This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The show is sponsored by
G three of Parow. The views expressed in the following program are those of
the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor or iHeartMedia. Who is
Mark Weber. He's a self made business executive here to help you find your
success, from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris.
His global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational. He's gone
from clerk to CEO twice. Mark is classic proof that the American dream is
alive. And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.
Mark Weber Corporate Politics. If I was better at it, I probably
would have had a different career. I can't say better, but maybe corporate
politics. Hold that thought. I've spent this year talking, realizing, admitting,
and accepting that I'm no longer important. Now I've gotten reactions to that
statement the cover of the spectrum, from get over It to you know different
from anyone else. Everyone experiences that situation when they retire. You're not retired.
I wait every weekend to hear your show. Don't ever retire to Daddy,
you're still important to me, to us. What should I think about
these opinions? Hmmm, simple as the answer, I could say, when
I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. But with older respect,
I really don't care what anyone thinks. I only care what I think
if I finish the night. Maybe that's an important lesson for everyone. If
we stop this show right now, you have to believe in what you think.
Anyway, The reality is, I know how I feel. I'm convinced
I'm no longer important. Until this week something broke through to me, something
reminiscent of the past. It was almost like dejuvous. You see, I
was four to step out of myself and recognize I'm still contributing. I have
something to contribute. I've also been called out. If you don't think what
you have to say on the radio show or on your podcast is important,
get off the air. Hmm. Yeah. I've been thinking, this is
not a day, or if not a week, that someone reaches out and
tells me they listen closely to the show and they learn something that I helped
them. And then I received a call that changed everything for me from one
of my closest friends. Not just a close friend, a lifelong friend,
Mark, I need your help. My son is in Corporate America and he
wants to leave this company. I can't get through to him. Maybe it's
not that I can't get through to them. Maybe Corporate America just isn't my
thing and I don't understand it the way you do. He's been recruited.
And actually, aside from whether he should leave or not, if he chooses
to leave, he needs to know what to ask for, and now we
can himself. If he leaves the company and starts with a new one,
he needs help. He needs your guidance. Can you help him? Of
course, But immediately my mind went into gear. First thing I thought of,
I don't know if I'm smart. All others be the judge, but
I do know I'm well trained. Sure I could help. Sometimes in life
you need to be reminded. Sometimes we take for granted. What is nature
or second nature? Breathing, blinking, You don't think about it. Well,
that's when I am in business. That's who I am. I don't
need to think about it. I know what the answers are before the questions
of finished being asked. That affect us. My superpower, I've been trained,
mentored by the best, and I paid attention and learned. Now that
doesn't mean I haven't contended with self doubt, but you still have to remember
who you are. I'm human. I've failed. I was fired almost twenty
years ago. Long time, but even to this day. It's so the
disappointment, the embarrassment, the self doubt, the pain going from a big
shot to a no shot in a minute. I was financially set, but
I was career lost. Finding a job is a science into itself. But
that's for another night. I'll come back and talk to you about that.
But there I was, for the first time in my career lost, going
on interviews or even call them auditions and not getting the job and not getting
the part. Those are life lessons. You find out who your friends are
who are not your friends. One such friend was a major player at Herban
Mines recruiting. I went to see him after I got let go and he
told me I was radioactive. Come back in six months. No one will
talk to me about you. I can't recommend you right now. But I
said I didn't do anything wrong. Sc filed a statement. There was no
wrongdoing. I don't care. Mark six months then call me so much for
Friends. One of the world's global search firms was looking for a CEO for
one of the industry's most successful brands. It was a job I could do
in my sleep, and would it got me out of my doldrums in a
minute. I thought, how great it would be out one day and in
back the next. So I reached out to Spencer Stewart, who was doing
the recruiting. Again, I had a relationship with the recruiter. I sat
in front of her. She was one of their principles, not just the
recruiter. And in my life I was never more disrespected. Under the guise
of mark, you're an interesting candidate for the position. She sat there,
mildly interested, mostly distracted on her smartphone, taking calls, sending texts,
going through the motions. I never felt so small. I was never in
such doubt. I couldn't see the forest through the trees. And yet Shakespeare
said, sometimes the brightest day hath a cloud. I was having cloudy days
in spite of thirty years of sunshine. And then one day I was in
an interview with a private equity guy. They're group, they're the money people,
the investors and some one gave them my name, and I was touted
as a player that they should meet and be interested in it, and they
wanted to talk with me. And once again, a senior guy, a
Master of the universe, sat across from me in a club chair. I
too was in a club chair. We were face to face, Mono Tomano.
We're in a room that was old money, leather smelled from it,
wood, patrician paintings, just the two of us, the Master of the
Universe with a former Master of the Universe. And I looked back at myself
and I wondered why I felt so strong that day. I just felt comfortable,
and then I felt the earth change and it shifted for me. The
niceties, the introductions over, the questions began. How do you know when
you have a product that will change the tenure of your offerings? Well,
it's part science, after have the data and their knowledge, but it's also
art and that's talent, and that's who I am. Mark. The world
is complex, shifting alliances, changing trade agreements. How do you develop a
manufacturing plan by country with a great deal of foresight and a great deal of
planning. What is your philosophy on margins. Would you take orders at lower
prices to increase sales? No, it will never work out, will cannibalize
your existing business. You'll get the same sales with less profit. However,
if you can demonstrate to me that lower margins in this case are incremental sales,
and you can prove it, I would consider it. Mark. If
I'm on your board, What could I expect to hear from you? The
truth? The dialogue was high level, the questions high level. I had
the answers. I didn't even need to think through the process, no hesitation.
My answers were automatic. Yeah, I don't know if I'm smart,
but I know I'm well trained. But in this dynamic, I felt the
earth move in spite of my my prior condescending feelings, my disappointments, my
self doubt. I realized, then, right then and there, I'm going
to be okay. Why the key I realized? I remembered and reminded myself.
I knew who I was. They can take my job, but they
can't take my education. They could take away my job, but not my
skill sets. It's still me and I was, and I am. And
I realized sitting there, I had something to offer to any company, And
of course it happened to me in chapter two of my career, with General
Patton whispering in my ear, It's not how far you fall, it's how
high you've bounced back. And I bounced back to LVMH, the greatest and
largest luxury company in the world. But back to the present. My friend
called me up, a lifelong friend, and asked me to help his son.
And I did, and I was Mark Weber at his best, mentoring
and teaching and preparing that kid for life's challenges in corporate America, and I
felt great about it. I also woke up the other night and I was
dreaming, dreaming careers. Now it's not the first time I've done a series
of shows I dream working. This time I awoke and thought, I may
feel I'm not important, but that doesn't mean what you have to say.
Isn't this week strong accolades, acknowledgments, securing stable and new sponsors, my
friend asking for help, And in spite of this year's negativity on myself,
I once again remembered who is Mark Weber? Who is it? It's still
me? And yes, if I had nothing to say, I would leave
the radio and stop podcasting with this in mind, tonight, I have a
gift for you speaking gifts first, for myself, my lawyer, co host
and son Jesse Weber. That's a very nice thing to say. I like
calling me a gift. That's very very nice. I do have to say,
though, you're a gift that keeps on giving. Thank you. You
know what I'm going to say. You know how much I hate when you
always say I used to be important. I used to be important. I
can't stand it. Well, it's important to understand who you are. But
I'm ready to reboot for tonight. How's that all right? Well, with
that in mind, Actually, I got a good story for you. I
got something that might make you feel good. You're ready, okay? So
I was how should I say this? I was shopping in a store.
I can't tell you what store it was, but I was shopping in a
store. Why can't you tell me? You don't need to know. Put
it this way, we're talking about what's the theme of the show. What's
the theme of the show tonight? My gift for you? All right,
So just you don't have to know. But anyway, I'm in a store
and I mention your name I say Mark Weber, and the guy the sales
associate his name's Kyle says to me, without breaking a beat, oh,
Mark Webber from the radio show. You're kidding. I was looking down and
I look up. I go, what's just say? He goes, yeah,
Mark Webber. My mom listens to the show all the time. I
know exactly who he is. I know exactly what the show's about. And
I go, no way, and she goes, I'm not trying to like
oversell it. She is the biggest fan. I said to him, what's
your mom's name? And he goes why. I was like, maybe I'll
mention the name on the next show, and he goes, if you were
to do that, oh my gosh. Well with that in mind, this
is a shout out to Isabelle birth Thank you so much for listening to the
show. And Isabelle is a very big fan of you. Well, this
is Mark Weber. Hi Isabelle, and thank you. You made my day
or the evening with if you will. How great is that? So you
never know who listens to the show, but you got a big follower,
you know. On that note, last week's Saturday night, we went to
a birthday party for a friend of ours, Paul Rosengard. I've known her
for many years. He's a solid citizen, an industry icon. And his
wife, Chrissy made a birthday party for him and it was an extraordinary event.
She looked amazing, address was great. He needs a makeover for me,
but that's another Storybably won't be invited to the next birthday party, okay,
okay, okay. And their speeches and the guest list was a who's
who, a who's who. I was impressed just to be in the room
with all of them, and I was amazed by it. But I'll tell
you what really made me happy. At least ten people came over to me
during the night and told me their advent listeners of the show made my day.
So all this talk about me being unimportant to me having nothing to say,
you know, I'm gonna accept tonight that I'm a little hysterical on this
subject. And I was very proud, and I'm glad you got to see
it near it as well. It was great. I loved it. It
was such a nice event. And you know, look, it's holiday season.
The stars are aligned. It seems you're in the right frame of mind,
which is always nice to see. So what's the plan for the show?
Oh, as I said, I woke up in the middle of the
night and realized I had some ideas and in this case gifts to give the
audience, and tonight I have a gift for you. But what's in it
for you? How about just feeling good about myself? Well? You happy
is always a gift to me, so the gift to everybody priceless. Anyway,
the first gift I want to give is wrapped in an always in fashion
box. I want to talk corporate politics in America. Let me be clear,
everything in life is politics. I'm not talking the government. The way
you greet your dorman, the way you make a reservation at your favorite restaurant.
Sense the reason it's huge when it comes to your company, and company
politics falls easy under my banner of packaging yourself is as important as the products
you package. I want to talk about my first day in the office.
He's a gift for you. I was recruited. I went in this is
my first job, and the vice president and general manager interviewed me and said,
you're hired. Come in on Monday, Mark, I'll introduce you to
the fellow you're going to be working for that monday. I was introduced to
this fella. I'm not sure he likes mentioning his name, but him and
I were words and music for a long time. He looked me up and
down. I was in a European three piece navy blue suit, white shirt,
navy tied, black tassel loafers. I looked apart, even though I
just got out of school. I spent my time in college working in a
clothing store, so I had clothes and I knew how to dressed. He
looks me up and down. He says, you'll do. I can't believe
they didn't give me the opportunity to interview my own first assistant, but you'll
do. I didn't give much thought to that at the time, but it
did hit me. Nine months later my first lesson in corporate politics, I
mentioned my lifelong friend before. Where did I meet him? I met him
in the first company, the van using company I was working. After nine
months, I went from an assistant to be called a stylist. A stylist
was the designer product manager of an area, and I was one of the
youngest or shortest times ever to reach that pinnacle. In that company, if
not at the time, and it was an amazing experience. And one day
this young guy comes over to me. He's dressed cool, had long hair,
he looked apart, starts talking to me. I love what you're doing,
you know, I see it. I go in the showrooms. You
really got a talent and I appreciate that. And I said, what do
you do and he put his head down and he kind of smiled and said,
well, I'm in the operations. I'm in all the planning and follow
up work. So that's great. No, I have no interest in it.
I want to do what you're doing. I don't know what to do,
you know. He became friends. He was learning what he was learning.
I was learning what I was learning. A short time later, call
it two months, I'm going to hire an assistant, and I said to
myself, I need an assistant. I had a boss, a vice president,
general manager, and I know he was going to recruit to get my
assistant. I said, I'm looking for assistant. If I can get you
that job, do you want He said, you'd save my life. So
I said, okay, great, stay tuned, I'm going to try.
I went to my boss at the time who was for want of another word,
I hated him. He was impossible to like. And I wasn't the
only one. A lot of people hated him, but I was the term
and to survive him, work through him, and do whatever it took to
be successful. I knew hard work and talent would went over. And if
I only had the aptitude and the wherewithal and the intensity to deal with his
angriness and his meanness and it's impossibleness, I would be okay someday. So
anyway, I said, look, we're hiring an assistant for me. There's
someone in the company I know. I'd like to hire him. He says,
no, I have someone else in mind. I said, but it's
my assistant. And he looked at me like I was an idiot, and
he goes, you work for me. I remember walking out of his office
and being very discouraged. I've proven to the company that I have worth.
I've proven to the company then I'm good at what I do. They promoted
me. They like me. If I'm hiring an assistant, shouldn't I be
able to hire my own assistant someone I think will make me successful? And
it bothered me. And this is where politics came into play again for a
lesson. My boss was an incredible guy. The day he showed up the
company, everyone knew someday he'd be the president. It was just a matter
of him having the time to learn what he needed to learn. He also
told me on the first day I met him, he says, I need
you to learn everything I do. Come in the morning early, come in
late, do your work whenever you want, but you're gonna follow me around
all day long until you learn everything I know, because I can't get him
promoted until you know what I know and you can move into that job.
You want to talk about lucky, that was lucky. You want to talk
about politics, that's politics. But he was connected to the senior merchant in
the company, senior vice president of merchant ing, Robert J. Solomon.
But because he was connected, I was connected, and I knew him.
I knew him on a first name basis. He was part of the group
that decided to promote me. He liked me. We had a great relationship.
I had nothing but the highest regard for him, and I went down
to see Robert J. Solomon, senior vice president of merchandising in PVH mister
Solomon, it was agreed that I would be getting assistant, and I have
a fellow in the company gotten to know who I think would be a great
assistant for me, and I'd like him to be my assistant. I went
to my boss and I told him, and he refuses to let me have
this guy here, someone else in mind. And he looked at me and
he was quiet for a second, and he said, well, he is
your boss, and technically he's responsible for everything. I said, mister Solomon,
look, you and everyone else here has made it clear that you like
what I'm doing, that you respect what I'm doing. Shouldn't I be able
to hire and pick my own assistant. We're not talking about hiring the president
company right now. We're talking about an assistant. And he put his head
down. He said, yes, you're right, you should be able to
do it. I said, well, I have someone I want to hire,
and I can't accept being told who I'm going to hire. It's a
problem for me, especially this person's in the company. Once again, he
put his head down. He said, Mark, do you understand what you're
asking me to do? This is corporate politics. You've gone to your boss.
Your boss has told you, now, you're coming to me to ask
me to override your boss because of what you believe is the right decision to
be made. And I said, yeah, I believe it's the right decision
to be made. And frankly, I can't imagine for the life of me
that you guys won't support my request. Mark, I have a hard time
arguing with the logic. I do know it's a problem, and I do
know that if I went to your boss and I told him you came to
me and you want to hire your own assistant, you don't agree with his
decision, it's going to be a problem for you. You sure you want
to do this? And I said, right then, in their corporate politics,
he's the guy. He's right for this job, and I'll take my
chances. And mister Solomon looked at me and said, you understand what you're
asking for? Yes, then I will do it. I will speak to
them and see where we go. What happened, they allowed me to hire
my assistant. What also happened is three weeks later I left the company.
I left my friend dangling in the wind. What did he say? Did
he know about that? No? I didn't tell anyone it kind of happened
quickly. Somebody recommended to me to another company who came in big company doubled
my salary. The point is there is corporate politics in everything we do,
and that's a lesson you ought to think about tonight. That's the first gift
I have for you, a little bit about corporate politics. Back in a
minute. Always in fashions, I've been shopping for fun lately, and while
I'm out, I always look at men's and I look at women's what's going
on? And I was particularly interested in dk Y because of their sponsorship of
the show. I went downstairs at Macy's thirty fourth Street to look around and
I saw dk Y active Wear, and I promise you, ladies, it
is sensational. From the sports spras to the crop tops, to the leggings
and the sweats, it really is a great look. And dk Y had
begun as an all American brand dressing casual clothes, engines and the stuff it
looks incredible and right now, the colors and the styles is so exciting that
I feel great about the company. I always do. I wear the men's
who are all the time. I've had situations where I've gone to big events
and been interviewed and TV or the radio, and someone comes up to me
in the microphone and like they always do, who you're wearing. And here
I am, this big shot with big company and they say, well,
I'm wearing a DKY and they laugh and say, no, you're not.
I actually have one on the internet where you could see me. They ask
me what suit I'm wearing, and I say d and why and open it
up and there's the DKY label. Great fashion, it fits well, it
looks right. It's designed to make you comfortable in the city, goes from
day and tonight. You could wear it in the morning, you wear it
in the afternoon, and you look cool at night as well. It's great
for the office, it's a great for leisure. But I'm talking about the
DKY activewear. The first time I really became aware of that, Jesse and
I were up at Sirius Radio. He was doing a job for Serious He
does Dan Abrams show, he fills in on the Potus Network and we're in
the lobby and this hip hop group came up with this really great looking Latino
singer girl Young Beautiful. She was wearing a DKY sports bar and I said
to myself, this is amazing. Actually went to Macy's to see it,
and I'm excited about the brand. And I tell you what, Ladies,
dk Y always has great fashion for work, always wonderful dresses and things that
you'd wear. Their accessories are great, the shoes are always very cool.
But active wear in particular right now looks sensational and being that everyone's at leisure
in active where, it's a great time DKY go take a look. Been
a lifetime of my career building the van Usen brand, and I am so
pleased that they're back with us now talking about suits. Men were dressing up
again and it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be won on
multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to go out
at night or to an event. You could wear a suit to the office
with or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends,
suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mack next. The choices are endless and
every one of them looks right. You could really really look the part.
I believe that packaging yourself this is important. Does the products you package and
wearing a suit is one of those things that make men look their best.
Venues In invented a new idea. It's called the cool Flex suit. It's
been engineered with stretched technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture WICKI it makes it perfect for all
occasions. As we discussed just now, this new style of looking sharp while
feeling cool and comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the ven Using
company is involved in this new technology and is embracing the whole idea of dressing
up. Let's not forget Venues and made its name with dress shirts. It's
only proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way. You can find
van Us and cool Flex Men's stretch suits at jcpenny or online at jcpenny dot
com. Guys, they're great. You should go look at them. Welcome
back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. I'm giving
my gift to you. I've thought about all the lessons I've learned along the
way. I should point out right now, if those of you have been
listening to us for seven years, some of what I'm about to talk about
you might have heard already having said it, they're good to be reminded sometimes
because the lessons are priceless, they're universal and the last the test of time.
Under the heading of corporate politics in America can never forget we have egos.
Bosses have egos. Sometimes bosses egos need to be stroked. Being in
corporate America or anywhere for that matter, everything we do has politics associated.
From the way you talk to your family to the way you talk to your
bartender. You have to do it in such a way that people will either
like you, respect you, and most important, execute for you. I
have said, and I want to remind everyone Jesse, what's my favorite word?
No? Why? Because it opens up so much opportunity. Thank you
for that. I learned in corporate America the word no was invaluable. When
someone tells me no, it spurs me on. You can't tell me no.
You can't tell me something can't be done. It's too hard, it's
too difficult, it's too complicated. Someone's done this before. There's a million
reasons why you're told no. Look, in life, we need rules.
Where in this world will be without rules of behavior in trouble, we'd be
barbarians again. So rules and the word no are relevant. But in business
no such word as no. Not to me anyway. And I learned this
from one of my early mentors. You want to talk about corporate politics,
I'm going to talk about it. I work for a great guy and he
taught me that you cannot accept no. And one of my favorite expressions in
life I came up with, behind anyone with vision, there are fifty well
intentioned people undermining that vision. The keywords there are well intentioned. They're not
saying no, they're not getting in your way because they're bad people. They
just don't agree or they have a different point of view, and all subjects
of change and leadership comes into play. I don't care. The word no
is incredible great example. I got a question for you, Jesse. You
drive a Defender? Yes, I do. What color is your Defender?
Silver? Okay? What if I said to you, you know range Rover
makes Defender. What if I told you that because the range Rover comes in
silver, you can't get a Defender in silver? Well, it makes absolutely
no sense to me. It's a different car, it's a different model.
Why would I if I that one has no connection to the car that I
want. It makes no sense exactly. You know. I was in the
shirt business my whole life, and there are always new entrants into business.
I had one of the largest selling dress shirts in the world. When we
owned van Usen, we started a designer shirt company called dkn Y, and
everyone in DKY recognized that in order for Designer DKY to be memorable, it
had to be different. And what they did was they came up this remarkable
fabric that was iridescent. The navy had blue black in it, and it
shone and had to shine to it and made it just that much more especial.
And they did the same thing with the ties. It wasn't pure blue,
it wasn't black. It was a combination of the two, and it
has a certain sheen to it. It was amazing. During the course of
this action and the range of colors, someone said we were not doing white.
I remember, what do you mean, you're not doing white? Well,
well, everyone else has white. We're not gonna do white. I
said, you listened to me. Fifty percent of the men's shirt businesses in
white. You can't tell me because van Usen has white, or Calvin Klein
has white, or any of the other one hundred brands that are out there
have white. You're going to leave white out because you want to be different.
No. My whole career was based on no. You can't make this
here, you can't do this there, you can't do that. No became
my favorite word because in corporate America, it challenges you to think. I'll
give you a simple term that you all know outside the box. When you're
told no, you have to figure out a new way to make it happen.
You can never take no for an answer because there are ways around it,
There are ways to prove it, there are ways to become intellectually more
exciting with this is regard and back to bosses with egos. Early on in
my career, I was involved in design approvals. When you think about big
businesses, you think about let's think pick a big brand, Zara or The
Gap. When the Gap or Zara puts a product in the store, they
put a pair of jeans in a wash color for want of better or anything
else, and they decided it's a slim fit. You want to guess how
many pair of those jeans they buy to put in a store. Jesse At
like, give me a range. I don't even know, like, well,
let's say the GAP has five hundred stores. Uh huh. Now,
let's think of it this way. They have thirty inch waiste, thirty inch
bottoms, thirty one inch wage, thirty two inch ways, thirty three all
these sizes and different lens. How many pairs do you think they buy to
put in their stores. I don't know, ten thousand, I don't know.
I would say probably two hundred thousand units of that item at least.
The point is it's a huge, huge investment. So when you're making decisions
in a company and that's just one style you walk through the GAP, they
must have thousands of styles. There is a process that is involved with how
you determine whether something makes it to the collection where it's approved and how much
to buy. And very often there's a management hierarchy that people present to from
the designers and the ops persons to their boss, and there's a collective agreement,
probably up to the CEO of someone showing him the product, explaining it,
and he's signing off because the stakes are so high. I got involved
in that when I first started working. It's a tremendous fail safe when people
are forced to explain their ideas to a group of people in cur information and
input, make them better, give them lessons, talk through the details,
and make it better. My first week working, because I was connected,
I worked for the right guy, because I was in a good company that
was open, because they wanted to train their people, because not only the
new entrants their interns. A group of people met with management and they presented
their ideas for the following season's collection. It was called the bull session,
where everyone came in and presented to the senior most merchant in the company their
ideas, their concepts, and their wherewithal and like the Emperor back in the
Roman days, the colosseum proverbially put their thumb up or down, either approving
or avoiding approving, and you'll make it to the collection of putting their thumb
down and saying Nope, I don't like it. I don't think it'll sell,
I don't like the price points, I don't think it will work.
We have something similar. It doesn't make sense. We all presented, we
all had to deal with this, And I'm sitting there my first week in
business, and they're presenting their merchandising. I'm still too young to present,
but it was an eye opening experience. I thought about the courageousness of these
people presenting to these senior most executives, and then I thought about the expertise
and what I was hearing the senior most excusive say. There were so many
inputs, many variables, and all comes into this input on what makes it
or doesn't make it, or what adjustments need to be made, and it's
brilliant. And I remember them going around the room. The senior most executive
on one particular issue, started asking people their opinions. There were varying in
wide ranging opinions on whether this should or should not be part of the collection.
I could tell from the look on the face of the senior most merchant
that he had made up his mind. I was always good at reading people,
and you can tell by the way they asked these questions. He might
simply say, I think that makes a lot of sense. What do you
think? I'm not sure I like it in all those colors, but I
do like it. What do you think? He's basically telling you what he
thinks, and he's looking for sign off or something he doesn't know or hasn't
considered. And I remember going around the room and he's getting these various different
opinions. And he came to me and I was shocked at even asked me,
but I did have an opinion. And I looked at him and said,
I see what it is you like, but I don't agree with you.
I don't think it's right. There's something about it that doesn't excite me,
and I don't think it should be part of the collection. He said,
thank you, Mark, and we went around the room and everybody was
dealing with all this stuff. He calls the meeting to adjournment, says,
everyone, thank you for coming. Your input was valuable finalized in the next
couple of days. I really appreciate you being here. It was a great
time. Thank you all. I hope you all learn something. Everybody gets
up to leave, and as you get up to leave, he looks at
me and says to me, Mark, stick around a minute, and I
said, I see you have a lot of opinions. Mark. I said
yeah. I said, yeah, you seem to know a lot about fashion.
I said, well, I always had a taste level. I have
a good feel for it. He says, you know what, you might
have a good feel for fashion, but your corporate politics. You don't understand
now he's saying this, and I got to tell you there is a quote,
I think it's from the same James Bible where it says, Yay,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I shall fear
no evil. Behind his desk, he had a tapestry I'll never forget,
and it said, Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the Valley
of Death, I shall fear no evil because I am the meanest son of
in the valley. And he looks at me and he says, Mark,
I might not always be right, but I'm never wrong. Why don't you
go think about it? You need to learn. With that as a backdrop,
I'm giving you a gift tonight in corporate of politics back in a minute.
Always in fashion, fall is now upon us, spring is gone,
summer is over, and I'm tending to be a little upset, except the
four brings new challenges and new differences and a great new environment for us to
thrive and enjoy. I, for one, love the change of the seasons
because of the new fashion, and I am excited about my favorite brand,
Isa and what they bring to the party. When I used to work at
the company and we were reinvent ing Izard, which had always been a golf
and tennis brand. We brought it to new heights, new dimensions. I
thought Isaac would be practical in skiing, not necessarily for on the slopes,
but for eproski. What do people wear when they're relaxing, when they're in
those hotels? What are you doing when you're at home? What are you
wearing to the movies? What are you wearing to go out at night when
you're no longer wearing your spring clothes? And here we are in full and
I can tell you what it is. Polar flees, French dairy, different
kinds of fleeces, color block, colors, sweaters, great, great long
sleeve items come into play. And with Isaza, they were always about color
and being colorful. I love what the brand represents, whether we're talking about
color block or solid colors. Always with the logo, Isaac brings a dimension
to sportswear fashion at affordable prices that you can't find anywhere. And at the
same time, it's all color related, from the woven shirts, from the
knit shirts to the matching sweaters or the sweaters that look great layering over these
shirts. Always matching pants, beginning with the core color of khaki, working
into the navies and the blacks. ISOD is a spectacular brand all about colors
and launching in full of the new fall shades you'll see in the stores.
Listen, guys, Isod's a great brand. It's energetic, it's fun to
be around, and it makes you feel and look your best. And now
there's a color palette change and you get to change with it. ISAOD.
Come take a look JC, Penny Cohal's and online ISID. What a history.
How much I enjoy this brand. Welcome back to Always in Fashion.
Here's your host, Mark Webber. I have come to the realization that I'm
not important anymore. At least I spent the year talking to you about I
used to be important. But I have to admit this week a series of
things came up that reminded me that maybe I still have something to contribute.
That friend who called me and asked me to help their son going through some
life in corporate American and I agreed, and I was incredibly helpful, mentoring
and helping them position themselves corporately for their next decision in their job. And
I started to appreciate, and I started to remember and if nothing else,
if I have nothing to say and I'm not important, why am I on
the radio? Why am I doing podcasts? If I didn't, I should
leave. And I won't leave because I know, in spite of my self
deprecation, I still have something to contribute and I'm proud of that and I'm
happy about it. So with this in mind, I have some things to
impart to you, and my holiday gift to you, I want to start
with lessons in corporate globally the French. When I first started with LVMH,
I was interviewing with the managing director OFMH in New York. He came from
Paris to meet me, and let's just say he was very interested in hiring
me. I made it clear that I wanted a corporate responsibility. He said,
in order to do that, yet, there are other people that you
would need to meet. Would you be willing to fly to Paris? A
week later, I'm there, got up really early. My first meeting was
with a woman named Madame Conchetta. She was the head of human resources for
LVMH. Now just take a moment to think what that means. Sixty two
brands at the time in one hundred and twenty countries and god knows how many
cities, more stores than you can imagine, over many different breaths and goals
and types of stores. It was an extraordinary organization and the finest and largest
luxury company in the world. She was head of human resources and during the
course of my time we had an interview. She was very strong, very
tough for English was good enough for me, certainly better than my French.
I met with Bernard Ornau, the chairman and CEO and founder elvim H,
had a great meeting, went back to New York and was pretty much hired.
But over the course of time I had to interview with Donna Karen.
I flew to Parrot k I spent two days there with Donna with the managing
director of LVMH, talking about everything and anything from swimming pools to different locations
within the islands, and it was a great time and Donna and I really
hit her off well, so much so at the end when she was taking
me to the boat to leave Parrot Kay and the Turks and Kekos, she
looked at me and said, Mark, you're a great guy. I think
you'd be great for Dior. She didn't want me to work in her company
anyway. I was leaving for vacation. I took the boat into Miami and
from there I flew to Las Vegas, five hour, six hour flight whatever
it was, and I landed. When I landed, about two hours later,
I get a phone call. And the first thing on the phone call,
my friend Madame Conchetta, is screaming at me, how dare you?
When you hear that, the first thing that goes through your mind is you
better keep your mouth shut. And she starts screaming, who do you think
you are? How dare you leak to the press that you met with Donna
Karen? And I was sitting listening and she just went on and on,
and she says the cover of Women's Wear Daily, there is an article about
you meeting with Donna Karen and Paraquet and that you're not joining the company.
And I was taken aback. I didn't know what to say in the article.
I eventually said said, dunno Donna Karen, dunno Donna Karen. And
what they wrote in the article is if they don't hire me at Donna Karen
to be their CEO, they don't know where it's going to because there are
nobody other candidates, and it was really ugly, and she continued to give
me crap and yell at me, and I was defenseless because I didn't really
know. I s Amaticumchetta in a very calm and professional voice. I said,
I hear you. I don't know where this is coming from. I've
been on a plane all this time, and it hit me Donna Karen had
a publicity network the likes of which you wouldn't believe, so many people and
so connected to the press. So I said to her, you know,
I know, I didn't speak to anyone. I've been in the air.
I just landed in Las Vegas. I'm on vacation. I have nothing to
do with this. I suggest you in with Donna Karen. Two hours later,
I get a phone call from out of Conchetta apologizing to me profusely that
it turns out that Donna Karen leaked the story and her team leaked the story
and she didn't want you and that's how she dealt with it. I apologize,
Mark, I can't believe it that we did this. I'm so sorry.
I want you to know I'm very much in favor of you as a
candidate. We'll talk again soon. Make a long story short. A couple
of months later, I got the job and working at Donna Karen, and
over the next three four and five months, I made a name for myself
and the company. Then one fateful day, I'm sitting in my office in
New York. I'm reading Women's War Daily and on the front cover, Madame
Conchetta is leaving LVMH. I was shocked and I was angry. I said,
all this time I've spent there, all the hand holding, all the
times that LVMH has made it clear to me how important I am to them
and how much they appreciated me. I'm reading in the paper that Matti Coucetto,
who had this relationship. Well, I'm on the executive committee in Paris
and the CEO of the Americas. Nobody tells me that the head of human
resources that is involved with us as leaving the company. I was really taken
aback. I couldn't believe that I didn't have the standing or the respect that
I would get a phone call at least or a private note saying this is
going to happen, or after it happened, tell me privately, and time
passed. Another couple of months. The managing director of the guy I reported
to is in New York. We were going to travel that day. We're
going to Woodbury Commons and we're talking about Mary of subjects, and we're talking
about what we saw and it's all well and fine. And I leaned to
him and I said, by the way, I have to ask you something
I say, maybe i'd ask you. I want to tell you that how
disappointed I was to read in the newspaper that Madam Conchetta left had a relationship
with her. That's not the way I should have found out about it.
Really disappointed that you or someone didn't call me in advance and explained to me
what was going on. I don't think it's appropriate that if I am important
to the company and I have these titles, I think I should have been
told. And he looked at me and he said, Mark, you work
for a European company. We are different from American companies. We have a
different culture, we have a different mindset, we think differently, we do
things differently. One of the reasons we like you is you bring your style
and your approach to the company which makes us richer. But you can't ask
us, a European company, to change for you. And if you want
to be successful here, if you want to have a future here, you
have to learn our ways and we're not learning yours. Okay, I understand
that's fair. And then he said, by the way I read about it
in the paper as well, I was always fascinated, amused and amazed by
the differences that took place around the world. Yeah, politics is important.
Take a break. I'm giving you some gifts back in a moment. Always
in fashion. As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld
was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision
of Parisian shit comes to America through Carlagofeld Paris. He has women's collections,
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You can explore the car Lagovil collection at car Lagofelparis dot com. But it's
more than that. I have for one, love to shop. I love
going around and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make
me feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously,
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something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours. You can find
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I'm a modern guy. I want to look current. I want to
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in black and carlagafeldt is my buddy. Clothes are great, they fit great,
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I can't speak enough about it except to say to you, you want to
feel good about yourself. You want to know that you're dressing properly. You
want to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel
dot com. This is Mark Webber. I remember so clearly when Donna Karen
hit the scene. It was explosive. She was one of the most dynamic
designers in the history of the world, and how product was very, very
different from anything anyone in America had ever seen. She was modern, she
was New York. She was vibrant. When you looked at the business in
those days, there are companies like Ralph Polo or Tommy Hill, Figure or
Nordica, great traditional American brands, but no one identified modern. You wanted
modern, you had to find Georgia Armani. Black was the basis of his
presentation, and everything about it had a European sheek to it, but not
in America until Donna came. Donna was a New York life resident, understood
the pace of the city, understood what it was like to live in the
city that never sleeps, that goes twenty four to seven, Donna invented Decay
Done a Care in New York. I'll never forget the first time I saw
it. I was in London and they had built at a magnificent four floory
store in a building with an open roof, a glass ceiling, glass ceiling,
I suppose, representing we're changing the way things are done. DK and
Y was frankly nothing short of extraordinary, both men and both for women.
Black was the basis of the brand, although there are many colors played off
the palette and they all look good against black. Let's face it, we
live active lifestyles. We get up in the morning, we do different things,
we work, we play evenings. Is about entertaining and seeing the best
that New York has to offer. TKY offers a collection a men's wearing,
women's wearing, but footwear, accessories, suits, shirts, ties, women's
sportswear, women's active wear that speaks to the lifestyle that goes with you wherever
you want to go. And it's always modern, it's always contemporary. It's
always at the forefront of of what fashion should be. With the New York
lifestyle in mind, I've lived the life. I was the chairman and CEO
of Donna Karen I understood what that brand meant, and I can tell you
if you want to step out, you want to walk away from your traditional
roots. If you want to be modern, you want to make a statement
of elegance, but in a New York kind of way, with the sophistication
of New York. As a person who understands all the city has to offer
and all the modern lifestyle in America is about. You find it everywhere people
are forcing themselves, urging themselves to get out and be special and live this
lifestyle. DCN Why you can find dkn why at DCNY dot com or in
Macy's. I'm telling you, guys, and I'm telling you ladies, you
can look chic, you could look special. You look right, DCN why
welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. Then
a year saying I'm not real of it, I'm spending tonight to tell you,
well, Mark, if you're not relevant, why are you on the
radio and why you on podcast? Why you're wasting everyone's time. So I've
had to back off and say maybe I do have something to say, and
tonight this show is my gift to you with that in mind. We're talking
politics, politics and business. Jesse. I got to ask you, you're
the new coming to this group, how are you dealing with politics. It's
an interesting question because one of the things that I do talk about gifts.
I have the gift of filling in for some very big personalities on radio.
So, for example, I fill in for Dan Abrams on Serious XM,
the Potus Channel, and Dan Schaeffer, those of you who don't know,
is more of a middle of the road approach. He tries to give a
balanced take. It doesn't mean that he's always down the line. I mean,
he'll sometimes favor someone on the left, he'll favor someone on the right.
But he gives a balanced approach, and when I fill in for him,
I'm very cognizant of that. I'm very aware of that. This past
week I filled in for him, and I got to ask you about it.
I took a matter. I came up with this idea and I thought
it was kind of an interesting subject. What I didn't realize was the absolute
fallout from me doing this. How much people would hate me. You tell
me if I'm crazy here. Okay, So the topic that I picked was
everything in the news right now is talking about if Donald Trump gets a second
term, it's gonna be the end of the republic, It's gonna be the
end of democracy. Oh yeah, what happened to check some balances. So
a lot of this is also based on Trump's words. People are very worried
that he's his second term is gonna be unhinged. Okay, and you know
what bab I said. Look, he's saying some really scary things. I
don't blame people for thinking that way, but are we maybe overblowing this a
little bit? So I'm not convinced that it's gonna be as dire as people
say. Could it be? Maybe? But I was of the opinion I'm
just not one hundred percent convinced. The minute I said that, everybody called
in Jesse or you're so naive, Jesse. What is wrong with you?
You know, oh what he's doing, He's telling you what he's going to
do. How could you believe this? What's wrong with you? So then
I fire back and I go, wait, wait a minute, So you're
telling me to take Trumpet face value? Don't you call him a liar?
And you can't believe anything that he says? So now you want to believe
everything that he says. Oh my gosh, So the amount of hate mail
I got was just incredible. Well, with that in mind, I think
that it just goes to show it doesn't matter whether you're in the corporate America
or in the entertainment business or the news business. This politics and we all
have to deal with it. And my advice to you, if you don't
know what to say, keep your mouth closed. Number two. If you
don't know what to say, take a moment, take a pregnant pause and
think about what you say before you say it. Recognize that not everyone is
the same in this world. Everyone has a different point of view. Everyone's
point of view needs to be respected, and you need to learn how to
navigate through that. With this in mind, to eat show. There's my
gift to you. I hope you've enjoyed it. Good Night,