Speaker 1: This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.
Speaker 2: The show is sponsored by G three of Parow.
Speaker 1: The views expressed in the following program are those of
Speaker 1: the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor
Speaker 1: or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made
Speaker 1: business executive here to help you find your success from
Speaker 1: the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Speaker 1: His global success story in the luxury world of fashion
Speaker 1: is inspirational. He's gone from.
Speaker 3: Clerk to CEO twice.
Speaker 1: Mark is classic proof that the American dream is alive
Speaker 1: and well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.
Speaker 4: Mark Weber, I ask you what do you work for?
Speaker 4: I asked myself why do we work? Interesting thing is
Speaker 4: it depends who asked the question. Ask your boss why
Speaker 4: he works to help make the company successful? Ask your
Speaker 4: wife for significant other? Do you work more to ensure
Speaker 4: we have a secure life? If it's your children? Why
Speaker 4: do I work to provide you with an education to
Speaker 4: make sure you have a better life than I have? Now?
Speaker 4: What would you tell yourself? Well, first of all, I
Speaker 4: know work is work. If it's work, if you enjoy
Speaker 4: what you're doing. It's never work. It's part of a
Speaker 4: great way to live your life. Having said that, I work, hmm,
Speaker 4: I have no choice. I have to make a living,
Speaker 4: I have to provide for my family. I work to
Speaker 4: afford the best things I can. I work to enjoy
Speaker 4: my life. I work to achieve success, to be proud
Speaker 4: of myself, to accomplish something. Now, if you're listen closely,
Speaker 4: this is starting to sound like you work for your
Speaker 4: goals more than anything else. And I think that's true.
Speaker 4: I think we all have to be happy with ourselves.
Speaker 4: It's important to be proud of yourselves. And some of us, look,
Speaker 4: it's not easy out there. It's hard to make a living.
Speaker 4: It's hard to get jobs, it's hard to say employed.
Speaker 4: It's hard to deal with the people are telling you
Speaker 4: what to do. It's hard to deal with life in general.
Speaker 4: Work isn't supposed to be easy. Nobody ever said it
Speaker 4: was fair. But if you enjoy what you're doing, it's
Speaker 4: really not work. But the more you hear about this,
Speaker 4: I think that it's true that we work for other reasons,
Speaker 4: not money. We all have to live with ourselves. It'stand
Speaker 4: to reason. We should know what we want. Perhaps not
Speaker 4: how to get there, but we know it could be survival.
Speaker 4: Some of us work to make it day to day.
Speaker 4: Some of us live paycheck to paycheck. Some of us
Speaker 4: get lucky and get inspired. I think about this all
Speaker 4: the time. It's changed me for years. Over and over,
Speaker 4: I've rethought that. At first, my sole goal was to
Speaker 4: make enough money not to live in the city projects.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to be poor. My interest shifted as
Speaker 4: my focus moved away from money. I then realized that
Speaker 4: I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to be proud of myself.
Speaker 4: I wanted my wife to be proud of me. I
Speaker 4: wanted my family to be proud of what I was accomplishing.
Speaker 4: I should also not that I wanted my wife's family
Speaker 4: to recognize she wasn't wrong in choosing me. So many
Speaker 4: years later, I was sitting with my father in law
Speaker 4: and mother in law one day. I was doing pretty well,
Speaker 4: and my father in law looked over to me and
Speaker 4: he said, Susie always said you'd be okay, which you
Speaker 4: could imagine the conversations all throughout the years and why
Speaker 4: she picked me. But I wanted them to think that
Speaker 4: I did the right thing and that she was right
Speaker 4: in picking me. I wanted things. I wanted stuff. I
Speaker 4: never dreamed too high, you know, at the beginning an apartment,
Speaker 4: I dreamed about a house. I wanted to own my
Speaker 4: own car, not my parents' car, and then eventually I
Speaker 4: wanted to own a sports car convertible. I never lost
Speaker 4: sight of investment. Navy suits, white shirts with ulinks because
Speaker 4: I wanted the degree of elegance. This was my uniform.
Speaker 4: I wanted to look the part. I wanted to blend in,
Speaker 4: but I wanted it to stand out by looking as
Speaker 4: best as I could. I keep saying I wanted I'm selfish.
Speaker 4: I think we all are. It's okay to take care
Speaker 4: of yourself, to want what you want. It's also okay
Speaker 4: to have an ego. It'll drive you. I never understood
Speaker 4: the conversation egos don't work. Anybody without an ego can't
Speaker 4: be successful. That's the way it is now. I suppose
Speaker 4: the way you manage your ego making sure your head
Speaker 4: doesn't get too big for the pillow you're sleeping at night. Well,
Speaker 4: as life went on, it wasn't about money for me.
Speaker 4: It was about accomplishing, having a career, making your name
Speaker 4: for myself. Work hard, work smart, prove your worth. Make
Speaker 4: sure the company is paying you what you're worth, because
Speaker 4: if you're doing what you're worth, you're worth a lot
Speaker 4: of money. I didn't work for money, though, I worked
Speaker 4: to quench my unquenchable curiosity, to learn, to grow, to reflect,
Speaker 4: and to be proud. So why do I work? Funny,
Speaker 4: It wasn't about money. Money is simply a means to
Speaker 4: keeping score, how you're doing against the guy next to you,
Speaker 4: at the gal next to you. Money for me was
Speaker 4: about being there. I believed at one point in time
Speaker 4: that money would take care of itself, as my first
Speaker 4: mentor advised me prior to my first job interview, I
Speaker 4: have mentioned this before I was going on my first
Speaker 4: interview for PVH. I had met a headhunter who was
Speaker 4: introduced to me became a mentor to me. That first
Speaker 4: day I met him and at one point he asked me,
Speaker 4: how much money do you want to make? I've had
Speaker 4: fifty thousand dollars and he said, no, that's not the
Speaker 4: right answer. They're going to ask you how much you
Speaker 4: want to earn, and the answer you ought to give
Speaker 4: them is as follows, money doesn't matter to me. Now
Speaker 4: what matters me is to establish myself in a good company,
Speaker 4: a company that can help teach me what I needed
Speaker 4: to learn and recognize I have a contribution to make
Speaker 4: to the company. And in time, I am sure money
Speaker 4: will take care of itself. And I believe that, and
Speaker 4: it took a very important place within my thinking. Then
Speaker 4: now forever, I tell you all out there, those are
Speaker 4: you just beginning. If you do your job, you do
Speaker 4: it well, you do it better than the next guy
Speaker 4: or the next gal, You'll be taken care of, and
Speaker 4: over time, if you're not, you'll find another company that will.
Speaker 4: I worked to develop a position in life. The funniest
Speaker 4: thing is, upon reflection, money as I grew older, was
Speaker 4: not about money. It became about walking away. It became
Speaker 4: what we know as few money, the power to do
Speaker 4: what you want, the power to be able to negotiate
Speaker 4: your way through anything. So as I got older and prouder,
Speaker 4: some say I had the first penny I ever made.
Speaker 4: Funny the impression I created because I did everything I wanted.
Speaker 4: I bought everything I wanted. Yet I always preached saying
Speaker 4: and careful spending. That was part of my mantra. I
Speaker 4: always felt that I don't mind spending money, but I
Speaker 4: hate wasting it. And I prepared for my career as
Speaker 4: it winded down. I walk like a man. And that's
Speaker 4: tonight's show. And joining me on Tonight's walk, my lawyer,
Speaker 4: my co host, my son, Jesse Weber, Jesse, Why do
Speaker 4: you work?
Speaker 3: Why do I work? Money? Now, I look as simple?
Speaker 4: Huh.
Speaker 5: Well, look, you have to work in order to support
Speaker 5: your life, make a livelihood, support your family. But you
Speaker 5: also hope that you do something that you can build
Speaker 5: a career in and enjoy and look back and say
Speaker 5: I accomplish something.
Speaker 4: Now, Well, money's important. Now I'm going to talk about
Speaker 4: when you ask me why do I work? But I
Speaker 4: don't know that's it.
Speaker 5: Well, if you told me tomorrow, boom, you get five
Speaker 5: hundred million dollars, You don't have to work at a
Speaker 5: job nine to five anymore.
Speaker 3: What do you think I'm going to do? I will
Speaker 3: tell you.
Speaker 5: Though I've thought about this, I said, I kind of
Speaker 5: fantasize what my life would be like.
Speaker 3: I still think I would maybe do a little something.
Speaker 5: I wouldn't go out where we're crazy, but I might
Speaker 5: have a little side project of some kind.
Speaker 4: Would you look who you're esky. I don't have five
Speaker 4: hundred million dollars.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I wouldn't toil away for no reason. It's
Speaker 5: a big part of it is too pay your bills,
Speaker 5: pay your expenses, support your family.
Speaker 4: Well, you got to keep your mind busy. And that's
Speaker 4: a big part of why I'm still going at it.
Speaker 2: But here you go.
Speaker 4: If I told you, if I told you my life's
Speaker 4: goal was to be able to walk away, what would
Speaker 4: you say?
Speaker 5: I would say, it's not relevant. Most of our audience
Speaker 5: is young. They're not thinking about that. They're starting out,
Speaker 5: they're building their careers from the beginning. I would say,
Speaker 5: it's not relevant.
Speaker 4: And don't you think that I thought like that when
Speaker 4: I was your age. I remember Larry Phillips, the CEO
Speaker 4: of Phillips fan Us, and came into one day and
Speaker 4: had a plan. He wanted to retain his top twenty executives,
Speaker 4: all of us were averaging below thirty or thirty one
Speaker 4: or thirty two years old. They came up with a
Speaker 4: plan that was worth a couple of million dollars based
Speaker 4: on an insurance policy that said, if you stayed drug free,
Speaker 4: alcohol free for ten years. At the end of that
Speaker 4: ten years, you'd be vested in a plan that would
Speaker 4: pay you if you stayed with the company for those
Speaker 4: ten years a million dollars or two million dollars over
Speaker 4: the next twenty years.
Speaker 2: Would you do that?
Speaker 3: Well, if that's what you're going with, yeah, I can
Speaker 3: kind of see that. And I look.
Speaker 4: I said to him, you know, hey, you're asking me
Speaker 4: now I'm thirty two years old, whether I'm going to
Speaker 4: give up and commit to something that is meaningful. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I don't need to take drugs, I don't need to drink.
Speaker 4: But the reality is, do I really think I'll make
Speaker 4: another ten years? He said, why not? You're one of
Speaker 4: the great guys herema, I said, everybody around me is
Speaker 4: being fired, and frankly, at thirty two years old, I'm
Speaker 4: not thinking about my retirement. But the truth be told,
Speaker 4: I got that money and it was amazing. But now,
Speaker 4: you know, I think all of you tell us the
Speaker 4: time you plan on walking away the career. You choose,
Speaker 4: the path you take, the investments you make, where you
Speaker 4: spend your money, picking that which is important counts.
Speaker 3: See, that's important.
Speaker 5: If that's where you're going with this, Yes, having a budget,
Speaker 5: buying what you could afford planning it out. That's important.
Speaker 5: That's important for all people, no matter of the age. Look,
Speaker 5: I what do I love? I love Ralph Lauren turtlenecks.
Speaker 5: I love them, They're beautiful. The reality is, though for
Speaker 5: one third the price.
Speaker 3: I can get great ones at uniclow.
Speaker 5: I know young people, they've bought expensive cars like Lamborghini,
Speaker 5: like the Lamborghini SUV for what three hundred thousand dollars?
Speaker 5: An Audi you could buy it for fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 5: Who are you impressing? I mean, who doesn't love luxury?
Speaker 5: Everybody loves luxury, but you have to be smart about it. Now,
Speaker 5: there's a difference. For example, if I were to buy
Speaker 5: a beautiful stick with Ralph Lauren, a beautiful Ralph Lauren
Speaker 5: navy suit that I'm going to wear for meetings that
Speaker 5: I am going to wear on tip, that's an investment.
Speaker 5: It's not a car. It's an investment in my actual career.
Speaker 5: I think that's the difference. If that's the point that
Speaker 5: you're making, I'm all.
Speaker 4: In exactly one of the points I'm making to all
Speaker 4: of you tonight. Save your money and press your family
Speaker 4: no one else. I'll tell you a story when I
Speaker 4: first started playing golf, I was playing at a public
Speaker 4: course for two years. I loved the course. It was
Speaker 4: a lot of water holes. It really really was challenging
Speaker 4: and I enjoyed it. And then they put in all
Speaker 4: the tea time booking via computer, and frankly speaking, unless
Speaker 4: you were up Sunday night at twelve midnight ready to
Speaker 4: plug in a tea time for the following weekend, you're
Speaker 4: not going to get a tea time. And if you did,
Speaker 4: it would be two o'clock in the afternon or three
Speaker 4: o'clock in the afternoon on the weekends. And it was untenable,
Speaker 4: and I really got upset, and I realized I had
Speaker 4: to join a club. And to make a long story short,
Speaker 4: I went to the five golf clubs that were relatively
Speaker 4: nearby me and I walked into each one and I
Speaker 4: looked around, and some of them were in a little
Speaker 4: shabby and I didn't like shabby.
Speaker 2: Not for this.
Speaker 4: I enjoyed golf and I wanted to be in a
Speaker 4: nice place. And one of the places in particular that
Speaker 4: looked great. It became one of my two choices. I
Speaker 4: walked in the locker room. The locker room looked nice.
Speaker 4: The people were there, and I listened to these guys talking,
Speaker 4: and there was all these young guys my age, and
Speaker 4: all they were doing is talk about bragging about money
Speaker 4: and how much this and how much that. And the
Speaker 4: one thing I learned about money growing up, if you
Speaker 4: got it, you don't talk about it. And if you're
Speaker 4: one of those people who do, your a moron. I
Speaker 4: wanted no part of that golf club. The second choice
Speaker 4: I went into had old, burnished wood, old fashioned, old money.
Speaker 4: It felt rich, it felt quiet. All the guys there
Speaker 4: were older, They were genuinely. They talked about their golf game,
Speaker 4: They talked about what was taking place in the news.
Speaker 4: They talked about everything but money. Exactly what I said,
Speaker 4: no money talk. I joined that club. I forgured I'd
Speaker 4: be the poorest one there, but I didn't care. I
Speaker 4: knew these guys understood how to spend money and how
Speaker 4: to live their lives. I've always spent my money carefully.
Speaker 4: It didn't want for anything, but I live by the
Speaker 4: motto I don't mind spending money, I hate wasting it.
Speaker 4: Speaking of which, do you know, Jesse, what a medium
Speaker 4: sized dietquote costs at McDonald's.
Speaker 3: I don't drink diet coke. But let me take a guess.
Speaker 3: Let me take a guess. Medium sized diet coke two
Speaker 3: dollars three dollars.
Speaker 4: Okay, a medium diet coke at McDonald's is a dollar
Speaker 4: forty nine and with tax one dollar and sixty two cents.
Speaker 4: At Burger King, a small, not a medium, is two
Speaker 4: dollars and forty seven cents, and a medium is three
Speaker 4: dollars and eighty two cents.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: So anybody buying soda at Burger King is throwing away
Speaker 4: the hard earned dollars.
Speaker 3: Don't worry about it.
Speaker 5: I think RFK is going to ban it soon, so
Speaker 5: there's going to be no more die co Ah.
Speaker 4: Well that's a different story. But anyway. Credit card debt,
Speaker 4: that's another one I've talked about on the radio. I
Speaker 4: want to screen on anybody. If you get a credit
Speaker 4: card bill and you don't pay it off at the
Speaker 4: end of the month, you are the dumbest human being life.
Speaker 4: You're not planning your future better. All you're doing is
Speaker 4: throwing away money. Credit cards charge you anywhere from twenty
Speaker 4: to twenty five percent interest. Banks are only paying three
Speaker 4: or four percent. Think about what they're charging frankly speaking,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna do this one more time. If you have
Speaker 4: credit card debt, go to a bank, take out a loan,
Speaker 4: make sure you have collateral. That's what they'll need, a
Speaker 4: house or car something. If you don't pay, they can
Speaker 4: take away from you. But you're so much better off
Speaker 4: paying a bank loan now of eight percent than twenty
Speaker 4: percent on a credit card. I don't mind spending money,
Speaker 4: I hate wasting it. The point is save money, let
Speaker 4: it work for you, and of course be proud when
Speaker 4: you get older you appreciate it. I'm telling you right now,
Speaker 4: I never once thought about pensions. I have two of them.
Speaker 4: I love them. They're the greatest thing that ever happened.
Speaker 4: Businesses were told back in the day to be competitive,
Speaker 4: provide for your employees' retirement, and the government would step
Speaker 4: in and help. And it's an amazing thing. Now. Some
Speaker 4: people will tell you I have the first penny I
Speaker 4: ever made, and it's funny, but I did everything I wanted.
Speaker 4: Ye'd always preach saying spend carefully, because my goal was
Speaker 4: to walk away like a man. For now, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: take a break and walk like a man always in fashion,
Speaker 4: spend a lifetime of my career building the van Usen brand,
Speaker 4: and I am so pleased that they're back with us
Speaker 4: now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again and
Speaker 4: it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
Speaker 4: won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
Speaker 4: a suit formally to go out at night or to
Speaker 4: an event. Could wear a suit to the office with
Speaker 4: or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends,
Speaker 4: suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The
Speaker 4: choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
Speaker 4: You could really really look the part. I believe that
Speaker 4: packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,
Speaker 4: and wearing suit is one of those things that make
Speaker 4: men look their best. Venuesing invented a new idea. It's
Speaker 4: called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch technology,
Speaker 4: giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility. It's wrinkle
Speaker 4: resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes it perfect
Speaker 4: for all occasions. As we discussed just now, this new
Speaker 4: style of looking sharp while feeling cool and comfortable is
Speaker 4: amazing and I'm so excited that the van Using company
Speaker 4: is involved in this new technology and is embracing the
Speaker 4: whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget Venues and
Speaker 4: Maine It's name with dress shirts. It's only proper that
Speaker 4: the suit business follows strongly in its way. You can
Speaker 4: find van Ues in cool Flex men's stretch suits at
Speaker 4: jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great,
Speaker 4: you should go look at them. Done. Karen began a
Speaker 4: career is one of the finest, most successful, powerful women
Speaker 4: in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at
Speaker 4: the luxury market for women on the go, women who
Speaker 4: were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that
Speaker 4: extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day
Speaker 4: and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing
Speaker 4: Donna Karen had a young daughter and she had friends
Speaker 4: and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Aaron collection,
Speaker 4: and Donna invented dk n Y Donna Aaron, New York.
Speaker 4: It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection. The same
Speaker 4: concept a lifestyle brand. Then we talk about lifestyle brands,
Speaker 4: what does that really mean? Simply what they say, there
Speaker 4: are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get
Speaker 4: up in the morning, you start to get dressed Donna
Speaker 4: Karen Decan Why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all
Speaker 4: those products. You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,
Speaker 4: and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
Speaker 4: about DK and Y clothes for work, they work into
Speaker 4: the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters,
Speaker 4: the blouse's extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from
Speaker 4: day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You
Speaker 4: have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna
Speaker 4: Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label.
Speaker 4: A vast array of casual sportswear that make women look
Speaker 4: great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you go
Speaker 4: into soccer games for your children or whether you're going
Speaker 4: out to the movies, whatever you want to do, DK
Speaker 4: and Y Jenes dk and Y sportswear is there for you.
Speaker 4: That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I need to
Speaker 4: mention DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary. The leggings, the
Speaker 4: sports bras, the sweats. You can wear DKY active wear,
Speaker 4: certainly in the gym, certainly when you're working out at home,
Speaker 4: and certainly if you want on the street, because it's
Speaker 4: that well done. The quality of DK why is nothing
Speaker 4: short of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be because it
Speaker 4: was born from the idea of luxury made affordable for
Speaker 4: women of America. DK and Why a true lifestyle brand
Speaker 4: that takes you from day and tonight, from the week
Speaker 4: into the weekend. D can why. You can find dcn
Speaker 4: Why and Macy's dky dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Speaker 1: Mark Webber.
Speaker 4: I have never forgotten the Terminator movie. Now. I don't
Speaker 4: watch horror movies. I don't like war movies. They disturb me.
Speaker 4: They really disturb me, particular war movies. I saw a
Speaker 4: movie called Bridge Over Tocoree when I was a young boy,
Speaker 4: by accident, by accident, and it's a story of a
Speaker 4: beautiful family. The guy used to be in the Navy.
Speaker 4: He gets called back in and he goes to Korea
Speaker 4: and he's a flying guy. And I just don't want
Speaker 4: to tell you it disturbed me so much. I can't
Speaker 4: watch war movies. I've never watched one since maybe Saving
Speaker 4: Private Ryan. In all my years, I've never watched war moves.
Speaker 4: But two movies in my lifetime scared me. One was Alien.
Speaker 4: I'll never forget when that creature jumped out of the
Speaker 4: guy's stomach. It was the scariest thing I ever saw
Speaker 4: in my life. And then there was The Terminator. The
Speaker 4: Terminator scared me because it was intellectually brilliant. It really
Speaker 4: talked about machines taking over and killing off humankind because
Speaker 4: they woke up one day with everything they learned, they
Speaker 4: realized they didn't need humans. All they needed humans for
Speaker 4: was maybe some of them to work on some of
Speaker 4: the mechanics, but really they didn't care for humans anymore,
Speaker 4: and they got rid of us. I still get scared
Speaker 4: when I hear that song, the music and here we are.
Speaker 4: We're addicted to our machines. Adults to their cell phones.
Speaker 4: Go into a restaurant for people could be at the table,
Speaker 4: all four of them looking at the cell phone. There's
Speaker 4: never a time I don't see a cell phone on
Speaker 4: the phone or someone in a group of people looking
Speaker 4: at it. Kids they're addicted to their video games. They're
Speaker 4: addicted day and tonight. If you let them go, they
Speaker 4: will not stop, and if you stop them, they will
Speaker 4: get incredibly angry. And then, of course let's not forget
Speaker 4: the real dangers that no one talks about. You know,
Speaker 4: you go back in time. Nobody knew the sun was
Speaker 4: dangerous until now. Cumulatively, you know it's dangerous. Nobody realized
Speaker 4: cigarettes in the beginning because the companies hit it. Whatever
Speaker 4: research they had, they didn't tell it. People smoked. Today,
Speaker 4: we use Bluetooth technology with those air parts in our ears. Now,
Speaker 4: I am an Apple guy. I love the company, I
Speaker 4: own the stock, I made a fortunate I love them.
Speaker 4: But those things are dangerous and so is bluetooth, and
Speaker 4: no one's saying a word. And now, if you listen
Speaker 4: to the smartest people talking about artificial intelligence, you hear
Speaker 4: about inserting chips in our brains so we can mild
Speaker 4: with machines. We could be part human, part machine. We
Speaker 4: communicate directly from our brains with a chip. This is
Speaker 4: the scariest thing I ever heard, because it is determinator.
Speaker 4: We're all destined to become cyborgs. Now, I don't know,
Speaker 4: And I hadn't paid very much attention to artificial intelligence
Speaker 4: until my other son Jared, started talking to me about
Speaker 4: chat GPT.
Speaker 5: Yes, what's amazing about it is it's incredibly impressive right now.
Speaker 5: But where it's going to be in the next few
Speaker 5: years is it's hard to imagine, But yes, it's Is that.
Speaker 4: The only artificial intelligence you come across.
Speaker 5: No, there's other platforms that you can use, like, for example,
Speaker 5: if you want to summarize a bunch of articles, you
Speaker 5: want to find quick information, you want to write something,
Speaker 5: it can help you. And I think when you look
Speaker 5: at chat, GPT, or you look at any of these
Speaker 5: AI models, the thing that I think you have to
Speaker 5: wonder is a can it be just a useful tool
Speaker 5: that will help supplement.
Speaker 3: What you do.
Speaker 5: That's one way of looking at it versus will it
Speaker 5: replace what you do? And I've heard a lot of
Speaker 5: different people who are in the space who are very
Speaker 5: encouraged by it. They're very optimistic about it. They're telling
Speaker 5: people that it won't replace jobs. It may change your jobs,
Speaker 5: but there's always going to be a need for a
Speaker 5: human element. There's always going to be a need for
Speaker 5: a human to watch over what AI and chat GPT
Speaker 5: are doing. It's a nice thing to think about, but
Speaker 5: as these are getting more and more powerful. I mean,
Speaker 5: I just saw something the other day where they put
Speaker 5: together a whole movie using AI. No actors, no production,
Speaker 5: no script, you plug it in about this is a
Speaker 5: movie you want to see And they created a whole
Speaker 5: movie using AI tools. It's crazy and we're like really
Speaker 5: in the beginning part of it.
Speaker 4: Well, I got turned on to it and I got
Speaker 4: interested because on Instagram I started watching all these videos
Speaker 4: that they do. One the other day they recreated the Beatles.
Speaker 4: They actually had the four Beatles talking as if they
Speaker 4: were right there. And I'm sure you've seen the where
Speaker 4: they make an actor and actress they're six months old
Speaker 4: and they show them how they develop and how they
Speaker 4: grow up, and it looks real like they're right there
Speaker 4: all this stuff. Yet it's hard enough to know what
Speaker 4: is going on. What I find really concerning is it's
Speaker 4: so intrusive. You know, I just while I'm sitting here, Jesse,
Speaker 4: I put in your name.
Speaker 3: Okay, it's a trat GPTA, Yeah, and it's a Jesse.
Speaker 4: Cord Weber is a multi fascinated professional, combining his expertise
Speaker 4: as an attorney with roles in broadcasting anchoring. He serves
Speaker 4: as an anchor reporter for the Long Crime Network, founded
Speaker 4: by Dana and Briomsbury, hosts and executes produces syndicated true
Speaker 4: crime show Prime Crime. Additionally, Jesse co hosts the Always
Speaker 4: In Fashion radio show with his father, Mark Weber, airing
Speaker 4: on seven to ten War and other podcast platforms including
Speaker 4: Apple and Spotify. He also contributes as a freelance radio
Speaker 4: host and Serious potem Serious XM's Potus Channel one twenty
Speaker 4: four and his guest Nankor on twelve News Long Island.
Speaker 4: Beyond his hosting Dude, Jesse provides legal alison networks such
Speaker 4: as Fox News, CNN, E T CVS, CNBC News Nation
Speaker 4: and Doctor RS.
Speaker 3: Look at this some of it.
Speaker 5: Some of it's true, some of it's true, some of
Speaker 5: it's not, some of it's outdated.
Speaker 3: I looked up myself too on it, and it's a
Speaker 3: little bit of a different description.
Speaker 5: I did like this part. He's known for his engaging
Speaker 5: style and ability to break down complex legal issues for
Speaker 5: a general audience.
Speaker 3: I'd like that. I will tell you it's funny.
Speaker 5: I looked up if it got who if I was right,
Speaker 5: who I was married to, and it was completely wrong, which,
Speaker 5: by the way, I don't mind. I don't mind that
Speaker 5: it got my wife's name wrong. But it was that
Speaker 5: I was married to somebody completely different.
Speaker 4: It's interesting you say that, because a lot of things
Speaker 4: come up. But then I thought it was great. I
Speaker 4: played a little game today. I just looked you up
Speaker 4: and I read to you what it said, and it's
Speaker 4: so accurate. It's scary how they get all this information
Speaker 4: compile it. So then I did a few on me.
Speaker 4: You ready, yeah? First one is Mark Weber? Interesting?
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 4: You're ready? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What I say?
Speaker 4: Mark Weber is definitely an interesting figure, especially if you're
Speaker 4: into fashion, business or leadership. His background as the former
Speaker 4: CEO of lvmh Ink, the US branch of luxury conglomerate
Speaker 4: that owns brands like Vitone, Dior Gavanci, gives him deep
Speaker 4: industry insight. What makes him compelling, I'm compelling. I like
Speaker 4: that is he didn't just work in fashion. He played
Speaker 4: a major role in shaping it. Compelling and shaping fashion,
Speaker 4: he climbed the corporate ladder from modest beginnings, eventually leading
Speaker 4: major brands like Phillips van Uzen, where he helped drive
Speaker 4: global expansion. His experience gives him a unique perspective on
Speaker 4: business strategy, branding, and leadership Beyond fashion. Look at this,
Speaker 4: His radio show Always in Fashion, His book Always in
Speaker 4: Fashion From Clerk to Ceo off for stories, career advice,
Speaker 4: and insights into the industry. His ability to mix personal
Speaker 4: anecdotes with professional lessons makes him engaging to listen to
Speaker 4: or read about.
Speaker 3: Well, there you go.
Speaker 4: You know the funny thing. You know what the funny
Speaker 4: thing is. I'll tell you. Wait, let me just finish. Uh,
Speaker 4: let's see, and then it says my work his Warkweb's
Speaker 4: work spans executive leadership, writing, and media. Here's a major
Speaker 4: breakdown of his contributions. CEO of LVMH chink you all
Speaker 4: know this already, so I don't want to go through it.
Speaker 4: Markwbers working blah blah blah blah, Corporate leadership CEO of
Speaker 4: LVMH North America led the US operations blah blah blah
Speaker 4: blah blah, Chairman, CEO Phillips Venues, and board and advisory roles.
Speaker 4: He served as an advisor and board member for various
Speaker 4: fashion and retail conglomerates. Books and writing, Always in Fashion
Speaker 4: From Clerk to Ceo, his memoir and business book where
Speaker 4: he shares lessons from his rise in the fashion industry. Leadership,
Speaker 4: insights and career learnings, books in writing, always in fashion,
Speaker 4: from clerk to CEO, business and fashion, comedy, business and
Speaker 4: fashion commentary has written I've spoken extensively on trends in
Speaker 4: fashion branding. Listen, here's the deal, Here's why I'm doing this.
Speaker 4: I used to work for a guy in France, Italian fella.
Speaker 4: He went to school here in the United States. English
Speaker 4: was his third language, perfect French, perfect Italian, of course,
Speaker 4: in English with a heavy accent. And the guy was brilliant,
Speaker 4: and he was the number two guy at LVMH manager
Speaker 4: director in our country we called president and I worked
Speaker 4: for him, and it had to be once a week
Speaker 4: I would get a detailed letter from him, ask me
Speaker 4: where we are in this or that, commenting on what's
Speaker 4: going on in the world, and asking for my professional
Speaker 4: opinion on what he just wrote. I dreaded those letters
Speaker 4: because he wrote them in English. And if I tell you,
Speaker 4: they were brilliantly crafted. They were so intricate and so
Speaker 4: well in grammar and the way it was laid out
Speaker 4: and functioning. It took me maybe a day or two.
Speaker 4: I couldn't do anything else but rewrite and write, and
Speaker 4: rewrite and write a let that, in the end was
Speaker 4: never as good as the one he wrote. And the
Speaker 4: funny thing about this AI, all of this stuff that
Speaker 4: I just read, compiled from wherever it is in the world,
Speaker 4: every single bit of information, they put it together, they
Speaker 4: get access to it, and they spit it back to
Speaker 4: you better than you could ever write it yourself. I
Speaker 4: find it fascinating, I find it exciting. I find this
Speaker 4: is probably the most exciting technology to ever hit the world.
Speaker 4: But I am concerned with where it's going. And I
Speaker 4: have a surprise for you.
Speaker 5: Jesse, you're ready, Well, it's a surprise for the audience.
Speaker 5: Ready we tell them?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 3: This is all AI. This is not Mark Webber, This
Speaker 3: is not Jesse Webber.
Speaker 5: This is all AI.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 3: I think people could tell the difference. But anyway, what's
Speaker 3: a surprise?
Speaker 4: I asked AI. Would you hire Mark Weber to host
Speaker 4: a TV show? Woh?
Speaker 3: What did it say?
Speaker 2: Would you hire Mark Weber to host a TV show? Why?
Speaker 2: He could be a great fit one industry authority. Weber's
Speaker 2: deep understanding of the fashion and business industries would make
Speaker 2: him a credible and authoritative voice, particularly for shows centered
Speaker 2: around leadership, entrepreneurship, or high end fashion. Two charisma and storytelling.
Speaker 2: On Always in Fashion, He's demonstrated his ability to narrate
Speaker 2: stories from his career, mixing personal anecdotes with professional insights.
Speaker 2: This blend of storytelling would make him engaging on a
Speaker 2: television show. Three Media experience. As a host of his
Speaker 2: own radio show, Weber already has significant media experience. He
Speaker 2: knows how to keep an audience engaged while offering valuable content,
Speaker 2: whether it's through interviews, discussions, or commentary. Four. Cross generational appeal.
Speaker 2: With his son Jesse as co host, he appeals to
Speaker 2: both older generations who value traditional business acumen and younger
Speaker 2: audiences who may appreciate fresh, modern takes on style and success.
Speaker 2: If you are producing a show about business leadership or fashion,
Speaker 2: Weber's background and skills could make him a strong addition.
Speaker 3: I love that. That's great.
Speaker 4: So those of you out there in the television and
Speaker 4: movie business, Jesse and I are available, even the phony ones,
Speaker 4: the AI versions of us. So I thought that was interesting.
Speaker 4: And this all came from my elder son Jared telling me,
Speaker 4: had Daddy, you see what's going on in AO? And
Speaker 4: he told me to look at Chap GPT and there
Speaker 4: you go listen while I can. I'm having a great
Speaker 4: time until the machines take over. For now, I take
Speaker 4: a break and walk like a man always in fashion.
Speaker 4: As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, car
Speaker 4: Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
Speaker 4: to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to
Speaker 4: America through car Lagafeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,
Speaker 4: ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Speaker 4: Carlagafeld also off is a ring of watches I wear
Speaker 4: in premium fragrances. You can explore the Carlagovo collection at
Speaker 4: carlagofelpowers dot com. But it's more than that. I, for one,
Speaker 4: love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's
Speaker 4: happening and what catches my attention, what would make me
Speaker 4: feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's
Speaker 4: wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing.
Speaker 4: If you want to look right, you want to have
Speaker 4: clothes that fits you well. You want to look like
Speaker 4: you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you
Speaker 4: and yours. You can find it at very affordable prices
Speaker 4: at Macy's. Orcarlagofel dot com, Paris, the women's ready to
Speaker 4: wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbags and
Speaker 4: the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my
Speaker 4: appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want
Speaker 4: to look current, I want to look the way I
Speaker 4: want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in
Speaker 4: black and Carlagofel is my buddy. Calls are great. They
Speaker 4: fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether
Speaker 4: it's a stripe on the sleeve, a button at the
Speaker 4: neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details
Speaker 4: that go into Carl Lagathel because he's always been, he
Speaker 4: always had been one of the world's great designers, and
Speaker 4: this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak
Speaker 4: enough about it except to say to you, you want
Speaker 4: to feel good about yourself. You want to know that
Speaker 4: you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well.
Speaker 4: Carl Lagafeld, Paris, Carl Lagafeldparis dot com. I love polar Fleece.
Speaker 4: It's lightweight, takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps you warm
Speaker 4: and even if it's warm out, it doesn't hamper you,
Speaker 4: it doesn't make you perspire. I love polar fleas. I
Speaker 4: also love sweatshirts and sweatpants, love them, love them, love them.
Speaker 4: I'm a big fan of khaki pants and a big
Speaker 4: fan of a golf clothes. And I'm a big fan
Speaker 4: of ISID. I used to be the head of iszide.
Speaker 4: In fact, my company bought it and aut of bankruptcy,
Speaker 4: and the CEO of the company asked me to come
Speaker 4: in and fix it. And he said to me, Mark,
Speaker 4: the future of the company's in your hand. Can you
Speaker 4: do this? And I said, I will do it. I
Speaker 4: put everything, my heart and soul into making ISESID the
Speaker 4: powerhouse that it is today.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 4: I left a long time ago, and the company just
Speaker 4: continues to thrive. ISAOD is one of the great sweater makers,
Speaker 4: pant make a shirt makers, knit shirt makers, polo shirt makers.
Speaker 4: They're incredible company. The colors are great, the fabrics are great. Guys,
Speaker 4: you ever wonder what you should wear, I'll make it
Speaker 4: easy for you. If you're going to be casual, go
Speaker 4: in and look at ISID.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: That doesn't say that they don't have dress shirts and
Speaker 4: they don't have suits, you go find them. ISAOD is
Speaker 4: a collective brand that offers lifestyle apparel to everyone in America.
Speaker 4: And it's true, it's a fun brand, but it's also
Speaker 4: priced at fun prices everyone can afford it. I love
Speaker 4: this brand. Of all the brands that I'm involved with
Speaker 4: and you can name them, think about PVH and LVMH
Speaker 4: and all the brands, ISAOD is the one that's most
Speaker 4: personal to me because I was involved in crafting the
Speaker 4: future of this brand. The clothes are great, fall is great.
Speaker 4: They're doing well. Isod dot com, isaadat JC Penny go
Speaker 4: look for it. I think you're going to be very happy.
Speaker 4: And ladies, those of you do shopping for the guys
Speaker 4: in your lives, take a look. I think they'll be
Speaker 4: very happy with your choices.
Speaker 2: Isaac for men, welcome back to it.
Speaker 1: Always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark webber.
Speaker 4: To Night show. I'm talking about walking like a man.
Speaker 4: I'm not talking about muscles bulging. I'm talking about feeling
Speaker 4: good about yourself and planning your career and your life
Speaker 4: so when you get to a point that you done enough,
Speaker 4: you could walk like a man. And by the way,
Speaker 4: having pride, belief in yourself, and confidence throughout your entirety
Speaker 4: of your career is really the goal. Everything you do
Speaker 4: along the way you should be doing for the right reasons.
Speaker 4: I started the show by talking why do we work.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of reasons why we work. Some would
Speaker 4: argue it's money. I would argue money is important, money
Speaker 4: takes care of itself. I think money is more about
Speaker 4: keeping score. I think we work to feel good, to
Speaker 4: be proud, to create role models and things for your family,
Speaker 4: to show your children that there's a reason to do
Speaker 4: the things that we tell them that they should be doing.
Speaker 4: I am in the mood of look back right now.
Speaker 4: At the same time I am looking forward. I have
Speaker 4: a concept called the look Back. It's very interesting. I
Speaker 4: bought a sports car a few years ago and boil boy.
Speaker 4: I decided to be fancy and I picked a special
Speaker 4: color and I paid a king's ransom to have this
Speaker 4: special color on this particular car. I also came up
Speaker 4: with these fancy wheels that matched the car and the
Speaker 4: inlaid with some black epoxy and on paper it looked incredible.
Speaker 4: And you know, I spent my whole career in fashion
Speaker 4: and retail and luxury. I have an eye for it.
Speaker 4: I am a creative by I don't know I'm born
Speaker 4: with it. I suppose I'm a creative guy. Look at things,
Speaker 4: I know what they are and I how to make
Speaker 4: them better. In fashion, if you would walk me into
Speaker 4: a room. When I walked to Donna Aaron, I knew
Speaker 4: nothing about women's where I was a men'swear expert. Now
Speaker 4: I'm the chairman CEO of Donna Karen. I walk into
Speaker 4: a design meeting. All the designs are on the wall,
Speaker 4: all the paintings, all the cats, computer aided designs, all
Speaker 4: the fashion ideas, the samples. I could look at a
Speaker 4: wall and I can tell you within thirty seconds what
Speaker 4: is right, what is wrong, what is missing, what we
Speaker 4: should do to improve it. I just am able to
Speaker 4: do that. One of my favorite stories is back in
Speaker 4: my day, I had hired this guy designer, and when
Speaker 4: I interviewed him, he had everything that he said. He
Speaker 4: was right, dressed well, spoke well, looked a part, talked fashion,
Speaker 4: understood the technical details. But when it came time to
Speaker 4: do the product, it just wasn't right. Just wasn't right.
Speaker 4: I've talked about this in my book, Ill Talk to
Speaker 4: you about again. There's a concept call one to ten.
Speaker 4: Some people do one to five. You know you rate movies.
Speaker 4: I rate everything at one to ten. Okay, it's very simple.
Speaker 4: We all know what it is. Okay, you look at
Speaker 4: a car one to ten, what do you think of
Speaker 4: that car? Ten?
Speaker 2: Five?
Speaker 4: We know whatever the number is. You look at a guy,
Speaker 4: you look at a girl. Hey, what do you think?
Speaker 4: One to ten? You have a rating? Brad Pitt ten.
Speaker 4: George Clooney looking a little uh eightish these days. I'll
Speaker 4: give you example, Margot Robbie ten. I'm gonna get in
Speaker 4: trouble for this side, don't know. But anyway, the point
Speaker 4: was this designer put a line together, and for the
Speaker 4: first time I was going in to see his body
Speaker 4: of work. I walked in the room. There were other
Speaker 4: designers there. There were people from operations, people from sales,
Speaker 4: and they were waiting to see what I had said.
Speaker 4: The colors were off, the pattern work was off, the
Speaker 4: detailing was off. It was really really horrible, and I
Speaker 4: was shocked by it. And I was so taken aback,
Speaker 4: really so taken aback that I couldn't even control myself.
Speaker 4: And I walked in the room instead. Of saying, you know,
Speaker 4: we really have to talk about I said, I hate this.
Speaker 4: What is this? And the designer, you know, he felt
Speaker 4: strange and he started to, you know, explain what he's doing.
Speaker 4: He said, Mark, you got to give it a chance.
Speaker 4: Let me take you through it. I said, okay, So
Speaker 4: I listened. I put my game face on. I recovered
Speaker 4: from the fact that I couldn't believe this guy is
Speaker 4: sitting here telling me this stuff is good and really disturbment,
Speaker 4: really disturbment that he's voting for it and trying to
Speaker 4: convince me that what I know is not good is good.
Speaker 4: So I used to do this game. I called it
Speaker 4: the ballot game. And I decided right then and there,
Speaker 4: I'm going to play the ballot game. What's the ballot game?
Speaker 4: I asked my assistant to get me one of my
Speaker 4: baseball caps. I put the baseball cap in front of
Speaker 4: it in the center of the table, and I take
Speaker 4: a pad and I started tearing the pair into pieces.
Speaker 4: I asked my system again, bring me in ten pencils.
Speaker 4: There were ten of us in the room. Comes back
Speaker 4: five minutes later. I said, we're going to play a game.
Speaker 4: I call it the ballot game. It's a great equalizer.
Speaker 4: I said, everybody take a piece of paper. Everybody take
Speaker 4: a pencil. Everybody's taking the paper and pencil. I can't
Speaker 4: imagine what's going on here, I said, Okay, Josh here,
Speaker 4: whatever's name was, I don't remember. Josh here thinks this
Speaker 4: line is incredible. I'm telling you I don't. The only
Speaker 4: way we can get an idea from all of you
Speaker 4: other people here, I want to get an opinion. Who's right,
Speaker 4: was wrong? What we think about it? I know what
Speaker 4: I think, and I am curious to see what the
Speaker 4: rest of you think. Now a thing with me in life.
Speaker 4: If I ask your opinion, I already know what I think.
Speaker 4: Most times, if I don't know something and I say
Speaker 4: to you, I don't know, can you tell me that,
Speaker 4: I'm willing to listen. But if I ask an opinion,
Speaker 4: particularly when it comes to the creative arts, I'm not
Speaker 4: interested in your opinion. I already made it in my mind.
Speaker 4: Nothing's going to change it. Everybody has the pencil and paper,
Speaker 4: and I asked them on a one to ten, I
Speaker 4: want you to rate this collection on the wall. Oh
Speaker 4: here's the thing. If you work as an assistant to
Speaker 4: this guy of course you would say. And if I
Speaker 4: asked you and Paul, oh, it's great. I really think
Speaker 4: if I asked another designer, they wouldn't want to get
Speaker 4: into the discomfort of telling a person that their work
Speaker 4: isn't right. But in my ballot game, nobody knows who's
Speaker 4: writing because what I said to them is, I want
Speaker 4: you to write one to ten what you think of
Speaker 4: this line. Zero means it's terrible. Ten means it's great.
Speaker 4: I gave you all the se pencils you all owe
Speaker 4: the same paper. After you write your answer on your
Speaker 4: piece of paper, I want you to crumble it up
Speaker 4: and put it in the hat. All of us then
Speaker 4: crumpled up the paper put it in the hat. For me,
Speaker 4: I was going to call out and read them one
Speaker 4: by one. So I take a piece of paper. The
Speaker 4: first one says four, take another piece of paper. The
Speaker 4: next one is zero, Zero is me, next one, five,
Speaker 4: then six, one, seven, And when you're really came down
Speaker 4: to it, everything was all under seven except for one
Speaker 4: that was a nine and a half. I looked at
Speaker 4: the designer and I said, I'm i to believe you're
Speaker 4: the nine and a half. He said, yes, well, I
Speaker 4: was the zero I'll admit it to you. I came here.
Speaker 4: You haven't changed my mind. This line is horrible. We
Speaker 4: have to start all over. I'm throwing it all out.
Speaker 4: What about the collus, I said, listen, here's the deal.
Speaker 4: Look at this rating here. You have an average rating
Speaker 4: of four point five. We're not in the business of
Speaker 4: four point five. We're in the business of ten. And
Speaker 4: the fact that we are so low rated. I can't
Speaker 4: risk the company's money, or the future of our people,
Speaker 4: or the future of our brands on something that is
Speaker 4: not great. And this is obviously not great. Now. I
Speaker 4: can't fault you because you think it's great, but we
Speaker 4: can't go on, and we're gonna have to regroup and
Speaker 4: do this again. Make a long story short. We ended
Speaker 4: up letting that guy go not too long after that.
Speaker 4: I felt bad about it, But come on, if you're
Speaker 4: defending ugly, you don't belong in the fashion business. Having
Speaker 4: said that, I designed my own car. I went to
Speaker 4: pick it up in a dealership after waiting seven months,
Speaker 4: and I looked at it and I hated it. I
Speaker 4: hated the wheels, but more importantly than anything else, I
Speaker 4: hated the color I selected me The fashion expert the girl.
Speaker 4: I hated it. It was a gray, but it had
Speaker 4: a brown tint to it rather than a blue tint.
Speaker 4: Grays that have blue tint tend to be more pleasing
Speaker 4: to the eye. And when I said to the deal
Speaker 4: I don't want this car, I keep it, he said,
Speaker 4: take it. You don't like you could always bring it back.
Speaker 4: So I started to pull it out. And now it's
Speaker 4: in the street and I see the color and it
Speaker 4: looks like tan. It doesn't look like gray. I'm devastated.
Speaker 4: I mean, I had my heart setter, and I waited.
Speaker 4: I designed my own car, the whole deal, and I
Speaker 4: did what I then to become, and I coined the
Speaker 4: look back. I walked away from the car, took a
Speaker 4: fast turn and looked at it. I gave it a
Speaker 4: look back and it was harrd. I knew then and there.
Speaker 4: So when I think about look back, I think about
Speaker 4: that story. I'll never forget being in a Calvin Klein
Speaker 4: run Dury show. All the world class models are there,
Speaker 4: supermodels are there. I remember that particular day and if
Speaker 4: you go online, you'll see me with the Italian Ivanovitch.
Speaker 4: I forgot her name. She was one of the hot
Speaker 4: Russian models at the time. She was a friend in
Speaker 4: the sense that I hired her with a team and
Speaker 4: she did great. But I have a pictures to so
Speaker 4: with her because she was a spokesman for the company
Speaker 4: for a while. But one supermodel walked by me and
Speaker 4: she just walked by, and she stopped at one point,
Speaker 4: turned around, looked at me and smiled and walked away.
Speaker 4: That was a look back. I never saw her again,
Speaker 4: ever spoke to her. But that's a look back. And
Speaker 4: I'm talking about look backs today and walking like a
Speaker 4: man because I have a story I want to tell
Speaker 4: you that happened this week. I got a phone call
Speaker 4: from one of the most powerful men in the fashion,
Speaker 4: luxury and retail business today. He's a billionaire, he's an
Speaker 4: accomplished guy, owns Megabrands. And he called me to say
Speaker 4: that I was recommended to him to be involved in
Speaker 4: a new division that was being set up in his
Speaker 4: company and in partnership with another company. He wanted me
Speaker 4: to come and sit down with him about joining the company.
Speaker 4: I said, Tom flattered, I don't I'm speechless. Just the
Speaker 4: fact that you are calling me is a great honor,
Speaker 4: and of course I'll come see you. So the next
Speaker 4: day I came into the city and I went to
Speaker 4: see him in his offices, beautiful office, Prestigia guy. And
Speaker 4: he was so affable and so friendly. And he said
Speaker 4: to me, Mark, I take great pride in hiring people
Speaker 4: who've retired and bringing him back to work because they
Speaker 4: have such a great wealth of information. He says, I
Speaker 4: have a guy that I hired. He retired sixty five.
Speaker 4: He was an architect. He built some of the most
Speaker 4: beautiful things in the world, in the country. I don't
Speaker 4: want to mention them because I don't want you to
Speaker 4: know who this guy is. And he said, I brought
Speaker 4: him into the company and he's been one of the
Speaker 4: most invaluable people that I've ever worked with. He says,
Speaker 4: I know you're retired. I'm not going to ask you
Speaker 4: how old you are. I said, thank you, because I'm
Speaker 4: not going to tell you. He said, but I would
Speaker 4: love to bring you back because your reputation precedes you.
Speaker 4: I've never met anyone with a reputation. Everyone says the
Speaker 4: same thing. You're super talented, you're a good guy, you're
Speaker 4: super tough, but you're fair and that works. And i'd
Speaker 4: like you to come work for me, and he starts
Speaker 4: to explain the job, and now I'm thinking, here we go,
Speaker 4: Look who's talking to me. The guy is a real deal.
Speaker 4: He's a great guy. His principle here of what they're
Speaker 4: trying to build this brilliant. And I'm starting to think,
Speaker 4: maybe maybe I think about coming back to work, because
Speaker 4: I've always thought that there are only a couple of
Speaker 4: jobs that I would consider coming back to work for.
Speaker 2: Was Polo?
Speaker 4: Never forget I was thinking about coming back. One time,
Speaker 4: I knew that the CEO of Polo a woman, and
Speaker 4: I went to see her, and out of the blue,
Speaker 4: you know, she knew me. She took the call, came
Speaker 4: to see me, and when I told her that I
Speaker 4: thought her men's business was suffering and needed improvement, she
Speaker 4: was looking at me. And you ever see a ticketape
Speaker 4: how it moves showing the letters and the numbers. I
Speaker 4: could imagine a ticket tape on her forehead saying how
Speaker 4: do I get this guy out of here? I could
Speaker 4: see how uncomfortable she was that I came in asking
Speaker 4: for a job. I didn't need it. I just like Polo,
Speaker 4: I've always thought about working at the Gap ever since
Speaker 4: Mickey Drexler left twenty years ago. Twenty five years ago.
Speaker 4: The gap has not been The gap went from my
Speaker 4: favorite store in the world, who hardly gets on my
Speaker 4: radar screen. I never spend more than three minutes there.
Speaker 4: Once in a while. They have a denim jacket that
Speaker 4: I love. I bought a few of them. But generally speaking,
Speaker 4: the GAP's not the gap. It's not what it was.
Speaker 4: You want to know what the gap used to look like.
Speaker 4: It's called uniclow so. But other than that, I had
Speaker 4: no interest in working. And here I am talking to
Speaker 4: this guy, and I start calibrating and saying to myself,
Speaker 4: why do I need this? I remember I talked to
Speaker 4: you once about Jim Carrey was interviewed not too long ago,
Speaker 4: and he says, I did enough, I have enough, and
Speaker 4: I am enough. And I was taken by that. I
Speaker 4: did a show and I thought it was brilliant. I
Speaker 4: sitting there and saying I've did enough, I have enough,
Speaker 4: I am enough, and I don't need this. But I said,
Speaker 4: the fact that it's him, and the fact the fact
Speaker 4: that the job was so big, the fact that the
Speaker 4: money would be great, the fact that the perks would
Speaker 4: be great, the prestige would be there, the office space
Speaker 4: would be there. And then he says to me, what
Speaker 4: I really want you to do is work in my
Speaker 4: partner's offices, not with me. You'll be hired by me
Speaker 4: and our partner and you'll work in the partner's offices.
Speaker 4: And I couldn't do it. I thought I was talking
Speaker 4: to him, and in fact, I said to them, listen,
Speaker 4: here's the deal. Here's the deal. I would consider coming
Speaker 4: to work for you. One, I need expense money. I'm
Speaker 4: going to be commuting, I'll be living this city. I'm
Speaker 4: going to be living out here. I'm there traveling. We
Speaker 4: need to know the moneing, no problem a second. Secondarily,
Speaker 4: if I'm going to come back to work, it has
Speaker 4: to be bigger than life and what you're suggesting to
Speaker 4: me work at the other company. I won't be the CEO,
Speaker 4: I won't be the president. I'm not coming back for
Speaker 4: less than what I was. I just won't do it.
Speaker 4: And he looked at me and said, well, what is
Speaker 4: it you want? I said, First of all, I want
Speaker 4: to sit on your board. He said to me, I
Speaker 4: can't do that. I looked at him and I said,
Speaker 4: you're a master of the universe. You could do anything
Speaker 4: you want. He started to laugh. He says, I suppose
Speaker 4: he said the board is boring. I said, okay, once
Speaker 4: a quarter when you have a board meeting, I'll be bored.
Speaker 4: But other than that, I want to sit on the board.
Speaker 4: If I'm sitting on your board, it's prestigious. It makes
Speaker 4: me feel good, it makes me driven. It shows that
Speaker 4: I'm continuing a fashion career at the level that I
Speaker 4: was doing. So I don't know if I could do that.
Speaker 4: So I said, then I don't know if I can
Speaker 4: come and frankly speaking, if I'm not going to report
Speaker 4: directly to the CEO, I'm not going to retort to anybody.
Speaker 4: He said, I don't know how to do it, but
Speaker 4: tell you what you want you to do. I want
Speaker 4: you to meet the president of the company that I'm
Speaker 4: suggesting you work for. I said, I tell you right now,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to work for the president. You meet him.
Speaker 4: He's a great guy. So I went and met him.
Speaker 4: He's a great guy. Great guy, not a good guy.
Speaker 4: Great guy. Could I work fro him? Yeah? Would I
Speaker 4: work from No? So I went back to see this
Speaker 4: fella and I said, look, I'm not going to do this.
Speaker 4: He said, Mark, listen, if you want to be in
Speaker 4: the game, you have to be in the game.
Speaker 2: I like that quote.
Speaker 4: You want to be in the game, you have to
Speaker 4: be in the game. I reminded him that. He called
Speaker 4: me said, I don't need to be in this game.
Speaker 4: I've been there, done it. I said, I'm in a
Speaker 4: different game. I'm an entertainment I'm on radio, I'm on podcast.
Speaker 4: I love it. It's incredibly hard, and frankly, it's harder
Speaker 4: than what you're asking me to do. What you've done,
Speaker 4: and what you're asking me to do here, I've done
Speaker 4: in my sleep a thousand times. Can I do it?
Speaker 4: Can I make your company better? Can I make this
Speaker 4: thing a win for what you're trying to do with
Speaker 4: your partner? Absolutely? No brainer. And by the way, just
Speaker 4: having me around, whether I'm on your board or reporting
Speaker 4: to you, would make all your other endeavors better because
Speaker 4: somehow or another, I always find a way to earn
Speaker 4: my key to be value added. I don't know if
Speaker 4: I could do that. I said, listen, what I know
Speaker 4: of you, you can do whatever you want. He said,
Speaker 4: let me talk to my partner, and they I said, well, listen,
Speaker 4: I'm going to say to you no right now, And
Speaker 4: I can tell you that I am internally grateful that
Speaker 4: you thought of me. I am honored that you thought
Speaker 4: I'd be an addition to your company. And nothing would
Speaker 4: please me more than if I came back to work
Speaker 4: to work directly for you. But I'll have to say no,
Speaker 4: he said, let me think about it. He thought about it,
Speaker 4: and we ended up passing. The point of the story
Speaker 4: is is I've talked about this a number of times.
Speaker 4: First of all, negotiation, he who could walk away wins.
Speaker 4: In this case, both of us could walk away. If
Speaker 4: it wasn't me, there's someone else. I often talk about this.
Speaker 4: Everyone's replaceable. There's an edict that says no one's irreplaceable.
Speaker 4: Anyone who says differently is a fool. And one thing
Speaker 4: I'm not as a fool. I know I could be replaced.
Speaker 4: I know anybody could be replaced. The problem with that
Speaker 4: idiom is when you have someone who's really great and
Speaker 4: they leave, a little light goes out, a little star
Speaker 4: goes off because you're losing something that was very special.
Speaker 4: And when I, in my case, we both could walk away,
Speaker 4: and I felt that he was a little less shine
Speaker 4: on what he was trying to do not having me there.
Speaker 4: But it's his choice. I respect it, and as I said,
Speaker 4: I was honored and grateful. And the point of the
Speaker 4: story is, back in the day I said it, I
Speaker 4: realized money wasn't the answer to everything. But I realized
Speaker 4: money if handled properly, if planned well, your pensions, your
Speaker 4: four oh one can The money you save allows you
Speaker 4: to have what a colloquial call a few money. And
Speaker 4: I was able to walk away like a man with
Speaker 4: that in mind. Good Night,