Lowe’s chairman emeritus Robert Strickland was inducted into the Home Channel Hall of Fame four years ago. As he approached the podium, he seemed as relaxed as you or I might be approaching the office microwave at lunchtime.


“I would like tonight to talk about A, B, C,” he began. And with those three first initials, he launched into a discourse that summed up the lessons learned from a career of successful retailing — or as close a summation as three words can get to a 41-year career.