnover, and mentoring can provide social support that reduces employee stress” (Broder-Singer, 2011, para. 3). This helps the organizations retain a qualified workforce with high morel. 

The benefits of servant leadership in The Men’s Warehouse increase the self-esteem and self-worth of their employees. This means that a confident worker will take more risks and in the long-run be able to give the customers a better experience when shopping. On the other side, they also give constructive criticism, which is evaluation or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve on something, often with an offer of possible solutions. “The point is not to be mean-spirited but to take an active role in improving the employee. When done right an employee will thank you for constructive criticism” (Ray, 2011, para. 6). Additionally, constructive criticism can guide an individual away from bad practices and towards good one. These are some tools the company uses to summarize their best practices for new employees, so they can apply them to the internal customer, and this will certainly elevate the company’s success (Ray, 2011, para. 6).