A few years ago I shared the idea that some decisions are one-way doors and some are two-way doors, and knowing the difference is important. Here is the quote that I shared from Jen Waldman back then:
“That a two-way door decision, meaning you can go through the door and you can also go out of the door, you’re not stuck in the room…go fast. Go in, look around, and either stay or go out. With a one-way door decision, take a breath, take a pause, do the research, slow down, and walk in. Because once you walk in, you’re there.”
Target is having a tough time right now, and it seems to me that they chose to walk through two separate one-way doors and now they can’t walk back through them.
Over the past few years, Target has made it very clear that they don’t support many of the values of conservative Americans, such as the examples in this story from The Street and their racial equity initiatives set forth in 2020. That’s a one-way door, because it’s hard to come back and say “never mind, we share your values now”.
That worked out well enough for Target, because more liberal Americans agreed with what they were doing and shopped there in droves. Then Target decided to undo that work, thus angering those liberal-leaning Americans who shop at their stores. In short, they ended the programs that “help Black employees build meaningful careers, improve the experience of Black shoppers and to promote Black-owned businesses” despite Target’s own words that said “the need for social justice is undeniable and we’re committed to using Target’s size, scale and resources to create positive change“. I guess they didn’t really mean any of what they said.
That was also a one-way door, because they’ve essentially said “we didn’t really believe in those programs, we just did it to entice a certain kind of customer”.
So now what?
To be honest, I have no idea what they should do now because they can’t walk back through those one-way doors. Whether you’re a conservative or a liberal, Target has made it very clear that their “beliefs” only extended far enough to try to woo a certain kind of shopper. No one can trust that any initiative from their current leadership is sincere, so it seems that a change in leadership is their only move. We’ll see what they decide to do next.
You’ve gotta be careful with those pesky one-way doors…
