Introduction: Brief Professional Biography Ron Johnson was born on October 15, 1959, and grew up in Minnesota as the son of a General Mills executive. He received his Master of Business Administration from the Harvard School of Business and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University. As vice president of merchandising at Target, Johnson took the company up a notch with the introduction of new lines. He was Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple from 2000 to 2011, where he led a team that created the elegant, fun and functional Apple Stores found today. Most recently he was hired by JC Penney in November 2011 as CEO, where he received a tremendous amount of attention. Unfortunately his actions damaged the company by generating negative publicity for him and JC Penney then only held his position for a little over a year. This article will discuss Ron Johnson's personality, decision-making processes, leadership skills, and possible biases and how these aspects affected the companies he worked for. Early career After earning an MBA in Economics from Harvard, Johnson turned down a high-paying position at Goldman Sachs to take a position at Mervyns. This is why he took a low-paying job with a lot of room to grow and rejected a high-paying job with less room to grow. Johnson quickly rose through the ranks at Mervyns before taking a job at Target. (CNN Money, 2011) While at Target Johnson held many different management positions, but it wasn't until he held the position of head of housewares that he made his greatest impact at Target. Here he designed a line of low-cost home products. After this risky move Johnson began taking… middle of paper… tube. Website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzMIiQN7cVQReingold,Jennifer. (2012, March). Retail's new radical. CNNMoney.com.http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/07/jc-penney-ron-johnsonSawyer, Keith. (2013, April). Why Ron Johnson's Apple Magic Failed JC Penney. MarketWatch. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-ron-johnsons-apple-magic-failed-jcpenney-2013-04-10Shrugged, A. Johnson, Ron.(2013). YouTube. Website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1rxbk8a0oTuttle, Brad (2013, April). The 5 big mistakes that led to Ron Johnson's ouster from JC Penney.TIME. Retrieved from http://business.time.com/2013/04/09/the-5-big-mistakes-that-ledto-ron-johnsons-ouster-at-jc-penney/Useem, Jerry. (2011, August). How Apple Became the Best Retailer in America.CNNMoney.com.http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/26/how-apple-became-the-best-retailer-in-america