Workshop with Judith
with Judith Davis at Home Depot
Meeting #16 in the series
There is a fundamental disconnect between Home Depot leadership's stated priority of growing the Home Services division and the actual allocation of resources (headcount, engineering, marketing budget) which continues to favor the established Pro division. This creates organizational tension that undermines Home Services' ability to execute on its $5B growth target.
Judith raised this as the central issue: leadership says Home Services but resources go to Pro
The central strategy team has been effectively excluded from Home Services strategic work, which is being handled by divisional leadership. This is an open secret: Michael Torres stated it directly, and Judith's surprise suggested she didn't realize how visible the dynamic was. The sidelining means Home Services misses out on cross-divisional strategic analysis and data the central team possesses.
Michael admitted the strategy team feels left out of Home Services work
Home improvement spending has flattened post-pandemic, yet Home Depot is setting aggressive growth targets. The gap between market reality and internal expectations creates pressure that flows down to divisional teams, particularly Home Services which is expected to be the new growth engine in a challenging macro environment.
David highlighted that SRS integration is consuming capacity that should go to growth
Field operations teams and in-store associates are resistant to new digital tools being rolled out as part of the interconnected retail strategy. This resistance manifests as low adoption rates, workaround behaviors, and passive non-compliance. Sarah Chen recognized this pattern from her Amazon experience.
Sarah mentioned field team resistance from her Amazon experience parallels
