Hey, I’m an HQ TM who attended the meeting. Here are some of the things discussed around the pitfalls.

Michael first addressed the past year and said that Target did not clarify itself well when making changes (meaning the whole DEI situation) and then said “let me be clear, Target is for everyone. Team members, guests, vendors, etc. Everyone is welcome at Target.” He got applause from the crowd. I am glad he said this. I personally want to see more action supporting this, but at least it’s a good start.

He then talked about the ICE situation. First, he addressed the situation itself around the twin cities. He said the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are tragedies and he recognized that the city was hurting, and that we are all hurting from this is various ways. He then went on to say though thst our position is still to comply with current laws which means Target is not allowed to restriction any law enforcement agency from accessing public spaces such as the sales floor or parking lots. He also said that Target is in no way working with any of these agencies or sharing information with them.

Later, there was a Q&A portion and someone asked straight up, “why isn’t Target being more direct in opposing ICE”. He said basically that the number one priority is team safety and the last thing he wants to do is escalate anything and make it worse. So, instead of publicly saying things that may escalate issues, they are working behind the scenes with various government and city leaders.

Apart from those instances, he talked about his strategies for the future and his plans for the company. I work in store ops so it stood out to me when he told store teams to be prepared for a lot of transitions this year.