with the brand, to lead its turnaround as CEO.  While it’s not unheard of for a veteran executive to return to the fold, with Steve Jobs coming back to Apple several years after he was fired, it raises the question of whether or not these types of appointments increase the chances of a company’s successful comeback.  Pros and cons of a veteran executive returning to a team  “There are definitely benefits to bringing back an executive with prior experience at the company they are rejoining,” Scott Benedict, the founder and CEO of omnichannel retail consulting firm Benedict Enterprises, told Inside Retail. For example, Benedict noted that these executives “probably know how to navigate the organization’s power structure and push initiatives through more quickly than a new outsider who is just starting to learn about the business”. “At the same time, having been away from the company for some time might provide a fresh outlook from outside experiences, a wider network of contacts and new market perspectives that wouldn’t have been available had that leader never left,” he added.  “Returning leaders are often well-liked, and their comeback can boost morale in a struggling organization.” On the other hand, a returning executive leader could resurface old conflicts or political friction, preventing a “clean slate” approach that a new leader could start from.  “There have been cases where a returning leader tries to go back to past strategies that are now outdated or no longer relevant to the current challenges facing the business,” Benedict noted.  He said Haney’s return to Outdoor Voices is a prime example of how challenging it can be for leaders to return to firms to recapture past growth and success. Especially when a market or retail business has changed dramatically from a past scenario that perhaps no longer exists.   “Simply relying on ‘the way we used to do things’ often brings brands and their leaders to disaster,” Benedict warned.  Can these veteran executives lead their brands to success? With a legacy brand like Nike, a returning executive like Hill must focus on cleaning up operations while diving into new strategies, such as product updates, to help revive a company’s “wow” factor.  For newer players like Outdoor Voices, the path to success is a bit more complex. “In the case of Nike, it seems like the board wanted to bring back a very well-liked, deeply experienced executive to make a shift away from the last CEO’s style and strategy and move back to its roots and core competencies,” Steve Dennis, president and founder of SageBerry Consulting, told Inside Retail. Whereas with Outdoor Voices, Dennis remarked that it is “a bit mysterious as to why new investors would want to bring Haney back. Presumably, it’s to try to capture some of the founder mystique and magic. However, she’s not got much experience (except as a failed entrepreneur) and has very little to work with. I suspect it will end badly.” Outdoor Voices was born during the heyday of DTC retail, when brands like Warby Parker, Glossier and Allbirds were able to thrive thanks to a ripe investor market and consumers’ growing interest in e-commerce.  Over time, however, DTC brands like Glossier and Allbirds lost market share to new competitors like Rhode Beauty and Hoka, and it became much harder for them to maintain an edge without a hyperfocus on operations, which brand founders like Glossier’s Emily Weiss and Outdoor Voice’s Haney didn’t have at the time they stepped down from their companies. Haney now has to prove herself as a leader capable of delivering profitability in an entirely different economic and consumer environment.  However, there is no denying the excitement that comes along with their return. Haney’s return to Outdoor Voices has received positive coverage in publications like Vogue Business, Glossy, The Cut and Fortune, as well as from retail bloggers and analysts like Nate Rosen of Express Checkout. “I think a lot of the athleisure space is not that fun right now,” Rosen commented. “It’s not that colorful and it doesn’t have that much personality, and I think Ty [Haney] will be able to bring back the personality and the color to the brand.” As Retail Strategy Group’s Liza Amlani pointed out, “Haney’s return brings excitement and a surge of nostalgia, opening a clear window of opportunity. But if the brand stumbles early, that window could close just as quickly.” Amlani said that Haney and Consortium Brand Partners are in the “honeymoon phase” right now.  “The true measure of their partnership will come if early excitement doesn’t translate into increasing and (eventually) sustained momentum, at which point comes the risk of organizational dysfunction,” she said. For Benedict, the key differentiator between success and failure in these scenarios ultimately comes down to mindset. “If a returning leader returns as a ‘learner’, with the aim of gaining a fresh and updated perspective on the company, the customer and the market while respecting the company’s heritage, while bringing an updated view of the situation and competitive landscape the firm operates within, there is an opportunity to reinvigurate and innovate the company to success,” he concluded.