ENCORE: New York Law School, Live And In Person

New York Law School, Live And In Person.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The following is an encore presentation. This show is produced
and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
The show is sponsored by G three of Paro.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven ten
wor or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Webber. He's a self
made business executive here to help you find your success
from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne
in Paris. His global success story in the luxury world

(00:32):
of fashion is inspirational. He's gone from clerk to CEO twice.
Mark his classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
I'm coming well for one of the most exciting nights
I've had in my life and certainly in a long time.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
That's the first time I've had an opportunity to speak
in front of a public audience since COVID. Myself, my
eldest son Jesse, and our family friend David Kravitz, all
three lawyers joined me for a lecture that I gave
with their help at New York Law School in Tribeca.
It was an amazing night to be in front of people.

(01:13):
And before I go on, let me bring in my
co host, my lawyer, attorney, and my son, Jesse Weber. Jesse,
that was some night, wasn't it.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
No, it was an amazing night. It was an amazing night.
I will tell you one of the more memorable nights
that we have in you.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, well, before you get to that, we'll tell them later.
We'll talk about that.

Speaker 5 (01:32):
Okay, all right, I'll leave it at that.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
I'll leave it that still just one of my favorite
experiences of all time, as was mine.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
It was great to be out in front of an audience,
let alone a large audience, rather than just being on
the radio. Now, this as a genesis. Where did this
old be game? Back in September, I mentioned to my
son Jared that I want to teach. I'm not just
thinking about teaching in FIT or l I M or
Parsons or whatever. So don't do that. Everybody does that.
You should do something different, You should do something special.

(02:00):
You should teach at a law school. Why not teach
at New York Law I said, what do I have
to offer them? He said, Daddy, here we go against
They would love to hear from you a ceo, a
real business CEO who works with attorneys and general counsels.
They'd love it. You should talk to them, I said,
tell you what, you arrange something, we'll go there. And
he arranges a lunch for himself and I. Jesse was

(02:21):
tied up with Anthony Crowell, the dean and president of
New York law at Jeff Besherer, associate dean and vice president.
And when we sat down to have lunch, it hit me,
am I a buyer or a seller? Do I need
to convince them that I want to teach at the school?
Are they there to convince me that I should teach
it to school? And one thing I learned in life,

(02:43):
no matter where you are in life, life keeps teaching
and you have to keep presenting yourself. So I sat down.
We started to talk about the potential and they mentioned
that it would be a great small class people would
have it. Just whoa stop right there. I'm not a
small class guy. Either it's bigger than life, or I
don't do it. I explained. When I met the purest person,

(03:04):
the editor aren't always in fashion. I wanted to do
a book and she said to me, it reminded me
of book that the CEO of John Hancock. They did,
and Publis said, whoa, If you're comparing me to the
CEO of John Hancock, you don't understand the power of fashion,
you don't understand the brands that I represent. You're the
wrong person to talk to. And she said, no, no,
And you know, the long story is short. The president

(03:26):
of the book mcgrohell made it sure. She signed me
and we did the book and it was the same
thing here. And I explained to these guys, listen, I
don't know what experiences you had with fashion that you
certainly haven't met me before. I'm not saying this to brag,
but I'll tell you the brands I represented and the
career that I've lived, it's incredible. And the interest that
your students will have who have an interest already in fashion,

(03:48):
will be far beyond a small class. I said, well,
you know, we're not sure, Mark, you know we all
have to learn that together, but we're willing to try.
And they had an idea, would you agree to come
in and give a lecture the interests of fashion, your
career and how you as a CEO interrelated with lawyers,
and give an address to the student body. Will invite

(04:10):
them and we'll make a big night of it. You'll
give a speech, you'll invite whoever you want. It'd be
great to have some lawyers Jared Jesse and we did.
Jared Jesse and her friend David Kravitz came along and
I agreed to do it. We arrived there and we're
meeting people. I'm at the reception area talking to people.
But as I watched the people walk in, I got
more and more enthusiastic. I remember how exciting it is

(04:34):
to talk to students who have open minds and they're
looking for information, they want to learn, they want to grow.
What a greater thing could be for me to be
a mentor at this night? And I'm watching and I'm listening,
and I'm very excited, and I realize I look at
the student body as the enter, well, they're all young.
There was more women than men, which I found interesting,
and I asked, it's true there are more people in

(04:56):
the law school women and men. There were Caucasians, people
of color. It was America, and I thought about the
American dream. Fast forward twenty minutes later, we're being introduced
by Dean Crowell and he points out that we have
a packed house was sold out, and then he interests me,
who is Mark Webber? The video plays that. I come

(05:16):
up and I looked at the dean. I said, you know, dean,
near five rows still empty here? What's going on? I
thought we were sold out and everybody's thoughts to laugh?
And I told him a story. I said, do you
know who Jerry Weintraub is? And he did, I'll tell
you who Jerry Weintroub was. Jerry Weintroub is a famous

(05:38):
hollyd producer and promoter. You would know him passing. Produced
Ocean's eleven, twelve and thirteen with Brad Pitt and George
Coney and all the others. Amazing promoter. One point he
got in his mind that he wanted to promote Elvis
Presley take him on tour, say Carl Cornel Parker said,
I'd like to take Elvis on tour. I could do
a great job. We'll make millions. And who get in

(06:00):
front of millions of his fans again. So the colonel says,
I only have one role when it comes to Elvis.
He only works for sold out crowds, So you have
to promise for you whatever venue he's in it's sold out.
Jerry Wine Trump agreed first night in Miami, I think
the Hollywood Bowl, I don't remember what they called it.
He goes, there have fifteen thousand people sold out the
next concerts the next evening, and Jerry Wintrub has only

(06:23):
sold ten thousand of the fifteen thousand seats. So what
does he do. He brings in a crew and a
team to take out five thousand seats. All of this
shows up also tonight, do you miss me tonight? And
he looks out at the field and this ten thousand
seats sold out. So Dean told me we have sold out,

(06:45):
were not sold out? Now I should point out to
you on the QT one of the people we work
with either said to me and Jesse, you could correct
me either we had more or about the same amount
of guests at our lecture as Ruth pader Ginsburg.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
I wouldn't say it was bigger. I think it was
on matching field with her. Let's just put it that way.
It was quite as large.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
Mark Weber, By the way, for anybody who doesn't know,
your opening lines to speeches are top notch, like the
best icebreakers ever.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Thank you. How about Jared's wedding.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
Jared's wedding.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
You come up there and you go I had a
great speech tonight, but Jesse already gave it.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, you were amazing. You were amazing. So anyway, it
just shows you that fashion, how powerful it is after
movies and Hollywood music, it's fashion. Everybody cares about fashion.
Of course, we all wear clothes. Anyway, my video comes
up and who is Mark Weber and it got me thinking.

(07:46):
I used to oversee and support celebrity golf tournaments. They
would take place anywhere around the country. Riviera Country Club
in Los Angeles my first celebrity golf tournament where I sponsored.
The way it works is you outfit all the volunteers,
the people on all the tea boxes, the people, keep
everyone quiet, people show every way to go, and you
give special goodie bags to the celebrities that they take

(08:09):
home with them. So I would get my best products,
my best ideas, put my logos on, so Sylvester Stallone
or Clint Eastward or Cheryl Ladd, whomever goes back. Mark
Wahlberg one of my favorite guys for playing golf. They
go back to their own clubs and they're wearing azot
or any brand that I would put my logo on.
And I did this and brought to mind. I played

(08:30):
golf my first time with Alice Cooper at his golf
tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona. But my particular celebrity this time
was meat Loaf, the great Hall of Fame rock and
roll star, one of the greatest singers of all the time,
batter out of hell, I do anything for love, great,
great guy. I never saw a guy with energy like him.

(08:51):
He was a master, so much fun to be with.
But the way it works when you're at one of
these celebrity golf tournaments I'm telling this to the crowd,
is you put four guys or girls together in a
golf tournament and one of the four is gonna cheat
on a score. So the only way to keep them honest,
if you're not televised, is to have a referee with

(09:11):
each of the four people. And we were given this
very nice elderly woman from the Midwest who is our
referee and keep us straight and keep the score straight.
And during the course of the introductions, she looked over
and said, mister Meatloaf, what shall I call you? So
he says, call me meat. She puts her head down

(09:33):
and said, mister meat, I apologize, but what have you done?
And he looks at her and he says, other than
selling two hundred and fifty million record albums and seventy movies. Nothing.
Crowds thoughts to laugh, and I said, who is Mark Webber?
What have you done? So I went on to say,

(09:58):
other than being CEO, oh of the largest apparel company
in the United States or one off owning Calvin Klein,
Tommy Hilfiger, and Van Using. Then going on to LVMH,
the largest luxury company in the world. As the CEO
of the America's LVMH inc, I was chairman and CEO
of the number companies for them. I also sat in

(10:19):
their executive committee in Paris. I wrote two books, one
of which is Always in Fashion, which is why we're
here tonight. I have a radio show on the largest
talk radio station in the country and the largest media
market in the country. And I also podcast on Apple,
Spotify and iHeartMedia. So what have I done other than that? Nothing?

(10:43):
And the crowd gold Squad. I realize now that I
have to be careful because in my speech, in my address,
oh Am, I I can't come off with some popa
s guy, and I tell them my story very simply,
and I want them to understand who it is that's
here in front of them, and I tell them to

(11:04):
follow it because I need them to relate to me,
and I want them to understand why we're here tonight.
Our goal was to educate them, to put the fashion
industry in front of them as a choice, to let
them have some fun and learn. But really they had
to understand who I am. And I told them I

(11:24):
am a byproduct of the American dream. I wasn't supposed
to have this career. I grew up in the city projects.
I had no relatives that came over on the Mayflower.
I had no connections. I didn't have any fortune, five
hundred internships, my parents each work two jobs. But somehow
I learned that by working hard, working smart, that I

(11:47):
too can find success, as all of you can. And
that was the beginning of my opening. You want to
comment on that, Jesse.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
So I have to tell you I've seen people speak
at New York Law School before, and I've seen the
speeches that guests give. I can guarantee you and I
feel very strongly about this. None of those students have
ever seen anybody speak like you. I mean that, I
don't think anybody talks and gives those lessons and thinks
about impackages that statement the way that you did. By

(12:20):
the way, you're talking about a law school where half
the speakers are boring lawyers. I think it was really
a fresh thing for them to see. I really think
it was important for everybody to see. I think you
blew everybody away.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Well, thank you, but we'll talk about that. I'm going
to remind you at the end because I want to
talk about that. By the way, I have laryngitison coming
out of it. If I sound strange, that's why. But
what was my goal? My goal was to bring law
students into the world of fashion, give them a sense.
I wanted to inspire them, excite them, teach them, and

(12:51):
I wanted them to understand those things they needed to
do to have impact in their career. So I said
the address kind of like I would an interview. I
explained the format. I told them that I'm interviewing them
and they're interviewing me. I wanted to talk to them
about the keys to success, a little bad about the industry,

(13:12):
and go from there and I was on my way
and I explained that the fashion industry doesn't save people's lives.
We don't cure disease, but we provide jobs for people
all around the world and here in the United States.
The fashion industry is very often the first industry that

(13:33):
develops in on developing countries because it's easy to teach
people how to sew, and once they learn how to sew,
they have careers. There's an ancient saying, credit to a
Lao Sue, the Great China's philosopher, give a man of
fish he eats for a day, Teach a man of
fish he eats for a lifetime. Our industry teaches people

(13:54):
how to work and provides livelihoods for them and for
their children to go to school and to make better
for themselves. Every parent around the world, I can tell you,
doesn't matter what country I have a visited, always wants
their children to have it better than them. Now, let
me talk to you a little bit about success. I

(14:14):
have a theory packaging yourself is important as the products
you package your brand. You have to take care of yourself.
Doesn't matter what you look like. Oh but it does,
should it? No? Not? Everybody's six foot two. Not everybody
can be beautiful or handsome, but what we have to
do is be the best that we can be. It

(14:35):
shouldn't be important, but it is, and I suggested to
the students, you have to know what's best for you.
Look in the mirror, be honest with yourself, buy clothes
that look good on you, and then fits you properly.
I explained, I chase fashion. I made so many mistakes
until I found my navy suit, white shirt, navy tie,
black taseled loafers, French cuffs. I was an elegant guy.

(14:59):
Every day well the same I think for fifteen years.
When I met people, I used to have to tell them,
these are not the same suits of shirts I wore
the day before. They're all numbered, but this is my uniform.
I knew what I looked best in. And then I
talked to them about talking. I explained that it packages yourself.
Words matter, what you say and how you say them matters.

(15:23):
I'm talking to you tonight. I've made a speech, and
I can tell you at the end of the speech,
I spoke for an hour and a half. I never
looked at my notes, I never once glanced down. I
knew exactly what I was going to say and how
I was going to say it. Why I was prepared.
I practiced, I practiced and practiced. By the time I
was in front of that audience, I knew where I

(15:45):
was going on what I wanted to say, and I
explained to them, when you're an attorney and your CEO
calls on you and asks for your opinion on a subject,
you have to be prepared to talk about it without
looking at your notes from your heart, because you're prepared
and you've thought it through. I go back to words
matter and I told him a story about meeting Bernard Ornau,

(16:09):
the CEO and founder of LVMH, and we sat down.
During the course of forty five minutes. He never sipped
his saorder, I never drank my water, neither of us
had breakfast. We only talked. But his first question to me,
with a French accent, was Mark, what do you bring
to a company, And without hesitation, I said, mister Arnaut,

(16:29):
I bring energy. I bring energy to a company like
the movie Jerry Maguire when rene Es Elwiger looks at
Tom Cruise and said, you had me at Hello. Look,
I can't speak for Bernard or no, I don't know
what is in his head, but I tell you when
I looked at him, and I said that I had
him because words matter, and what you say matters, and

(16:50):
how you present yourself matters. As I went forward in
my lessoned part of the plan, I talked to them
about I have been intrigued with the logo for the
Godfather from the moment I saw that movie. For those
of you who don't remember, I showed a picture of it,
and it was a marionette strings. It was a hand

(17:12):
holding the wood and on the bottom of the strings,
and I remember never understanding what that meant till later
on looking at it, and I realized that the Godfather
was holding the strings and dangling everyone beneath them, And
for me it became a metaphor in business, Do I
want to be holding the strings or dangling beneath them?

(17:35):
And I explain to the student body that if I've
had any measure of success, if I've done right in
packaging myself, it was because I wanted to hold the strings.
You want to be a lawyer, you want your opinion
to count, you want to be viable, you want to
be appreciated, you want to be respected. You have to
think about holding the strings and being prepared. And the

(17:58):
key for me was learning will everyone finished their job,
they went home at night. When I finished my job,
I first began to work learning other people's jobs. If
I couldn't do that at night, I would work at
night on my job and spend time with other people
learning all the disciplines. I was a designer, but I
wanted to know about shipping. I want to know about warehousing.

(18:20):
I wanted to know about sourcing. I wanted to know
about marketing and selling. And by the time all these
other people were ready to be promoted, I was well trained.
I can tell you I don't know if I'm smart,
but I know I'm well trained. All these people were
killing each other off trying to get to the top. Me,

(18:42):
the good looking guy in the suit, who no one
ever knew how much I was learning and how serious
I was, ran right up the middle like a great
linebacker in the Super Bowl, and I got to the
top position. So packaging yourself, understanding who you are, understanding
how you speak, standing what you want out of your career.
If you want to be in control, you have to

(19:06):
learn everything. One more thing I have to say to you,
I've worked with a lot of attorneys. Some of them
are deal makers, some of them are deal breakers. Who
are you? What is your attitude? Because in success, attitude
comes into play. I gave them an example. I have
two attorneys in this room. Both went to the same
law school, both got the same brands, both had equal skills.

(19:30):
One of those attorneys shows up every morning smiling. The
other comes insad with the weight of the world on
their shoulders. I ask you, as the CEO, who do
I want to spend my time with? The one who
has a great attitude or the one who doesn't. Please
think about this. That's the way I began the address.

(19:55):
That's what I chose to talk about.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
I will say it was great, but I think time
management was not your friend. You were giving a great intro,
the stories were engaging, and then I looked at my
watch and it was like forty five minutes. And I
said to Jared, I was like, is this a little
too long?

Speaker 2 (20:14):
How many times did I ask are you bored out there?
To the oaths.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
No, it was bored, but I was like, I feel
like this might be a look.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Was it interesting?

Speaker 5 (20:21):
It was super interesting, but it was supposed to be.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Well, they're good lessons, great lessons, but it was supposed
to be a panel discussion.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
We had two hours, okay, because yeah, here we go
with the critiques. I'll take a break. Now we'll come
back and have this conversation. Thanks Jesse, you were at
the top of my list of rotten Tomato critics back
in a minute.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Ven using actually the name Venues, And first time I
heard it, I thought was an old man's company. I
was in an interview and I was being offered a
job to work, and I said, it's old man's company.
And the headhunter who was recruiting me said, you're an idiot.
Said they're a public company. They're one of the world's
great shirt makers. And if, in fact you feel they're old,
that's why they want young people like you Mark to

(21:08):
change the company and to bring it into the next century.
And lo and behold, I joined them. I put my
heart and soul in that company. I did everything I
can to participate in making it one of the world's
great brands, and it is. If you look at van Usen,
they called sportswear. I don't understand the name sportswear. I
don't understand neckwear when you're talking about ties. I don't

(21:28):
understand the name hosiery when you're talking about socks. I'm
not sure I understand the name sportswear when you're talking
about men's clothing. Well, men's clothing is complicated because that
in the retail venue means suits and sport codes. Having
said that, van used in sportswear, shirts, sweaters, knitwear amazing.
Men use it as a modern approach to fashion that

(21:51):
appeals to a broad base of Americans. First of all,
it's affordable. You find it in stores that you visit
that you could afford to participate it. You could buy
multiple items that are all coordinated together. Them primary colors
start with black and tan and gray and navy. They're
all salable. They make sense. The knitwear in the spring

(22:12):
of the year, amazing golf shirts, amazing polo shirts in
the fall of the year, whether it's polar fleas or sweaters.
Then use it has a modern approach to fashion. You
buy the pants, the dress, shirts, the suits, the neckwear.
But in particular I'm talking about the coordinated collection sportswear
in venues. The styling is perfect, the fits are generous,

(22:34):
the design to make you feel comfortable. Not only aren't
your body by the fit, but in your head? Then
Using sport Collections are one of my favorite to this day.
And believe me, I'm involved when I see the lines.
If I don't like them, I call the principles of
the company and say what are you doing? But I
don't have to do it because that taste level is right.

(22:55):
If you want to buy affordable men's clothes that look right.
If you're modern, you want to get dressed for the
day and look your part. You want to go out
at night, van Using will work for you. I am
supporting and recommending you go see van Using Sportsman J C.
Penny or online at your favorite stores. Van Usen a

(23:16):
brand that has always been with me and I'll always
have a soft spot in my heart for it. As
one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld
was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style.
His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through
Car Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready

(23:38):
to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagafeld
also offers a range of watches, I wear and premium fragrances.
You can explore the Carl Lagofl collection at Carl Lagofelparis
dot com. But it's more than that. I have, for one,
love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's
happening and what catches my attention, what would make me

(23:59):
feel good time where now. I don't wear the women's
wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing.
If you want to look right, you want to have
clothes that fits you well. You want to look like
you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you
and yours. You can find it at very affordable prices
at Macy's Orcarlagofel dot Comparis. The women's ready to wear

(24:23):
fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbigs and the shoes.
I for one wear men's 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 Carlagofel
is my buddy. Clothes are great, they fit great, and
they have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe

(24:44):
on the sleeve or button at the neck or on
the shoulder. There's a lot of details that go into
carlago Fel because he's always been, he always had been
one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and
goes on and on. I can't speak enough about it
except to say to you, you want to feel good
about yourself. You want to know that you're dressing properly.
You want to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld,

(25:07):
Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Welcome back to us Always in Fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
This Wednesday, I had one of the most remarkable days
in my life, when evenings in my life, I got
to speak live in front of an audience the first
time since COVID. If that wasn't great enough, with me,
my son Jared, my son Jesse, a family friend, David Kravitz,
three lawyers, and me talking to the students and faculty

(25:38):
of New York Law School about my career, about the
fashion industry, about how to be successful, and about the
future of the world. It was amazing to be in
front of a live audience.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
And by the way, you weren't rusty, considering you haven't
spoken in front of a live audience in so long,
it's like you never took a.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Break because I was prepared. Everything I do in life
is giving some thought. I'm afraid of unintended consequences. I
think about what I want to accomplish before I do it,
and I go about it. By the time I arrived,
I spoke for an hour and a half without notes,
never missed a beat, and I had it down. And

(26:17):
it was all about preparation, Jesse. When you go into
a TV and you're going to give commentary, how do
you get prepared.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
I first researched the topic, not only the basics, but
I try to anticipate what other questions or issues are
going to come up, so I know it backwards and forwards.
Then I decide what is going to be my unique
opinion or my unique take on that, and then also
how do I add some personality and bring myself into it.

Speaker 5 (26:41):
So I'm prepared with the facts, I'm prepared with the opinion.
I'm ready to go. So I'm very confident and I
have a good time and it shows.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
So that's the answer to your question. It's not a
question of rusty. I'm comfortable in front of an audience,
and I knew what I wanted to accomplish. I knew
what I wanted to say, and I believe in packaging
yourself as is important is the products your package. I
was interviewing for a job to become a professor at
New York Law School. At the same time, I was

(27:09):
interviewing them to see if I wanted to do it.
What I learned is I liked talking to students. I
thought the venue was big enough. An auditorium that holds
three hundred people is right up my alley. That's gonna
be my deal breaker if in fact they offer me
a job, it has to be in an auditorium, and
it has to be a lot of students. I don't
even know. Can they make it mandatory my class?

Speaker 4 (27:31):
No, this isn't China. They're not gonna make you sit down.
And this is instruction for Mark Webber. I can't see
you grading papers. I don't see you doing that.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
That's what the lawyers will join me in the classroom
will do. I'm going to set the stage. I'm going
to entertain I'm going to give them life's lessons, business lessons,
and let the practical part of the law whoever's accompanying me,
whether you your brother, any of the lawyers from the school,
you'll do the heavy lifting. But at the end of
my talk, we took some questions and answers, and the

(28:03):
student body put together some questions that were brilliant, and
I want to give you a couple of them. How
does the luxury goods space differ from typical consumer goods.
I gave a long answer, but let me tell you
what it is luxury goods. All they think about is
what's best for the brand. What initially taking on your
first C suite role was something that surprised you being

(28:24):
the CEO of the company. Two things that happened that
I didn't expect. One, I was finally controlling my calendar.
No one could call me the meetings and tell me
how to be there. I made the decision, but I
also realized it was all about communicating upward to the board,
upward to my bosses, on level with my associates and
people that work for them, the body of workers. I

(28:45):
needed to be able to speak to them all on
their own levels. And then relate to them and make
sure they understood what was important to the company. Then
they asked me one, when negotiating brand deals with retailers
under the company, what's the need to get done to
make both sides it's happy. Every negotiation, both people have
to walk out happy. But there was a list of
a million questions. We got to a bunch of them,

(29:06):
and each of us answered some of the questions. Then
I got yanked one hour and forty minutes in. I
knew we had a two hour program.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Wait a second, let's be intellectually honest. Did any of
us ask how long the presentation was going to be.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
None of us knew. So when you did.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Your introduction for forty five minutes to an hour, you
only left thirty minutes time out.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Stop calling an introduction, mister critique. All that information I imparted
was life lessons and things that the students need to hear.
You can call it an introduction all day long. But
I didn't spend very much time talking about me. I
talked about what would be good for them. No no, no, no,
no no no.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
What you kept saying throughout the forty five minutes, I'm
not here to disparage it.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
I thought it was great.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
You did keep saying that's what we're going to talk
about tonight, and by the end of that tonight was over.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
We were there for six to eight. I thought our
pres was six to eight. It turned out it was
six to seven thirty and thirty minutes for cocktails. Didn't realize.
But that's not the point, and that's not where I
want to go. Jesse. Let me ask you a question.
How did I do?

Speaker 4 (30:14):
I thought you were an A plus. I'm not saying
that because I'm your son. I thought you were absolutely terrific.
You were like the best you've ever been on the radio.
You know, all your best stories, your best energy in
front of a large crowd, people who, as I said before,

(30:34):
have probably never heard anything like this before.

Speaker 5 (30:37):
You were in command of the room.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
You were funny, you were engaging, You made everybody laugh, you.

Speaker 5 (30:42):
Were serious at times. You own the stage. You own
the room.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
And by the way, even when we were all sitting
at the panel and doing discussions, you were controlling the
conversation and really directing it well. One to ten I
would give you a ten. And if you were hiring,
if I was hiring, I'd hire you. We're like, we
got to make sure you know that the class is
only one hour long, but I would hire him.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
I was amazing. I wasn't good. I was amazing. I
had all two hundred and fifty people in the palm
of my hand. They were all happy, they were all enthused,
they were all excited, they were glad they're there, they
were sorry the evening ended. I was amazing, and then

(31:24):
the evening took a very strange turn for me. Human nature.
Well you know what I am on human nature. I
don't particularly like humans. Now I'm kind of lumping you
and your brother and all our friends in with the
humans I don't like. But I am very glad that

(31:47):
so many of you voiced your disappointment and this guy
you just gave a tend to because some great life
lessons will come from it. You have something you want
to say? Can I continue?

Speaker 5 (32:01):
I told you it was amazing. Just the time management,
is all I said. Just be aware of what it was.
It was supposed to be a panel discussion, all right, with.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
The time management. Do you admit we didn't realize that
we weren't going for two hours.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
It was a panel discussion. And I only answered.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
One question and no one felt like I missed anything.
Here's the thing I want to talk about human nature.
I love all you guys. Everybody was there, but this
is not rotten tomatoes. Every single one of the people
we know chose to give a comment, and I want
to share with you some of that stuff because I

(32:42):
think it's an amazing lesson. You had a problem with
my time management. My close friend Stewart thought I was amazing,
but he didn't like me goofing with you. I had
two great lines with you. I went, you know, all
this time with you in law school, you decide you

(33:02):
want to be an actor. You weren't a very good actor,
but you're amazing on the news, I said that the
camera loved you. Could you imagine living a life where
you look better on camera than in real life. Everybody
was hysterical.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
You basically called me ugly in front of two hundred
and fifty people.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
No big deal.

Speaker 5 (33:18):
But I actually thought it was hilarious.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Is that how you saw it?

Speaker 4 (33:22):
No, I thought it was funny. I thought it was hilarious.
I didn't take offense.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Then I had another close friend who wrote me an email, Mark,
I loved your presentation last night. You have a gift
of authenticity that allows you to naturally collect with your audience.
It's more than charisma. I will send you a short
summary on my thoughts and suggestions in the event that
you make this an annual presentation, which you should. I

(33:47):
don't remember ever asking anyone for their opinion as.

Speaker 5 (33:50):
You go into this.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
If everybody came up to you afterwards, it's like Mark,
I really didn't like your presentation.

Speaker 5 (33:54):
I thought it was awful.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
If you thought it was great, is that all that matters?
Or do you care what if people think thought it
was bad.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
That's exactly what I meant when I said to you before,
when I want your opinion, I'll give it too. Perfect question, though, Jesse,
thank you. You have to have faith in yourself. You
have to never ever fool yourself or kid yourself. When
you do well, you have to know it. When your mistakes,
you have to correct them. I was amazing, no question
about it. Whether it was the fact that I hadn't

(34:21):
done it in so long my preparation, I was amazing.
I wasn't good, and therefore when the critiques started coming,
I had to scratch my head. But I'll get to them.
Before I get to my fun part of the critique,
here's a woman who wrote me on the event who's
great meeting you at New York Law School last night,
didn't find out was Sharon Alma Mata on junior high school.
It was incredible listening to your insight and experience. Law

(34:43):
school breeds impasta syndrome, especially when your classmates are affluent
and well connected. Hearing your story ignited me and reminded
me that anything is possible when you put in the
time and effort. I'm looking forward to listening to teach
a classia very nice. Right, Yeah, that was great, Mark.
It was a pleasure to meet you at New York
Law School last night. I'm one of the fashion chairs.

(35:05):
I was involved in writing a number of the questions.
I want to thank you so much for taking the
time to share your knowledge and stories from a lifetime
in fashion. I'm pursuing a career in fashion law and
is such a delight to hear about your experiences. I
hope to meet you again and sit in on your
class with you as a professor. But then the fun began,
and that's why I've chosen to share with you this

(35:27):
part of the conversation. That night, we had dinner. You
and Hailey, first time we're mentioning her name. Jared and
his wife Ena, and me went to dinner and we
had an extraordinary meal and we were together. We're still
so excited about what we just achieved and what we
pulled off. And Jared said to me that you were

(35:48):
a joke. What I'm a joke? That's what you say
to me after that day? I said, well, no, all
you did was tell jokes. I said, That's all I did.
Are you kidding me? That's what I did.

Speaker 5 (36:00):
Wait, I don't know if he said it exactly like that.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Well, what do you think he meant?

Speaker 5 (36:03):
He goes, you were funny. You were joking around a lot,
That's what he said.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah. I wasn't there to amuse you, Jared. I wasn't
a joke. I was telling jokes to make a point.
I was a man of the people. I had them
wrapped up having a great time while teaching them. Wouldn't
it be great if you go to school and you're
enjoying it and having a great time. And I used
those examples about meat love to make a point. I

(36:27):
used the examples of filling a stadium to make a point,
joke after joke, I call it what you will. I
was making a point of relating to the audience, and
as she said, Jesse, I was at ten and I
don't care less than anybody else thought, because I knew
how well I did, Which brings me to my favorite

(36:47):
part of this evening, because afterwards we met with the students.
Let me go there, We took pictures, we had drinks,
met all the students. I loved them, They loved us.
They couldn't wait to take pictures. They said they couldn't
believe what they just saw. They all want to come
to the class. They'll all sign up right now. Amazing.
Back to there was one fellow who worked with Jared

(37:10):
at his company. When I first met him, he was
kind of starting out a little nerdy. And half a
dozen years later, maybe five years later, the guy's a
rock star and he's doing very well. So I said
to Jared, and next day when you see him, ask
him what he thought. So I forgot about it. And
the following day I called Jared and said, hey, what

(37:32):
did you know who say about the show? And he said,
to Jared, your father is a character. And I said,
a character.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
Yeah, it means like you have a very strong original nature,
like original personality, you say things in an interesting or
unusual way.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Well of all the things in life to call me
it isn't a character. I found it insulting. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
You always say you like to be different than the crop.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
I found it insulting. Yeah, just a little bit. I
said to Jared, I want you to go back to
and tell him. I wasn't happy and I was insulted.
Say told Jared right away, Oh my gosh, I didn't
mean to do that. Can I call your father? And
I told him, don't give me the number. He is
but he wants your email. Then he wants to write you.
I'll tell you what, Jared, I'll write him because, as

(38:22):
I said, what am I here to amuse you? I'm
not a dancing clown. I was there to educate, have
a good time, and let everyone have a good time.
So I was going back and forth with Jared, and
then I got this email from him. I had it recorded,
mister Weber.

Speaker 6 (38:36):
I wanted to personally reach out and express how much
I enjoyed and valued your lecture last night. It sounds
like I inadequately communicated that to Jared, but my intention
was to compliment you on your ability to make important
lessons more engaging and entertaining for students. Your advice particularly
resonated with me, as I've been fortunate enough to hear
it from Jared throughout my career. Without a doubt, your

(38:58):
lessons have trickled down to me. It afforded me the
opportunities to find success and provide for my family. My
grandfather exemplified the idea of striving to hold the strings
versus dangling at the bottom. He certainly was not as
successful as you, but the idea of packaging yourself to
achieve feats beyond your reach, despite where you come from,
is one of the most important lessons you can instill

(39:20):
in today's youth. Words matter. I hope my words here
convey my appreciation for your lecture last night, along with
my gratitude for raising a son who has been so
generous and passing down your lessons to me over the
past eight years.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I decided to write him a letter an email, and
here it is. I think this back and forth is
funny lesson in life. I purposely asked Jared what you thought,
because I'm a fan of yours, and I have enjoyed
watching your progression. You understood the lessons last night, I
gather from what you told Jared, But yet you chose
to call Jared's father a character. I find that just

(39:59):
a little bit. And today you're going to get your
own customized lesson. I think what you wrote here is
what you should have said to Jared in the first place.
Your father's a character. No way, I'm in a detainer
at this moment. True, but in total control of the environment.
I thought, when I paraphrase the president of van Usen's

(40:20):
speech about how proud he was, ladies and gentlemen, to
stand before you here as your president, was my way
of showing seriously the professionalism and the importance of the topics.
The lighthearted, humorous, genuine, humble man of the people I'm
one of you was simply intended to capture their trust.
I've gotten at least twenty emails from these folks paraphrasing

(40:45):
how either inspiring, insightful, helpful, eye opening the talk was
for each of them on a personal level. That was
the mission. But most importantly, I'm an observer. I'm really
not upset. I can't wait to record this next week's
show'll be a part of it. You'll be unnamed, of course,
but you will be a part of the show because
it's important. I asked some people, how did I do?

(41:08):
I recognize that. It's like saying, when I want your opinion,
I'll give it to you his mind. Last night was massiful,
a brilliant example of public speaking, A character, perhaps, but
for sure, and astute observer of business.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
In life, Well said, lesson learned, mister Weber, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
So why does everyone feel the need to give me advice?
What is it that they think is so important other
than the facts of the evening. During the course of
my speech, a number of times I would look out
at the audience and say, this is boring. They laugh.

(41:46):
I laugh. I'm waiting for the day that someone says, yes,
I don't even know how I'd react, but the idea
is to show them that I recognize the sitting there listening,
but I'm entertaining them. And as they said before, it
was an amazing night. And everyone but my friends, who
thought I was either a character, a joke, poor time management,

(42:09):
poor choice of words, needing input, forgot that it was great.
It was an amazing time in New York law school.
I was so glad to be there. I have no
idea whether they law from me a professorship. I also
have no idea whether I'll accept it. Well, we'll see
back in a moment. Always in fashion, Donna Karen began

(42:32):
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 interesting

(42:54):
thing Donna Karen had a young daughter, and she had
friends and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karon collection,
And Donna invented dk n Y Donna Karen 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

(43:17):
up in the morning, you start to get dressed. Donna
Karen dcan 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 k and Y clothes for work they work into
the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters,

(43:37):
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

(43:57):
look great as they navigate. They ate 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, dcn Y Jeans, 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

(44:20):
sports bras, the sweats. 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 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

(44:41):
women of America. DKY and Why a true lifestyle brand
that takes you from day and tonight, from the week
into the weekend. DCN Why you can find DCNY and
Macy's DKY dot com. I love Polar fleece. It's lightweight,
takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps you warm, and even

(45:04):
if it's warm out, it doesn't hamper you. It doesn't
make you perspire. I love Polar fleece. 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 Izid.
I used to be the head of Iside. In fact,
my company bought it and at of bankruptcy and the

(45:26):
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,
my heart and soul into making Eyeside the powerhouse that
it is today. Now. I left a long time ago
and the company just continues to thrive. Isesid is one
of the great sweater maker's pants, make a shirt makers,
knit shirt makers, Polar shirt makers. They're incredible company. The

(45:50):
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.
ISAAD 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.

(46:14):
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 close are great,
Fall is great. They're doing well, ISAA dot Com, isaacat jcpenny.
Go look for it. I think you're going to be
very happy. And ladies, those of you the shopping for

(46:36):
the guys in your lives, take a look. I think
they'll be very happy with your choices. Isaad for men.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Last week went to New York class school, my two
sons and the friend David. We were on a panel.
I gave a speech for an hour and a half flawlessly. No, no,
it's interesting, funny lessons learned to a student body that
pactionally two hundred and fifty at New York Law School,
plus the dean and cissociate dean in a number of professors.
I was in rare form.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I was so happy to be out in front of people,
speaking live in front of an audience. I was so
well prepared, and I was so happy about what I did,
and it was a great time for all. I'm thankful
that I've done this, and I think we're going to
do it some other schools. Whether I teach a New
York law or not is not the issue anymore. For me,

(47:30):
Always in Fashion is providing valuable lessons to people who
listen like the book. Adults who read the book give
it to the children as a method for ideas on
how to be successful. I do this pure of heart.
I get to a stage in my life I don't
know that I want to give back. I'm not that
good of a guy. But I do know I have
things to say. And I enjoyed doing it. I loved

(47:53):
it everything about it. It was amazing. But it brought
to mine three words that really annoyed me when people.
The first one was eccentric. I always wore that word proudly.
I thought I was eccentric, you know, I did things
that were unusual. Then I was talking to a woman
one night and a function and she said, you're gregarious.

(48:16):
Just the sound of the word piss me off. Now
what it actually means is you're very vocal and enthusiastic,
but f you don't call me gregarious. And thirdly, but
Jared's business associate after that performance, to call me a character,
I will hate it.

Speaker 5 (48:34):
Well, let me ask you a question. What would you
want people to call you?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Do you remember what the Dean wrote to Jared? Your
father was a very huge hit? What do I want? Mark?
I wish I could do that? Mark. You got to
teach me how to do that? Mark? What's the secret
to that presentation? I was a rock star. They wanted
their picture with me, They wanted to share in the
moment they wanted to be part of the evening.

Speaker 5 (48:58):
Would you want to be a profe? Do you want
to teach?

Speaker 4 (49:01):
There's a difference between like, here's the thing, right, okay,
is this something you would want to do.

Speaker 5 (49:06):
I know you can do it.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
I don't know if the school finds it in their
heart and in their heads that I can make a
contribution that they are students who are becoming attorneys can
benefit by me being in a classroom coupled with an
attorney to make sure the legal principles are covered. If
they believe that's something that is value added to the school,

(49:31):
and they could make it so that I would enjoy it,
they have to pay me, after all, we're not communists.
They have to give me a large enough audience, and
they have to want me. And if that's the case,
and they make a compelling case like I just did
in my interview for an hour and a half showing
them who I am and what I can do, then

(49:52):
I would seriously consider it. But bottom line, this was
truly one of the great Weber family events, and I
am so grateful to New York Law School for inviting me.
Wherever it ends up, it ends up. I do believe
that Always in Fashion radio show and book and its
author and spokesperson with his sons would make for a

(50:16):
great night out at other colleges in New York City.
And I'm working on that now. So those of you
who were at the event, those are your students listening in.
I love being there with you and I hope you
enjoyed it as much as we did. Those of you
listening tonight, I hope you got the gist of what
went on, and if you should come in contact with

(50:37):
people in the future, try and find the positive things
to say when they do good. Oh with that in
my good night