Lois DelNegro, on taking a leap of faith | Portrait

Global Views celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2021. Lois DelNegro, who co-founded the company with David Gebhart and Frederick Rayner and was honored with the ARTS Trailblazer Award in January, talked about her fearless approach to business, who helped her along the way, and what it takes to succeed in the industry now.

You started your career as a retail buyer and then went on to co-found a wholesale company. How and why did you make that transition?

It really had to do with the opportunities that presented themselves. When I was working at [department store] Carter Hawley Hale doing product development, I hooked up with a flannel sheet manufacturer in Portugal. At the time, flannel sheets were a hot commodity. After sheets stopped being a hot commodity, I went back and got a graduate degree from NYU in direct marketing. They were one of the few universities that offered direct marketing. I [also] went to work for Citibank. I was on a temp assignment, and they offered me a job, and offered to pay my tuition which was good because I was going through grad school on a credit card. I worked for them for two years. In 1991, they [laid off] 12,000 of us.

[Previously] I had been a flight attendant for Braniff airlines, which was based in Dallas. I liked it. I liked Dallas. So, I moved to Dallas, got a job as a buyer for The Bombay Company, and that’s where I met David Gebhart. He was a divisional there at the time. Bombay was going through drastic changes. We were at a wedding reception held at the home of the president of Bombay who had just gotten fired. David and I said, “This is really crazy, we can do this on our own.”

Frederick Rayner and David were partners at the time. Frederick had sold his catering business in Fort Worth. He was the one who said, ‘Let’s try this.’ David and I said, ‘Yeah, sure, why not?’ And we never looked back. This was in September. We went on to form Global Views in November. At that time there were no decorative accessories companies. There really weren’t.

Do you remember your first product?

Oh, yeah. David and Frederick went on the buying trip. I stayed home and did the financial planning. It was mainly decorative accessories — ceramics from Italy, product from China. Basically, the same companies, with exception of those in Poland and Vietnam, that we are working with now.

Is starting a company different today than it was 30 years ago?

It would be different in the fact that today so much is being driven by data. You have to have good data to start a company and understand what is going on. Sourcing product and designing product is pretty much the same. But you have to have the data and really strong logistics. The back-end analysis is important.

Is it different dealing with buyers now?

Oh, yes. Unfortunately, the buyers today don’t get the training we did. We were trained in really good training programs. I look at buyers today, and their boss has been there six months longer than them. They have to have an instinct that ‘this will work with this,’ and you have to amortize across the assortment instead of trying make everything hit the full markup.

All of the financing is hidden from them. And I think you need to have the full picture in order to complete the picture.

You’ve been honored with the Trailblazer award. What has been the hardest trail to blaze?

Initially, it was starting out in home furniture as a woman. But I lucked out. When I first became an assistant buyer, the day I got there, my buyer got promoted to a divisional. I knew nothing. I had to run three departments. I was lucky in that the salesmen for the furniture groups I had to buy from took me under their wing and taught me the home furnishings industry. They made it easier for me.

Who opened doors for you?

My mother, who said, “Lois, you can do anything, give it a try. Go for it.” She encouraged me to try anything.

My mom was one of those rare working mothers back in the day. She started working in a factory producing the bulb in TV sets. Then she started her own business. She called it an antiques shop; it was really a secondhand shop.

She was the world’s best negotiator. When I was young, we used to go to buy underwear and socks for all my cousins. She could haggle over a quarter. In a negotiation, both sides have to walk away a winner. You may win one time, but if the other person feels taken advantage of, he will never do business with you again. Negotiation is a two-way street. I got my negotiating skills from my mother.

Are you a leaper or a planner?

I’m pretty much a leaper. The nuns once said to my mother, “Don’t tell Lois she can’t do something, because she will prove you wrong.”

What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken?

I’m a three-time cancer survivor. Not giving in to the fear of hearing those words was probably the biggest risk I’ve taken. I am eight years past my last bout with it. It was, “I’m going to get through this.”

What advice would you give others looking to start something new in the home industry?

Don’t be afraid to take a chance. And also, look at things that have been done in the past successfully and how you can work with them to make them look new again.

Get to know your competitors. Talk to them. Good competition only makes you better. We all have the same logistics problems, data problems — learn from each other and pass it on. Don’t be afraid that everyone is going to steal your ideas.

When you get together with others in the industry these days, what is the key topic of discussion?

What’s new and when is it going to happen? You’ve think you’ve got the solution and 15 minutes later, it’s obsolete. You have to keep innovating, and you have to do it when you’re in a downside situation. You have to have a plan because the pendulum will swing. It’s just a matter of when.

We as an industry have not taught the consumer the value of quality. In fact, we’ve taught them the value of disposability. The only thing of value people seem to understand is sheet thread count. I think we have to start educating people. Then we have to manufacture better things, too. There is only so low you can go before it all falls apart.

Just for fun:

What was your first job?

I was the Easter Bunny at Kresge’s department store when I was 16 years old because I was the only one small enough to fit into the costume. As I got older, I just told people I was a bunny.

Most interesting place your job has taken you?

My job has taken me all over the world. There are some places I would never go back to if I didn’t have to — like China — and some places I really want to go to. I want to take the Palace on Wheels through India. It’s kind of like the Orient Express.

Least favorite household chore?

Ironing

Favorite wintertime activity?

Trying to stay warm. I was never a skier, I never liked to ice skate. My feet got too cold. My favorite time of year is foliage season in the Northeast. My happy place is the Jersey Shore. There are many beautiful beaches, but the Jersey Shore hits all the spots.

What are you reading?

Timothy Snyder’s On Freedom. I read On Tyranny, which sent shivers down my spine.

Also, The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson and The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro. It’s a tome. It’s interesting if you’re from this part of the country.

I don’t read much fiction. I gravitate toward factual books. The one political thing I am going to say is that I can’t read anything about politics right now.