Target, Starbucks and Nike are writing the 2026 turnaround playbook. Here are the key lessons

What did Target , Starbucks , and Nike have in common barely a year ago? All three consumer icons had freshly announced new CEOs, which were wrongly greeted with hasty skepticism from analysts.

Target’s Michael Fiddelke was scoffed at as an uninspired insider ; Nike’s Elliott Hill was underestimated as a nostalgia hire, unable to stem Nike’s loss of market share , while questions abounded over whether Brian Niccol could actually turn around Starbucks amidst pervasive in-store service struggles, despite his sterling record at Chipotle .

We saw it differently.

At the time of their appointments, we vocally and presciently touted all three new CEOs as the right person for the job at the right time , while other analysts rolled their eyes.

Unlike the frequent, sometime successful model of the messianic hiring of industry outsiders as turnaround tians, these new CEOs hit the ground running as each had decades of experience in their sectors with glowing track records, priceless relationships, and balanced expertise across marketing, finance, strategy, and operations,.

Furthermore, we were the first to confidently predict the certainty of their success , even knowing that it would take some time to reposition their enterprises and for their new leadership to gain traction.

Now the receipts are in, showing striking progress in all three cases, with each already well on their way to cementing their reputations as the architects of some of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds of our era.

Target – Michael Fiddelke’s stunning results despite widespread initial skepticism When Michael Fiddelke, a Target lifer who had risen up the ranks from a lowly intern over two decades ago, was named CEO, cynics sneered that the board had chosen entrenched groupthink over fresh blood.

We argued precisely the opposite —that the data overwhelmingly shows internal candidates outperform splashy external saviors, with insider CEOs appointed over the prior year delivering roughly 15% annualized shareholder returns while external hires averaged negative 9%.

New brooms sweep clean, but the old broom knows the corners.

Furthermore, we argued that Fiddelke was uniquely positioned to build on the many successes of his widely admired predecessor, Brian Cornell , despite simultaneous urgent challenges.

This week brought resounding vindication .

Target’s second-quarter sales jumped 5.3%, digital sales grew nearly 9%, Target raised its full-year outlook for the second consecutive quarter, and the stock soared nearly 5%.

Indeed, on a year to date basis, Target stock has soared nearly 60%.