ENCORE: Good Isn't Good Enough

ENCORE: Good Isn't Good Enough

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The following is an Encore presentation.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
The show is sponsored by G three Aparo.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of sevent ten
wor or iHeartMedia.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Who is Mark Weber.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
He's a self made business executive here to help you
find your success, from the New York City projects to
the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global success story in
the luxury world of fashion is inspirational.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
He's gone from clerk to CEO twice.

Speaker 2 (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 1 (00:46):
Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
This is Mark Webber, This is Always in Fashion, and
this is business. And tonight I have a question. Who
am I to argue whether good is good enough? But
I'm going to because I don't believe good is good enough.

(01:09):
I know the difference between excellence and everything else. I
know class from no class, first class from schmuck class, chicken,
salad from chicken. I know fashionable from unfashionable, taste from tasteless,
style from no style, hard work from no work, smart

(01:30):
versus not. So I know the difference between good and great.
I learned so much from people who wanted the best,
demanded exceptionalism. And if there's one thing I know, I
know good is not good enough. Now in this world

(01:52):
you're competing against greatness. Don't ever forget it when you're
competing against people who set the highest standards, from companies
that dare to be special, with leaders who know good
is not good enough. As you just heard, Where would
we be without the highest standards being set, without the

(02:14):
people from every walk of life striving to be different,
people setting new levels, raising the bar. Where would we
be without our heroes who knew good wasn't good enough,
who knew only through hard work, dedication, practice desire that

(02:37):
they could be great, and they changed our world? From
Michael Jordan, I believe my world. I've never accepted good.
You've heard me time and again talk my principles on business,
in life, in fashion, there's no substitute for good tastes,

(02:57):
and executing a job well done is better than well said.
And visioning. Behind every person with vision, there are fifty
well intentioned people undermining that vision. Personally, I've done a show,
and I've said, I don't know if I'm smart, but
I know I'm well trained, and in politics, common sense

(03:18):
is not so common. I learned so much from people
who knew good enough was the enemy of great. I
worked for and with people who didn't settle for good enough,
who could see and understood that whoever would accept that,
that's just okay, it's as good as it gets. In

(03:39):
spite of Jack Nicholson in one of the world's great movies,
it could always be better tonight, I'm thinking about being
great by recognizing that I want to discuss good isn't
good enough? Speaking about great? Getting some of this seriousness aside?
Is Jesse Weber my great son? How are you? Jesse?

Speaker 4 (04:00):
What an introduction? That is? Thank you?

Speaker 3 (04:02):
I work on them every week. I can tell I
got to bring you in in the right way.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
I should write my own introduction.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Take a stab at it? Okay, Well that was pretty good. Okay.
My favorite question to you, what do you think of
this topic?

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Wouldn't it be funny if I said it's not good,
it's great? I do think. What I love about it
is you take a topic that applies to everybody, and
again our show, you always say it is always in fashion,
But it's really the topics we talk about applies to
anybody in any business, in any kind of career. And
it's funny you should say this talking about don't settle

(04:37):
for good, settle for great, because as you know, I'm
on air outside of here, I'm on television constantly. You
can't be on TV and get recurring roles or be
memorable if you're just good or you just do the
minimum to pass.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
And what do you do to be great? That's great?

Speaker 4 (04:53):
That's the question, isn't it? So when I'm on TV
for Fox or CNN, and even when I host my
show Long Crime, I can say with the law is,
I can say what the information is. But I'm not
a dictionary. Why don't I come out and add personality?
Why don't I say the information in a different way.
You can have one fact and ten people can say
it in a different way. And not only that, and this,

(05:14):
I'll say more than anything, you have to research. You
have to be prepared. You have to be You do
not want to stumble on national television. You don't want
to look like you don't know what you're talking about.
You want to be in control of a topic.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Hey, the other day, you were on Fox. What show
was that?

Speaker 4 (05:30):
I was on America's News Headquarters.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
They asked you a question about documents are something. I
had no idea what you were talking about, yet you
look like you had it cold.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
I don't know what I was talking about anything.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, I gotta believe you didn't have that at the
top of your head. You weren't thinking about that all
day long before they asked the question.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Little known secret. You get the topic maybe an hour
two hours before. But here's the beauty about being an attorney.
You know how to research. It's not just about looking
up the story to anticipate what the questions are that
you're going to be asked. And it's not about being good,
it's about being great.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
And with that as a backtrap, tonight's show good isn't
good enough? Being that the name of the show is
called Always in Fashion, maybe we start off tonight with
some fun stories about style. I have my style. I
didn't always but I worked on it. I perfected it
for me. It's perfect. It's my idea of style that's great,

(06:29):
not just good. I stopped by asking myself, how do
I look the best? And over the course of time,
I learned on what I looked the best in and
I addressed to that. At the same time, I ask myself,
what is the image I want to project? Tonight? After
the show, We're going out to a nice restaurant. So

(06:49):
I'm dressed really well, shirt tie, sport pants. I look right.
I've always thought about the message I'm trying to tell
for the occasion I want to tell now my style
and my clothes. I've always looked for timeless things. I
don't want to look like a fashion guy today. I
want things that will look good forever. And when I shop,

(07:10):
I look for forever pieces, whether they are the perfect
denim jacket, of the perfect denim shirt, my black Swede shoes,
the perfect navy blue suit. It's springtime. I'm into white,
I'm into tan, always looking for the right colors. My
accessory is always a rolling swatch. Having said that, I
have a sense of style. I know how I want

(07:31):
to look. It's always classic. I'm always finding pieces or
items that will stay with me forever. I'd be depressed
if my black Swede shoes went out of style. I'd
also be poor. I have about fifty pair. But it's
always simple.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
You're boring is more like they're always in boring fashion,
you really, I mean you need some variety.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
In there, you know, I'll throw in a navy blue
shirt now and then, But no, I hartoon.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Character, cartoon character.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
What does that mean?

Speaker 4 (08:00):
It means anytime you see you're wearing the same outpha.
I mean like Popeye is always in the standard uniform.
I think I might. I don't know if I ever
mentioned it. I made a bobblehead of you once in
your classic outfit. Black V neck sweater, white undershirt, white pants.
It's hilarious because when I gave it to you, you
were wearing that exact outfit.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
I remember, Well, listen, there's no experimenting for me. That's
just the way it is. And I'm not telling anyone
out there that should be there. I'm explaining my sense
of style. Over time, maybe I'll unpack the concept a
little further, but for now, that's not what it's about.
It's about good is not good enough? Hmm. Yeah. I
could make it easier on myself. I could just go

(08:41):
with the flow and whatever is they are aware, But
then again, good isn't good enough? And I want to
tell you a story in my life I've been nominated
for a number of awards. They are some big awards
in the fashion industry, of which I accepted too. The
Fashion Fund, the Young Men's and Women's Association of America
that gives out scholarships made me the Man of the Year.

(09:03):
I accepted the award. I wore black tie that night,
formal tuxedo, beautiful bow tie, great shirt. I looked the part.
The second award I accepted was the American Apparel and
Footwear Association Huge black Tie Fair. Then I've been nominated
for humanitarian awards, and unfortunately I had to turn them

(09:24):
down because I don't like humans. I don't like people.
I thought it was disingenuous to get an award for
Humanitarian of the Year when I don't like humans. But
one of my favorite stories was I was nominated for
the Man of the Year for the Boy Scouts of America.
I want you to go on your iPhone and look
up Boy Scouts of America. See what they look like.

(09:47):
They used to have a major affiliation with the luxury
retail and peril industry, and here I am, I'm being
offered this award as Man of the Year. Now I
have been to these events before, and I knew what
to expect, and when they offered me the award, I
was flattered. I thought right away, would it be good
for my company? Would it be good for me? And

(10:08):
how would my family react? The right things? I would think.
It raises money the event people come, they contribute charitable
donations in bolster the Boy Scouts of America. There's only
one problem. You get those pictures there.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Jes Yeah, the outfits are awful.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, the smokey the bear hat, yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
The tan and the scarf around the All right, here's
the deal.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
So, as I said, I had been to these events before,
and the man of the Year when he got his
award would always have to put on the hat and
the scarf.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
We knew that wasn't gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
So when they offered me the award, the head of
the company that asked me if I would stand up
for be honored, I said absolutely, except I have one question.
So I have to wear the hat and the scarf,
and I said yes, I said I won't do it.
I said, what do you mean you won't do it?
I said, listen to me. I could live to be
one hundred years old and whenever someone looks at me
on the internet. I'm gonna be standing there in that

(11:05):
stupid hat and scarf and I can't do it. I
turned down the award.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
I'm not surprised. I would probably do the same thing.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
Well, the point is is I knew my image, I
knew how I wanted to look, and I would never accept. Okay,
it would be good. I want to be great. Good
is never good enough. There's my style tip. But I
have one more. A number of years ago, I had
a sport injury. I needed surgery on my arm. I
had to go in. When I got to the operating room,

(11:33):
all the nurses were there and the aids wearing these
stupid uniforms. But what got me was the hats. You know,
those big hats that they put over their head that
look like shower hats.

Speaker 4 (11:43):
Yeah, so their hair doesn't fall into the patients while
they're operating.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
How doufacy do they look? They look ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
I don't think they're going on a runway with the hats.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
It's purposes, Okay, So I said, I walked in and
they were gonna give me one of those hats to
put on. I said, I'm not wearing that hat. I'm
not going in. You're not putting me under under that hat.
I gotta look cool. I gotta feel the part.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
What do you wear a texio?

Speaker 3 (12:05):
So they said you have to wear this hat. I
look at the two surgeons who are going to be
in the room, and they got this cool thing that
ties around their neck. They look like movie stars. Those
guys are the rock stars in the operating room. So
I said to them, that's the hat I want to wear.
They said, that's the surgeon's hat. I said, that's the
hat I gonna wear or otherwise I'm not going in.
Said you have no choice, doctor, doctor, how are you listen?

(12:30):
I'm nervous. I want to go under the knife. I
know you have to do it. I want one of
the hats that you're wearing, otherwise I can't do it.
Two seconds later, I'm wearing the hat and I went
under surgery looking cool and feeling cool. Good is not
good enough. That's the theme of the night's show. And
with that, I'll take a break. We'll be back. Good
Isn't good enough? We'll talk some more.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl
Lagefeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
to style. Because vision of Parisian shit comes to America
through car Lagofeld 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 and

(13:13):
premium fragrances. You can explore the car Lagofil collection at
car Lagofelparis dot com. But it's more than that, I
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, you

(13:36):
want to have clothes that fits you well. You want
to look like you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's
exclusive for you and yours. You can find it at
very affordable prices at Macy's Ocarlagofel dot com Paris. The
women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as
the handbigs and the shoes, I for one wear men's

(13:57):
clothes unlike my appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy.
I want to look current, I want to look the
way I want to feel. I go out at night,
I'm in black and Carl Lagafel is my buddy. Calls
are great. They fit great, and they have little tweaks
and touches, whether it's a stripe on the sleeve or
button at the neck or on the shoulder. There's a
lot of details that go into Carlagathel because he's always been,

(14:21):
he always had been one of the world's great designers,
and this legacy and goes on and on. I can't
speak enough about it except to say to you, you
want to feel good about yourself. You want to know
that you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits
you well. Carl lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
I don't know why I'm in the mood for fashion.
Maybe because I have a background in it. In this
world a little business sense. Here, you're competing against the best.
From the beginning of time, man struggled to be the
strongest survival of the fittest. Nothing's changed, it hasn't changed.
It's camouflaged. And in business and in life, certainly in

(15:09):
fashion and luxury, we're competing for our place in the world,
and good enough isn't good enough. You don't win being
just good, or more importantly, you don't win with an
attitude that's good enough. While you're being lazy. Right next
to you, someone is focusing on excellence. They want to

(15:29):
be flawless and frankly, they want to be great. They
will win, they will survive. They are daring to be
great while you're settling. I never settle for anything. Settling
never leads to anything positive. To night, good isn't good enough.
It's been a while since I took you into the

(15:50):
fashion board room, or time to show you again behind
the scenes what's going on. Like the Wizard of Oz,
It's been a long time since I've been in a
product room designing product. The dynamics of creating products is
a creative, unique, difficult, complicated environment. It requires drive, creativity,

(16:13):
a knowledge of what will work and what the consumer
will want, from what we drink to what we eat,
to what we use to what we watch on TV
or in the movies, even here on radio. It's a
challenge to think about what you want to hear, to
what we drive, to what we wear. Every single company

(16:34):
in one of these fields, from soft drinks and wine
in spirits to package foods and restaurants, to technology to
cell phones to automobiles, every single company is striving to
be great. They should know, and the best do know
that good isn't good enough. Every company must develop the

(16:57):
best product they can in a unique package, with a
concept designed to convince us they are the best, that
we need what they're offering, even if we don't. I
never settle for product. I have never settled for product
in a creative environment, in a design room, ever anywhere.

(17:21):
It's so easy to settle. It's just one dress, that's
just one suit, These shoes, they aren't so special. I'm tired,
I'm running out of energy. No one's watching, no one cares. Yeah,
it's easy to settle, give in, look the other way.

(17:41):
Not me, certainly. Never. When it came to product, good
is never good enough. Good isn't good enough. Your competition
knows this. Your competitor knows this. Let me take you
into this situation. I'm packing a bit Jesse. You like
in this.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
I mean, if product is not key and there's nothing
else there, you always say products the first and most
important thing.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Some people say it's marketing.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
You know how market a bad product?

Speaker 3 (18:10):
People do? Like what that stupid pillow?

Speaker 4 (18:14):
Oh? Also, what are the things they wear in the Crocs?

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Crocs till your name the juition name pillow?

Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, mommy loves that.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Okay, well Crocs. I you know, I thought about running
for president of the United States. You know that, right.
I don't know if I've ever told.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
You or you wanted to run for president of the
United States.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah, for one reason, I wanted to out little crocs
and sandals on men. Hey, before I get into the
product room, I have to tell you a story. Yesterday.

Speaker 4 (18:41):
By the way, we lost Crocs as a sponsor. Good.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
I wouldn't have them as a sponsor, with all due
respect to them, But that's what triggered what I was
thinking about. Before I go back to the product room,
I had some time to kill last night. I went
to sax fifth Avenue get off on the sixth floor,
which is the one of the men's floors right off
the elevator. I'm starting to walk into the men's apartment
Armani and Polo. Right right there, some guy is standing

(19:06):
he is on his phone. I noticed him. He's dressed
really well. And then I looked down at his feet.
You know, I want to see what kind of shoes
he's wearing. He's wearing those slip on leather shoes my
mother used to wear with a house coat to take
out the garbage. I wanted to throw up.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Oh that's weird.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, I really wanted to throw up. I said, if
this is what's happening, now, I'm finished. I got so
upset I I almost went up to him. So anyway,
I took the curve around Sacks. I like it there.
I ended up walking into the section. The guy knew
who I was, said he saw me on TV. He
knew wo I was, and he said, no, I have
your radio show. I listened, so really, there you go.
Said you're the second sighting I've ever had. The first

(19:44):
one was in Apple. It was amazing.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
What was he wearing on his feed sneakers?

Speaker 3 (19:47):
He was dressed very well. He was dressed very well.
The guy from Apple recognized me from my voice when
he asked me my name for the product I was buying.
He said are you the guy on radio? That was
the biggest day of my life. I called you all right.
From then it was very cool, very cool. Anyway, I
walked around the Sacks circle. It's set up in a circle,

(20:08):
and I get to the Brioni area. And I get
to the Brioni area, there's a friendly guy dressed impeccably
royal blue suit like the one you wore on TV
the other day, beautiful matching royal tie, light blue shirt.
I look down. He's wearing beach freaking sandals without socks.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
That's even I don't know if that's even weirder than
the one that was wearing the other shirts.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
I couldn't take it, so I looked at him and
he said, hey, man, you're a great looking guy, said.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
You dressed well.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
I can't believe you're wearing sandals without socks. You should
be embarrassed. He looked at me. He didn't know what
to make I said, look, I spend my life. I
was in this industry. And I told him where I worked,
and he knew the guy I worked for at LVMH.
So you can't walk around like that. You're killing it.
Guy next to him dressed really well and he started
laughing his head off. He say, no one would tell

(20:56):
him that, but you. He says, it is a disgusting look.
He said, listen, I'm sorry. I'm going to go change
my shoes. I didn't believe them, but I actually had
the courage to tell them that. I thought it was hysterical.
So for you out there, you want to look cool,
No sandals, no crocs, no, no socks.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
What I have?

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Those slip ons? Things were Man, I wanted to smack
that guy. All right, Jesse will was I forgot?

Speaker 4 (21:18):
You're in the design room.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Ah, yes, I was talking about product. I never settle
for product, and I was not to tell you that.
I haven't been in the design room for a while.
But I used to spend a lot of time I critiqued.
I still did every way in my career. I could
take the lines of the designers, including the stuff that
Donna Karen would do, although less so in her case
because she was a master. But anyway, the dynamics of

(21:42):
that room. Let me set it up for you. I'll
take you behind the scenes and how it works. People
have worked very hard developing and perfecting their ideas. Someone's
about to present these products for approval, for sign off,
for production, for sale, for investment. They're not in consequential meetings.

(22:02):
This is the livelihood of the company, and these people
put it on the line to develop these products. It's daunting,
it's nerve wracking. It's a test, though of human nature.
But it's my responsibility to make sure that it's not
just good, because good isn't good enough.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
So we're there.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Everyone is there, people from sales, merchandising, management, lots of people,
lots of assistance. Everyone's smiling, everyone's hoping for an easy meeting.
Everyone wants to make sure that it's an easy day.
You're in, you're out, no extra work. Wouldn't that be wonderful.

(22:48):
I got to tell you something about me. We all
have skills. I wrote in my book once in my
life I was brilliant. I do have one thing that
I'm brilliant at. You bring me into a room, I
look at product hanging on the walls or hanging on racks,
and in ten seconds, maybe I'm exaggerating, thirty seconds, I

(23:09):
know if it's good or great. I just do. I
have the skill. I can't explain it, but I know
if it's great. And now most times more than not
a seeing either not good or good but not great.
And I view myself as someone who has the ability
to help them make it great. Now what if I settled? Eh,

(23:31):
let's take an easy No one's watching, No one's gonna
know the difference. I'll tell you what happens. Here's the butt.
You don't have the spark. The product doesn't sell right
out of the box. It's on the floor and it's
sitting there. Your competition next to you is selling and
out performing you. You start to have back up in

(23:52):
your inventory. There's too much of it on the floor.
When you put retail inventory out, call it a ten
week supply. If the first two weeks don't sell, you
only have eight weeks left to sell. Ten weeks, so
you're building up inventory. Now you have to put it
on sale. You have to mark it down. That's costly.
You're not making the money you plan for. The retailer

(24:14):
doesn't want to hear about excuses. They will not accept
too much inventory on the floor. You got a problem.
Even though that retail customer you chose, they picked every style.
It's your brand and your problem, and all they see
are the numbers, and the numbers are down on all
their reports. Then the retailer starts to plan the future seasons.

(24:40):
And this is where it really gets problematic. Everything they
do retail buys in numbers. If you sold me one
hundred thousand dollars worth of product last year and you
only sold eighty this year, I'm going to plan you
at eighty or less. You're on a bad trend. And
what happens then the numbers are what your future is,

(25:00):
and those growth plans you had forget it. Your business
is getting smaller, like it or not. Smaller means less profits.
To fight against this, you have to lower your expenses.
Making less money is not an option. You know, all
those people in the room who wanted to take the

(25:21):
easy way out, Oh they're out. They're looking for a
job because you took the easy way, because you settled,
great is the only way to success, and because you
didn't get great, you lost. Now you may have come
in second place, but second place is first place for

(25:42):
losers all because good is not good enough. I'll take
a break. When we come back, we'll talk some more.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Than 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
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
won on multiplcasions in multiple ways. You could wear a
suit formally to go out at night or to an event,

(26:15):
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 package

(26:35):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Then 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 just now,

(26:57):
this new style of looking shop while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing and I'm so excited that the van
Using company is involved in this new technology and is
embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget
Van using made it's name with dress shirts. It's only
proper that the soup business follows strongly in its way.

(27:19):
You can find Van using cool flex men's stretch suits
at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
This is Mark Weber telling you tonight that good is
not good enough. I think about it all the time,
people settling. I never settle. I think about people taking
the easy way out. There is no easy way out
in this world. You want to survive, you have to
be great. Good isn't good enough. And that's a theme

(27:56):
of tonight's show. In law, well, can you afford to
be less than thorough? Jesse?

Speaker 4 (28:04):
No, for a lot of different reasons. One the most
important reason is when you swear to become a lawyer,
you swear to do as much as you can for
your client, do the best of your abilities, and doing
a half job really isn't that. Plus you want to
win the case. You want to win your argument, you
have to research. You have to know everything. And I've
said it before, you have to know what the other

(28:26):
side is going to argue, you have to know what
you might be asked. You have to be prepared from
every single angle, otherwise you're gonna lose.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well, thank you for that tonight's show. I'm trying to
illustrate how important it is to recognize that good isn't
good enough. This is survival of the fittest. You want
to survive, you gotta be on your game. There's no
easy way out. And I was thinking about a concept
that came up called due diligence. You know what due

(28:53):
diligence is. Yes, it's like homework. Ah, very good. We're
going to talk about that. I'm going to read it
to you from the dictionary. Is an investigation of a
business or person prior to signing a contract or an
act with a certain standard of care. A common example
of due diligence in various industries the process through which
a potential acquire evaluates a target company or its assets

(29:16):
for an acquisition. Due diligence is homework. Jesse said it right,
Jesse stole my thunder.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Sorry, I did my due diligence.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
There you go. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Jesse
pointed it out and He's right, there's nothing more important
than homework. I remember when I was a little kid,
a child, and then all through college. Did I hate
that homework?

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (29:43):
Did I hate hearing homework was important? Yes? Did I
do my homework reluctantly. But some things in life don't change.
There's a reason for homework when you get in the
business world, homework due diligence, being thorough. It's extraordinarily important.

(30:04):
It's learning, its preparation and figuring. Tonight we're discussing good
isn't good enough. It's the difference between having a successful
you or not. What's going on, what will be going on,
anticipating the future, and creating a plan. You would think

(30:24):
the government would be thorough, wouldn't you. You would think
a foreign government would be thorough. I hope no one's
listening from the Swiss government, because right now I want
to talk about the Swiss pension plan. I met a
company and I'm met the guy responsible for managing the

(30:48):
Swiss pension fund. The billions and billions of dollars that
the Swiss pay in from their income put in a
fund for people to invest on behalf of the people.
I ran into the head of the Swiss Pension Fund.
In all places. London, I was working with a company
that was going bankrupt. I happened to admire their CEO.

(31:11):
I had a good relationship with him. He overextended himself.
He made some mistakes, but the endgame here was he
would come out of bankruptcy if I would allow him
to because he had the rights to one of my brands,
and my brand is what made his company viable, and
I had made a decision in my mind to let
him go forward. During the course of these events, the

(31:33):
bankruptcy court in London asked for a meeting. I had
the meeting, and during my tenure and during the course
of the conversations getting prepared for the proceedings, they mentioned
to me that someone representing the Swiss Pension Fund wanted
to take over the management of the brand for me.
They in fact wanted me to discontinue my relationship with

(31:55):
this man's company. The CEO. I told you, I like
they wanted to fight him. They wanted to move it
to another company. That Lo and Behul was in the
building that we were having the meeting. I said, listen,
I'm pretty happy where we are, but I do my
due diligence, I do my homework. Absolutely want to meet
this company. Now, the business I was running was a

(32:17):
dk and y men's business. This is what it was.
The partner who went bankrupt, he had the rights to
that globally outside the United States. It's a complex business.
All the different products you'd imagine, pants, shirts, jacket, suits, ties,
everything that a man could wear, shoes, handbags, et CETERA
great business, big business and very very fashionable. So anyway

(32:40):
I'm in the building, I agree to go meet the company.
Takes me up to this family run business. Okay, these
guys he takes me up to. I don't remember that
name of the company doesn't matter. They basically made men's
underwear cheap, men's shirts cheap. And the head of the
Swiss pension fund says, these are the guys we want

(33:01):
you to give the business to. We have faith in them, etc. Etc.
I looked at them. I walked the hole again. I said,
let me tell you what. Let me look around the
offices again. I went and looked at the people in
the cubby holes. I looked at what way they're doing.
I walked into a design studio and I came back
out and said how big is this company? I said.

(33:22):
They said to me, it's about twenty five million. But
with you they can grow dramatically. I said, my business
alone is fifty million, and it's in every product category
that these people don't know. Are you crazy? I said,
with all the respect, I understand you're running the Swiss
Pencher funnel. You're looking out for the money. I have

(33:42):
to look out for my company's money. Didn't you do
any homework? The guy was stuttering. He didn't know where
to go. So I just didn't want to end it there.
You know me, Jesse, I'm that easy right now.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
You don't let anything slide, and you should it.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
So I said to him, do you know anything about me?
And he was quiet. He said, well, I know you're
the CEO of the LVMHH and you're responsible for Donna Karen.
What else do you know? Do you look me up
on the internet? Ask anybody what I'm good at? I
hadn't have an answer. I said, let me tell you
what I'm good at. I do my homework. It's called

(34:18):
due diligence. I'm here looking around. You didn't bother to
look at me if you were to check me out?
You know how serious. I am, and you would know
how important product is to me. And this is unacceptable
and I refuse make a long story short. That's not
the story you want to talk about. Due diligence and
winning and why you have to be good. Isn't good enough?

(34:40):
You have to be great. I had my ducks in order,
I was very organized, I had a point of view,
and I gave the business back. Unbeknownst to me, after
I left London, the head of the Swiss pension fund
went to Bernard Arnaud, the CEO of LVMH, and told

(35:01):
him that I acted inappropriately in not giving him that brand.
Next thing I know, I get a call from the
general counsel of Louis Vuitton mo Hennessy, this forty billion
dollar company sixty two brands at the time, operating in
every country in the world. And gets on the phone.
He said, Mark, I received a letter and a phone
call from the head of switch Punching Fund. He's claiming

(35:23):
you did not act appropriately in making this decision. Now
here's the point of the story, guys, good isn't good enough.
You gotta be great. And I anticipated this and everything
I said, everything I did, I had all my ducks
in a row. I had all my ideas thought out,
thought through and explained, which included a huge payout from

(35:46):
the company that I decided to stay with and the
confidence in that company. But if I hadn't done my
due diligence, where would I been? Because you have to
recognize good isn't good enough. In this case, I was great.
Good story.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
Yes, good story, showed due diligence properly.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
There you go, I have another one. You want another story?

Speaker 4 (36:08):
Well, nah, I'm good.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
Am I boring?

Speaker 4 (36:13):
I just wanted to see reaction.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
This is boring. Our engineer says, it's not boring. I
have a fun story. While I'm on the subject of stories, she.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
Works for us.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
It's boring. Yeah, she's not objective. Are you being objective?
I'm an interesting guy, very interesting. One of my favorite
stories of all time about due diligence or the lack
there of, was it? Donna Karon. I became the chairman
and CEO, and I was charged with making the business
grow and work. To my credit, part of what I

(36:45):
did is I told the people from Louis vutanbo ed Hennessy,
who owned Anna Karen at the time, that when I
go in there. I'm going to need a couple of
months just to look at what's going on, and I'd
like to hear to bear with me before I give
you the ultimate solution. And because they are so strategic,
they said to me, of course, Mark, we don't expect

(37:05):
to hear from you until you have a detailed strategic
plan on what you want to get done. So I
took that time to really study what was going on
in the company. So Donna Karen had told me she
built one of the world's great companies, and she did.
Had the greatest people in the world. Everything was perfect,
everything was great, every product was great. I got there,

(37:27):
I understood why I was the third CEO in three
in six years. I understood why I was the third
CEO in six years. They needed a lot of things done.
More than anything else. They needed discipline, and they needed experience.
The guys who preceded me there at CEO, they were
all great guys, but they didn't have the detailed experience
that I did. As I've said to you before, I
don't know if I'm smart, but I knew I was

(37:48):
well trained and I was ideal person to turn that
company around. One of my favorite stories. In doing due
diligence is in talking to the people and listening. And
that's when I came up with a term that I
credit have been Franklin for us. His quote, well done
is better than well said. I don't want to hear
what people are going to do. I only want to
see what they do. And we're talking about the meetings,

(38:11):
and I noticed, sell a lot of dresses, sell a
lot of tops, but we didn't have a very good panthers.
After talking about it, well, our prices and the customer
doesn't want pants and pants are not on trend. I'm listening.
Well this finally, one young lady said to me, very timidly,
our pants don't fit. He said, what says our pants

(38:33):
don't fit? I said, what do you mean? Your pants
don't fit? Look, we make a lot of different kinds
of pants. We make knit pants that are clinging, we
make woven pants that are more rigid those of you
don't know what the difference is. That's another night and
another lesson. But we don't have a fit that fits women. Well,
I said, how could that be? How could you the

(38:55):
Donna Karen company not have pants that fit? I don't know.
We just probably never tackled it properly. Why, well, the
business wasn't important enough? Did it ever occur to anyone
that the business wasn't important enough because you didn't have
pants that fit. I earned my keep that day, But
I'll tell you what we did. I want to talk

(39:15):
about homework and due diligence. There were twenty women in
the room that day. I started every meeting at Donna Karen. Hi,
boys and girls. Oh, I'm the only guy. A lot
of women in the Donna Karen company. They were like Amazon's.
There were genius, great and a women's apparel. They were brilliant,
but for some reason, the pants didn't fit twenty people,

(39:36):
twenty women in the room. I looked at the head
of production. I said, I need you to do me
a favor. We're going to create a capsule. We're going
to create a test. We're going to fix all women's fit.
And I said, here's what I'd like you to do
after I leave. I'm leaving now. I want you to
get the size from everyone in this room. And then

(39:56):
I want you to take two styles in women's knit
pants and two styles in women's woven pants, stretch and rigid,
two different kinds, and I want you to make two
pair of each style for each one of these women
in the room, and then each of you, ladies, I'm
going to ask that you in turn try these pants

(40:17):
on and then go back to Julie was the name
of the person's head of production, and tell her what's
right or wrong with the pants. Month later, they all
get their pants. Month later, they all give their comments.
A month later, we have pants that fit women, and
we sold the heck out of our pants. Pants became
twenty percent of the decay business. Think about that, and
most of it was incremental genius that day, all because

(40:42):
I knew good wasn't good enough. With that, I'm going
to take a break. We'll be back in a minute.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Always in fashion done A.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
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 to night. An extraordinary collection. But the

(41:12):
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 Aaron, New York.
It's an 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

(41:35):
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,

(41:55):
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 sportswear that make women look

(42:16):
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 Jeans, DK and Y Sportswear is there for you.
That's what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention
DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,

(42:39):
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 why is nothing short
of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be Because it was
born from the idea of luxury made affordable for women

(43:00):
of America. DK and Why a true lifestyle brand that
takes you from day and tonight, from the week into
the weekend. DCN Why you can find dcnhy and Macy's
DKY dot com. I love Polar fleece. It's lightweight, takes
colors beautifully, it's comfortable, keeps you warm, and even if

(43:23):
it's warm out, it doesn't hamper you. It doesn't make
you perspire. I love Polar fleas. I also love sweatshirts
and sweatpants, love them, love them, love them. I'm a
big fan of khaki pants and a big fan of
a golf clothes and I'm a big fan of IAID.
I used to be the head of Iszide. In fact,
my company bought it and out of bankruptcy, and the

(43:45):
CEO of the company asked me to come in and
fix it. And he said to me, Mark, the future
of the company's in your hands. Can you do this?
And I said, I will do it. I put everything
in my heart and soul into making Eyesid the powerhouse
that it is today. Now. I left a long time
ago and the company just continues to thrive. ISAOT is
one of the great sweater makers, pant make a shirt makers,
knit shirt makers, polo shirt makers. They're incredible company. The

(44:09):
colors are great, the fabrics are great. Guys, you ever
wonder what you should wear, I'll make it easy for you.
If you're going to be casual, go in and look
at ISID. Now that doesn't say that they don't have
dress shirts and they don't have suits, Go find them.
ISAOD is a collective brand that offers lifestyle apparel to
everyone in America. And it's true it's a fun brand,
but it's also priced at fun prices everyone can afford it.

(44:32):
I love this brand. Of all the brands that I'm
involved with, and you can name them, think about PVH
and LVMH and all the brands, ISAOD is the one
that's most personal to me because I was involved in
crafting the future of this brand. The clothes are great,
fall is great, They're doing well. ISOD dot com, isaodat jcpenny,
Go look for it. I think you're going to be
very happy. And ladies, those of you the shopping for

(44:55):
the guys in your lives, take a look. I think
they'll be very happy with your choices.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
ISAAD for men, Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's
your host, Mark.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Webber tonight show. Good isn't good enough? You believe that.
I've never accepted that good is good enough. I strive
for excellence. I don't want to be in second place.
Second place is first place for losers. Good enough is lazy,
And while you're being lazy, your competition is out shining

(45:28):
you and out performing you. I have always been in
my career in the catbird seat. I have always been
in a position where I had to critique other people's work.
I've always been in a position, or at least since
the eighties, where I was a pretty big shot, big
title that I was responsible. I took that responsibility very
very seriously. But part of that was I had to

(45:51):
deal with people in my own companies and make sure
that they recognized that good wasn't good enough. We had
a reputation to make sure we were the best that
we could be. You know, my son Jared followed me
into this industry. It's tough, daunting place for him to be,
and I had such a long career in such big
positions and now he's in it. He's doing very well

(46:13):
and everywhere he goes pretty much people. You know what
they say, Josie about me.

Speaker 4 (46:18):
Yeah, they say you're tough, but you're always fair.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
I'll take that. I like that. Being great took priority,
and I think they understood that I was tough, but
I was trying to make them better. I wanted them
to understand how serious I took the brands that I
was involved with. If I was there, I wasn't lazy.
I was there to be great. You come across my path,

(46:46):
you have to try to be great. Your products had
to look amazing. Your packaging needed to look like our brand,
Our advertising needed to sparkle. I spent so much time.
I'm thinking about advertising and marketing and how to make
things special, because if I didn't, someone else would. I

(47:08):
don't care whether I sent you back ten times to
reduce something you showed me. I don't care if I
sent you back a hundred times. If it made the
company better, and it made you better, and it made
our products better, I will live with the consequences. I
said earlier. I lived behind certain quotes. There's no substitute

(47:30):
for good taste. Behind anyone with vision, there's fifty well
intentioned people undermining that vision. And well done is better
than well said, and that, my friends, is a formula
for success. Good isn't good enough tonight. I'm always in fashion.
Talk to you next week.