September 4, 2020 Welcome to this edition of The Reader, a weekly roundup of Fortune stories and insights that can help you become a better business leader.
This week, we’re focused on the retail industry, where spending has finally returned to pre-pandemic levels. Still, uncertainty still looms. Just ask Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh: His company has had to lay off hundreds of employees. Lately, he says online sales are growing—but keeping up that momentum will be challenging.
Levi's is not only courting consumers' business, but also their social engagement. On the latest episode of our Leadership Next podcast, Bergh shared how his company is taking a stance on gun control, voting access, and, most recently, systemic racism.
Bergh is hardly alone. The world’s chief executives are increasingly experiencing pressure to speak up and speak out on societal issues—and that’s in large part because their employees (and many customers) are demanding it.
Fortune has been covering the retail sector in-depth—and, we think, with a unique expertise—for generations. And earlier this summer Fortune journalists were honored with awards for two recent retail stories that I highly recommend reading.
Fortune’s Jake Meth won a prestigious New York Press Award for “The Real Tide Pod Challenge,” his investigation into the poisoning of children by detergent pods that look dangerously like candy.
And Geoff Colvin took home an Excellence in Financial Journalism prize for his seminal feature on the long unraveling of Sears, “Seven Decades of Self-Destruction,” a feature story ably assisted by one of Fortune’s longtime retail superstars, Phil Wahba.
Both articles are well worth your time, and I hope you’ll email me at [email protected] and let me know what you think. For now, here are some more timely news stories, podcasts, and videos on the state of retail.  Clifton Leaf
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 MUST READ Levi Strauss’s Chip Bergh on why he’s taking his most direct stance yet against racism
"The fact that we're not as diverse as we need to be, and particularly in the management ranks and at the senior management ranks, it's holding us back…I say that it is probably the biggest blemish on my report card over nine years as a CEO."
BY ELLEN MCGIRT SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
TECH 
Walmart is joining forces with Microsoft to try to buy the social-media sensation. BY DANIELLE ABRIL AUGUST 27, 2020
COVID-19 
STARTUPS 
"Challenge mainstream beauty industry BS with radical self-acceptance." BY RACHEL KING AUGUST 31, 2020
  MUST WATCH
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65%
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More essential reads
From the archives
“The business of retail is hard stuff. Chains soar when they manage to sell into the zeitgeist (“Tar-zhay,” anyone?) and collapse when the stars of public taste realign (Abercrombie). In the off-price realm that the TJX (TJX) Companies dominates, it is, if anything, harder. The past six years have seen the demise of Filene’s Basement, Daffy’s, and Loehmann’s, which has reemerged as an online-only store. The number of customer purchases at TJX, by contrast, has risen in each of the last six years; over that time, TJX shares have climbed over 200%.” —Here’s why back to school means ‘full on’ stress for parents by Beth Kowitt, July 2014 . This email was sent to [email protected] Unsubscribe | Edit your newsletter subscriptions
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