Impatience, Impact, and Exceeding Expectations with Jay Topper

In today’s episode Patrick and Shelli welcome Jay Topper, Chief Customer Officer at Fabric, to discuss his extensive career, leadership practices, and retail trends in 2025. In our wide-ranging discussion, Jay emphasizes the importance of curiosity, self-awareness, and a 'hero culture' within organizations to foster quick and effective change. As an advocate for rapid execution and overcoming complacency, he offers practical advice for leaders to push their teams, but not push them away. Jay unpacks how to strike a balance between speed and thoughtful decision-making to achieve attainable and sustainable successes. (00:23) Welcome Jay Topper (02:15) Jay's Role at Fabric (03:47) Retail Industry Insights for 2025 (09:00) Navigating Technology and AI in Retail Tech (14:30) Pushing for Speed in your Teams (23:56) Building a Hero Culture (26:36) Handling Crisis with Levity (29:11) Building Trust in a New Company (41:42) Embracing Impatience (44:31) The Value of Being Proven Wrong (49:02) Closing Thoughts Jay Topper, Chief Customer Officer at Fabric, is a US Army and Coast Guard veteran, who earned a Bachelors degree at the US Coast Guard Academy, and a Masters degree at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. After a decade serving our nation, he’s had an exceptional 30 year civilian career, holding technology leadership roles like Chief Digital Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer at Chico's FAS, FTD, Vitacost, and Rosetta Stone. He hosts his own podcast for Fabric exploring leadership and retail tech, called “Chiefly Digital.” If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to Innovation and the Digital Enterprise in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show. Podcast episode production by Dante32.