Edward Lampert Quotes
101 Edward Lampert Quotes
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[On evaluating risk quickly in a situation, often with incomplete information] It’s like shooting layups or foul shouts.
Edward Lampert
[On being kidnapped] Your imagination goes absolutely wild. I was thinking about my mother and my son and my wife. What would their lives be like? Would it be painful when they shot me?
Edward Lampert
[On arriving home from his kidnapping to a house full of friends who had camping out, waiting for news] It was very much like going to your own funeral.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005 at Kmart] We’ve been able to take non-productive or underperforming stores and make them perform.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005] We’re converting stores, not closing them.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005] For a business executive, the key is to think about and understand one’s business and its strategic and financial characteristics, make decisions based on that understanding, and have confidence to stay with well-reasoned decisions even in the face of vocal doubters.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005] Most observers and financial pundits missed the turnaround at IBM, missed the turnaround at American Express, missed the turnaround at JCPenny, missed the emergence of Google, and missed the resurrection of Kmart – until it was abundantly clear that those companies had succeeded.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005] I have always believed that Kmart customers had the inclination to buy more valuable products at Kmart if presented with the right value offerings.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005] We will not simply throw money behind any concept, but instead will test, evaluate, refine and ‘prove the math’ so that the investment is justified before we make it.
Edward Lampert
Many analysts said Kmart would never emerge from bankruptcy. Next they said Kmart would never make it through our first holiday season. Then that Kmart was a real-estate play without a retailing strategy. We’ve been dealing with naysayers from some time.
Edward Lampert
What I focused on when I invested in Kmart was the potential for a revitalized retail operation.
Edward Lampert
[On Kmart] We didn’t even do a separate valuation of the real estate.
Edward Lampert
[In 2005] Kmart’s combination with Sears makes its retail business stronger.
Edward Lampert
[In June 2005] We believe that substantial amounts of time spent on investor relations activities such as roadshows and investor conferences distract and detract from accomplishing our fundamental objective of creating value for all our owners.
Edward Lampert
[In June 2005] In the past, too often our predecessor companies pursued higher sales and accepted lower profits to meet objectives that, we believe, did not increase the value of the companies.
Edward Lampert
[In June 2005] We expect to make mistakes as a company going forward, but we will acknowledge these mistakes, correct them and learn from them.
Edward Lampert
[In 2006] It doesn’t matter what Target and Wal-Mart do.
Edward Lampert
The pushback I get is, ‘He’s a hedge fund guy.’ Full stop. Some places, that can be a badge of honor. In others, it’s almost a term of derision.
Edward Lampert
I’m not from a retail background, but I am a shopper.
Edward Lampert
[In 2006] I come to this with practical logical ideas.
Edward Lampert
Kmart’s bankruptcy was avoidable.
Edward Lampert
[On Ron Burkle and Kmart] The company needed a lot of money. And he had a lot of experience that could be valuable.
Edward Lampert
I bought IBM two years after Lou Gerstner got there. They had an incredible services business, but most investors were focusing on the mainframe and PC businesses, so IBM’s valuation was low. In four or five years, we made four or five times our money.
Edward Lampert
[On Kmart emerging from bankruptcy in 2003] For the first year or so, we had declining same-store sales, but more stores made a profit. To some people, it looked like a plan that was going from 40,000 feet to 20,000 feet, and in five minutes from now, it’s going to hit the ground. We said, ‘We’re going to land this plane.’ And we did.
Edward Lampert
I need somebody with fresh eyes.
Edward Lampert
The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.
Edward Lampert
The idea is that I’m going to pay this price and great things may happen, but they don’t have to happen for me to do okay.
Edward Lampert
[In 2006 in response to Warren Buffett’s long-time quote ‘I’d rather jump over a one-foot hurdle than a six-foot hurdle.’] We’d rather jump over a one-foot hurdle too. But it’s difficult to find the opportunity. So I’m willing to engage more in underperforming companies.
Edward Lampert
[In April 2006] We think more sales are better than less, as long as they’re the right kind of sales. But you have to have a solid base to build on.
Edward Lampert
[In April 2006] It doesn’t make sense to do something in the short term only to have it yanked away.
Edward Lampert
[In April 2006] We are not going to be able to stop Lowe’s from opening or Wal-Mart from expanding, but the chances of Sears Canada being successful are a lot higher on an integrated strategy than alone.
Edward Lampert
[In April 2006 on the Sears Kmart merger going beyond monetising real estate.] There’s always been an opportunity there, but it’s never been the reason for the merger. We took a company rich with heritage and brand and merged it with a company rich with real estate. That merger has opened up a lot more opportunity for both… the opportunities are looking even better today than a year ago.
Edward Lampert
[In September 2006] With the steadily increasing demands on my schedule, I have concluded that AutoZone would be better served by my not being renominated to the board, in favor of someone who can devote more of his time to these important duties.
Edward Lampert
Almost every weekend when I was 7, 8, 9, 10 years old, my father and I would toss a football in the yard or play basketball in the driveway. When we played football he’d say, ‘Go out ten steps. Turn to your right.’ The ball would reach me just before I turned, and it would hit me right in the chest. Why would my dad do this? He told me, ‘If I waited for you to turn, you and the defensive player would have an equal chance to get the ball. You opportunity is gone.’
Edward Lampert
You can’t wait for an opportunity to become obvious. You have to think, ‘Here’s what other people and companies have done under certain circumstances. Now, under these new circumstances, how is this management likely to behave?’ The plays my father designed for me helped me learn to think ahead. Lots of days I asked him, ‘Why can’t we just invite kids over and play a game?’ In order to do something well he explained, you have to keep practicing and preparing.
Edward Lampert
[In 2008] Manning did not give up or lose heart. Like Eli Manning, we know what it’s like to be underestimated and questioned.
Edward Lampert
I am actually a lifelong fan of the New York Jets.
Edward Lampert
[In 2009] We want to make sure we don’t become completely irrelevant as people’s way of making decisions changes. The goal is not just survival, it’s progress.
Edward Lampert
[In 2009] Historically, we have been way too passive. Nike doesn’t own manufacturing.
Edward Lampert
A lot of businesses will have profitless prosperity and we’ve got to adapt, and I think that companies like Amazon, eBay, they’ve turned this into a big opportunity, and we have to be able to compete with them, not just Wal-Mart, Target, etc.
Edward Lampert
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