This upcoming February will mark the end of another era for a recovering socially conscious brand.

Target Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell will step down in February 2026, ceding the top post after 11 years to longtime company veteran and Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke.

Under Cornell’s leadership, Target once dazzled, earning praise for modern store overhauls, pandemic-era growth, and a beam of corporate prestige. But according to a senior writer at Fortune, “Target reported yet another quarter of weak financial results, with comparable sales down 1.9% and the cheap-chic retailer reaffirmed its expectations that sales will decline by a low single digit percentage this year, projecting a third year in a row of decline.”

There is no doubt at this point that the popular retailer is reeling — sliding sales, failed initiatives, and deep cultural divisions have only made Cornell’s departure all but inevitable.

A Leader Defined by Ideological Overreach and Backlash

Cornell’s tenure is inseparable from Target’s embrace and eventual retreat from deeply polarizing social initiatives.

• DEI Investment to DEI Retreat: In 2020, Target CEO Brian Cornell said George Floyd’s murder had a personal impact on him and just several months after the murder, Target pledged to increase its Black workforce by 20% throughout the company over three years and take other steps to “advance racial equity.” The following year, Target committed to spending more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025. In 2022, the Bullseye-logoed company was honored for its “outstanding commitment to DEI” by the Executive Leadership Council, who is the “preeminent global membership organization for Black current and former CEOs, senior executives,” amongst entrepreneurs, and other leaders. In 2023, Cornell defended Target’s bold commitments to DEI, saying they ‘fueled much of their growth’ over the years. However, his tune quickly changed at the beginning of this year. Target quietly rolled back a broad slate of their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. In a post online the long running department store openly admitted to halting future surveys that went to the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and they also said they would conclude their Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives this year. The announcement generated strong recoil, including from the granddaughters of a founding family member, who condemned the reversal, describing their personal feelings as “shocked and dismayed.” Nevertheless, Target rightfully surrendered to consumer boycotts, online hysteria, and conservative customer backlash.
• Pride Merchandise Firestorm: In May 2023, Target’s Pride Collection came under attack for selling “tuck-friendly” items within their “kid’s section.” The resulting boycott triggered major stock dips, “wiping out $10 billion in market value in just ten days and erasing $25 billion in shareholder value over the course of six months, its worst performance and longest losing streak in 23 years.” There were also threats against employees, and store vandalism, which ultimately forced Target to pull back their initial offerings and move displays to the back of some of their stores. The State of Florida and America First Legal joined forces to file a class action lawsuit against the popular retailer for “misleading and defrauding investors over market risks of LGBTQ activism” – litigation that is still playing out in court months later. Just one year later, in Target’s 2024 press release just one day ahead of “Pride Month,” they said their company would only be selling their pride-related collection of products and items in “adult apparel and home and food and beverage” sections of their store. Moreover, since the eye-opening tragedy, in the two years to follow the retail giant has scaled back their pride displays and merchandise. More notably, viral posts online and articles from this past June (2025) show Target had been prioritizing USA-themed apparel over LGBT merchandise during Pride Month.
• Investor Fraud Lawsuit: Amid DEI pledges coming to an end, shareholders led by the City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund in Florida filed suit alleging Target misled them on the financial risks tied to its social policies and ESG commitments. According to early reporting, “The lawsuit said the retailer, CEO Brian Cornell and other officials failed to disclose the risk of consumer boycotts stemming from Target’s Environmental, Social, and Governance and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.” Reuters also noted in their original report that Target’s share price fell 22% on November 20, 2024, wiping out about $15.7 billion of market value.
• Caught Between Culture Wars: The company has now found itself alienating both ends of the political spectrum — progressive consumers have become upset by recently announced DEI rollbacks, while dedicated conservative customers have become infuriated by “woke” merchandise. The result? A socially conscious brand who successfully racialized division, suffers with plunging sales year after year, and finally pressures their CEO to resign.

 A Strategic Pivot or Further Retreat?

Even before Cornell’s announced exit, the company’s trajectory was in free fall. According to many media reports, “Target reported a 21% drop in net income in the quarter ended August 2. Sales were down slightly, and the company reported a 1.9% dip in comparable sales – those from established physical stores and online channels. Target has seen flat or declining comparable sales in eight of the past ten quarters including the latest period.”

The board’s choice of Michael Fiddelke, a 20-year insider to succeed Cornell signals continuity, not upheaval. Neil Saunders, who serves as the Managing Director of GlobalData Retail said he had mixed feelings about the promotion of Fiddelke, other analysts think the retail veteran may lack the fresh perspective needed to reset Target’s faltering brand connection.

New Tolerance Campaign’s Approach

At the New Tolerance Campaign, we value consistency, courage, and coalition – not performative virtue signaling.

According to their own website, Target deems their core purpose as, “help all families discover the joy of everyday life.” The commitments they outlined are simple: “more for your money, the best shopping experience, a healthy, happy and valued team, a brighter future, ethical business practices.” Simply put, the Target Corporation’s mission, corporate strategy and commitments do not adequately reflect the selective ideologically based actions taken by the company’s leadership. Moreover, Cornell’s social trajectory demonstrates exactly what happens when a CEO of a longtime company becomes the champion of a progressive movement rather than focusing on customer experience and shareholder dividends.

This is a textbook case: Target declared itself a champion of DEI, then bowed under pressure, whether it was due in large part because of President Trump’s Executive Order or not. The rhetoric of the last five years can no longer define the company’s future behavior, especially as their value plummets, therefore it was time for Target to make a change.

Furthermore, there are company executives on the opposite end of the spectrum than Cornell, who refuse to play along with social justice acronyms and fall into regulatory chokeholds. For example, Bed Bath & Beyond Executive Chairman Marcus Lemonis are offering real solutions, acting on popular values, and are not just focused on radical branding efforts to gain subpar popularity. You can read our recent blog post titled, “California’s Intolerance Just Drove Out Another Business” (linked here).

On Final Thought

Brian Cornell’s exit wasn’t just about slowing sales, but his last few years represents the collapse of a brand built on ideological posturing rather than firm conviction. Target’s implosion under ideological inconsistencies in order to portray “tolerance” underscores a broader truth: vacuous virtue is a business liability, not a strategic advantage.

The New Tolerance Campaign stands for durable values and real accountability – when socially conscious brands or institutions fail those tests, we’ll be there to shine a light.