Upscale home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) laid out a plan several years ago to turn its business around and make it more reflective of the way consumers are shopping. Many companies, though, say they’re going to do this or that, so the retailer’s blueprint was nothing special. It became a matter of whether you believed in management or not, and whether, despite a positive outlook, it could overcome a very negative retail environment too.