Bob Ulrich

Bob Ulrich, chairman of both Target and its parent, Dayton Hudson, has a little known artistic side that might help account for his success in carving out an upscale niche that has established Target as a premier discounter that can hold its own against Wal-Mart.

A collector of carved wooden masks and figures from Zaire "Bob has a beautiful sense for the form and emotional expression of a piece," says Evan Maurer, executive director of the Minnesota Institute of the Arts.

Ulrich sits as an active director of the institute, lending Target's marketing and advertising expertise to the museum shop and its real estate advice on traffic flow design for a museum building project.

Ulrich also is interested in architecture and helped an architect design a house outside Minneapolis that shows Frank Lloyd Wright touches in its use of natural materials that emphasize form and the flow of space.

And therein, perhaps, lies the tale.

"Ulrich has a good sense of style, form, color and design," Maurer says. "I think it rubs off on Target merchandise."

"Ulrich is a renaissance man," says Jim Adamson, formerly a senior vp and gmm at Target and now ceo of Flagstar Restaurants, including Denny's and Hardees. "He's bright. He has eclectic interests."

In addition to his interest in art, he also is an outstanding racquetball player, a music lover and an inveterate museum goer, Adamson says.

Ulrich "doesn't like to lose" at racquetball,...