Macy's CEO Tony Spring shared these 4 career tips from his 4 decades in retail

Macy's CEO Tony Spring. Business Wire/AP Shut up and listen, connect with your coworkers, and make a stellar first impression.Macy's CEO Tony Spring shared those three pieces of career advice, drawn from around four decades of working in department stores, during the latest episode of the "How Leaders Lead with David Novak" podcast.Before taking the top job at Macy's in February 2024, Spring spent around 35 years at Bloomingdale's, climbing the corporate ladder from a store trainee in 1987 to CEO between 2014 and 2023.Here are four key lessons he learned along the way:Listen and learnDon't hit the ground running, Spring said on the podcast."I'll cut your legs off," he joked. "Hit the ground listening.""Honeymoons come once," Spring continued. "You want to learn. This is your time. No one's expecting anything. You actually have the clearest view when you come into the company."New employees don't know enough about their employer to have the right answers, but they bring a fresh perspective as they "see things that we've stopped seeing," he added.Spring has made listening a priority for himself. "I read every customer note I receive," he said during an earnings call last fall. Show your heartSpring said that early in his career, he planned to keep his head down, get things done, and outwork everyone around him.But he recalled one of his bosses telling him that people could see his shirt, his jacket, and his glasses, but "only you can show them your heart."Those words are a reminder, Spring said, that "smiling, laughing, sharing some stories, being interested about what their lives are all about, is the smallest and simplest thing I can do, and can make the biggest difference in how people feel at work."Clean the parking lotSpring recalled that when he turned up for his first day of work at Burger King at age 16, he was dispatched to clean the parking lot.The future Fortune 500 CEO only found out why after he was done. His team explained to him that the parking lot was "the customer's first impression, and everyone who works at this restaurant has to understand how important that first impression is."Spring said the second thing he learned was that "even though it looked like a lot of fun to work the fryer, it gets very hot.""Get out of the fry station as quickly as possible, learn how to work the drive-thru," he quipped.Stay humbleSpring said that "humility is not the absence of confidence or competence."He said that as a CEO, he's found it valuable to let his workers call him by his first name and see him wearing jeans. He makes a point of talking to them about their families, and acknowledging when "something special or something terrible happens in their lives."Spring said that he sees Macy's as a "big family" whose members "care about each other.""And if we do that, then we're going to care even more about the consumer," he said. Read next Theron Mohamed is a London-based correspondent on the International team at Business Insider. His coverage spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI in 2019 as a reporter at Markets Insider and rose to the rank of correspondent before moving to the Trending team then the broader International team. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle magazine and had a brief stint on the Financial Times' Data team. He interned at the Wall Street Journal in New York where he primarily wrote for Heard on the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and several smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate degree in geography from the London School of Economics, and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, and other elite investors. He also writes about the world's wealthiest people and shares financial advice from all manner of rich and successful people.Email Theron at tmohamed@businessinsider.com and follow him on X @theron_mohamed. Strategy Careers Retail More career advice Burger King