This is an encore performance I've Always in Fashion. This show is produced and
hosted by Mark Webber. The show is sponsored by G three of Peril.
The views expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor and not necessarily
the opinion of seven ten wo R or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Webber.
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 Webber. Mark Webber,
I've been thinking that lately. The last couple of shows have been really
serious. I don't know about you, but I want to have some fun
tonight. Yeah, I will tell you. I have to say that the
shows were insightful. There were collaborations, there were risks, there were entrepreneurs,
There's a lot going on. But nonetheless I didn't have fun. Please
don't get me wrong. Let me restate it. I just wasn't talk about
fun stuff. I will remind you and myself, of course, so talking
on the radio is an honor and a privilege. But tonight I want to
loosen it up. I want to talk about important subjects, for sure.
But just like girls want to have fun, boys want to have fun.
What do you think about that, Jesse fun, I'm always game for that.
I think this. I like this idea. But I'll tell you you
know, I thought the last few shows were great. In my opinion,
I thought they were insightful. You give a unique approach. Maybe I'm wrong
learning. I think it's fun. It sounds cheesy, but I learned some
things. But having said that, I'd like to do a light show tonight.
I'm glad. I'm also glad you learned. I wasn't learning. Remember
you can't learn while you're talking. But nonetheless, I want to have some
fun. I want to cover some important points. I don't want to pack
and deliver stuff that's just not so serious. Look, if you want to
lighten it up, I'm right there with you. I'm game. But play
back the comments from the last few shows. I don't know about you,
but I'm having a good time. Oh yeah, you are. I'm doing
the work, Kire, I'm doing the heavy lifting. But having said that,
tonight, I want to have a good time. And you know what,
I've entitled the show Breakfast. Not a clue where you're going with this
one. You talk breakfast, I'm in, I'm interested. Let's have some
fun. Yep, that's the plan tonight. I've been told that breakfast is
the most important meal of the day. That's what I'm told. N Attritionally,
it's starts your metabolism going and provides fuel for your body. I'm thinking,
though, the breakfast meetings can also be very important, vital start to
your day. Some of the most important meetings in my business life were breakfast
meetings. Now where did I get this? Walking home the other night from
the studio, I was in a good mood. I happen to look to
the left that I noticed the store and on it it said breakfast. But
right then and there it hit me that's what I want to talk to you
about tonight. Now, let's slow this down before we go anywhere. I
am not ready to get started. Who says it's okay to extend my business
day with breakfast? Don't I work hard enough as it is? I think
I do. I got an idea I want to stir up some anger here.
Okay, let's call this segment the Breakfast and the BlackBerry. What is
the breakfast and the BlackBerry haven't common? I'll tell you what. For a
guy like me who loves change, I have to admit I was the only
one of the few that resisted the BlackBerry from the onset. I was computer
literate. I made it my business to understand the company software, emails,
email systems, lotus notes, all our tracking systems. I was a student
and I was an ardent supporter of the IT function in our company. I
was laptop literate before anyone, and I carried my laptop everywhere. I was
a techie. No one would look at me and ever think I was a
techie. But I'll tell you why. I was very competent in our technology.
Now, speaking fun, one of my favorite business pastimes was and is
being underestimated. I have been underestimated my entire career. People have judged me
on the way I look rather than the substance. But I'll tell you about
that at another time. Helpe, you don't mind me rambling a bit,
but I'm having fun tonight. Let's go back laptop. I had the ability
to play CDs on my laptop store my photos contained my personal information, business
emails address, whereas a BlackBerry started out simply as a email device. I
was happy. I was content knowing I had one device that did it all,
with the exception of my cell phone, which wasn't a smartphone at that
time, which in the beginning was just a phone, but a very cool
looking phone. But then BlackBerry showed up, not necessarily the first smartphone,
actually the first being Palm Pilot Palm who m. There's another lesson first isn't
always best, and that's also a subject for another night. Can't even remember
what at the name palm pilot stood for. Speaking of which, anybody remember
my Space? I used to have that. Now it's only for serial killers
and people in bands. Okay, well cold. The point is I was
a laptop guy in the BlackBerry showed up. Now I'll never forget my introduction
to the BlackBerry. My boss shows up at my desk with his limited BlackBerry,
with the uncool look and shape of it. I have to give it
credit though. It does still have the best keyboard. But anyway, I'm
not sold functionally on the iPhone touchpad because of that but let's go back.
So my boss shows up and he says to me, Mark, you should
get a BlackBerry, shows me his BlackBerry, puts it on my desk.
I say, nope, not interested. He goes, Mark, you're an
idiot. This is the future, I said, you think, Well,
I'm traveling, I have my laptop, computer, I have music, I
have movies, I have access to every anything in the company, every system
the company offers. I don't need that thing. Call it. A month
later, i'm president of the company. The sea walks into my office and
puts a BlackBerry on my desk. This is for you. Learn how to
use it. This is how I expect you to communicate and for your info.
Mark, effective immediately, we're going to issue a BlackBerry to every officer
in the company. So much for me being the chief operating officer. But
I said, I'll tell you what. I still don't know why I need
this, and I never forgot what he said to me. Then I can
now connect with you and contact you any time, day or night. You
will always be connected. And then I thought, why do I always want
to be connected? Aren't I entitled to my own time? Aren't we entitled
to our own time. I didn't like this one bit. A smartphone has
brainwashed us at first, and now it's institutionalized us to be on call every
minute, every day to your job, your company, and your work.
You're now attached. Here's one. Do you own your phone or does your
phone own you? Did you ever misplace your phone? God forbid? Did
you ever lose your phone? Do you know what that feels like? Cardiac
arrest? That phone owns you? Now, don't get me wrong, The
smartphone as we know it today is right up there with the most important inventions
of mankind, the wheel, the car, airplanes. Some of my favorite
inventions ice, box of briefs, air conditionaling. I said, I want
to have fun tonight. I'm getting back to the point. You have to
give me a break here in a minute, I'll be there anyway. I'm
getting back to the point, and the point of this show is breakfast.
Do you have any favorite inventions? Considering this show is breakfast food? Have
you ever thought about it? Think about your favorite food? How did someone
come up with pasta? How does someone think that they're gonna take all these
ingredients from the ground, the earth, the sea, They're gonna up it
all up and make these dishes? Have ever thought of food as an invention?
Because I know I have the best invention. Who ever thought to put
mayonnaise and celery with tuna fish? How did you come up with a cake?
How about grilled cheese? That okay? Well, once you figured out
cheese, I think they would figure out to put it on the bread.
Look, you can talk about computers and all that stuff. I think food's
an amazing invention. All right, let's see where was I? Oh oh,
oh, yeah, the smartphone in the BlackBerry. Yes, the smartphone
is one of the most important and useful inventions of man. But why or
how did it become okay to be working always? It wasn't enough that we
work five days a week to get two off. It wasn't enough to work
fifty weeks a year to get two weeks vacation. Think about your day.
If you take eight hours out for sleeping, it leaves you with sixteen hours.
And if you add in the fact that you commute two hours a day
plus work ten to twelve hours, do the math, you'll left with four
hours a day for yourself. Who ever thought about this? Whoever or whatever
maniac figured out dass system must have looked up from hell and invented the smartphone.
Now we have working all the time. So where am I? Oh?
Yeah, breakfast the business breakfast has robbed us more of our free time.
Unbelievable. You're either a sadist or a crazy person asking people to meet
you seven thirty or eight o'clock in the morning for breakfast, or you work
for maniac who forces you to show up. Either way, breakfast is worth
talking about. Tell you what, I'll be back in a minute, one
of the few minutes I have left after I do all these other things people
are forcing me to do. Always in fashion. As one of the world's
most celebrated fashion designers, Carlagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
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He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory,
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wearing premium fragrances. You can explore the Carlograflle collection at carlogaville Paris dot com.
But it's more than that. If one love to shop, I love
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me feel good to wear Now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously,
but I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you want to look
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You can find it at very affordable prices at Macys, Socarlogafel dot com
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clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want to look current. I want
to look the way I want to feel. I go out at night,
I'm in black and carlog Is my buddy. Calls are great. They fit
great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on
the sleeve or button at the neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot
of details that go into Carl Agathel because he's always been, he always had
been one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and
on. 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 clothes that fits you well. Carl lagafeld Paris at Macy's or
Carlgafel dot com. My favorite brand has always been ISOD. My company at
one time bought that brand. The CEO of the company handed it to me
and said, you better make it work. And I put everything in my
career to make Eyesod work and I fell in love with that brand, and
to this day it is one of the most exciting endeavors I've ever got involved
with. Isod is an incredibly strong golf brand. If you play golf,
if you play for that matter, they make a great polo shirts. I
mean great. They're fit perfect. The material is unique because it's a p
K fabric that waffle weave, you see, and it's made of a blend
of cotton and microfiber that allows you to stretch. And very often they are
treated with solo protection as well, so they stretch, they're comfortable, and
they breathe well. And one thing about Isaad they always fit, They'll never
tug on you. You put it in your waist, they'll fit you great.
The colors patterns are sensational. Now I will also tell you ISAOD makes
great shorts and great golf pants. You're a golfer and you want to look
good. You don't want to have to think about how do I look.
You want to think about how you play, not how you feel. ISOD
is the brand for you. I know I was there when it was created.
The strategy behind that brand is brilliant. It's one of my favorite brands.
While I talk about I should tell you about the men's sports where D
wasn't enough being a golf brand. It wasn't enough being just great polo shirts
with logos, without logos. Incredible brands in story and history. ISAAD makes
salt weather programs. They have great printed woven shirts, short sleeves that look
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also make. This whole salt order relaxed line from ISAOD, whether it be
felice, cotton sweaters, nitpolos, woven shirts and pants of a range of
colors and fabrics that are perfect for a guy wants to go casually in the
spring and summer of this year, and he is. The thing ISOD is
affordable. Everyone listening to me talk about this brand can afford to buy it
and know that there are a lot of other brands that are also have a
look like Izod. Although I don't believe it's fun as eyesought is. The
brand has a lot of energy in it, but at the price points no
one can compete. You can find eyes that at your leading retails and online
atesod dot com. Talk to you later, guys. I wish you are
very happy spring and summer, and I help you by telling you if you
were eyesight, you're gonna look great. This is an noncore performance. I've
always in fashion. Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber. It's always business. I always in fashion, but tonight in
particular, it's always in fashion light. I want to talk about stuff not
too serious, but I want to have fun. But at the same time,
it's a business show and we're going to make sure that we learned something
along the way. Actually tonight, the title of the show is Breakfast the
Business. Breakfast the business breakfast like the smartphone extended all work day. I
don't know about you, but I've worked hard enough. Didn't need to start
my business day earlier by calling breakfast meetings about to be frank being required to
meet for breakfast for business meetings really upsets me and angers me. I work
hard enough as it is, but at the same time I have to begrudgingly
admit some of the most important meetings in my life we're breakfast meetings. So
let's talk breakfast, or in reality, let's talk over breakfast. When you're
summoned to a breakfast meeting, what's really happening. You're accommodating someone else's calendar.
It's most often someone seeing you to you, so I can't say no.
You have no choice, you have to go. The good news is,
if you think about it, your summons indicates that the boss has to
think enough of you to really grant you the time. But you're pleasant enough
to share a meal with and something needs to be covered. So no one
ever asked me, But I guess it's okay to be there now. Did
anyone really ever ask me? Can you get there? Is a convenient where
do you commute from? Let's also face no one ever asked me how long
it takes to get there. Therefore, I never got to say, oh
great, I like waking up four o'clock in the morning and running to meet
you, so I don't interfere with your busy day anyway. I'm having fun.
How about you, Jesse. It's pretty clever, pretty clever subject.
You kind of sound like a Larry David episode. I'm not gonna lie.
All right, then we'll make sure we picked that up as well. But
I have to admit I'm just talking breakfast. And I really had some huge
breakfast meetings in my time, and perhaps the most important meeting of my life
took place in Paris when I was recruited to LVMH Company. After a series
of interviews with human resources the managing director, I was asked if I could
go to Paris and meet with the company's CEO and founder. This particular gentleman
was the richest man in France, one of the ten richest men in the
world, and the founder and CEO and chairman of Louis Vuitton moe Ed Hennessy.
And yeah, I was glad to be summoned by him. And I'll
tell you what, this is a guy that you would need anytime, anywhere,
anyway. I was set up for seven forty five breakfast after catching an
international flight flying overnight eight hours, two hour commute to the hotel, upright
and early for breakfast, crazy but exciting. I was on my way.
I took a short walk, a short stroll from the hotel to corporate headquarters
on Avenue Montaigne. Though a number of levels of security were in place.
I was brought to the LVMH private dining room. I was brought to the
corporate dining room, seated at the breakfast table. Beautiful setting, just beautiful,
magnificent even to look at. Let's not forget that the French are the
ones who invented elegant. And then the man walks in, speaking of elegant,
tall, stately dressed in the oar slim fit, dark suit, white
shirt, dark tie, black shoes, his uniform. I later learned,
interestingly enough, the guy who was about to interview from New York MOA,
that's me in French, was also in his uniform. Navy suit, dark
Armani, white shirt, dark tie, black shoes. Is there a point
here, if you guys are listening closely, yes, of course you're responsible
for your own career. How you dress matters. Was it a coincidence we
both had on our corporate uniforms? I think not. After introductions, one
of the best, most important questions was asked of me, what do you
bring to a company mark? And I said, Miss Thorne, I bring
energy, great meeting, great breakfast meeting. I won the spot at LVMH.
We were done in forty five minutes. And by the way, never
drank the juice, sip the coffee, ate the eggs, bit into the
toast. Maybe I took a sip of water, but I don't think so.
To the best of my memory, neither did he. So the most
important breakfast meeting I ever had no one ate breakfast. Why didn't you,
guys eat? Doesn't make sense. Why have a breakfast meeting if no one's
eating? It was an interview. You don't eat breakfast in an interview.
Okay. I'm confused though, because when you and I went to London,
we stayed at the Mandarin Oriental overlooking the Hyde Park, really beautiful, and
I remember, I remember we had breakfast with the CEO of SD International,
the European Men's dcan Ye Licensey and franchise partner. We had breakfast. We
ate, so explain that to me. Of course we ate. I was
hungry. Wait, you just gave a totally different story with any meeting with
Bernardo and I. Well, it's different. In Paris, I was in
Bernardoo's meeting. If he wanted to eat, he could. He was in
control. The setting was breakfast. The concept was an interview. I think
frankly impressed him with the simple sophistication that I knew. I wasn't there to
eat. He was relaxed. I was relaxed and he was friendly. So
I was friendly. But I was there to educate him on who I was,
and in that moment, I was comfortable in my suit and skin,
and I was there to impress my style, substance and wherewithal. It was
all business, But in business you have to know the circumstance, and eating
wasn't on the agenda. He was there for the meeting, not for the
breakfast, even though it was the breakfast meeting. That's interesting. I would
have probably failed. I would probably ate everything. Well, I didn't.
I got the job. Say, I knew I had a reason for picking
this topic. It's interesting. Yeah, I would have been had a great
breakfast, probably would have gotten the job. But you'd be sitting there with
food in between your teeth and gulping it down, and he's watching you while
he's not eating. I would have asked, is the seconds all right?
All right, let's let's get back to London. Though you asked the question
why we had breakfast that morning, First of all, it was my meeting.
This guy kept chasing me all around London and asking for time to have
a meeting with me before the board meeting that was scheduled for later that morning
in the office. I granted him time. I had loved to intrude on
our quiet time. It was an accommodation. Now I was there. It
was a breakfast meeting, but I was there for breakfast and to be intellectually
honest. We had a close relationship with Michael Morris, the CEO, and
therefore it was a relaxed meeting. But nonetheless I was in control, and
you and I were eating and enjoying and having fun and doing what we want
because we had the control. It's called gamesmanship. Jesse, thanks for the
question about the breakfast. But once again, there is a point to this,
and a method to my madness, particularly for the listeners you out there
in your career, as you're invited or you're in the vity, It's important
to understand the nature of a meeting, whether breakfast or any other meeting.
It's important for success to understand the rules of engagement. Why you're there,
who you're with, what is your status in the meeting, and what do
you want to accomplish on that subject? I want to cover this. I
have another good example for you. You find this interesting, Jesse Love in
this topic, what are we doing next week? Lunch? You are funny.
I'm glad you're making me left. That was the purpose of tonight this
show. While it's for you listeners, it was designed for me to have
a good time delivering it. Back to breakfast meetings, and I suppose every
meeting begins with a purpose and a goal. Every meeting requires participants, each
with a role and each a part to play. When you set up your
own meetings should be easy. You know why you're having a meeting, you
know why you agreed to breakfast. But what happens when you're invited? It's
not so easy. Now when I'm being asked to a meeting, what's this
about. I suppose if the breakfast is being scheduled and you're not the initiator,
it can only be one or two scenarios. Someone works for you and
wants to get your opinion or help you make a decision you need the decision
making authority, or someone on the outside at third party wants to see you.
I can't tell you how many meetings have been set up for me by
my staff without clarity to the purpose. Sometimes the asking party would say,
I'll tell him when the purpose when I see him. Many times, you
just don't know why you're meeting. You don't know what role you're to play.
Are you the buyer or are you the seller. Here's a great learning
tip and approach to any meeting you may set up. I walk into the
meeting, the introductions are made, I simply ask my associate or the third
party present or team across the table, am I here to buyer? Am
I here to sell? It always gets a smile, a perplexed look,
but always boy he's direct, But it always, more importantly, gets resolved
instantly. I go into either mode. Do I want to convince these people
of something? Or do they want to convince me of something I should also
point out if you want a career, you want a boss to respect you.
You want your supervisor president to respect your business acumen. I don't care
how busy your bosses tells you he is or she is. I don't care
how busy assistant is and it says he is. You make it your business
when you set up a meeting for that person to download them. You need
to prepare them so they know what the meeting is about. You got that,
I hope. So there are times you have to give us summary line
to the boss. That's your job. I was always so busy, back
to back to back meetings. Each meeting was through another door. I often
thought I was like a doctor. You know, a pediatrician if you ever
went there, each door has a folder on it with a child's name on
the chart, and he would deal with the issues when he walked in.
The point of this is we're talking about meetings, We're talking about breakfast,
and right now we're talking about whether or not you're in charge of setting up
a meeting that one of your superior's boss president will be at. It's your
responsibility to make sure they know what the meeting is they'll walk in anywhere if
they're cool and say am I buying or selling? And they'll get it right
away. That was my technique. But that aside, it's your responsibility to
get to the assistant, to get to him and make sure he the role
he will play in that meeting. Is he going to buy or is he
going to sell? And speaking of selling right now on our breakfast show,
I'm gonna take a minute. It got some stuff to sell. We'll be
back always in fashion. Spent 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, we're 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, to
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 mock necks.
The choices are endless, and every one of them looks right. You
can 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. Venusen 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. It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wicking.
It makes it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,
this new style of looking shop while feeling cool and comfortable is amazing, and
I'm so excited that the van Using company is involved in this new technology and
is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget Venusen made its
name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the suit business follows strongly in
its way. You can find van us in cool Flex Men's stretched suits at
JC Penney are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great. You
should go look at them. This is a noncore performance. I've always in
fashion. Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.
So much happens in the morning. I hate as this breakfast. I
should point out, although I've had some great ones, my day is long
enough. What do I have to have breakfast? Too, I'm not working
hard enough. But that aside, this show is called Breakfast and now I
wanted to talk about breakfast on my watch. That's the segment we're in right
now. Last week I was walking uptown after the show. I looked at
my watch, then looked at the store window to my left and noticed a
sign on the door that simply said breakfast. Don't know why, not sure
how the creative part of the brain works, but I simply said, Hey,
I want to do a show on breakfast next week, A fun show
about breakfast. Feel like Seinfeld right now, Larry David. Interesting anyway,
I realized so much happened to me in my career over breakfast, considering I
really ever eat breakfast. Breakfast has been a place for me to experience a
mindset that has played an important part of my career. So here I am,
we're talking breakfast. I guess I should also remind listeners who are just
tuning in this is Mark Webber and Jesse Webber. You're listening to Always in
Fashion the radio show, and tonight it's Always in Fashion Light. Last few
weeks have been serious. This show definitely isn't serious, but there's a lot
of lessons to take out of here, So hopefully you're enjoying this unique topic
speaking of Larry David speaking fun. Unless you've been lost at sea or lived
in a cave for the last year's you would know that The Larry David Show
has just returned last week. One of the funniest shows ever in my opinion,
ever. But let's put that aside because it'll come back later. It'll
matter too bad. It's not called the Larry David Show, It's called Curb
Your Enthusiasm. Well, what are you? What do I know? I
know it is Larry David. You know you are getting to be a pain
in the neck on the Fun Show. Here details details, Yeah, being
thorough. Okay, let's go back to a moment ago. I'm walking uptown
after the show. I look at my watch, look at the sign restaurant
on the door, and it says breakfast. I'm talking breakfast tonight. Now
it's breakfast and watches and here we go. You want to one of my
stories yet? Sure? Yes, asked me if I heard it? Did
you hear the story before? I don't know? How would you? You
don't know what I'm gonna talk about? You're out here called flying Solo.
One day, I'm in Paris and talking with the managing director of LVMH on
assorted subjects in different brands, and I commented on Zenith watches. I had
been in a president's meeting back in New York and the president of Zenith was
talking about his business, and I got the sense that it just wasn't robust
Zenith watches. However, I have a long history. The company was founded
in eighteen sixty five, is a Swiss watchmaker and to this day manufactures all
its own components and parts. Pretty impressive. Zenith oh was purchased by VMH
in nineteen ninety nine. I knew of Zenith Zenith because I was a Rolex
guy. Rolex's most beautiful and coolest watch, in my opinion, is their
chronograph, the Rolex Daytona. It just so happens that I knew Zeneth up
until the latest Daytona update. Manufactured all the components for the role X Daytona,
one of my favorite chronograph watches. Now. The chronic graph watches are
the ones that you see with the three dials of the front doing the time
keeping in seconds on one dial, minutes and hours on the other two Those
are the front dials on the side. They're controlled by two stop watch controls
on the side surrounding the Crown's wounding mechanism. Now, if you followed that,
you now know the roll X Daytona. You now know what a chronic
graph watches, and you now know Zeneth. Anyway, I'm talking with LVMH's
managing director in Paris. I'm feeling confident, talking corporate and I offer,
you know, I feel that Zeneth doesn't appear to be growing, and maybe
I know why. And he goes, in his Italian accent, what's that,
Mark, They all are convoluted. There's too much stuff going on,
and the movements, the fronts to face, too much going on in the
watch. He listened and with his unique Italian accent, he said, very
interesting, Mark, there's a work to be done. This a brand.
I hear you, though, Mark, but let's talk about something else.
And I forgot about it. Good accent. Thank you. A few months
later, in October, he was back in New York and asked to see
me for breakfast. Here we go again. Breakfast. We met in an
upscale hotel in Midtown Manhattan. I had a nice tea green melon and dry
rye toast. Unlike my conversation earlier on my breakfast interview in Paris, this
meeting, I was relaxed. I was doing well with the company and the
group, and well I was hungry. He ate, so I ate.
Anyway, we talked about a number of things, covered a number of updates
and important issues. Right before we finished, he took out a box and
a small shopping bag and he gave it to me and he said, Mark,
I brought this up for you. And in the bag was a watchbox,
a Zenith watchbox, he said, open it. Inside was a beautiful
leather strap, white faced, simply elegant Zenith chronograph. He said to me,
as Fallows, we are very happy and proud of the work you are
doing for us, and we wanted you to have a watch from the group
for you to wear and Mark, you will notice it's a simple, elegant
face. By the way, I think you should do the rest of the
show in this accent. One of the proudest moments in my career. I
could tell you that breakfast I left, I couldn't stop smiling to myself.
I called my wife. She was proud now for our Larry David moment.
The watch just complicated my life. I took it out of the box,
I started staring at and I liked it, But it wasn't a Rolex.
What am I gonna wear it? When am I going to wear it?
Now? What am I gonna do? Now? I have to think about
this. I get up in the morning, instead of just putting on my
Rolex watch, I have to think, do I wear this one? That?
Whatever? It was making me crazy, But anyway, I figured out
that, you know what I would do whenever LVMH Corpett was in town and
I was with them, I would wear that watch. Now, I want
to fast forward to April. It's accounting season. Text time I was with
my account and going through my tax return. We came across an item listed
on the earnings a column on my W two from LVMH twelve thousand dollars.
They listed the watch as income. They judgement for it. What does that
mean in my tax bracket? I'll tell you what it means. I bought
that watch that I didn't need for eight thousand dollars. So go figure.
This is corporate life. You don't give it away things in corporate life,
which bring me. Thank you. Perfect leading to my next story. Did
you know the famous rocker Alice Cooper of snakes, ripping chicken heads off,
black eye makeup and of course an amazing song catalog, is an avid golfer
and a fine watch collector. I met Alice Cooper at the Golf Merchandizing Convention
one January in Orlando. Who's a unique guy. Okay, I'm at the
golf show and all of a sudden, I was the president of the whole
thing. I had thirty two salesman there, the biggest booth at the event.
It was an amazing experience to be at the golf show, my first
one. All of a sudden, this guy walks in with this long hair,
looking like a Rocca. He looks crazy. I mean, I'm surrounded
by all these golf guys with the short hair. They're all buffed, they're
all athletes, and he walks in. So I walked over to Alice Cooper
and he was there, and he introduced me to his manager and himself and
said, Hi, I'm Alice Cooper. I'm looking for someone to sponsor my
charity. I saw this company. I really admire it. You look very
busy and I was wondering if I could talk to someone about sponsoring your tournament.
I said to him, so what is the tournament? This is I
have a foundation. It's called Solid Rock Foundation. It's in Arizona. And
what it is. It's a facility that I built for young kids in a
high school that when school is over is three o'clock, they have a place
to go to read, to hang out, to play pool or play ping
pong. Just take him off the streets and keep him out of trouble.
It's a great organization. I said, you know what, it sounds great
as well. Anyway, we're looking for a sponsor to help outfit all the
tournament and keep people and give out give bags. Who would I talk to?
I said, I tell you what we're gonna do. Let's assume you
have your sponsor. It's done. He looks at me, said no,
no, you don't understand. I need someone who can authorize me doing I
said, it's done, says manager. Looks at me, says, who
are you. I said, I'm the president of the company. They said,
you're kidding and I said no, And I brought over the people that
needed to do the work to sponsor the show, and for nine years running
we sponsored Alan Cooper's Golf Events celebrity tournament in Arizona. I enjoyed doing it,
was a great thing. However, this show is not about that story.
This show is about breakfast, and I want to talk to you about
watches and breakfast. One morning in Scottsdill, his owner, one of the
Alice Cooper opening golf ceremonies, we sat down and I had breakfast and all
and behold, Alice Cooper sits down next to me. He says, Mark,
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support for my tournament,
and how worthwhile this organization is, and how much we appreciate we're doing for
the community. Also said to me at the time, I'll tell you what
I'm looking forward to tonight. You've never seen one of these events. This
is going to be a big one, and I have a surprise for you.
I told him it's an honor to be associated with him and in the
organization and the good executive as I was. I reminded him how important it
was for him to wear our logo products at every celebrity tournament he we go
to, and of course he did. After our breakfast, we play celebrity
golf. That night was the big night, Saturday Night, big event.
We show up, there's about a thousand people, famous MC, couple of
comedians and then Alice Cooper is introduced as Alice Bond aka James Bond. That
was the theme for the night, and Aston Martin is driven in and Alice
in tuxedo and a cast of characters plays out a scene that any Bond of
Fictionado would enjoy watching. Alice's band then joins him on the stage and they
play School's Out for some up, gives out a bunch of awards, and
then he starts to talk and thank his sponsors because the theme was James Bond
Knight. Alice says then that he has a thank you gift for each of
the five title sponsors, and we're coraled on the stage. Alice hands me
in a box and in it is an Omega watch, the one James Bond
war in his last movie, The Omegacy mastered him. Alice is a watch
guy. The theme of the evening's event was James Bond, and the watch
only made sense. He whispers to me, thank you, Mark, Glad
you're here. Happy We had a chance to have some breakfast and thank you
for your support. So once again, here we are. I have a
new watch I didn't need. As I'm walking back to my seat, I'm
saying to myself, I can't keep this watch. I'm a corporate executive.
I can't accept gifts. Now, let's take a moment here. When you're
an executive, you do not accept gifts period. As an executive, you
can't afford to be seen in the wrong light. Even though it was a
generous, innocent gesture, it could be seen later that I was influenced to
support his charity because I was received even gifts. I'm sure he never even
entered Alice's mind, but it did mine. Just remember, the appearance of
impropriety is a problem, certainly in business. There's no gift worth speculating on
your integrity. I figured I would turn the watch into the company, and
they, in turn will figure out what to do with it. Maybe they'll
put in a case in one of the showrooms. Either way, I was
honored personally, and I was honored for the company to be called out on
stage. I walked back to my seat and while Alice was playing I'm eighteen,
I opened a box to look at the watch, Omega Sea Mass,
the blue dial, cool stainless steel band. Did I need this? Oh
my goodness, another watch I didn't need? And then I looked at the
back. I'm graved on the back it said thank you Mark Webber, Alice
Cooper. Oh my god, how can I bought with the watch? Now?
Hooray? And oh now I own another watch. I went to a
watch store, found out what it cost, and wrote the company a check.
I thought it was a small price to pay for integrity and a lesson
for all of those associated with me who are at the event or in the
company. To talk about later, I said an example in a while.
It was expensive for me to own that watch. It's a keepsake forever,
but it is priceless the lesson I taught my executives. I love that story.
That's the story about business, breakfast and watches. I'm always in fashion.
I'll be back in a moment to talk about the breakfast of champions.
Always in fashion. 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 decam Why because of their sponsorship of the
show. I went downstairs at Macy's thirty fourth Street to look around and I
saw dekmy active where And I promise you, ladies, it is sensational,
from the sports bras to the crop tops, to the leggings and the sweats.
It really is a great look. And Decay had begun as an all
American brand dressing casual clothes engines, and the stuff 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 wear all the time. I've
had situations where I've gone to big events and been interviewed and TV or radio,
and someone comes up to me the microphone and like they always do,
who you're wearing? And here I am, this big shot with a big
company and they say, well, I'm wearing a DKNY and they laugh and
say, no, you're not. Actually have one on the internet where you
could see me. They asked me what suit I'm wearing, and I say
DC Andy and open it up and there's the DKNY label. Great fashion.
It fits well, it looks right. It's designed to make you comfortable in
the city. Goes from day and to night. You can wear it in
the morning and wear in the afternoon, and you look cool at night as
well. It's great for the office. It's great Felisia. But I'm talking
about the DKNY active where. The first time I really became aware of it,
Jesse and I were up at Sirious Radio. He was doing a job
for Serious he does the Nam 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's wearing a DK and
Y 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'll
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 activewear in particular right now looks sensational and
being that everyone's athleisure in activewear, it's a great time DK and Y go
take a look. 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 ship comes to America through Carl Lagafeld Paris. He has women's
collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags.
The fashion house Carlagafeld also offers a range of watches, eyewear and premium fragrances.
You can explore the Cargafl collection at Carlogafel Paris dot com. But it's
more than that. If for one who 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, but
I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you want to look right,
you want to have clothes that fits you well. You want to look
like you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours.
You can find it at very affordable prices at Macy's Socarlogafel dot com Paris.
The women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the hand egs
and the shoes. If one wear men's clothes and onlike my appreciation of women's
clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want to look current, I want
to look the way I want to feel. I go out at night,
I'm in black and Carlagafel is my buddy. Clothes are great, they fit
great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on
the sleeve or button at the neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot
of details that go into Carl Lagafel because he's always been, he always had
been one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and
on. 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 clothes that fits you well. Carl lagafeld Paris at Macy's or
Carlafel dot com. This is a noncore performance. I've Always in Fashion.
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. The
other day I was walking home from the studio after recording. I happened to
look at a restaurant on the side of the street while I was passing by,
and it said breakfast. For whatever reason, the creative juices in my
mind kicked in and I said, this weekend, I want to do a
breakfast show. At the same time, I wanted to have fun. Last
couple of shows are very serious. Well, I think they were helpful and
you might have learned a lot. They weren't fun for me. So as
he had a good time, he's always have been a good time. I
just wanted to talk tonight and have fun, tell you a few stories,
and make a point about how important breakfast is as part of your business life.
Having said that, we talked about a bunch of things, and I
want to talk about my favorite and worst breakfast. But before I talk to
you about mine, I'm with Jesse Webber. Hey you got a favorite breakfast?
My time has arrived. So much to talk about with breakfast. Yes,
yes, yes, I do have some favorite places in the world for
breakfast. But my number one place for breakfast is a place called Shadow Creek
in Las Vegas. It's a private golf club. When they pick you up
in a limo because it's all secluded, you go there, you can get
whatever you want for breakfast. Anything imagine it, They'll make it. And
not only do they make anything, you want. It tastes unbelievable and it's
a beautiful view overlooking the golf course. It's like that movie The Contender,
whereas Jeff Bridges was the president can make whatever he wants and do it me
same way. Whatever I want best breakfast, you can get an omelet with
any kind of topping that you wanted. Its smoked salmon, avocado, broccoli,
spinach. It's amazing. Put it this way. We've been going there
for like ten years. I've never seen the chef. I've never seen the
kitchen. I don't know what they do back there, but it's some sort
of magic that they make. So anyway, besides Las Vegas, which is
my favorite, I went to Japan. I went to Tokyo. There is
a buffet breakfast that we had in our hotel that overlooked all of Tokyo.
I shouldn't have been allowed in that breakfast buffet. I just went to town
and I think I think everybody there the stuff are like, oh this American,
look at him, just going after everything. But those are my favorite
breakfast places. Now here's the worst. I don't even think you know this
story. When I was at the University of Michigan, My mom came to
visit and she stayed in this hotel, and one day she said, come
up, we'll have breakfast. So I go up to her hotel and there's
a big buffet. Now, Michigan, it's nice when your mom, your
parents are there. They take you out for breakfast. So I go to
this buffet and it's everything you want. I'm a sucker for a buffet.
And I see, oh my goodness, have a bagel, cream cheese,
and lock smoked salmon. And I get this giant bagel, put cream cheese
on it. I take so much smoked salmon and throw it on there.
I go back to the table. I'm so happy. I haven't had this
in forever. And I bite into it. It wasn't smoked salmon. It
was ginger. What's ginger? You know the side when you have sushi,
The thing it's like there was swasabe and then there's ginger. It looks like
smoked salmon. Now there's one thing to bite into a plethora of ginger.
But to also not think that thinking it's smoked salmon. Oh, it was
awful. It was awful. But wait, now that I'm thinking about it,
that's not even the worst breakfast I ever had. Okay, we were
in London. We were in London and you might remember this one. You
go, I was younger. We you go out to a business meeting.
I'm in the hotel. He said order You said, order room service.
I order room service. They bring it up. They give me toast and
what appears to be jelly in a can of stone. Idiot, it appears
to be can't jelly? And I said, oh, this is a strange
jelly. I take it, put on the toast, skye bite into it.
It wasn't jelly. It was lighter fluid. It was the thing that
they put under the candle. The candle they put in it was the gooey
substance. I thought it was actually jelly. I was like, Oh,
they do things weird here in England. So both stories, I'm an idiot,
but they were. Those are the worst breakfasts in my life. This
a breakfast is an amazing adventure. My favorite also involves the world. You
know you mentioned Japan. I used to go to Osaka and there was a
hotel called the Royal Hotel, the Royal Hotelo, and they had the greatest
green Crenshaw melon I ever tasted the sweetest melon overlooking one of their zen gardens,
sand and beautifully crafted banzai trees, and I never forgot reflecting on how
beautiful that is. I also love with Lucky we travel being in the south
of France, who were there on business at the Carlton Hotel. For those
of you who are following that, the Carlton Hotel is actually the hotel that
filmed To Catch a Thief with Carrie Grant and Grace Kelly. Grace Kelly,
thank you. I remember sitting out there, beautiful buffet breakfast. The weather
was so perfect in June. We're looking out, the sun is out,
palm trees all around, looking over the Mediterranean. Having these amazing different kinds
of cheeses, different kinds of bread, French bread is unbelievable. And being
with you sharing our time. I've done that with Jared as well, so
it's been a remarkable time for me. I loved it. I loved every
time we went to California. California. You never eat indoors, that's our
rule, right, no meal indoors would yeah, no meal indoors from breakfast
on overlooking golf courses, overlooking the water. It actually makes me think about
people that live in California. Why they're office buildings. Everything should just be
outside. I have a standard rule when it comes to California. I hate
all Californias. You want to know why. Why Because it's winter and they're
wearing short sleeves. I know they're out there having a great time. I've
always thought that breakfast was a very calming time if one was to eat,
to go out and enjoy and sit there. My favorite outfit and I had
the biggest impact on me. You don't know this story. My friend Bruce
and I were working together. We went to London. We were in the
Mandarin Oriental, which we talked about before. We're having a business breakfast.
He and I both dressed in suits and ties or jackets are over the chairs.
This Chinese guy comes in and he's wearing gray slacks, a white shirt,
a burgundy tie, and a pink sweater. And he had the pink
sweater tucked in his pants. He was so thin that he looked beautiful in
a tucked in sweater. Now, I don't have to tell you what a
tucked in sweater is for me, right, your standard uniform? Yeah,
this guy wore it to this day. I haven't seen Bruce now for call
it ten years. If you asked him tell me a story about a pink
sweater, he would tell you him and I watching that. So even breakfast
fashion comes into play. Is that why you wear it now? Well,
it's where I first got the idea. Now, I've never been as thin
as that Chinese guy, and I don't know that I ever looked as well
as he did. But the idea of talking in your sweater, it's just
a great look. And the idea of a shirt tie with a tucked in
sweater, I live in that. I never wear my sweaters out since that
day. And now you know where it came from. So breakfast has had
an impact on all of us some way, on all of our lives,
one way or another. Breakfast I encourage you, whether you like to eat
it or not, take advantage of that time and day, Take advantage of
time to meditate and time to enjoy, time to look out at the world,
look at the water, look at the sky, look at the people
around you. There's so much to be learned for breakfast on always in fashion,