Shane Lukas Helps Solve “The People Problem”

In the weeks leading up to Street Fight LIVE 2025, we’ll be getting up close and personal with some of our speakers, encouraging them to share stories of how they found themselves in the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem. Such as Shane Lukas of A Great Idea.

Meet Shane Lukas, who will be on stage discussing how to find and retain top talent today. We connected with him when he published a provocative article on LinkedIn about why retired sex workers make great hires in service-oriented businesses. He’s definitely not a “traditional HR leader.”

What led to your passion for the human side of business?

“People are truly at the center of my work, both professionally and personally. I’ve held multiple roles in my life, from selling on the sales floor to solving problems in the boardroom. Connecting with people and their challenges always feels fantastic. I’ve learned that a customer transaction coupled to human connection expands a business’ competitive power and its ability to make meaningful, transformational change in our communities. Building relationships with people in our work and in our lives, seeing how our products and services positively influence the lives of others, and partnering – those are my passions.”

Many people (including service workers) are terrified of AI and robotics. How can employers make technology more palatable to long-term employees?

Change—meaningful, significant change like that generated by AI—requires us to adapt our sense of predictable outcomes and overcome the fear of change, whether in technology or operational shifts. Change is coming. Let’s embrace it.

To help employees handle significant change and potential disruption to their jobs, we begin by developing a change management process that identifies and recognizes all our employees and collaborators —both internal and external—as having a role to play. Your consumers want you to continue being a business because they like it; your staff wants you to stay in business because you provide them with opportunities and resources to thrive. They both can be involved. Must be involved. They have a stake.

We move forward by distributing leadership and ownership throughout the company to align with current functional standards and shape innovations. We invite each team member to embark on this journey, regardless of their role.

This is the time when refocusing and upskilling are necessary. Think of the workplace changes we’ve seen so far this century. The last five years. Let’s encourage teams that welcome resilience, problem-solving, and human connection in service to advancing.
People with lived and learned experience are fundamental to business success in a future built with AI’s opportunities. I want us to share what it’s like as we adapt and how we can work alongside technology to elevate human interaction in the marketplace, making it a key focus of brand consumers to think beyond price and convenience in their retail and service experience.”

Is there a major brand today that seems to be doing this well?

“There are several, and they often share something in common in how they connect their brand message to the operational performance and product quality.

Both Trader Joe’s and Lowe’s, which demonstrate that profitability can be achieved with the right mix of consumer offerings (price, location, and product), investment in retail strategies, and a commitment to a value system that all stakeholders value.

The brand Lush Cosmetics, which I spent some time researching for my upcoming book, The Advocate Advantage, is an example of where we all want to go. Their cultivation of a client base and workforce that views the company as something bigger than its bath bombs is a reason the company has been able to innovate in its processes and approaches, bringing their advocates (at every level) along with them.”

We hear the word culture a lot. What does that mean to you?

“Culture is the experience you create as the lived brand story for your internal and external advocates, whether intentional or not. When your brand values are clear, consistently communicated, and effectively carried out across all stakeholders and throughout your operations, your brand achieves market satisfaction. Growth happens because all of your advocates want to participate. We want to partner.

Chick-fil-A and Costco have both found success in a polarized political environment by embracing their brand cultures. Linking a culture means connecting with people (advocates) who identify with or want to be a part of your cultural experience. It can be a golden chance.

It’s often only in cases where we get a disconnect between the performed culture and the company’s operational choices that consumers (and staff) will start to tell conflicting stories from the corporate culture, often in the forum of public opinion. They lose the universal cultural connection. It was something we could witness in Target’s recent friction as well as the dissonance Walmart faced years back when an employee breakroom was soliciting donations to assist fellow employees in need.”

Have questions about the workforce of the future and creative ways to attract and retain the best talent today? Join us on September 30th and you’ll get a chance to meet Shane Lukas LIVE at Street Fight LIVE 2025.