Word: nardelli
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...Nardelli rode out the transitional bumps by defining a strategy and sticking with it: promote higher-end products and services in cleaner, better-organized stores. Nardelli has a laboratory for these ideas in the Home Depot across the street from his 22nd-floor office. (He often drives in on weekends--sometimes on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.) Floor displays explain big-ticket items like lawn mowers and washing machines. Instead of paint cans lined up on shelves, a "color-solutions center" showcases Home Depot's color-matching technology...
...Nardelli, who loves digging into the details of running a business, admits that the vision thing is more of a struggle. "I feel like I got to work at it sometimes," he says. "There are people who are blessed--things just come to them. I think I'm conscious of it, and I really try to apply myself." So far, his approach is working. Comparable-store sales rose 7.7% in the first quarter, the biggest jump in five years, while profits rose 26%, to $1.1 billion. Overall sales increased 16%, to $17.6 billion...
...investors still have their doubts. While Home Depot's stock has recovered 46% over the past 18 months, to about $35, it is nowhere near the $60 highs of 2000. Some analysts say fears that higher interest rates will deter home-improvement spending are hurting the stock. Nardelli doesn't think interest rates can derail Home Depot, nor is he looking for radical ideas. Wal-Mart made the risky move into selling groceries when it went through a period of sagging sales in the mid-1990s and built a wildly successful new business. Instead, Nardelli is stretching the company...
...many ways, Nardelli has finally come into his own. Local businesspeople say he has joined the ranks of Atlanta's insiders, notably when he was elected to Coca-Cola's board of directors in 2002. Though Coke's board has been criticized after management missteps, it is still the city's corporate crown jewel. "Among Bob's peers it was an important recognition," Blank says. Nardelli was host to about 200 prominent conservatives last month at a $3.2 million fund raiser for President Bush in his 10-bedroom mansion...
...Nardelli says his new projects are what keep him up at night now, not the disappointments of the past. "I moved on," he says. "I couldn't be happier." He even attended Welch's April wedding in Boston. "I don't have to prove myself to Jack Welch," he says. "My shareholders, my customers, my associates don't care what happened in the past." But it would be a mistake to think Nardelli isn't still pushing himself. "Am I competitive?" he asks. "I was there, and I am here." It's a new game, and Nardelli is determined...