The 1970s crystallized the service mantra as we now know it.
You don't know what's going to happen in our business a year from now... so you have to be flexible and adaptable, and that's what we try to do.
When we go out to the university, the professors always say, 'Tell these students about your five-year plan and your 10-year plan,' and I say, 'Gee, we're lucky if we have a year plan.'
Let there be no mistake: John W. Nordstrom was no retail expert. But throughout his life, he did what he had to do - hopefully we all have that in us.
Grandpa didn't have any idea of customer service. But he wanted to make a living. Eventually, we saw it was not in our best interest to be arguing with customers.
Heck, nobody gets along perfectly. But what we have is respect for one another. We have a system where one guy can veto anything.
I'm not sure how to say this without making it sound corny, but I honestly feel this is the way to run a business. Our work force needs to mirror these communities, and we've got to get aggressive in recruiting and promoting minorities.
It is important for us to understand where we came from and how we got here because it would be very foolish of us to get off that horse we rode in on.
I can remember in my lifetime when we used to argue with customers.
I think we were instrumental in saving downtown Seattle. To me, that's the biggest thing we did.
