The overlooked steps to growing teams in retail, according to Adam Lukoskie, Executive Director of the NRF Foundation

At 16, when most teenagers were worried about passing their driver’s test or making it to Friday night football, Adam Lukoskie was juggling something very different: payroll, shoplifters, and tornado warnings at his local Walmart in Northern Wisconsin.

Hired as a courtesy clerk, he rose quickly to Customer Service Manager. Suddenly he was in a red vest, leading people twice his age — sometimes even his classmates’ parents and grandparents — while managing “tens of thousands of dollars in tornado warnings and missing children and shoplifters.”

It wasn’t a summer job anymore. It was trial by fire, and it taught him something most leaders only learn years later: real talent development doesn’t happen in a classroom — it happens on the floor, in the chaos, under real pressure.

Today, Lukoskie leads the NRF Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to building the next generation of retail talent. But, as he shared on the FRONTLINE FRIDAYS podcast, even seasoned leaders are still missing simple, human opportunities to grow the people right in front of them.

The surprising gaps in how leaders develop talent

According to Lukoskie, one of the most effective leadership habits is to treat people management like a project. Just as a project manager sets an agenda, preps team members, and follows up with action steps , leaders must apply the same intention to their people.

He pinpoints three surprising gaps — three simple questions — that leaders often miss, even with the best intentions:

1. Not asking what people are good at. Lukoskie stresses that leaders must know what each of their team members is genuinely skilled at. This goes beyond their current job description and taps into undeclared talents.
2. Not asking what they want to do next. A leader should know what each teammate is interested in doing in the next two or three years. Lukoskie suggests having these explicit conversations to get to know them as a human, show you care, and help weave in professional development.
3. Not checking for alignment. Lukoskie's step-back reviews with his team every six months include asking, "what other stuff happened that we did not anticipate and how did we handle those things?". This is crucial for understanding how the team member’s work aligns with the company's goals and whether their aspirations are being supported.

Lukoskie believes these gaps often happen because project work feels more urgent, pulling focus away from people development. But, as he notes, "people development is the only way that all of this is going to continue to grow over time."

The power of stretch projects & career ownership

Lukoskie’s strategy for filling those gaps involves stretch projects—additional work given to an individual that aligns with what they want to do in a couple of years.

He advises leaders to be transparent when offering the work: "This stretch project just came up, and I think it’s good for you for whether it’s exposure to senior leadership, whether it’s exposure to a different part of the business, whether it’s developing a skill set that you may not have, but we know you’ll need it in the future". This clarity invests the individual in the work and helps them understand their growth trajectory.

It also feeds into Lukoskie's core mantra for team members:

“You are the driver of your own professional development... I am a resource. I am here to support you, but I can’t force you to go to a professional development session.”

Why the frontline is the future pipeline

Lukoskie’s journey from associate to manager shapes how he talks about the retail talent pipeline. For him, the reality is simple: most store leaders don’t come from college programs — they come from the frontline.

"Most store leaders are people who came in that community and worked their way up... You can't just go to college and apply to be a store manager and get the store manager role. Like, no, there’s an entire rotation program and more and more brands are preferring to promote from... the frontline because they know the business."

This breaks the common misconception that a college degree is the only path to leadership. The real pipeline starts with:

• Frontline Roles: The entry point where essential skills are learned.
• Mid-Level Management: Often the biggest skill gap, where leaders need training on people management and emotional intelligence within the retail context.
• Store Leader: The "brains, they're the muscle, they're the sweat, they're the tears" of the business, managing millions in P&L and complex teams, often missed by those outside the industry.

The NRF Foundation’s work, including the Rise Up program for frontline associates and the annual Student Program for university students , is designed to support and highlight this entire, diverse career path.

Why this matters

The future of retail depends on how leaders develop their people today. Too often, managers miss the chance to really know their teams, to stretch them with the right projects, or to make sure career goals and company goals are aligned.

Lukoskie’s advice is simple but powerful: treat people management with the same rigor as your most important project. That’s how you unlock potential, build stronger teams, and secure the pipeline for tomorrow’s leaders.

🎧 Hear the full conversation with Adam Lukoskie on FRONTLINE FRIDAYS here