ENCORE: Can I Be Honest With You?

ENCORE: Can I Be Honest With You?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The following is an Encore presentation. This show is produced
and hosted by Mark Webber. The show is sponsored by
G three of Parow. The views expressed in the following
program are those at 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

(00:24):
find your success from the New York City projects to
the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global success story in
the luxury world of fashion is inspirational.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
He's gone from clerk to CEO twice.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Mark is classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Mark Weber, I thought a great deal about what I
wanted this show to be about. I must tell you,
I honestly didn't have a point of view until I
went to look at buying a new car. Speaking which Hi, Jesse,
how are you glad you're.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Here buying a new car? You didn't tell me this one?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Oh? Well, actually, not a car. I went into a
store to buy a boat, no airplane. No. I went
into a store, call it a store. I went to
a car dealership to look for a new jeep. Now,
it might be difficult for me to admit, but I
have one of the original Hummers from two thousand and

(01:22):
three and I keep it around just because when it
snows out, I can trust that car. It's so high
off the ground. The tires are bigger than you, Jesse.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, me too, They're huge. Anyway, I walked into a
car dealership. I went into land Rover, and I have
all these beautiful land Rovers. And I went over to
one of the sales guys, and you know, let me
be honest. The minute I walked in, he came over
to me. What can I help you with him? Blah
blah blah. And I said to him, I'm thinking about
replacing my Hummer with one of your land Rovers. But

(01:53):
I have a question for you. I'm really needed for
the snow. Can I assume that a land will treat
me as good as a Hummer has treated me in
the snow? And he said to me, can I be
honest with you? I hate that sentence in business more
than any other sentence I can think of. Can I

(02:15):
be honest with you? No lie to me, lie to me?
What does that mean? And therein became the theme for
tonight's show. Can I be honest with you when somebody
says that you can't trust another word that comes out
of their mouth. You know, in business there's nothing more
important than respect, and respect goes both ways for you

(02:37):
to your associates and from your associates to you.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
I believe that in business, in life, and correct me
if I'm wrong or you think that you think differently.
Doesn't respect go hand in hand with likability?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I don't know. I don't care if I'm liked. I
do care if i'm respected. But if you make me
agree with that, okay, I'll agree. Why Hmmm?

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Well, I have an idea for a test or. I
should say a game. I think our listeners really like
a game. I found this article and it has the
twelve phrases that will get you liked and hopefully respected
in business, and I thought maybe we could cover some
of them, and I'd give you each point and you
get your view on whether they're important for likability. You
know it's good. I like to get your perspective on it.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
What do you think, Well, let's talk respect for a second.
If you wanted to do this, don't you think the
respectable thing would have been to tell me in advance,
maybe even giving me the slogans.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
No, I'm a co host and I'm allowed to come
up with my own stuff.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I don't have to agree to it. It'll be it'll
be fun.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
It'll be fun, be fun.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
Are you up for this or not?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Okay, I'll play alone.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
This is the twelve simple phrases that will make you
more likable in business? Yeah right, okay, number one or
number twelve. Here's the situation.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
So you want me to come in it? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (03:48):
What do you think about that line? Here's the situation.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think it's uh, I don't know, a lame way
of explaining to someone what's going on. I think you
work with someone, they're entitled to know what you're doing.
It's transparency. Here's the plan, this is what we're gonna do.
This is what I need you to do. But okay,
here's the situation.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
What about tell me more? Does that seem like you're
interested in what they're saying?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Are you answering the questions? Tell me more? Yeah? I
guess it says that you're so fascinated by the answer
of that person who's talking to you. Please, I want
to hear more you're so genius.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
What do you think about the phrase? What do you think?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Again? I suppose that's a respect thing. When you're saying
to someone, I'm interested in what you think, what your
opinion is. It's showing them a great deal respect.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
I think you're gonna like this one. What can I
do to help?

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Are you sure we got to go through these? These
are making more? What can I do to help? Again?
I suppose the subject that you're trying to get people
to like me. It's a lost cause. Remember I thought
of being a recluse. But what can I do to help? Again?
It's showing interest in the people. It's very touchy feely.
I see where these are.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Going speaking which please and thank you?

Speaker 3 (05:00):
You want me to comment on that one? You're welcome, okay,
those three? Of course, that's a part of life. You
have to be respectful, and you have to be have
good manners. Okay, what else?

Speaker 4 (05:12):
I think this one's important? Let me find out for you.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
That's important from a leadership point of view. Someone comes
to you with an issue or problem, something that needs
to be solved. They don't have the answer for. But
it's important that you're gonna go out and you're gonna
get them an answer. I like that one.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
Speaking of nauseous, This next one gets me nauseous. I've
got your back.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
If you believe it.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
Partners in wrestling, you know that's.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
A good one. You know, in reality, the only relationships
that deal with getting someone's back a really selfish relationship.
You can't have friends in business. The only thing that
makes you a friend with someone else in business or
with your boss is whether or not they think you
can perform for them. And then if you can perform,

(05:55):
of course they're going to look out for you. But
don't slip because that promise goes away.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
What about I'd like you to meet.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
I Okay, I guess I suppose that means, in theory,
I think enough of you that I want you to
meet someone good one. I can see why they might
like me for that.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
I believe you can.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
I guess that is a way of telling someone that
you believe in them and that you think they could
make a contribution. And I'm sure they would like to
hear that.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
I think you could do a lot better.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Ugh human nature. No, you say that to someone, they're
never going to give you a break. But I suppose
if you sugarcoated and do it softly. I know you're
so great. I've seen this. It looks pretty good to me,
but I know you could do better. I guess it's
an encouraging way to get more out of someone.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
In the context of can I be honest with you?
The last one number twelve? Let me be upfront with you?

Speaker 3 (06:50):
So you're telling me I'm going to say that to
someone and they're going to like me more for that article. No,
now you bring me right back into the theme of
tonight's show. Can I be honest with you? Let me
be upfront with you? It's the same thing as can
I be honest with you? No, don't be upfront with me?
You know, mislead me, lead me down a difficult situation,

(07:12):
so I can't trust you. Can you be honest with me? Please?
If that's what it takes, by the way, to be
like those twelve things. Not only couldn't I say most
of them? I think I passed simply put for tonight show.
Anybody out there who says can I be honest with you?
You have some serious issues with those people. I'd like
to play something for you from the movies.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
You want answers. I think I'm a titled You want answer,
but the truth.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
You can't handle the truth. But I can handle the truth,
and I expect the truth. Oh yes, I can handle
the truth. And to tell you the truth, I'll be
back in a minute with the night's show. Can I
be honest with you?

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Always? In fashions.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
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(08:17):
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and they look amazing. If you want to look right,

(08:40):
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(09:01):
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(09:24):
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Speaker 1 (09:44):
Welcome back to it Always in Fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Can I be honest with you? I hate that phrase?
Can I be honest with you? No lie to me.
I've dealt with it my whole life, and there are
problems with people that make that kind of comment. You know,
you could find in life so many, so many quotes
about the truth and honesty, and I think they're really
really important. Let's do the celebrity versions first. The first

(10:13):
up Kim Kardashian.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
I can't believe you're actually quoting her. What'd you get
it from her Twitter account?

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Well, when you're right, you're right, and she was right.
She said, my career is based on openness and honesty.
Someone else there was a playwright with the name of
Noel Coward. He said, it's discouraging how many people are
shocked by honesty but so few by deceit humans. Another

(10:40):
one singer Waylon Jennings, honesty is something you can't wear out.
I love that one because it's like clothes, You're not
supposed to wear out your clothes. And after all, we
are a fashion show show. I like this reference. Speaking
of fashion, Kate Hudson, former actress and now a women's
active wear fashion entrepreneurial mogul, She's quoted as saying, honesty

(11:04):
will never break you. But in my view, personally everyone,
the greatest quote ever on the subject of honesty was
by none other than Benjamin Franklin when he said honesty
is the best policy. Did you know it was Ben Franklin?

Speaker 4 (11:19):
I knew that one. I'm not a complete idiot.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Well, okay, I didn't, But I'll tell you what My
favorite quote actually was from Benjamin Franklin. And I've used
this one very often in my career when I got
involved in fixing companies, and that is simply, well done
is better than well said. Well done is better than
well said. I for one, have lived my business career

(11:42):
believing and supporting that concept. I'm not interested in what
you have to say. I'm interested in what you do. Earlier,
I spoke about the need for being liked. I think
Jesse put more value in that than me. But tonight
I'm focused on the annoying quote. Can I be honest
with you, what does it say in business if somebody

(12:05):
says that to you? What does it say about the
business culture. It says that the people who lead off
with those sentences can't be honest with you. If it's
okay with all of you out there, I'm going to
tell you a story. A few years back. You should
all know by now, I was the CEO and chairman
of the Donna Karen Company, of course dkn Y And

(12:26):
as you could imagine, how disappointing it was for me
when I showed up at their doorstep, introduced myself and
started to have private meetings with the key management. And
when I started to hear from them every time I
asked a probing question, can I be honest with you?
I kid you not. Almost everyone I met in that
company began their sentences with that. My former colleagues, those

(12:49):
of you listening tonight, I know you're smiling and you
know it's true. But what did it mean in business?
Simply the following. I don't agree with the management, and
I'm afraid to tell you what I really think. That's
the truth, and that's a problem. That's what I confronted
when I joined the company. Problem for sure, I needed
to know the truth. I asked the question. The answer

(13:12):
began with can I be honest to you. And that's
when I coin my favorite answer to that question, no
lie to me. What does somebody say after that? They
got it right away? If I say to you, no
lie to me, you get a jestice, of course.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
But what about let's say somebody says okay. Let's say
you're afraid to hurt somebody's feelings okay, and you know
they don't take criticism so well. So if you say,
can I be honest with you? Isn't that a different frame?

Speaker 3 (13:36):
I wouldn't use it. I never would use that sentence.
If you ask me, Daddy, do you like the suit
I'm wearing tonight? And I didn't like it?

Speaker 4 (13:42):
I have a choice, and you say can I be
honest with you? And I'd be like, I want your criticism.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
I want, But I would never say that. Okay, I
either know you or don't. And I don't believe in
that sentence. Aren't you listening to the show tonight.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
I'm giving you some counter perspective.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
No, that sentence does not work anywhere. But in fact,
if you said to me, Daddy, do you like to suit?
I have two choices. You're on the radio tonight. I
need you at your best. I need you to perform.
I'm certainly going to say to you know, I really
like it. Later on, I might say to you, you know,
I was looking at your suit and I thought about it,
and maybe the color just wasn't right. But when you
say that to someone's face, I don't even know if

(14:16):
that was a white lie. I just chose to pick
my time when i'd come back and talk to you
about it, so I was clear.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Hung all right, fair enough.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
I think that's pretty clear. Anyway, back to Donna Karen
dkme why every time I asked them a question, can
I be honest with you? Is the answer I got
in reply? And of course my famous answer, no lie.
To me, it was so bad and so pervasive at
the company, I brought into my office a Donna Karen
singing bowl. Is Donna Karen is very mystic. She travels
all over the world, and part of what she did

(14:45):
in Bali and those part of the world Polynesia, Indonesia,
they made bowls for serving and they had a thing
that you would grind peppers or whatever in the bowl.
And if you took that grinding thing and you moved
it around the bowl, it would make a noise like singing.
The bull would actually sing.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Oh was that like when you have a glass of
water and you do on the thing?

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Exactly? I had a different use for it. At one point,
I was so frustrated with everyone saying can I be
honest with you? I said to them, see this ball.
I got it out of the showroom. From now on, anybody,
I ask a question. If you start with can I
be honest with you? You have to put a dollar in
the bowl?

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Huh?

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Period like the square jar fun policy? Right? Yeah, I
told everyone you said it, you got to put a
dollar in the bowl. I got to tell you. The
money started piling up, and I told him at the time,
will either you give it away to charity or we'll
buy candy for everyone with they're hanging out of my office.
In fact, what happened an open culture started to kick in,

(15:43):
and it became easy to get answers because people were comfortable.
They knew I wanted the truth. I didn't want some
preference saying can I be honest with you?

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Who?

Speaker 3 (15:53):
Who needed that? But why am I telling you this story?
Because in business and companies, in life, some people have
to be comfortable. They have to express their opinions. They
have to share their ideas. It's called transparency, and transparency
is crucial, crucial for success in an organization. How can
you ever accomplish anything that people are afraid you can't?

(16:15):
You can't be successful, you can't improve. Let me tell
you a story of all things about shipping merchandise.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
You better keep this interesting.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I'll try Jesse very simply. If you import products from Asia,
you have two ways of bringing them here. You can
put them on a train. They're no tracks across the ocean.
You can put them on a boat, or you can
fly them. Boats are slow, the capacity is huge. The
other way is you fly flying. Think about a plane.
It has limited capacity, and if you want to send

(16:49):
your products here, you're going to compete for that small
amount of space. Flying can often cost ten, maybe twenty
times per an item for what it takes to do it.
So one day I'm in a meeting and I happen
to be talking about transportation, and I quickly asked someone,
so tell me what ocean vessels do you use? And
they got very quiet. Nobody would answer the question, and

(17:09):
somebody said, can I be honest with you?

Speaker 4 (17:14):
Oh, there goes the end of that conversation, so.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
I said, yeah, let's let's be honest. Let's be honest.
Is well, we fly everything. I said, what do you
mean you fly everything? She said, well, we don't have calendar.
We don't did he hito the calendar? We could be
honest with you. We can't seem to use a team
to get it together. So we're paying twenty times the
cost of air freight on all our garments. So very simply,
can I be honest with you? Led to a very

(17:38):
open dialogue. I banned airshipments completely from the company and
saved ten million dollars in the first year. So having
an open culture, eliminating those words, telling people that they
don't have to worry about answering honestly. I remember traveling
to Japan before I leave Asia. Let me go back
and tell you the story, and I never forgot a lesson.

(17:59):
I learned sitting with one of the trading companies in
Japan and we're talking about problems and fixing problems. They
said to me very carefully, in the Japanese culture, we
fix problems, we don't fix blame. They don't blame people.
I thought that was fascinating. It's a great thing, and
so let me sum it up. You don't have to

(18:19):
be worried about telling the truth. You have to be
careful how you do it, but you never lead a sentence.
Can I be honest with you? Because my answer will
always be no lie to me. There needs to be
an open environment in companies. You have an obligation to
create that environment. People need to be comfortable in your company,
and they need to be comfortable on the job. You
need to be comfortable. Can I be honest with you?

(18:42):
Of course. We'll be back in a minute.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Than a lifetime of my career building the van usen Brand,
and I am so pleased that they're back with us
now talking about suits. Men, we're dressing up again and
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(19:08):
an event, to wear a suit to the office with
or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends,
suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The
choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
in packaging yourself. This is important does the products you

(19:28):
package and wearing a suit is one of those things
that make men look their best. Ven Using 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. Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wicki.
It makes it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed

(19:50):
just now, this new style of looking shop while feeling
cool and comfortable is amazing and I'm so excited that
the ven Using company is involved in this new technology
and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's
not forget van Usen made its name with dress shirts.
It's only proper that the soup business follows strongly in

(20:12):
its way. You can find van Using Koolflex Men's stretch
suits at Jacpenny or online at jcpenny dot com. Guys,
they're great. You should go look at them.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Welcome back to it always in fashion, here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
I hate when someone says to me, or anyone else
for that matter, can I be honest with you? No
lie to me? And that's the theme of tonight's show.
You want to quotes, you want to talk about honesty,
There's some great ones out there. Let's go to Shakespeare
who said to thine own self be true. Talk about honesty,
and let's not forget the founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson. You'll

(20:50):
recognize this. We hold these truths to be self evident,
that all men are created equal honesty and truth. Let's
be honest tonight. I want to talk about the politics
of business. We're starting off this new year with tax reform.
By the way, I'm trying to recover from the government

(21:13):
hating me for being somewhat successful. There's no benefit for
me in tax reform. Living in New York, I lost
my benefit of tax help for owning a nice house.
Oh I'm upset. Well. President Trump had his head in
the right place when he started out planning the tax reform,
but then the Republican Senate stepped in and they had

(21:33):
to make an example taking away deductions in this case
from homeowners. My case, when I bought my new home,
the one thing I looked at was the taxes, and
I said to myself, can I afford this house? And
I said, yeah, the taxes are high. But the government
allows me a deduction with the federal government. The state

(21:54):
government allows it. Great, so I'm not going to worry
about the taxes, and now boom, I have to worry
about the taxes. Having said that, I got hurt badly.
No tax relief insight for me. But I will move
on because the government now is about business. I support
our government's business policies, and I support the approach that

(22:16):
is being made to business issues. Let's talk honesty about
the business of mail and package delivery. The Post Office
is a major, major contributor and involved in our lives,
in everything we purchase. Now, I started to think about
this because Donald Trump, at the end of the year

(22:36):
made the greatest Twitter comment of all from a business
perspective when he commented, why is the United States Post
Office who is losing many, many billions of dollars a
year while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver
their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber
and poorer. We should be charging much much more. Thank you,

(23:00):
President in Trump. That's hysterical. Well, it'll affect everyone, but
it's an important comment and I love it. Again. We
have a CEO president in action. I can't help but
think about it under the heading of business leadership. Great
statement if you put it in the form of a question,
why does the Post Office lose billions of dollars? Great

(23:22):
question deserves a great answer. But let me begin with
my own simple question. The government's US Postal Services had
a monopoly on shipping in the United States. Every single letter,
for all intense purposes mailed in the United States grows
through the US Post Office. It's a monopoly that and

(23:44):
of itself should make the United States Post Office one
of the largest corporations in the United States and making
more money than we can count. Then I started to
think about FedEx and UPS Jesse, the difference between the
US Postal Service FedEx and the US whatever it's called,
the UPS.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
I knew we were going to talk about this, so
I did a little research, and let me just tell
you something. I didn't even know this, And I wonder
if a lot of our listeners even know the difference
between all three. When somebody says, just ship something, I
don't know. I don't even think about the three. But okay,
let's break it down. The United States Postal Service, it's
a government agency, like you said, found it almost two
hundred and fifty years ago. It's known as the Postal
Service or US Mail. Unlike UPS and FedEx, it has

(24:29):
strict guidelines in terms of size and the weight of
a package, whereas in FedEx and UPS, which we'll get
to get into, you can ship all different kinds of packages.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
So it often so you're saying, the US Postal Service
limits what we do. Very smart.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
It's funded through postage, stamps and delivery services. That's how
it makes its money. Now, let's get into UPS and FedEx.
Both of them, believe it or not, and I didn't
even know this. They're publicly traded companies. Okay, UPS headquartered
in Georgia with FedEx headquartered in Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
It's the US government versus two private corporations, right.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Obviously, if you look at UPS or FedEx, there are
differences in service options, pickoff and drop off options, commercial discounts,
what's best for package size. But at the bottom line,
at the bottom line, you have three different ways to
ship products. And if you're a small business or a
larger business, you have to look at all three and
figure out which one's best for you.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
But here's the point, it's the problem with our government.
How could the government mess up a monopoly on shipping.
It should be making money and they should have never
allowed the other two to become strong. But my question,
how could they be losing money? It's impossible, right, Can
I be honest with you? Yeah? The theme for tonight.

(25:47):
The US government runs the post office, and that's the problem.
If they did their job right to politicians, there would
be no FedEx, there would be no ups with government control.
With a running stot, no one should have able to
even start and compete. It's terrible. The government can't help itself.
It's not as good as protecting our money, investing it

(26:08):
and spending it wisely. It's just so easy to taxes
and spend our money anyway they want. You know, there
are no taxes in the principality of Monaco.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
I remember that when we visited there.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
You know why, because the country pays for itself. Everything
else they do, pays for all their expenses.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
Because everybody's losing money in the casino.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
That's part of it, for sure, But it's a tourist place.
People go, they invest, they buy apartments, and that's how
the government makes its money and pays for it. I'll
tell you something else that really bothers me. Do you know, Jesse,
there is no state income tax in Alaska, Florida, Nevada,
South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
I didn't know all those states. I knew Texas, but
that's a lot of states.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Yeah, they seem to know how to make money to
support themselves. Maybe one of these states should take over
the Post Office, or maybe they should take over New York.
I hate that new tax.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
Build California is about to get a lot more money,
did you Yeah, I know that's all.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
The Californians need. Legalize marijuana. That's what they're missing.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
I think they'll make a billion dollars from that from taxing.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Let's get back to it. Honesty is the subject, and
honesty and honestly, the President is right the Post Office
should earn billions, not lose billions. But I need to
be honest to give you the other side. We've talked
to one of our earliest shows about the low of
unintended consequences. Sometimes governments make decisions without considering the long

(27:35):
term impact and the long term implications. What happens if
we raise prices in the post office on Amazon and
any other postal people using the rates that ship products
to us. Good question. Huh, well let's talk about that.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
You like this just yeah? I think it's a good
point that a lot of people don't think about. No
one ever thinks about.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
This, Well, we raise our prices on Amazon, So what
are the choices? First up, they would just pay the increase.
They have no choice. There's not enough capacity anywhere else
to pick up the slack for what the post office
does for Amazon. The leverage is on the government's side.
Now that leaves what would FedEx do? They're the competitor.
Thiss enable FedEx to raise their prices. I think, so

(28:18):
why wouldn't they same thing for ups as well? It's
a great opportunity to increase their profits. Their shareholders wouldn't
want to hear that they have ability to raise prices
and they didn't take advantages. Now they could stay firm.
They can keep their prices as is or lower them
and think that they would gain share a market. However,
I would guess as business people they would not give

(28:39):
away potential margin growth. Now what are the unintended consequences?
Maybe Amazon would take the hit and slow their growth.
But maybe with the tax break we gave big businesses
down to twenty one percent, they simply pay the price
and absorb it elsewhere. But here's the thought, why didn't
the president and his team, why did a minute, why

(29:00):
did anyone suggest we were negotiating reducing the business tax
from thirty five percent to twenty one percent to force
the post office to raise the prices and have a
discussion with the big businesses out there that in order
for us to do this for you, I need you
to agree in advance that if we raise the postal rates,
you're going to pay them. I didn't hear anyone else
but me talk about that. That makes a lot of sense.

(29:22):
Here's the worst of the potential unintended consequences. I'm just
putting it out there just in case Amazon gets the
price to increase and they decide not to absorb it.
What do they do. They put pressure all the way
down the line to all of its suppliers. If that happens,
the pressure we put on manufacturing produce this selling prices
here in the USA and around the world, then it

(29:43):
turned the suppliers force their suppliers pressure run all their
supplies to lower their costs whatever. Even shipping lines and
other freight lines to carry the goods for Amazon or
the US Postal Service will be forced to deal with this.
Everyone but Amazon will be forced to really pay for
the post Office. And what is the real outcome of
all this? The comprice for consumer products will rise, maybe

(30:07):
just raising the price of mail and shipping horse from
the US government. The US Postal Services touches everything and
everything and everyone in the world. That's the unintended consequences.
All our suits, all our shirts, all our dresses, all
our shoes, all our handbags, all our perfumes, all our
cosmetics all become more expensive. The government collects more taxes,

(30:33):
they get to waste more of our money. With all
that money, Is there any chance they'll fix my property
tax reduction in New York? Can I be honest with you,
No way. I'll be back in a moment.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
My favorite brand has always been Isa. My company at
one time bought that brand. The CEO of the company
handed it to me and said, you better make it work.
And I put everything in my career to make eyesod work.
And I fell in love with that brand, And to
this day it is one of the most exciting endeavors
I've ever got involved with. ISOD is an incredibly strong

(31:12):
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 p que fabric that waffle leave, you see,
and it's made of a blend of cotton and microfiber

(31:33):
that 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. Now I will also tell you ISOD makes

(31:56):
great 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. Isazad 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. Isad wasn't

(32:17):
enough being 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,

(32:37):
excellent with shorts, 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.

(33:01):
Ison is affordable. Everyone listening to me talk about this
brand can afford to buy it and know that there
are a lot of other brands that also have a
look like EID. Although I don't believe it's fun as
Isaonda is. The brand has a lot of energy in it,
but at the price points no one can compete. You

(33:24):
can find Eyaesa at You're leading retailers and online at
Izon dot com. Talk to you later, guys. I wish
you are very happy springing, summer and I help you
by telling you if you were eyon, you're gonna look great.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Welcome back to it. Always in fashion, here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
If there is a statement that I hate more than
any in business, I guess in life as well, is
when someone says to me, can I be honest with you? No?
Lie to me? What a statement? Somebody says that it's over.
But in business you can't afford to be caught as liars.
Why would you want to be Why did you risk

(34:05):
your company? Why don't you risk the opportunities your reputation?
It's not worth it? Can I be honest with you?
I loved what happened to Apple. I loved they got
caught being dishonest. Can I be honest with you? Is
Apple sorry for lying or the sorry they got caught?
I think they're sorry they got caught having said that.

(34:27):
Jesse legal honesty? What do you think about this one?

Speaker 4 (34:30):
Everybody out there? Is your phone slow? There's a reason
for it because when you updated your phone, you might
have an older version of the phone. Your phone might
seem really, really slow. And why is that Apple purposely
updated their software to make your phone slow? Because they
battery their battery that's in those old phones can't keep
up with the new technology.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
Now, the last time we spoke about this, I didn't
realize that they were doing it on purpose to slow
down your phone. Oh I thought they were doing it.
It's just a fact of what happened. Newest software slow
down your phone.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
Nope, they did a person less no, because if they
didn't do it, your phone was so the phone can't
contain the old battery, it would automatically shut down. Your
phone wouldn't operate. So to do that, everybody updated their software.
Their phones are slow. What Apple didn't say beforehand, they
didn't let their consumers know that this was happening. They
didn't give them the option and say, hey, if you

(35:21):
come in and replace your battery, your phone will be fine.
What people ended up doing was downloading the software and
then getting a new phone. There were people were spending
all this money on the iPhone AID and the iPhone
X because their phone is slow. They were deceived. They
were deceived by Apple.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
What's the issue people were threatening.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
It's a contract issue and the fact that you have
made an agreement with Apple to buy this phone and
you did not know. Apple never informed you that they
were going to do this, and people were deceived. It's
a matter of deception. It's a matter of unfair practices
for consumers. The fact that your phone is being affected,
your phone, which has everything you need to operate in

(36:00):
your life, is being affected by Apples up there.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
They purposely ruining it for you.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
There's a number of lawsuits. There's ones in California, New York, Illinois,
there's even one in Israel and France. They're still suing them.
Those lawsuits haven't stopped. What Apple has tried to do
is a way to make good is they said we
will replace your phone at a reduced cost. It's now
gone from seventy nine dollars to twenty nine dollars. Now,
we thought, we thought that they were going to make
this change in January. Nope, it happened in December already.

(36:27):
So people are replacing their phones at a cheaper rate.
Doesn't matter if the lawsuits are not affected. They're still
going through. And I have to tell you Apple might
be facing some legal trouble here. They've had similar claims
in the past that have lost.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Now does the law system automatically hear a case such
as this or could be shut down.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
There is a standard whenever you file a lawsuit that
you have to meet. Do you establish enough facts that
say that you might have a case here. Clearly that's happening.
Whether they'll actually be successful, whether it will go to trial,
whether it'll settle. I think it'll probably settle. That's a
different question.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
However, why would they settle when they know they have
them dead to rights?

Speaker 4 (37:04):
Do you know how time consuming an expensive and annoying
trial can get you? Don't also, truth be told, does
Apple really want to go through discovery where all their emails,
all their communications are disclosed?

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Who knows what you're saying? They're going to be willing
to pay such an enormous amount to make this go
away rather than be seen.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
We're talking about Apple, We're not talking about Radio shack here.
I think they can afford it. And they've had similar
claims that the similar challenges in the past.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
Well, the idea of them agreeing to settle for some
exorbitant number, just so that you just said that we
don't go in and look at them in the back room,
that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
Well, here's the thing. They've already admitted what they did.
They already realized what they did is kind of wrong.
That's why they're paying That's why they're replacing batteries at
cheap price.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
I have one more question for you. You I have a phone,
iPhone Yep, they slowed me downp What is my damage?
What can I possibly get in return for them apologizing
and paying me off?

Speaker 4 (38:10):
Now I haven't read the complaints, but if I were
to argue it, I would say, your whole life, your communications,
your work, everything is on your phone. We live in
a day and age where you can't operate in your
life without your.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Phone and Apple. You convinced me that I should trust
you to provide these services in my life. You're my
go to company number one.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Slowing down my phone hurts me. It hurts my business
here and there. What about the people? What about the
people who wasted the money on spending on getting the
money on an iPhone eight or an iPhone X one.
All they had to do was replace the battery.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
So you're saying that I can be reimbursed for the
cost of my totality of my new phone if I
bought one once it's slowed down.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
It's an argument. Plus there's also all the damages resulting
to the fact that this is a violation of consumer
protection laws.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
Okay, that was pretty interesting. The moral to the story
here is tonight the subject is can I be honest
with you? No? Lie to me? My favorite sentence, Hey Apple,
I love you? But come on? Can I be honest
with you? I expect you to be honest with me.

(39:17):
With that, I'll take a break. We'll be back in
a moment.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Donna Karen began her career as one of the finest,
most successful, powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed
a collection aimed at 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 and tonight. An extraordinary collection. But

(39:46):
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 Karen
New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection.
The same a lifestyle brand. Now 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

(40:09):
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,
and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
about DK and Y clothes for work, they work into
the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters,

(40:29):
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 did that under the DK and Y label.
A vast array of casual sports where that make women

(40:49):
look great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you
going to soccer games for your children or whether you're
going out to the movies, whatever you want to do.
DCNY Genes dk Y sportswear is there for you. That's
what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention DKY Activewear,
which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats.

(41:14):
You can wear DKY activewear, 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 DKY is nothing short of exceptional. And why
shouldn't it be because it was born from the idea
of luxury made affordable for women of America. DK and

(41:36):
why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day
and tonight, from the week into the weekend, DCN why
you can find DCNY and Macy's DKY dot com. Then
a lifetime of my career building the Van Usten brand,
and I am so pleased that they're back with us
now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again and

(42:00):
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
won on multipleccasions in multiple ways. You could wear a
suit formally to go out at night or to an event,
to wear a suit to the office with or without
a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends, suits
are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The choices
are endless and every one of them looks right. You

(42:24):
could really really look the part. I believe that in
packaging yourself this is important. Does the products you package
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best venues 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.

(42:45):
Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture WICKI it makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,
this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the They
Using company is involved in this new technology and is
embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget

(43:08):
van Using made its name with dreads shirts. It's only
proper that the soup business follows strongly in its way.
You can find van Using kool Flex Men's stretch suits
at jcpenny or online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Can I be honest with you and someone says that
to me, it's over, it's over. What does it mean? No?
Lie to me, light to me? I just hate that sentence.
And that's what we're talking about tonight. One of my
favorite lines on people who've just I guess the word
is lie is how do you know when someone's lying

(43:52):
his lips are moving? Absolutely? Tonight's show is about a
sentence I heard. Can I be honest with you?

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Honestly?

Speaker 3 (44:00):
Business has many many ramifications and it comes at you
in many different ways. And I have a story I
want to tell you about your business management, because if
you're not honest in your relationships, it could come back
to haunt you. Couldn't come back to hurt you. I
want to tell you a story about licensing. Licensing is

(44:20):
a vehicle where companies rent their name to other companies
who have the expertise in an area that they're not
familiar with. Most of the sunglasses that you see with
designer names on them are really not manufactured by the designer.
They're manufactured by experts in the eyewear business. Designer company

(44:43):
may very well have an input and what the design
looks like, have a view of what the color should be,
but it's done through what's called a licensing agreement, whereby
you rent your name to an expert and they in
turn pay you rent for using that name. Both companies
do very well. The designer gets their brand extended over

(45:04):
the category that they wouldn't have had before. People now
see at nywhere stores or in sunglass departments that they
wouldn't have been seen before. So the brand grows, it builds,
and they get paid money. In turn. On the other side,
the licensee gets a new brand and has an opportunity
to go out and build a big business with a
designer name. And those two work in tandem. It's an honest,

(45:25):
straightforward relationship, except, as I said in my book, always
in Fashion, licensing is a two edged sword. On the
one side is that easy, beautiful, symbionic relationship I just outlined,
And then the other side. Often, if not always, you
come to a point where your interests cross the sharp side.

(45:48):
Sometimes the licensees might cut corners. Sometimes they may change
through distribution because they see an opportunity to sell a
different kind of retail that you hadn't anticipate for your brand.
You know a discounter. I was doing business with a company,
a licensee of mine. I was the license soer of
a particular product category. The brand that I was managing

(46:09):
was huge. I had a license for this particular product
category with the owner of his own company, very successful company,
and he'd be at it for a year, and he
built a business to about twenty million dollars and felt
it should be much bigger. And it came to me
and asked me whether or not he could sell the
warehouse clubs Costco and Sam's Club. Now I admire those

(46:31):
two stores in particularly. I shop in Costco, I have
a card, I shop Bulk. I like that store, So
I just want to get that out of the way.
This owner of the company came to me and said
he wanted to sell Costco, and I told him no.
I said, that's not our branding strategy. That distribution is
not a component of what we want to do. That
doesn't fit the strategy of the company. So the answer

(46:53):
is no. They started to argue with me, and I
pushed back, and they said, you can't stop me from
going there if I need that distribution. I said, well,
the truth is I can't stop you. I have an
agreement with you, we have a contract, and I don't
want you to do it. And it kept pushing, and
then finally I said, I'll tell you what you want
to buy the company. It's cost your billion dollars. You

(47:15):
pay us a billion dollars. I'll go to the CEO
of the company. If he wants to sell it to
you for a billion dollars, you could have and then
you can do whatever you want. I said short of that,
I'm trying to be fair, heir. I'm willing to help
you anywhere you want to go, but I'm not going
to change the distribution because you want to do more business.
I gave you a great name, build it in the
channels that we agreed upon. I thought we were at
a point where honest men can differ. He left. I left.

(47:36):
I was atl angry. He pressed me so hard. He
might have been a little angry that I told him no,
and it should have ended there. But here is a
very important lesson on honesty. Unbeknownst to me, he went
above my head to the CEO I was the president
at the time, to complain that I wouldn't give him
this deal. What I did was the right thing for

(47:57):
the company. What I did I hand with dignity and respect.
I told him no. He decided to go by my head.
I would never stop anyone from speaking to anyone in
my company. Period. You have a right to speak to
every you want. Hold that thought for a minute. So again,

(48:18):
unbeknownst to me, he went to the CEO had to dialogue.
The CEO called me in later that day. He said
to me, Mark, I had this fellow here today who
was complaining that you wouldn't give him this deal. I said,
you're kidding. He came to see you. He said yeah.
He said why you didn't know? I said no, I
didn't know he's going to go see you. He said,
what do you want to do about him? Said? What
do you want to do? He says, of course, you're right,

(48:39):
We're not going to let him do it. I said,
let me ask you a question. Should I like the
fact that he went around me to do it? He said, no,
you shouldn't like it, but it's okay. You and I agree,
and I did. Now here's where he gets even more complicated. Mark,
I want you to tell him that I said no. Now,
the CEO and I were very close, and I laughed.
I said it whil be my play, as she said,

(49:00):
I thought you'd enjoy it. So I called the guy
back and I said to him, look, I met with
the CEO. We discussed your situation. He has agreed with
me that this distribution your requesting is not right for
the brand, and I want to tell you that your
answer is no, and I need to tell you something else.

(49:20):
I said, if you wanted to go to the CEO,
and you said to me, Mark, if it's okay with you,
I'm not happy with this answer. I'd like to talk
to the CEO. Are you okay with that? I would
have said yes, and you and I would have had
a relationship going forward. But as of this moment, anyone
in your company needs to talk to me. It's not you,
because I'll never talk to you again. And therein is

(49:44):
the honesty of relationships in business. You out there, you
got to think about this. You need to get along
with everyone, but you got to be particularly smart when
you're dealing with people who can affect your business. And
in this case, I had control over my business. With that,
all he had to do was be honest with me.

(50:04):
Can I be honest with you? Mark? I'd like to
see the CEO? Sure tonight? Our subject is can I
be honest with you? No lie to me or mislead me,
or don't include me either way stupid. I need to
talk about honesty in our business. Fashion does come and go,
and style does remain forever. The fashion industry must renew

(50:28):
its commitment to you, the consumers every year, and remember
that you want to be a member of our brands.
We want you as customers forever, and with that comes
the price of honesty. We want your loyalty. We have
to earn it. In order to have your loyalty, we
in the fashion industry must be loyal to you and

(50:50):
to our products. We need to build trust in everything
we do. We need to be thorough with our honesty
to all our our listeners in the fashion and retail
luxury industry. Let me remind you as we start the
new year. Our customers expect the honesty and our products.
They expect our fashion to be well made. They demand

(51:13):
that our choice of fabrics and colors be fashion right
so that they feel right. They expect our clothes and
our shoes to fit well. They want to be comfortable.
They believe us when we say this is real leather
in our handbags and that they're made either Italy or France.
Our consumer is willing to pay, whether discount it or

(51:37):
at the highest, the top level, the peak of luxury.
They're willing to pay in that luxury pyramid. But they
expect and insist on honesty and integrity in our prices,
and today's consumer wants us to do everything we can
to support sustainability at work, to protect the environment. This

(51:58):
is the honesty of fashion, and to night, I'm always
in fashion. I call on you to remember, with the
beginning of two thousand eighteen, to avoid using that sentence.
Can I be honest with you? You better be. This
is Mark Webber. Good night,