John V. Shields

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"The first one is that you have to have absolute integrity. If you don't have this, just forget about everything else. You have to be fair with your people and with your customers and your suppliers. Then I have always emphasized hiring the best people you can and educating them. Third, you have got to have a passion for what you do. You just can't accept being second-best. You have to constantly say, "We want to be Number 1." It goes back to having that clear vision of what you want to accomplish -- I think that defines the organization."

So said John Shields when asked about his guiding principle of management.^[1] Shields graduated from Stanford University (BA, 1954 and MBA 1956) and then served in the military for two years.

Following that Shields joined Macy's California, a department store chain, in their executive training program, rising to the position of Vice President of Operations. Early in his career, his mentor left him in charge of the women's wear department for 2 months. He was free to buy new items, take mark-downs, and choose what the department would advertise. During the period, the business grew by 20%. He learned about not being afraid to let his managers make mistakes and learn from them.

In 1979 Shields left Macy's to join Mervyn's Department Stores to help in their national expansion program. In the nine years he was with them, Mervyn's expanded from 36 to 175 stores.

His retirement from Mervyn's in 1987 lasted for five weeks. John was approached by an old friend from Stanford days who had founded the Trader Joe's grocery stores, Joe Coulombe. What was started out a consulting assignment led to Shields becoming CEO of TJ's a year later, when Coulombe decided to retire. During Shield's tenure TJ's grew from 27 stores to 174 stores, and from $132 million to $2 billion in sales. He retired from TJ's in 2001.^[1]

John Shields was voted the Master Entrepreneur of the Los Angeles Area in 1993. Today he serves on the board of 99 Cents Only Stores.

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