+ CULTURALLY INFLUENTIAL

In 2014, The Voice named White the seventh most powerful black person in Britain. White has been recognised for her influence as one of the most powerful black British people in the UK on a number of occasions by Powerlist, topping the 2023 list; as well as regularly ranking in the top 10 since 2016.

Gazette, the partnership’s in-house magazine, first published in 1918.

The founding John Lewis died in Hampstead, London in 1928, at the age of 92, having also served as a Liberal councillor at London County Council.

The John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) now operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The privately-held public limited company is owned by a trust on behalf of all its employees – known as ‘partners’ –and a bonus, akin to a share of the profit, is paid to employees.

Never Knowingly Undersold

In 1925, Spedan Lewis devised the slogan ‘never knowingly undersold’ at Peter Jones, a John Lewis subsidiary, based in Sloane Square, London. It was intended mainly as a control on at the notion. He felt the proposal – aimed at raising as much as £2 bn – could kill off the ‘spirit’ of the retailer’s partnership model.

He insisted that John Lewis is a ‘different kind of business’ where service levels are better because ‘the person behind the counter is the owner’. He dismissed the idea that it might be able to find a supportive investor who shares its ideals. For the business to sell a minority stake – for the fi rst time in its 159-year history – would be ‘very inappropriate’, he said. Additionally, retail consultant and television personality Mary Portas accused the group of losing its soul.

It was a blow for Dame Sharon amid a chorus of scepticism, mostly from worker/shareholders - who tend to get angry when they don’t get their ball back - about the idea of bringing in external funding, which critics said would threaten John Lewis’ cherished employee ownership structure.

For her part, White told the John Lewis Partnership Council that the partnership would always be owned by its employees.

“No ifs, no buts there is absolutely no question of de-mutualisation,” she said. ”If at any point the partnership were unable to fund all our plans through our own means, the board could consider external investment,”.

But she stressed any arrangement would have to be aligned with the partnership’s rules and values. White also sourcing merchandise, but it also came to mean that customers could shop knowing that they were not paying more at Peter Jones than they could buy identical goods for at other stores. This principle, which was refined several times, was introduced at John Lewis’ stores, and became a celebrated motto for nearly a century. The most notable refinements were to exclude retailers who traded only online, and to include extended insurance and delivery charges when comparing prices. It was honoured until August 2022, when it was replaced with a general commitment to providing competitive value on its own label merchandise. they said targeted efficiency savings of £900m meant the group was on a “clear and secure path back to profitability”.

John Lewis had around 80,800 partners/employees as of 2020. The chain’s image is upmarket, and its customers are likely to be more affluent consumers. The Partnership also supplied the Ocado web supermarket until 2020 with Waitrose own-brand foods and John Lewis own-brand nonfood items such as furniture.

In the final analysis, staff - the shareholders – in what was seen by many as a vote of confidence, gave their backing to boss Dame Sharon despite this attempted move. However, the governing body, elected by workers, rebuked her over the group’s performance in 2022 - where the partnership lost £234m and scrapped the workers’ partner bonus – in votes that are symbolic rather than binding.

The performance of the partnership, including financing – whether internal or external – will determine Dame Sharon White’s fate at the top of the John Lewis Partnership. As many articles in Platinum have already pointed out – time and time again - you lose the goodwill of your staff at your peril. For now, she has that backing; the next move is up to her.