Walk into any Target store on a Tuesday morning and things look fine. The red carts are lined up, the Starbucks is brewing, and the "Bullseye’s Playground" bins are overflowing with five-dollar trinkets. But talk to the person stocking the shelves in aisle G24, and you’ll hear a different story. It’s loud. It’s messy. Behind the scenes, the vibe is shifting from "Expect More, Pay Less" to "Work More, Get Less."
Brian Cornell has been at the helm for a decade. That’s a lifetime in retail years. He steered the ship through the pandemic, turned the "Drive Up" service into a goldmine, and survived the massive inventory gluts of 2022. But now, the board is looking for a successor, and the Target frustrated employees and search for new ceo narrative is starting to leak out of the breakrooms and into the public eye.
The retail giant is at a crossroads. While the C-suite in Minneapolis looks at spreadsheets, the people wearing the red shirts are looking at the exit signs.
The Succession Problem: Who actually wants to follow Cornell?
Finding a new CEO isn't just about picking a name off a list. It’s basically a high-stakes game of corporate Tetris. Brian Cornell was actually supposed to retire already. In 2022, the board literally scrapped their mandatory retirement age of 65 just to keep him around for another three years. Why? Because they didn't have a "Plan B."
Succession planning at this level is usually invisible, but at Target, the seams are showing. They need someone who understands that Target isn't just a discount store—it’s a lifestyle brand that happens to sell groceries and laundry detergent. If they pick a "numbers guy" from a grocery chain, they risk losing the "cheap chic" magic. If they pick a fashion mogul, they might ignore the supply chain issues that lead to empty shelves in the pharmacy.
Internal candidates like Christina Hennington or Rick Gomez are often floated in business circles. They know the culture. They've lived the "Target Way." But some investors are whispering that an outsider might be needed to shake off the stagnation that has crept in over the last eighteen months. It's a tough sell. You've got to find someone willing to manage 400,000 employees while navigating a volatile economy where "discretionary spending" is a dirty word.
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Why the Breakroom is a Pressure Cooker
If you spend five minutes on the "Target" subreddit or talk to a long-term "Team Lead," you’ll realize the frustration isn't just about the pay. Sure, the $15-$24 starting wage sounded great a few years ago. But inflation ate that for breakfast.
The real issue? The "Modernization" initiative.
A few years back, Target changed how stores operate. Instead of having a dedicated team that just stocks and a dedicated team that just helps guests, they wanted everyone to be "owners" of their specific departments. Sounds nice on a PowerPoint slide, right? In reality, it means one person is often responsible for unloading the truck, stocking the shelves, pulling "one-for-ones" from the backroom, helping guests, and backing up the registers.
It’s exhausting.
- Understaffing: Many employees report that while the "hours" are technically there, the headcount on the floor during peak times feels thinner than ever.
- The Fulfillment Monster: Target’s biggest strength is also its employees' biggest nightmare. Using stores as fulfillment centers for online orders means workers are constantly sprinting through aisles to pick items for "Drive Up" orders within a strict time limit.
- Safety and Theft: This isn't just a Target problem, but it hits hard here. Workers feel stuck between "don't stop shoplifters" policies and the frustration of seeing their departments gutted by organized retail crime.
Honestly, it’s a lot to ask of someone making twenty bucks an hour. When you combine this "boots on the ground" burnout with the uncertainty of a Target frustrated employees and search for new ceo transition, you get a workforce that feels disconnected from the corporate mothership.
The Pride Backlash and the Cultural Tightrope
We have to talk about the 2023 Pride Month controversy because it fundamentally changed how Target employees view their leadership. For years, Target was the "progressive" alternative to other big-box retailers. Then, after facing intense pressure and some genuine safety threats to store staff, the company pulled some merchandise and moved displays to the back in certain regions.
The result? Everyone was mad.
Conservative critics felt the brand had gone too far, while LGBTQ+ employees and allies felt abandoned by a company that had used their identity for marketing for years. Leadership tried to play both sides and ended up pleasing nobody. This created a massive rift in "Team Member" morale. For the first time, many employees felt like corporate wouldn't actually have their backs if things got dicey on the sales floor.
Whoever takes the CEO chair next has to heal this. They have to decide if Target is going to stand for something or if it’s going to retreat into a beige, "play it safe" shell. Employees are watching. They want to know if their "work family" is actually just a corporate entity that folds under the first sign of Twitter (X) backlash.
The Tech Debt and the "Drive Up" Obsession
Target’s app is great. You probably use it. But the tech used inside the store? That’s a different story. Employees use handheld devices called "Zebras." When they work, they’re fine. When they glitch—which is often—the whole system grinds to a halt.
The push for "Drive Up" excellence has become an obsession. Target promised guests that their orders would be ready in minutes. To make that happen, the software "honks" at employees when a guest arrives. That "honk" has become the soundtrack of a Target worker's anxiety. There is no "slow down" button.
The search for a new CEO needs to prioritize someone who understands that you can't keep layering tech demands on top of a physical labor force without breaking something. You can’t have "infinite growth" in fulfillment speed when you have a finite number of human beings walking the floor.
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What a "New Target" Might Look Like
So, what happens next? The board is likely looking for a "Growth CEO" who can find the next big thing. Maybe it’s more "shop-in-shops" like the Ulta and Starbucks partnerships. Maybe it’s a total overhaul of the grocery section to compete more directly with Walmart.
But if they ignore the employee sentiment, it won't matter.
Retail is increasingly a "vibe" business. If the stores are messy because there’s nobody to zone the shelves, and if the workers are grumpy because they’re doing the jobs of three people, the guests will notice. They are noticing. Target’s comparable sales have been shaky. The "Target Run" isn't as fun as it used to be when the shelves are locked behind plexiglass and the staff looks like they’re one "honk" away from a breakdown.
Real Actions for the Road Ahead
If Target wants to fix the internal rot and find a CEO who actually lasts, they need a strategy that goes beyond just hiring a headhunter. The next leader isn't just inheriting a brand; they're inheriting a cultural crisis.
1. Re-evaluate Labor Allocations
The "one person does it all" model is failing in high-volume stores. The company needs to return to specialized roles. Let the stockers stock and the "Guest Advocates" actually advocate for guests. Pushing the "Modernization" model further is just going to increase turnover, and turnover is expensive.
2. Radical Transparency in the CEO Search
The board should be communicating more with store-level leadership about what they are looking for. Right now, there’s a vacuum of information. When there’s a vacuum, rumors take over. Employees want to know if the next boss is going to be a "cost-cutter" or a "builder."
3. Address the "Safety vs. Sales" Conflict
Target needs to invest in more third-party security or better store layouts that don't involve locking every single bottle of detergent behind glass. It's demoralizing for employees to spend half their shift unlocking cabinets while feeling like they’re working in a high-security prison.
4. Update the "Zebras" and Backroom Tech
Stop adding features to the guest app while the employee-facing tech lags behind. If the goal is speed, give the workers the tools that don't crash when three people try to "pick" the same order.
5. Define the Brand Identity Once and For All
Target can't be everything to everyone. The new CEO needs to pick a lane. Either they are the bold, inclusive, design-forward brand they’ve been for twenty years, or they are a generic commodity seller. Trying to be both is what caused the 2023 disaster.
The search for the next CEO is more than a corporate HR task. It’s a signal to the 400,000 people in red shirts about whether their daily grind actually matters to the folks on the top floor. If the board gets it wrong, that "Target Magic" might just disappear for good. Workers aren't just looking for a new boss; they're looking for a reason to stay.