Books Rule

Books Rule

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The show is sponsored by G three of Parol.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor
or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark 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

(00:28):
is inspirational. He's gone from.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Clerk to CEO twice.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Mark his classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Mark Weber. I don't like rules. Oh they're good for
everyone else, just stuff for me. And that's rules through
my eyes. One of my favorite quotes I've authored. I
don't care when you draw the line as long as
it's behind me. Yeah, tell everyone else what's to do,
just on me. Nope. I don't like rules, but I
recognize the didn't be no civilization without them. The most

(01:05):
important rules are called the law. Without the law, without
international laws, they'll be chaos. Without traffic lights and stop signs,
we would all be driving into each other. Everything would
be at a stancil with rules, most people still eat
like pigs. Any doubters go to a buffet. But in
spite of the rules of etiquette, would anyone be on time?

(01:26):
Without a rule? Would you be? A constitution makes the
USA the USA? The ten commandments given to us by God.
God only asked of us these ten things. Yet I
could say without a doubt, I don't know anyone who's
obeyed those ten rules. In fashion, there are rules. When
they're broken, there goes good taste. Tuxedos without socks. Hmm.

(01:50):
So let's face it, some rules are made to be broken.
Just not contracts, just not your work. Those are the
rules now. I was inspired this week by promises that
were broken, particularly on what was or should have been
a great joy. I've been inspired by sports, the rules
and foundations, the pomp and circumstance, celebration, jubilation, and even disappointment.

(02:17):
Rules dictate sport. I've been inspired by professionalism, the rules
of marketing, the rules of money. Yeah, my disappointments and
inspirations are about and around this week. I'm an author
of two books, Always in Fashion one of my Great Joys.
My first book the namesake for this show, Dress Casually

(02:40):
Success for Men was a joy until it wasn't. You know,
if you're followers of this show, you'll notice that I
never talked about that book, Dress Casually for Success. I
loved the experience until I didn't. I loved the writing
of it. I love the producing, I love the press tour,
I love the results. However, I hated the politics when

(03:04):
all the rules were broken on the writing and producing
of that book. Promise is broken. Here's the first rule
of Tonight Company politics. Learn to play them or avoid them.
The only problem is you can't take it personally, although
it's always personal, and that brings me to Dress Casually
for Success. I want to tell you the story of

(03:26):
that book, and I want to do it through the
rules the way I see them through Mark Weber's eyes.
Broken Promises Rule number one. The only thing you truly
own in this world is your word. Everything else is
something else. Once upon a time, one day I was
in my office. I was at van Us, and I

(03:47):
was a vice chairman of the company, and I was
minding my own business, and someone walked into my office.
Was his name hold On A minding my own business
and A fellow walks into my office. His name is
Mitch Massey. Ms Massey was the head of the marketing
for PVH at the time, Phillips Venues, and he said, Mark,

(04:11):
I want to know if you're interested in an opportunity
we have for you. So what's that were approached a
while back company wants to write a book. They want
to produce it. They want to do all the heavy lifting,
but they need someone to write the book, and the
title of the book is dressed casually for success. We
started to write it, but we realized in the marketing

(04:31):
group we didn't have the skill set. We didn't have
to know how. And after a series of corporate meetings,
including with the board about producing this book, it was
decided that you would be the best guy to write
this book. And I looked at him and I said,
why me? He said, lobbyously, you could tell stories. Secondarily,
you know the industry in when it's in hours. And third,

(04:52):
perhaps even most importantly, they need a face man, someone
to go in front of the crowd, someone to go
on television beyond radio, do books, and we think you'd
be greatful it. Would you be interested? My first reaction was, HM,
would this be good for me. Would I want to
do this? Do I need this? The answer is yes, yes,

(05:13):
No I didn't need it, but I gave it some thought.
I said, give me a few minutes to think about it.
Anybody ever comes to me you want to talk rules.
I have a rule when it comes to being asked
for a decision on the spot. My rule is the
answer is always no. You always should provide yourself a chance,
a pregnant pause to think about what you're being asked to,

(05:34):
and never be rushed in life or in business unless
there's some kind of emergency. So I waited ten minutes
and I called him, and he came back to my office.
I said, I have three requirements. Number one, I want
to meet the people who are producing the book. Number two,
if I write the book, it has to be mine
and I get final edit. And number three, on a personal,
selfish side, I presume I'm not getting paid for this book.

(05:57):
It's a company of anything. No, So I want to
talk to these people, the producers, about allowing me to
write a different genre book. I was always into spy novels.
I'd travel the world, and I've been working on an
idea for my own book and mysteries and thrillers, and
I'd like at least a fair chance to get that
book published. He said, I'll come back to you. Sure enough.

(06:18):
A week later, people flew in from California, nick guy
named Howard Cole, I forgot his name, his boss's name.
I'm from Affinity Publishing, and they came to me and
said they'd like to write the book. I liked them
very much, and they said mark to me. They said, listen,
I've been told you can write this, and you have
the knowledge. Looking at you, I know you'd be great
for us on TV and on a publicity tour. We'd

(06:40):
love for you to come on. What's important to you.
I said, look, I'm willing to work with anyone here.
I'll go back and forth. I'm not a dictator. I understand,
I'll take input. But in the end, it asked me
my book if it has my name, it said done.
I said, would you give me a chance to write
another book? Done? That was it? I said, okay, I'll
do it. So I was very happy now being that

(07:02):
I understood company politics and I had a rationale. I said,
I need to now talk to the CEO of the
company and talk to him about you know, will this
be okay? Does he want me to write it? So
I went down. I saw the CEO. His name is
an important I never know whether my friend Bruce likes
me mentioning his name, I went down and I said, listen,

(07:22):
they've come to me and asked me to write this book.
He says, I know, do you want me to write it?
If you want to, why me? Because you have the skills,
you have the personality. Why is this important to us
in the scheme of life Mark, It's not. It's not
going to change the company, but it's a great publicity
book for us to step out there in front of
the entire world, take ownership, addressing casually in the workplace.

(07:45):
And I think you'd be great at it, I said.
I made it clear to them that I want to
write the book myself, but you okay with that? Absolutely?
I also want a selfish no told them, you know,
I love the spy novels. You read them, we read
them together. I'd like to try and do my own,
and they said, give me a chance to do you
have a problem with that? Absolutely not, I said, in
that case, I'm going to take the book. So all

(08:06):
of a sudden, I have this new thing to do,
and I was really excited by it. You know, who
am I to write a book? I'm a humble guy.
I don't know much about anything. I knew nothing about publishing.
But what I did like is the idea that me
Mark Weber would try something totally different, totally out of

(08:27):
the box. I haven't thought about George Plimpton back in
the day. I don't know if anybody remembers George Plimpton.
He was a journalist, but every time he wrote, he
wrote about different things that he would do in person,
like being a quarterback for a professional football team. They
let him on the field during practice and he threw
a couple of passes, and he would go to various
different events and report from there. And I always admired

(08:50):
that idea, and I always liked the idea if I
could do different things. I had other ideas in my
mind which I never voiced anyone. But here I am
becoming an author, and I started to write the book. Now,
those of you who know me and those of you
don't know that I be above all else. I'm a
family man. I don't know when that became. I don't

(09:12):
know when I got from being a selfish, impossible person
to deal with, And I admit today I'm still an
acquired taste. But back in the day I somehow new,
particularly once I got married. But then once I had children,
I was all about family. And I said to myself,
can you imagine what a great role model I will
be to my children being an author now? And how

(09:34):
would my wife feel about it? And I said to myself,
you know what, I'm going to surprise them all. In
the course of the summer. I think it was nineteen
ninety six, I wrote the entire book at home in
my backyard. Albeit when I'm supposed to be playing rough
stuff with my children baseball catching, I'm in the backyard
writing this book by hand, by pen and ink on paper.

(09:57):
And I'm writing this book. And every Monday I would
send a book to my assistant. I bring it into her,
give it to she would type my illegible handwriting into
typewritten words. We'd send it the effects or a text
to the book publishers in California. Her name is Judy Lugo,
my long term, forever only assistant, and we wrote the

(10:18):
book this way. Now, during those weekends, I'm out back.
I'm not with my wife, I'm not with the children.
I'm getting yelled at. What are you doing? What are
you doing? Why aren't you with the family? What are
you doing? Work is so important. You have to balance
in your life. Mak who are you? What's wrong with you?
I never said a word, never told the family I
was writing a book. Until six months later we're at

(10:41):
the Magic Show in Las Vegas. The Magic Show is
a big industry event. I've talked about it before. It's
a trade show. Ninety thousand people come to this event
over the course of the week, and as it just
so happens, I got my chance for TV time see
the book. Publishers decided that we would do a seventeen

(11:03):
minute piece that would be released to the entirety of
the world via cable television and on eleven o'clock on
a Monday morning in Las Vegas on Channel I think
it was seventy seven. There was seventeen minute piece done
on dress Casually for Success for the book, with me

(11:23):
talking about what it meant to dress casual and going
through the whole book, and it was really well done.
I won my uniform. Those of you again who know
Navy blue suit, white shirt and navy tie, Sterling Civil Companants, Sterling,
Silver Rolex watch, black tesseled loafers, and I did the
interview and the key to dressing casually for success in

(11:45):
any business or in personal environ but in business in particular,
competition in the workplace does not end with the removal
of the jacket and tie. You still have to remember
that you're in business. I have to remember you have
to look good. I have a quote in the book
here that it says very clearly that it says seventy

(12:07):
nine percent of people interviewed say that appearance matters. Fifty
nine percent say that how you dress delineates your social status.
So I did all of this, and I started writing
the book, and all of a sudden, I'm leaving for
the work that morning at eight o'clock in the morning,
and I said to my wife at the time, Sue,

(12:28):
you got to do me a favor. You gotta be
on the television at eleven o'clock this morning. I'm not
gonna be in the room at eleven o'clock, I said,
you and the boys, I've got to be in the
room at eleven o'clock. Promised me that heause, what's going on?
I said, turn on channel seventy seven and eleven o'clock.
It's cable TV. I want you to watch the show.
I don't remember it was Fox or what station, CNN whatever.

(12:52):
Sure enough, at eleven eighteen, I got a phone call
from the family, scream and rolling up and down. I
can't believe you wrote a book. We saw you on TV,
I said. And that's how my family found out about
the book. And I've often said that I was an
acquired taste, and anything I could do to prove to
my wife that she made the right choice in picking

(13:13):
me to my children to represent as a father that
she'd learn from and admire meant the world to me.
And that's how I write the book. And it was
a great story, and I loved it and the proof
of the story, and if I left it at that,
it would be a beautiful story. Except I lost all

(13:33):
interest in this book. I haven't looked at this book
in probably ten years, maybe twenty years. And why because
I got the disappointed throughout the entirety of the story,
the entirety of the writing of the book after it
was written ruined everything for me. And why because the

(13:54):
rules were broken, words were broken, and everything changed. And
those of you who haven't any doubt about what it
takes to write a book or me, I want to
read you the forward. Just give you a point of
it so you see. These are stories I've told you
along the way, and I would start with this. There
are times when I reflect on other more notable professions

(14:14):
in which individuals and teams are working on solving the
world's problems, striving for global peace, eliminating disease, and educating
our children. I ask myself, how do we and the
pail and retail professions stack up next to those arrows?
In truth, we don't. We can't yet our industries play
an important role in the greater good of mankind. Clothing

(14:35):
is one of the five essentials necessary to sustain life.
We employ millions of people and provide for their families
well being. While how you look should not matter in
the greatest scheme of life, it does. It matters to you,
and it affects how you feel about yourself and how
others perceive you. While clothes do not make demand, they
can certainly help them to position himself for a more

(14:56):
rewarding and comfortable day to day life. And career. Clothes
in the simplest turns, provide cover, warmth and protection. Also,
on a deeper level, clothes allowed you to feel special
and individualistic. They allowed you to stand out or blend
in while providing you with the ability to be comfortable
in your head as well as your body. Philips van

(15:18):
Eusen has quietly built one of the largest power of
footballer companies in the world. A number one ranking in
dress shirts, sweaters and casual sports will result and consumers
spending over three billion dollars on our products in nineteen
ninety six worldwide. The strength of our brands comes from
the people have devoted their business life to making those
brands the right choice for millions and millions of people

(15:41):
around the world. Our heroes are the thirteen thousand people
of our corporation who labor throughout the United States and
the world and developing and improving our products every day,
every week, and every year. This book is dedicated to
those thirteen thousand men who have brought us so far.
So I go on to thank the board of directors.

(16:02):
I think some of the people will help me write
the book, which were none, And at the end I
wrote when I signed up Finally, this book is tribute
to a collective corporate strength. It is in fact a
fun way to explain the business casual phenomenon and guide
visits in though the process of dressing casually for success
for men, where I quote competition in the boardroom does

(16:23):
not disappear with the removal of the jacket and died.
So what happened? What happened that one of the great
joys of my life turned into a huge disappointment, my
first book written that I haven't even looked at the
fifteen years. I have a very close friend of mine,
a woman who I admire a great deal, and she
surprised me and bought the book and told me she

(16:46):
was starting to read it with her and her sons.
And it gave me great joy. But I forgot about it,
and I remembered why I didn't take it seriously and
why it bothered me so much to be involved in
this book. And here's what happened. While I'm writing the book.
It's done. It's done, And the first thing that has

(17:07):
to be dealt with is the cover of the book.
So the title Dresscazi is Sex for Men by Mark Weber,
Vice Chairman of Phillips van Usen. That's the way the
name would be entered into the book. I get called
into the CEO's office. Is Mark, we have to change
the title of the book. So change the title. I thought,

(17:29):
every loved the title. Well, let me rephrase that. We
don't have to change the title, we have to change
the author credit. I said, what he says. You have
to be honest with you, Mark, You're one of two
vice chairmen in the company. The other vice chairman feels
left out, neglected, and it just doesn't seem right. That'll
be only written by you. I got quiet and I said,

(17:52):
but it was only written by me. You came to me,
The marketing team came to me. I was told the
board wrote off on this to write this book. It
is true. So what do you suggest We wanted to
read Dressed Casually's Successful Men by Mark Weber and the
venues in Creative Design Group. I said, but they didn't

(18:15):
do anything. Is this what we want? So silence just
like that. So I thought about it. I said, you
know this is not right. He said, it's not a
question of right. This is what we have to do.
So in the forward, what I didn't read to you
I gave credit to the board, and I give credit
to all the people helped and Affinity Broadcasting and all

(18:37):
the stuff that we did. And I've put the names
and the designers in the company I like, and then
I left out all the names of all the people
in the company that I didn't like, so they never
got credit in the book. Nobody realized. Okay, next thing
we know. Now we're up to the back cover. We
have to do about the author. So about my career,
bark Marl K Weber? Who is he? What did he do?

(18:57):
Et cetera. I get called down to the president again, CEO,
excuse me, and he said about the author, market can't
be you again, Sons, what do you mean it can't
be you? You know, it's really this book was for
the benefit of the company, not for you, and we
wanted about the author to be about the history of
the company. And I'm listening to this and I can't

(19:21):
believe when I'm listening, I just spent all this time
doing all those things, when the final stages of doing
the book, we're down to the last things and now
I'm not even get credit for about the author. You know,
at this point, I'm really getting frustrated. I'm upset, and
you know it's the politics of the whole thing. So
if you look in the book about the author became

(19:41):
about venues. In eighteen ninety one, an enterprising immigrant family
began making and selling shirt to coal mine US in Potsville,
Pennsylvania area. The shirts who made well in warwell and
a new company was born. The company grew investing in
capacity engineering and more importantly, it's people. Treating people with
dignity was the main stay for the company, and I

(20:01):
wrote the entire history of the company. Now, the funny
part about it is about the company, about fan use it.
There was a Phillips company, That's why the company called Phillips.
Then using the Phillips family dating back to eighteen eighty one,
invented the company and the whole Phillips family lived their
lives running this company until nineteen ninety six when a

(20:23):
proxy fight in the board meeting, my CEO, myself and
then our executives. That's the right way to say it.
I won't say we pushed Larry Phillips out. Larry Phillips
wanted to go a certain way in strategy. My CEO
and the rest of the manager of the company wanted
to buy the Eyes Out and Gant company, and they
disagreed on the future of the company. And the board

(20:44):
backed my boss and said, we're going to allow them
to buy. They're young, they're the future of the company.
You're sixty six years old, Larry. It's time to either
you retire or get on board. And Larry Phillips basically said,
I want to sell my sock. If I can get
my sock sold, I'll leave the company and leave it
to you guys to do what you are with it.
My boss went to Hong Kong, found a very wealthy

(21:04):
and successful apparel company in Hong Kong to buy mister
phillips share. Mister Phillips retired with dignity, and the company
went on, why do I tell you this? Because about
van Us. I told the story of one hundred and
fifty year old company and was told not to mention
the Phillips family. Not only was that disappointing to me,

(21:25):
it was a breach on my integrity because whether I
liked Larry Phillips, who didn't. I admired his father, I
admired Larry, I admired being given the chance to do
all of this to have this career. It really really
bothered me. I said earlier in this show, the only
thing we really own in this world is our word,

(21:47):
and doing that was a bridge against everything I stood for.
So the joy of writing this book has been forgotten
by me. The excitement of the book was forgotten. Until
my friend said that she was reading the book. I
gave it no thought. Having said that, I remember one thing,

(22:10):
the last thing I'll tell you about this, the pleasure
about the author. There's a space where my picture was
supposed to be, and they made me take it out.
Now I had a choice. At this point, I said
to the Infinity broadcast, I'm done. I'm not going on
the tour. I'm not doing any of this. This is
the final straw. They came to see me from LA

(22:30):
and said, Mark, listen, we promised you another book if
you wanted. We've done everything we could possibly ask for
you and were caught up in this politics. You're our guy,
not the company. But it won't go out. We invested
a lot of money and we're asking you please finish
the thing and do it. And I did, and I
did the tour, and I'll tell you what it actually

(22:52):
did for me. I'll tell you what happened. I impressed
my family, impressed everyone. I became ready. I didn't know
that I would be able to go on TV without
a doubt, without a hesitation, comfortable sitting there. My first
interview was with Bill O'Reilly, the second Neil Cavudo. I
traveled all over the country. I went to Canada, I

(23:12):
was on TV. I also started doing radio, and I
was easily adjusted to radio, which, by the way, is
where I found my passion for radio and my first
demo types for radio done right When that was done,
and in reality, I became a renaissance man. I became
more than just Mark Weber family man, Mark Weber executive,

(23:35):
Mark Weber author. So it meant a lot to me.
Now Having said that, I hope you learned something from
that segment of the book Dresscausey's successful. Men. It has
its pros and cons those of you who haven't read it.
I recently went back and looked thanked to a close
friend of mine who told me that she was reading
the book. Having said that, I'll take a break when

(23:55):
we come back. I have a little fun. I want
to play with Jesse. He's coming in. We have a
little game we want to play. I want to share
them and talk about what's going on in that book.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Always in fashions.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl
Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to
America through Carlagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,
ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Carlagofeld also offers a range of watches I wear in

(24:30):
premium fragrances. You could explore the car Lagofil collection of
Carl Lagofelparis dot com. But it's more than that. I
have for one, love to shop. I love going around
and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what
would make me feel good to wear now. I don't
wear the women's wear, obviously, but I can appreciate it
and they look amazing. If you want to look right,

(24:51):
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 your You can find it
at very affordable prices at Macy's. Orcarlagofel dot com, Paris.
The women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well
as the handbigs and the shoes. I, for one, wear

(25:11):
men's clothes, unlike my appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a
modern guy. I'm gonna look current. I want to look
the way I want to feel. I go out at night,
I'm in black and carlagofeld 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

(25:32):
details that go into Carlagathel because he's always been he
always had been where 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 to clothes that fits you well.
Carl Lagafeld, Paris, Carl lago Feldparis dot com. My favorite

(25:55):
brand has always been ises On. My company at one
time bought that brand. 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

(26:17):
golf brand. If you play golf, if you play tennis
for that matter. They make a great polo shirts. I
mean great. They're fit perfect. The material is unique because
it's a PK fabric that waffle leave, you see, and
it's made of a blend of cotton and microfiber that

(26:39):
allows you to stretch. And very often they are treated
with solar protection as well, so they stretch, they're comfortable,
and they breathe well. And one thing about ISOD they
always fit. They'll never tug on you. You put it in
your waist that they'll fit you great. The colors, patterns
are sensational. We will also tell you Isaac makes great

(27:01):
shorts and great golf pants. You're a golf friend. You
want to look good. You don't have to think about
how do I look. You want to think about how
you play, not how you feel. ISAAD 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 it, I should
tell you about the man's sportswear. Isod wasn't enough being

(27:23):
a golf brand. It wasn't enough being just great polo
shirts with logos, without logos. Incredible brand and story and history.
Isaad makes salt weather programs. They have great printed woven shirts,
short sleeves. They look excellent with colors, excellent with shorts,

(27:44):
excellent with cotton pants, of which they also make this
whole salt order relaxed line from Isaac, whether it be fleece,
cotton sweaters, knit polos, 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 here's the thing, is is affordable.

(28:09):
Everyone listening to me talk about this brand can afford
to buy it and know that there are a lot
of other brands that also have a look like ISID.
Although I don't believe it's fun as Isaada is. The
brand has a lot of energy in it, but at
the price points no one can compete. You can find

(28:29):
Isaac at your leading retailers and online at ion dot com.
Talk to you later, guys. I wish you I are
very happy springing summer, and I help you by telling
you if you are isa on, you're going to look great.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Welcome back to it, always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
This is Mark Webber Tonight's Book of Rules. That's the
title of the show. The Book of Rules I'm thinking about.
I wrote two books. I'm talking about it and I
talked about dress Casualty for Success for men. I had
a great experience writing it and a very very difficult
experience publishing it because people broke their word and forced
me to do things that I didn't really agree to,

(29:11):
nor did I want to, but I was forced to
do the right thing and continue on. Having said that,
I found some fun segments in the book. Jesse's coming in.
Jesse Weber, my lawyer, my co host, and my son
is here to talk about dress casually Success. Let's have
some fun. You remember the whole thing. When I launched
the book dress it was.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
It was awesome. I was young. I was young, so
I didn't appreciate as much as I do in my
older life. You know, what's funny about that book? It
still holds true. Sure, some of the styles might have changed,
but the principles they haven't changed. I think people should
still follow it.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yeah, you're right. I love it. Casual dressing. I remember
the first time my accountant came to work on casual dressing.
He rolled out of bed. That's what you look like.
He was all wrinkled, he didn't shave, shows up in
a T shirt, torn jeans or shorts. I don't what
are you doing this casual? Hey? What do you want? Moron?
You're the accountant for this place. You gotta look like

(30:09):
it said, what do you want to do? You want
your your pilot of the plane we're gonna go on
tomorrow to dress like that? What are your nuts? Anyway?
I have a little fun thing. When I took out
of the book I want to do with you, I
sent it to you. Okay, yes, I have it. And okay,
So the book I put together with we called it
the Looks, and they're each individual outfits. And I would

(30:32):
like you to read the ten outfits, and then I'll
read the ten occupations. Okay, okay, So I'm gonna ask
you to guess what occupation goes with what look.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Okay, Well, I think what we should do is we
should do instead of listing them all out, you should
do look and then I'll look at the list of
occupations and I'll guess, all.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
Right, and I'll let you know if you get them right.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that better.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Okay, So you start with the looks.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Okay, So we have number one, black means black, silk shirt,
black belt. Do you want me to guess what that is?
Or to you?

Speaker 3 (31:05):
I didn't give you the answers, so I want you
to guess.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
I think that that's a number B A security officer,
Am I right?

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Nope?

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Really, every time you go into like a jewelry store,
they're always wearing black on black and black. Okay, wait,
give me, give me one more thing, give me one
mere thing.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Tell you what it is? Go ahead?

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Hm oh man, I actually don't. I have no idea.
I have no idea. I'm looking at the rest. I can't.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
The answer is chairman of a major film company? Really?

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yeah? Go again? Number two?

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Go ahead, all right, T shirt, faded jeans, brown belt, earring.
I'm gonna go with Okay, I think corporate marketing manager
of a clothing company. Eh, okay, well give me like.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
A snowboarding company.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
I'm failing this test. It's a good thing. It sounds
like the number three.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Keep going too, sports.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Shirt, shorts, sandals.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Okay, let me see company.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Okay, all right, here we go, software guru, Silicon Valley.
I gotta be right.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
That's right, all right there for software window.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Okay. Uh suit jacket, white shirt, maroon tie, and a
pair of army fatigue pants. All right, this this is
the one. This is the one. I got it. Conservative
political activist.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
Conservative political activists. No, I'm afraid not. I'm ready terrible. Yeah,
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Wait a minute.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
What are you cheating on the exam political actives?

Speaker 3 (32:54):
The actual explanation I had at the time. It's a
trick question. The answer is at the time and the
excellent that he was dressing for television from the waist
up and for comfort, like David let Himan, from the
waist down.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Very good, by the way, very stereotypical that they wear
army fatigue pants. Conservative political technical all right, this one's easy.
Navy eyesight shirt, gray woostered wolf slacks, professional golf woostered
worcestered professional golfer.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Do you know what that reminds me of?

Speaker 2 (33:26):
What the two uts?

Speaker 3 (33:28):
Well? Maybe how about you in the salad? Oh?

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Okay, listen, I was like twenty years oldy you asked,
You asked twenty people in New York City.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
You asked, and you want to salads?

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Okay, you asked twenty people in New York City. How
does how do you say the salad? N I CEO,
I s e. I'm not the only one who said nikoy.
I'm sure you're gonna have to say the smart people
this swa.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
I'm here with someone who said.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Okay, she's better than me. All right, here we go.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
She's SMA. You know it's a girl. She knows this stuff.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Okay, So was I right? Professional golfer, navy EYESID.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Shirt, Yes, you were right?

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Professional Okay, pressed gant Oxford shirt, jeans and Penny loafers,
no socks.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
All right?

Speaker 2 (34:22):
CEO Computer Company.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Excellent, You are correct. Look at you.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I'm getting better, all right? Next one custom fit suit
tie Wall Street Financier.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
You are correct? All right? Hey I might get a dress.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Yeah, I might get a seventy percent on this examiner
sixty anyway, sports jacket, white button down shirt, striped tie. Hmmm,
let's go corporate marketing manager clothing company.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Good guess, but no, I think I was trying to
be clever on this one. It's a little tricky because
a security officer was dressing against the image of the job,
looking like a cup was the last thing he wanted.
So you didn't get that one, but I could be confused.
I get it nice, all right?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
What about is the corporate marketing manager this one? Khaki pants,
button down beige shirt and a pattern weave and beige
T shirt underneath.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Good question, casual business clothing. It's a corporate executive makes
casual business clothing. Do we have that as a choice?

Speaker 2 (35:31):
We have corporate marketing manager of a clothing company.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yeah, I guess that's it. You got that right.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
And then the last one, nick collar shirt with crested logo,
color coordinated slacks, matching sweater vest with similar logo. That's
the VP of the major automaker.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
Right. I'm gonna say, yes, growing one life for the
professional golfer, but that was really the professional golfer.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
Yeah, all right, I didn't. I didn't stink I did.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Okay, you did not stink. Now you want to take
credit for notts thinking, Yeah, I enjoyed that part of
the book. Yeah, I've got a good One question for
you being that I got you one your attention. Okay,
Another question for you I want to know, being that

(36:20):
they're discussing fashion and the peril right now in Dressed
Casually Success for Men my first book that I don't
talk about because I was so disappointed. But here we go,
the ten reasons for choosing a store to make men's
parel purchases. So what are the ten reasons you think
there are for men picking a store?

Speaker 2 (36:41):
One price?

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Let's see on one to ten the number one selection?
You think it's price? That's my Let's do it in order?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Oh man, I can't. It's hard for me to even
come up with ten. Can I just tell you them
and you put them in the numbers?

Speaker 3 (36:56):
All right, I'll give you the number.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Go ahead, okay, First price, I don't know what number
that is?

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Number ten? Oh? Interesting, don't shop for price, men don't
shop for price.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Location.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Nope, not at all. Oh convenient location nine point three percent?
Number four? Okay, but I have to go back good
sale prices is what I said? Is number ten. So
I was wrong there, I say, I don't know the
book anymore. The best value got twenty three percent, So
you're right. Men do shop for.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Price, okay, variety, variety of selection.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Oh, good one. Let's see good selection b B B
BEPP twenty five point four percent. That's the number one answer.
Now it's starting to sound like family.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Feud turnover how much they get new product in?

Speaker 3 (37:54):
No, Okay, we got on the right shide all right?

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Fit fit.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Fit is there? Fit is uh? Best size? Fit number six?
What I say?

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Did I say assortment location?

Speaker 3 (38:10):
You were right on that and that was number four
nine point three.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Assortment assortment? Did I go through that? I don't remember
if I said number one good selection?

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (38:21):
How many do I have left a couple? I think
you did pretty good man. I don't uh, I don't know.
I don't know the rest. That's the best I can
do right now.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Carry's Name Brands gets four point one percent and number
three at eleven percent. You'll like the storm.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, there you go, there you go. And by the way,
I'm sure that there are everybody listening to this, well,
the men listening to this, by the way, the women
listening to this will say, oh, there's a store that
checks all those boxes.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
Okay, I got another test for you. I like these tests.
Don't give me an illegal test. That won't be fair,
although I could probably come up. Let's do that next
time you come up with legal questions and ask me.
Because I think for a corporate CEO, I was pretty
good at the law. I knew more than most of
the corporate CEOs. I had too many problems to deal with,
so I have a good enderstanding. Okay, here we go

(39:16):
where men look for information on men's apparel fashions? Where
do they go to to get an idea of what's
going on?

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Magazines?

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Magazine at that period in time, back in nineteen ninety six,
ten percent good.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Call movies, TV movies.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Movies only one percent for movies. I guess they didn't
see Brad Pitton Oceans eleven.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Well that was that Ocean eleven came out after the nineties.
That came in two thousand and one. All right, how
about this? Wait, I just had a good one. It
was not that that. Oh uh, celebrities.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Celebrities, uh zero, nobody called out celebrities. I guess the
movies covered. I'll give you an one TV.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
TV okay, co workers, people they work?

Speaker 3 (40:07):
No, hmm oh friends okay, friends eight percent. Man, you're
getting good at this?

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Uh? Where do they get inspiration? Where do they look?
Where do they look? Where do they look?

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Magazine? What's the first thing you do when you arrive
at Ralph Lauren on Madison Avenue?

Speaker 2 (40:29):
Open the door?

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (40:30):
The people greeting you?

Speaker 1 (40:32):
No?

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Oh, get out of the pack storefronts windows thirty three percent. Interesting, yep,
I think we pretty much covered that. Here's one more.
How frequent do you purchase a specific appareled brand? Frequent? Questions? Are?

(40:55):
The answers are always? Sometimes sell them or never?

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Frequent?

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Always, sometimes sell them? Never always twenty seven percent the
number one answer. Sometimes sell them. Never purchase apparel of
brand names?

Speaker 2 (41:16):
I think always.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Now that's twenty seven seven Sometimes is fifty three percent? Seldom? Interesting?
I don't know seventeen percent and never two percent, which
means most companies buy brands. Now, I have one more
question and then I'll let you go. I know you
have to leave you ready, Yeah? Do you think people
judge you for your appearance? Yes? What percent of people

(41:42):
you think judge you by your parents? Seventy six very
close and then.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Don't let that hasn't changed, that will never change no
matter what you're right.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
And lastly, but not least close reflects my status in life.
Many people what percent you think look at clothes and
say they think they know who you are, Like the
contest we did before sixty very close fifty six percent. Jesse,
you are on your game tonight. And just just.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
So people know, I ran onto the show quite late
and last minute. I didn't know any of the answers
to this. This is my best guest. But I guess,
as your son, I seem to have it in my
DNA that I know the answers to this.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yeah, it's very impressive.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
I like it, all right, have a great rest of
your show. I got to head out, all right.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
So those of you who are just tuning in, those
of you there at the beginning, this is always in fashion.
I'm discussing my first book, Dressed has the success for men.
I had an amazing time writing it. A lot of disappointment,
a lot of rules broken. I was very unhappy with
the way the book was treated, not the book me.
Having said that, I impressed my family, I impressed everyone. Really,

(42:54):
I became TV ready found passion for ready and became
a better man. Take a break back in a moment.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Always in Fashions.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
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 were dressing up again and
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
worn on multip occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(43:24):
an event. You 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 mark next. The
choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(43:45):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Venues and invented a new idea.
It's called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with
stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(44:07):
this new style of looking sharp 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
van using Maine It's name with dress shirts. It's only
proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way.

(44:29):
You can find van uesing cool flex men's stretch suits
at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them. Donna Karen began her
career as one of the finest, most successful, powerful women
in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at

(44:50):
the luxury market for women on the go, women who
were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that
extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day
in tonight an extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing Donna
Karen had a young daughter, and she had friends and
they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karen collection, and
Donna invented dk NY Donna Aaren, New York. It's an

(45:13):
offshoot of the Donna Karen Collection, the same concept, a
lifestyle brand. Then we talk about lifestyle brands, what does
that really mean? Simply what they say, there are brands
that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get up in
the morning, you start to get dressed Donna Karen Decan
Why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those products.
You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,

(45:36):
and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
about dk andy clothes for work, they work into the evening.
The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters, the blouses,
extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from day in tonight.
Part of your lifestyle is active. You have weekends, you
have events, you participate in sports. Donna Karen's casual clothes

(46:00):
did that under the dk and Y label. A vast
array of casual sportswear that make women look great as
they navigate their busy lives. Whether you're going to soccer
games for your children, or whether you're going out to
the movies, whatever you want to do, dk and Y
genes dk Y sportswear is there for you. That's what

(46:21):
a lifestyle brand is. And I need to mention dk
Y Activewear, which is extraordinary. The leggings, the sports bras,
the sweats. You can wear DKY active wear, certainly in
the gym, certainly when you're working out at home, and
certainly if you want on the street. Because it's that
well done. The quality of dk Y is nothing short

(46:44):
of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be because it was
born from the idea of luxury made affordable for women
of America. DKY and Why a true lifestyle brand that
takes you from day and tonight, from the week into
the weekend, DCN Why You can find DCN Why and
Macy's DKNY dot com.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Welcome back to it Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Webber tonight's show. I intended to talk about rules throughout life.
Web is rules, Whever's law of nature, and I got
into talking about my first book, Dressed Casually for Success
for Men, which on one side was one of my
great joys. On another side, it was my greatest disappointments.
But I thought about it, I'm going to do an
audible right now, and decided to take the whole show

(47:31):
and turn it into a book show. He doesn't want
to talk to you about the the other experience that
I had my second book Always in Fashion that was
a joy from beginning to end. This was a book
that was meant to happen, meant to happen. I was
sitting in the house one day with my family, my
son in particular, Jared and Jesse, and I was holding

(47:52):
court and talking about a bunch of different things. And
Jared said to me, Daddy, you should write another book.
And I said to him, you know what, nobody's interested in.
What I have to say is you're wrong. Your stories
are great. Anybody I talked to read the first book.
Everybody who knows you and listens to you learns from you.
You should write another book. It'd be great. I said,
I'm not writing another book. I'll tell you what I'll

(48:12):
do with you, Jared, if you give me a book deal,
I'll write another book. Next week, I'm in the offices
of McGraw hill. I'm sitting in front of them, and
Jared says, this is my father wants to talk about
pitching a book. Now. I walk in there. I'm tan,
I'm wearing my navy blue suit. I look like a
million freaking dollars. I know. The minute the woman looks
at me and she's saying, I so, oh God, another
good looking guy in a suit, and I'm saying to myself, okay,

(48:34):
And the first thing I said that listen. Her name
was Mary Glenn. Mary, it's great meeting you. I have
a book in me I really want to write. But
when you look at me, please don't judge the book.
I'm about to talk to you by looking at me.
I want you to think about the brands I represent.
This is note about me. I work for van Us
and Calvin Klein, Tommy Hill, Figure, I now work for LVMH, Dior, Vetone,

(48:55):
Galvan She all these brands. I work with Donna Karon,
I've met all these people. I have a story to tell.
I'm the CEO of the company. I want to talk
to you about lessons I learned as being a CEO.
And she says to me, you know, this sounds like
a book I did for the CEO of John Hancock.
And I look at it a John Hancock, I said,
if I didn't have an uncle who sold insurance, I

(49:16):
have no freaking idea who John Hancock is other than
he is the largest signature on the Declaration Independent. There's
nothing to do with that. I said, you're the wrong
person to talk to. Who else can I talk? She says, no, no, no,
tell me what you have in mine. So I started telling.
She says, if you're talking about writing an autobiography, we
do business books, so we don't do auto biographies. In fact,
you'd have to pay us. Is listen to me. I'm

(49:38):
not paying anybody anything. I'm not self publishing. You want
this book, you decide, I represent all of these I
have all these stories. I did an outline, I'll give
you a story, and I gave her a story. She says,
let me get back to you. Unbeknownst to me, she
went to the president of publishing for mcgrahill. The guy
said that you lose this guy, you lose your job.
Sign him, give him advance, make sure he comes. And

(50:00):
I decided to write the book. The takeaway from me
was I was working with professionals. I was so impressed
with mocgrool Hill. It was amazing, amazing. Once I sold
them on the concept and once they bought it, they
knew what to do. They agreed how to execute, We
agreed on the title. They insisted. I insisted that it's

(50:22):
a hardcover. I didn't want to softcover. We agreed on
the price, where it would be sold, what the calendar
be would like that. There was no question. I'd have
to be on TV, I'd have to be in the
fashion media. I have to be with Women's Work Daily,
and a whole host of other articles that I did
with the Jore magazine and Fox News. I did it all,
but I was working with professionals and it was a

(50:45):
joy for me. And once again I wrote the book
without telling anyone in my family. I was writing the
book and I worked on the weekends. I worked during
the day. I would write the book, give it to
my secretary, my assistant, Judy Lugo, who in turned we
typed it and we gave it to the publishers, who
in turn proof reddit made adjustments. So we did this

(51:05):
back and forth over the period of March through August.
We launched a book. In December twenty fourteen, I had
a book signing at the Donna Karen Store. We had
five hundred people lined on down the block on Madison
Avenue from sixtieth Street, almost around the entire city block.
It took me three and a half hours to sign
every book, and every book that I signed, whoever would

(51:28):
come up, I would give them a personalize So I'm
Mark Webber. Who you is, I'm an accountant. I said,
then I need you to come work for me because
I can't give tracking the numbers. Thanks Jim, welcome aboard.
If you were a designer, I said, read the book,
you'd become a better designer. Whatever it was you did
for your doing, doctor, doctor Herman, thank you for your service.

(51:51):
Thank you for keeping us all healthy. We appreciate it.
Read the book, give it to your kids. And I
did this. This took turned out to be a joy,
and everything about it was a joy, and it was
the total different experience that I had. The most difficult
thing was coming up with the titles for each of
the chapters, Pearls of Wisdom. What do you think that

(52:13):
would be about? Good ideas and smarter than absolutely not.
I had to deal with the fact that I was
in Japan. I made a big deal with a big
Japanese trading company. I came back to my room that
evening and there was a set of Mickey Moto pearls
left for me at the front desk. Now I was
a corporate executive. I'm not allowed to take any gifts

(52:33):
Christmas time. I think the rule of the corporation, you
could take nothing more than twenty five dollars. This set
of pearls was worth between twenty five and fifty thousand dollars.
Was a necklace, a bracelet, and earrings, Mickey Moto pearls.
It was crazy. I ended up giving them back. I
called the trading companies that I can't take them. You
have to take them. It's Japan. We're giving you a gift.

(52:54):
And I said to them, listen, I appreciate the thought.
I'm a corporate executive. I worked for a mere own company.
It's against the world. I'm leaving the pearls at the
front desk. If you don't come to pick them up,
they're going to be there forever. That night, I called
the CEO of the company, told them what happened. I
didn't want to ever be misunderstanding. He said, I'm not surprised, Mark,

(53:15):
you're a man of integrity. Appreciate your calling us. Of course,
we know you would do the right thing. So here
you are listening to my stories of two books. Both
were so pleasant to write. Both. You know, in life
you could focus on impressing other people. I've always tried
to be humble. I've always tried to appreciate everything that's

(53:35):
come my way. I've never taken anything to granted. I've
always recognized how lucky I was in my success and
in writing both these books. It was one of the
greatest gifts in my life. When I sit down and
think about my career, two CEOs, whatever the radio podcast,
those two books mean the world to me. There are
rules in life. Your word is one of the most

(53:57):
important ones. Being professional is important. Any what you have
is important. Doing something that you're proud of is important.
It's okay to impress yourself, and I have to tell
you in closing, I impress myself writing two books, and
for that I'll be internally grateful. Thank you for listening.
We'll talk soon again. Good Night,