Face To Face

Face To Face

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a noncore performance of Always in Fashion.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
The show is sponsored by G three Aparo. The views
expressed in.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
The following program are those of the sponsor and not
necessarily the opinion of seven Tenor or iHeartMedia. Who is
Mark Webber. He's a self made business executive here to
help you find your success from the New York City
projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global success
story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
He's gone from clerk to CEO twice.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Mark his classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
This is Mark Weber, This is business, and this is
a night to talk and Always in Fashion a knight
that talk seriously, face to face. In this world, the complexity,
the differences, the diversity make our ability to communicate so
much more easily and instantaneously than ever before. Yet the

(01:06):
simpler has become to talk, the more difficulty has become
to communicate. Phones. The top priority is no longer the phone.
We pay the least attention to the phone feature for
communicating there's been virtually no effort put forth to improve
the phone listening quality, the speakers, etc. And Apple and

(01:27):
the other makers will admit that because we're not asking
for it. And why because smartphones, when it comes to talking,
are not so smart. We don't seem to care about
the sound quality of the telephone. The consumer is not
demanding better. Yes they're perfect for email, Yes they're perfect
for texting, and yes for accessing any of the social mediums.

(01:52):
It's perfect your phone for finding vast amount of information
on the Internet, and now perfectly convenient for buying and
purchasing just about anything. But as a phone, it's not developing.
We don't realize. I guess how incredible it is to
talk to anyone in the world, anywhere in the world,
from anywhere that you are. We're taking a cell phone

(02:14):
for granted, I drove my car from the onset without
a phone anywhere I would go. I've drived to Pennsylvania
to Flora without a phone, never giving it a moment's thought.
But today I'm uncomfortable. I freak out if I forget
my phone to go to the clean ears. You want
that phone in the car, it's part of you let's

(02:35):
take a moment to think about it. The future's here.
We can talk to anyone any time you want. Yet
we're talking less and less. Texts and emails are growing,
talking not so much. We can't blame the phone. It's
there for us. It's not the phone, it's us, it's you. Really.

(02:56):
Talking is becoming a lost art, and face to face
to discussions are disappearing. Talking face to face seems to
be avoided at all costs. When did you stop talking
and started avoiding? I know it's easy to avoid dialogue
today it's email and texting impersonal to say the least, easy,

(03:18):
non confrontational, and easily avoidable for anything. You're at the
point dating is online. Relationships are vera text. I remember
how difficult it was for me to work up the
courage prepare myself to tell a young lady that I
was dating, that we would be no more. But face

(03:39):
to face was the right way, face to face to communication.
It was uncomfortable, but that's what I did. That's what
I want to talk to you about tonight, face to
face communication in business and in life, and maybe some politics.
Face to face with me tonight. Jesse Weber, my son,
my attorney here and always in fashion. I can't help

(04:02):
but stay current on your relationships. Then I raised this point.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
We talk about that a lot my relationships. Apparently, you know,
it's interesting. I went out with somebody recently and she's
a younger girl, and she said to me, I said,
you don't go out to meet people anymore, and she goes,
you know, ever since the online dating and there's so
many different apps. I go out with my friends, my
girlfriend's just to go out to dance. I don't really
look for anybody. If I want to look for somebody,

(04:26):
I use the apps. If I go out, maybe i'll
see somebody. But I really wait for the apps. It's
become a different world. In fact, i'll tell you I
would say it was a couple of years ago. I
met a girl at one of an event. You and
I went to an event. She was working the event.
I went up to her, started talking or got her number.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
We went out.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Later on that night.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
I met one of her friends, and her friend says
to me, while my date went to the bathroom, she shas,
you know, I heard how you went out. You went
out of your way to get her number. I think
that's really weird. I said, what do you mean she
goes who goes up to somebody? Who gets their number?
I said, how should I have met her? You use
an app like everybody else. Oh geez, that's today's day
and age. I'm telling you things have just changed. And

(05:05):
the worst part about it. You ready for this? Yeah,
when you break up with somebody, they cut you off
of all social media Facebook, Instagram for not just cut
you off. I've been blocked. I can't even search for
them anymore.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well, I'm glad it's your world. What can I say?
But tonight I want to talk about talking in business
and in life. If you master the oral word, you
will be successful. There's no question your writing skills will
play an important part in your career. But you need
to know how to talk. So much of what is

(05:40):
done via the Internet and writing, and yes, you need
to be capable of organizing your thoughts and articulating them
via the written word. You got to be careful where
you put your exclamation marks. I'm told that's a big deal.
Putting things in capitals is a big deal. But the
decisions in your career will be about FaceTime.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
Wait, I'm sorry I have to terrupt you. Coming from here.
Your emails need a lot of work.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
It's like, I care about talking.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
I don't even know what it's like.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Morse code.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
What's the thing called that changes your words around?

Speaker 4 (06:12):
If you don't, don't blame it on the Apple Typeoh,
that's not what it is. You structure your emails like
three three words. Then the next sentence it's like.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Well, spell check, don't blame it on spellcheck? What spell check?
Listen to me, I'm on the radio. I'm master at
communicating the oral word writing. Yeah, I do it when
I have to do, and it's certainly part of our culture.
But tonight I want to talk about FaceTime, not Apple time,

(06:42):
not Apple FaceTime, real FaceTime, face to face communication. You're
expressing of ideas, your relationships with your boss, your important
communications with your subordinates, the people working for you, will
be face to face. Your ideas, your follow through direction,
execution may take place through email, but think about it

(07:04):
and trust me, it's the FaceTime that leaves the impressions.
It's the face time that can make or break you.
Your ability to communicate and talk is the key. Now,
if you're a listener to the show, you know I
don't like humans I don't have much faith in them.
I just don't like them. If I were to work
with only people i'd like, I'd be in a room

(07:26):
by myself.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
What does that say about me?

Speaker 3 (07:29):
Ah, you're not included. Don't be ridiculous. I don't but
I really don't like humans. And everyone I know knows
that I don't like humans. But in business, you have
a responsibility to communicate with them. And in spite of Twitter, Instagram,
emails and texts, talking sets the stage that is the
best vehicle to get your ideas and thoughts across directly

(07:50):
to all the people you interact with. The political world
is all about FaceTime, you know. I want to talk
about Gina Haspell, the woman who was interviewing this week
to be the head of the CIA. She was amazing
if you listened to her interview, and I'll tell you why.
Running the CIA, it's got to be an incredibly difficult job.

(08:15):
And if you listen to this woman, she began in
the field, making clandestine meetings with spies and people in
the middle of nowhere in foreign countries. The courage she
displayed throughout her career to get where she got, and
when you listen to her talk. I was so impressed
with the degree of information she had at her figuretips.

(08:39):
She had done it all, and now she's interviewing for
the top spot in spite of all the scandals. I
respect our congressmen and senators. Yet when you heard the
questions they were asking her, trying to get personal information
from one of America's most important covert operatives. When they

(09:02):
started to talk about America is behind the scenes investigating principles,
Why are they asking those questions? It makes no sense.
Why don't we just tell the whole world how we
do everything. Now. I know they're smart. I know they
have very learned their lawyers, their attorneys, they're very smart people.
But yet they kept probing, probing, probing. But what I

(09:25):
took away is the more they asked her, the better
she was. The more I was excited about her because
she had done every single job there was to be done.
She knew how to run the CIA. This should have
been simple, but it wasn't. I will tell you that
the theme of tonight's show, face to face, was remarkable,

(09:48):
watching her testify face to face in front of the committee,
and with that in mind, you could never do that
via text. The eye contact, the face to face questioning
whether I like the questions or not. I don't even
know why the whole thing wasn't done in closed session.
You know, we're talking about the CIA here, We're not
talking about your favorite food. But it was interesting to

(10:12):
watch the face to face while I'm on the subject
of politics. You know who else I want to talk about,
Jesse Donald Trump. Absolutely, he is perhaps one of the
most effective communicators ever to occupy the Oval Office. Before
you run a revolt on me, I know there's a

(10:32):
lot of you out there that doesn't like the President.
I happen to think he's an effective communicator, and I'll
dissuade you for the moment, and I give you a
point of view on whether I like Donald Trump or not.
In fact, I know Donald Trump. I actually devoted a
chapter in my book Always in Fashion to Donald Trump,

(10:54):
Chapter seventeen, and I entitled it Negotiating with the Master.
Donald Trump has a licensing business. He is a brand.
He believes in the Trump brand, and with that brand,
he likes to put his name on various different products,
products ranging from vodka to buildings, to hotels to golf courses.
And when I met him, he wanted to be in

(11:14):
the men's apparel business. He believed during his period in
the Apprentice that he was creating a demand for shirts, ties, suits, clothing,
and he wanted my company, at the time, the van
using company, to be his licensee. And my guys came
to me one day and said, Donald Trump wants to
be our partner in shirts and ties and suits. I said,

(11:37):
you know what, what do I need that for? Forget it,
go back and tell him we don't need it. We
got enough good things going on. The following morning, the
president of our licensing business came into me and said,
Donald Trump wants to come up here. I said, come on.
He said, no, Donald Trump wants to come up here. Now,
this was way before he was going to run for office.
This is when he was running his business. I said,

(11:59):
I'll tell you what. If Donald Trump, the man wants
to come up here and see me, then I'm going
to come up and see him, and lo and behold.
Two days later, Donald Trump and his entourage, which weren't
very many, came up to see me in my conference room. Hi, Mark,
I've heard so much about you. I love your company.
I have this brand that I want you guys to
be involved to make money. I was absolutely not interested.

(12:22):
I had no interest in whatsoever. I didn't need it.
You know, mister Trump, we have all a good business
going on. Why do I need this? He said? You know,
I've done celebrity brands before. They come and go. They
don't last the time, he said, you don't understand the
Trump brand. And the point of the story is is
face to face he was so articulate, so clever, so
interested in building a brand with our company. He was flattering,

(12:47):
he was tough. I was tougher and made him crazy.
He said, listen to me, you're very tough. I'm not
sure I have ht met anyone tougher than you. But
if you trust me, we could build this brand together.
And I please, I'd like you to think about it.
Make a long story short. Our people were enthused. We
ended up doing it. We had a great run until
he ran for office. The point is, face to face

(13:09):
makes a difference. On the phone, I would have never
agreed to anything but face to face communicating. Looking in
his eyes, seeing how serious he was, seeing how important
it was to him, really really made a difference. And
when I watch him communicate as president in his town
halls or in his pep rallies from city to city.

(13:31):
I found him to be the most effective communicator I've
ever seen in the Oval office. Now, does he get
himself in trouble, yes, Do some people dislike him, yes,
But those people there listening to him talk to them
face to face hearing him tell you what's important to him,
whether it's a border wall, whether it's peace in Korea,

(13:52):
whether it's trade, whether it's being treated respectfully, whether it's
putting America first. How come we all know all of
that these things as second nature? Because he wants to
make America great again? And how is he doing it
face to face? I'm gonna take a break. When we
come back, we'll talk some more.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Always in fashion, spent.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
A lifetime of my career building the van Usen brand,
and I am so pleased that they're back with us
now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again, and
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(14:35):
an event. You wear a suit to the office with
or without a tie. If you look closely. Now fashion
trends suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next.
The choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(14:57):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make man and look their best. Venusing invented a new idea.
It's called the cool Flex suit. It's been engineered with
stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(15:18):
this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the van
Using company is involved in this new technology and is
embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget
Venuesen made it's name with dress shirts. It's only proper
that the suit business follows strongly in its way. You

(15:40):
can find van Ues in cool Flex Men's stretch suits
at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great,
you should go look at them. Dona Karen began her
career as one of the finest, most successful, powerful women
in the fashion industry. She developed action aimed at the

(16:01):
luxury market for women on the go, women who were
powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that extended
beyond the workplace. And her clothes went from day and
tonight an extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing Donna Karen
had a young daughter, and she had friends and they
couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karen collection. And Donna
invented dk NY Donna Aaren, New York. It's an offshoot

(16:25):
of the Donna Karen collection. The same concept a lifestyle brand.
Then we talk about lifestyle brands, What does that really mean?
Simply what they say, there are brands that follow you
throughout your lifestyle. You get up in the morning, you
start to get dressed Donna Karen decan why as intimate apparel,
as hosiery, as all those products. You're getting dressed for work.
You get accessorized shoes, handbags, and it takes you through

(16:48):
the day. The remarkable thing about dk andy clothes for work,
they work into the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants,
the sweaters, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that
go from day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active.
You have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports.

(17:09):
Donna Karen's casual Clothes did that under the DK and
Y label, a vast array of casual sportswear that make
women look great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether
you're going to soccer games for your children, or whether
you're going out to the movies. Whatever you want to do,
DK and Y jeens, DK and Y Sportswear is there

(17:31):
for you. That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I
need to mention DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings,
the sports bras, the sweats. You can wear DKY active
Wear certainly in the gym, certainly when you're working out
at home, and certainly if you want on the street,
because it's that well done. The quality of DK why

(17:54):
is nothing short of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be
because it was born from the idea of luck made
affordable for women of America. Dkay and Why a true
lifestyle brand that takes you from day and tonight, from
the week into the weekend. DCN Why you can find
DCN Why and Macy's dky dot com.

Speaker 5 (18:18):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark webber.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Tonight, I'm Always in Fashion. I'm talking face to face.
I'm talking about the importance of talking face to face.
I think speeches are incredibly important. I've spent a career
out front of the companies that I work for From
as early as I can remember, you needed to be smart.

(18:43):
I needed to be smart. I needed to be able
to communicate. I needed to do all those things that
I needed to do. But what I realized early on
that my oral skills mattered my ability to communicate orally
with people. Nothing is as clear as talking to someone
face to face. You see their whites of their eyes,

(19:03):
you see their expressions, the psychology of you, your ability
to read people, comes into play. It's so important face
to face. Otherwise people are talking for you. You're being misrepresented.
Perhaps you're not getting your points across as well. There
is a game that we all know. It's called telephone.
I whisper something in Jesse's ear, Jesse, and it comes

(19:28):
out something completely different exactly, and that's telephone. And you
pass it along, and you pass it along and you
end up your message is misconstrued. It happens every day
in politics, it happens every day everywhere. But when you
do it face to face and it's clear from you.
First of all, you have no one else to blame

(19:49):
but yourself. You're the one doing the talking. See you
better know what you're talking about. But at least it's
coming from you. You're making the points that you want
to make. I like to communicate in speeches. I've done
it my whole career, as I said, starting out till
the days I became senior VP, executive VP, president, CEO,

(20:12):
board member, I've had to make my own speeches, and
I think it's really important to communicate directly with the
people I work with, face to face, ensuring that you
hear it direct from the horse's mouth. In this case,
me my ideas, my vision, my view of the company,

(20:34):
what I'm doing, no interpretations. I'm leaving you with what
I want you to be left with.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
I love your speeches, Ah do you love your speeches?
Five hundred people knew at the end of your speech
what you wanted them to know, and I think that's
the key. That's the key to giving a good speech.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Thank you, Jesse. That's what I'm trying to do and
thanks for the nice words. I always try to set
an example for you and for the people that were
standing there. I have an idea. Why don't we do
the following? Why don't I make a speech right now?
Just to make the point first, of course, welcoming the
audience to the speech. I think, although I am a

(21:13):
CEO and a big shot, I want to be a
man of the people. I want to come across like
I'm one of them, that I'm not above them. I
want to make sure I have a clear message, make
sure they understand that this is a great company, that
there are reasons that they're at this company. We're going
to talk about right now. Why don't you take the

(21:35):
anchor position and introduce me. Let's see take one of
my titles. Which title would you like to use?

Speaker 4 (21:40):
Let's do CEO of LVMH Inc. Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, Inc.
It's the US subsidiary Oppressive.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
That was me, that was you. Let's go, let's do
that speech. So Jesse, why don't we do this? Why
don't you introduce me and I will give a speech
to the audience.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
Okay, here, everybody, I'm Jesse Weber. I'm Mark Weber's son. Now,
I've known Mark Webber for a long time. I remember
being born looking at him in the face and saying, huh,
it's a good looking guy. I hope I get some
of that one day. Now I've watched his career, I've

(22:19):
watched his life, and it is my pleasure right now
to introduce you to the CEO of lvmh Inc.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Mark Webber. Thank you, Jesse, thank you. It's my pleasure
to be here. Thank you, And what a nice welcome
for my son of old people, ladies and gentlemen. It's
a pleasure to be here with you. Look at you
out there, Oh, five hundred of you dressed well, you're
really beautiful and handsome. Hold on one second, let me

(22:50):
get my phone. Here we go. I'm going to take
a picture of all of you. Hold on, it's gonna
take panorama. Give me a break. Here we go. Wow,
you guys look great. I'm going to share that with
all of you later. Yes, my name is Mark Webber.
I know most of you. I've been with this company
now for nine years. Prior to that, I've been with

(23:12):
many companies where I've been I have to admit a
fairly senior executive. I became a president the first time
in nineteen eighty six, and since then I've really had
a spectacular time working for a number of companies, and
I'm pleased to be here with you tonight. I'm really

(23:32):
thrilled to be part of Louis Vitano at Hennessy because
it's one of the world's great companies, and we're going
to touch on that in a minute. But I also
have to tell you I didn't start at the top
like you. I had to start somewhere, and I began
as a clerk. I will tell you I began as
the lowest paid clerk in the company at that time.
I remember my boss being very proud when he hired me,

(23:55):
hiring me for salary less than anyone else. So when
you see me up here talking and standing in front
of you as the CEO of a company, I want
you to know that you too could be up here,
and nobody handed this to me. I began as a
clerk and I work my way up. Having said that,
why is this a great company? First of all, it

(24:16):
has an accumulation of some of the world's great brands,
Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cavanci, Sephora Berludi, Laura Piana, on and on.
An amazing, amazing company, and it's a place for you
because this company recognizes that the people that work in

(24:37):
it are more important than even the brands we run,
because you are the people that will make the brands great.
You are the people that we need to take the
company to the next level. You are the people, and
that's what makes this company special. We understand that we
need people. As a group here and around the world

(24:58):
is over one hundred thousand employees. So just keep in
mind one of these great jobs standing here before you.
You could be the CEO. There's no reason you can be.
And those of you who really really want to strive
for the top, I'll tell you two things. One, be
very very curious. Always look to learn as much as
you can. And two, any of you that can speak

(25:19):
foreign languages, you are our hero. This is a company
that operates in every market, in every country and almost
every city around the world. Those of you who speak
multiple languages, you have a great opportunity with this company,
and those of you who don't it's never too late
to learn. What a great place for you. Talk about learning,

(25:40):
think about a company that owns brands and shipbuilding, fashion, communications, hotels, jewelry, apparel, footwear, handbags.
Amazing company and like the United States of America the
land of opportunity, this company can be the and of
opportunity for you here in the United States and around

(26:04):
the world. I know for sure here in the United States. Now,
having said this, I want to leave you with a
short message that any one of you can be successful.
It's not easy. You need a whole lot of different
skills to get to the top. If that's what you want,
you have to be able to write, You have to
be able to communicate. It shouldn't matter how you look,

(26:27):
but it does. Yet. We all can't be tall, we
all can't be thin, we all can't be beautiful. It
takes a lot of different types, but you can look
your best. You should care about the way you look.
This is business. You're competing and while you should like,
admire and respect everyone sitting next to you, you are
competing with them. So it's your obligation to do everything

(26:51):
you can to make yourself look presentable and present properly.
Perhaps there's nothing more important in communicating than your oral word,
your ability to speak, your ability to get your ideas across,
your ability to explain your vision, your ability to explain
to people what you're doing, why you took the direction

(27:13):
you took, and how pleased you are when you start
to become a manager, telling the people that work for
you how well they're doing and how much you appreciate
what they're doing. With that in mind, I'm glad you
came tonight. I look forward to seeing you soon. I'm
so thrilled to be here with you tonight, and I
look forward to you growing and prospering in this company.

(27:37):
Good night. Now, that is face to face communication. And
as I said before, the reason I like making speeches
is because people now know what I'm thinking, not what

(28:00):
someone that works with me thinks I'm thinking or saying
I'm thinking face to face. Jesse'd you like that you
heard the applause? Did you take anything away from it?

Speaker 4 (28:10):
All the points that we hit before the speech you
noled So you got your goals and you're able to
deliver them.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Well, Well, that is the power of face to face.
I'm going to take a break. When we come back,
we'll continue talking. You and I, Jesse and me and
the three of us together.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
I spent 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 multip occasions in multiple ways. You
could wear a suit formally to go out at night

(28:49):
or to an event, wear a suit to the office
with or without a tie. If you look closely, now
fashion trends, suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next.
The choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(29:10):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Venues In 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,

(29:32):
this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the ven
using company is involved in this new technology and is
embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget
venues and made its name with dress shirts. It's only
proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way.

(29:54):
You can find vanues in cool flex men's stretch suits
at JC penny are online jpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them. DK and Why. Donna Karen,
New York. Donna Karen began her career as one of
the finest, most successful, powerful women in the fashion industry.

(30:15):
She developed a collection aimed at the luxury market for
women on the go, women who were powerful in their workplace,
women who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and
her clothes went from day and tonight. An extraordinary collection.
But the interesting thing, Donna Karen had a young daughter,
and she had friends and they couldn't afford to buy

(30:35):
the Donna Aaron collection. And Donna invented DK Andy Donna Aaron,
New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection.
The same concept a lifestyle brand. Now we talk about
lifestyle brands, what does that really mean? Simply what they
say there are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle.
You get up in the morning, you start to get
dressed Donna Karen dcan why as intimate apparel, as hosiery,

(30:58):
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, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that
go from day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active.

(31:21):
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 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,

(31:44):
dkn Y Jeans, dc HY sportswear is there for you.
That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I need to
mention DKY active wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the
sports bras, the sweats. You can wear DKY Activewear, certainly
in the gym, certainly when you're working out at home,

(32:05):
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 of America. DK and Why a true lifestyle brand
that takes you from day and tonight, from the week

(32:26):
into the weekend. DCN Why. You can find DCN Why
and Macy's DKY dot com.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
This is Mark Webber, and this is Always in Fashion
and tonight it's face to face and the subject I
want to talk about right now is a little off,
a little different. Let's talk about what it's like to
talk behind someone's back. Then business, if you talk behind
the coworkers back, all it is sending a signal that

(33:01):
your character isn't just that right. Frankly, I've talked to people,
and I've seen people talk about everyone behind their back,
and only two things come to mind. One I don't
like them, and two they'll do it to me. They'll
talk behind my back. Here's a story I want to tell.
It's one of my favorite stories in business. It's about
talking behind my back. It was so flagrant and so

(33:26):
obnoxious and so ego driven that the person doing the
talking didn't realize that I was sitting there listening. I
was at a company dinner I had recently become the
president of this time was of the Phillips fan Using Corporation,
the president of the whole place. I was sitting there

(33:46):
having a corporate dinner. Two seats down from me, there
was a fella I'll call them Steve, started talking. Let's
talk about how smart he was and how stupid the
company was. And he talked about how his four to
oh one K dived in the last year, that it
was worth about hundred thousand dollars, now it was only
worth forty thousand dollars. And he talked about how stupid

(34:08):
the management of the company was and how they he
can't believe that the company made these decisions and now
that's the four to one K and the stock is
all bad, et cetera. And I'm sitting there listening with
one ear to the person right next to me. But
really my ear is trained on what this guy's.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Saying yeah, I've done that till yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
I paid attention, and I'm listening and he's talking. It's
getting worse and worse. Now, here's the problem. I'm the
president of the company. The CEO of the company is
my great ally, my greatest friend. And this guy is
talking about us. Where the management? Who is he talking about?
And he's too stupid and too arrogant to realize that

(34:50):
he was talking about me two seats down. And I'm
listening to this. Now, That's not the only reason that
I'm upset about this and his stupidity. He's an officer
of the company. He's a vice president of the company.
Here's an obligation to take the company line. Here's an
obligation to speak well of the company. So if somebody
would ask him what happened to the four oh one K,

(35:13):
what happened to the stock? Listen, listen. This happens in business.
Sometimes companies run into a difficult spot. We didn't do
this quickly. Now for our competition got there before us.
But this is not an issue. Don't worry about it.
I have faith in the company, have faith in the brands.
I know the management. They're going to do the right thing,
and you watch in the next six months to a year,

(35:34):
We're going to really blow out of the doldrum. That's
what I expect him to say. But the real part
that really really bothered me, even if the other two
issues didn't. This is a guy that we took under
our wing. This is a guy who came to the company.
He was introduced to us by a friend of the company,

(35:55):
told us that he would appreciate us hiring him. And
over the course of his short career with the company,
let's say three years, he went from clerk to vice president,
from No. One to someone because we were looking out
for him. Now, granted he was a very, very capable guy.
I expected more. Now, as it turns out, he was

(36:17):
a protected guy. What do I mean by that? He
came in a friend of the company. We did everything
we could to train him. We made sure he was
taken care of. We made sure he was given every
benefit the company could give him, including every special opportunity
the company had to offer. During the course of this tenure,
we looked out for him. No one could touch him.

(36:39):
He was protected. I'll never forget his arrogance and his
ego came in front of the president of the shirt company,
and she came to me one time and said, I
can't take this guy Mark. He thinks he's so smart.
He's a troublemaker. He says bad things. He's not as
smart as he thinks. I really don't think he belongs here.

(37:02):
I'd like to move him, if it's okay with you.
I thought about it, as I said. We were watching
out for him, and I said, look, do your best
to make it right with him. We care about this guy.
We want him to do well, and I wouldn't let
anything happen. Fast forward a year later, I'm at this
dinner table. I'm listening to this arrogant guy who's not

(37:25):
only arrogant, he's stupid because he doesn't know I'm listening.
And here who is he talking about the management of
the company being stupid? And yours truly was one of
the management of the company. Following day, I walked down
to the office of the president of the shirt company
and I said, how is my friend here doing? He says, look,
I tried very hard to turn him around. He's still

(37:46):
not very good. He's not as good as he thinks
he is. I don't particularly like him, and left to
my own devices. I would sever him from the company.
I listened, I smirked, I smiled, and I said, he's
no longer protected. You could sever them, And that week
he no longer was with the company. So the moral

(38:08):
to the story here. So you're going to be face
to face in this case, you better be smart. What
you say matters, and when you're communicating, you got to
know what you're doing face to face. Be back in
a minute.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Always in fashions.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl
Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to
America through Carlagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,
ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Carlagofeld also offers a range of watches, I wear and

(38:45):
premium fragrances. You can explore the car Lagofil collection of
car Lagofelparis dot com. But it's more than that. I
have for one, love to shop. I love going around
and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what
would make me feel good to wear. Now. I don't
wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate it
and they look amazing. If you want to look right,

(39:07):
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 dot com.
The women's ready to wear fashion is extraordinary, as well
as the handbigs and the shoes. I for one wear

(39:27):
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.
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 Carlagothel because he's

(39:50):
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 about yourself. You want to know
that you're dressing properly. You want clothes that fits you well.
Carl Lagafeld, Paris, Carl Lagafeldparis dot com. I love polar fleece.

(40:12):
It's lightweight, takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps you warm
and even if 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

(40:33):
of Izid. I used to be the head of Iside.
In fact, my company bought it and out of bankruptcy,
and the 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.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Now.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
I left a long time ago, and the company just
continues to thrive. Iseside is one of the great sweater makers.
Pant make his Shirt makes, shirt makers, Polar shirt Makers.
They're incredible company. The 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 gonna be casual, go in
and look at Isaart. Now that doesn't say that they

(41:13):
don't have dress shirts and they don't have suits. You
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. 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

(41:34):
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. Isad
dot com, isaadat jcpenny. Go look for it. I think
you're going to be very happy. And ladies, those of
you the shopping for the guys in your lives, take
a look. I think they'll be very happy with your choices.

Speaker 5 (41:54):
Isaad for men, Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's
your host, Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
This is Mark Weber. This is always in fashion. This
is talk tonight on our show. In particular, I'm talking
face to face. I've been negotiating my whole career, as
many of you have been. I'm convinced of one thing.
You cannot negotiate via email, text, what have you. You've got
to do it face to face. You do it over

(42:21):
the mail. You think you're gaining something, but you're really not.
You need to be looking at your opponent across the
table and don't ever forget it. That's what they are,
your opponent. The smartest negotiators are the ones that can
figure out how to get what they want and give
something to that other person across the table so they
have what they want. You'll always should get a little more.
That's what you're trying to do. But two people walk

(42:42):
away from a negotiation happy. I think that's what you're
looking for. You know, actually I don't think I know
that's what you're looking for. With that in mind, I
want to talk about negotiating around the world. I've traveled
around the world ten times over and I've negotiated around
the world. I've had some fun times and interesting times

(43:02):
careers in the news. They were the most interesting people
I ever met to negotiate with. The Koreans were tough, tough,
tough people. It's no surprised when you're living ten miles
from the demilitarized zone where the Korean War was fought.
Whenever I negotiated with the Koreans, I'd walk in be
prepared to negotiate. And I realized early on that you

(43:24):
never negotiate with them. Oh, you could talk, you can
go back and forth, but they're going to guide you
exactly where they're going to go, where they want to go,
and you're going to agree if you want to buy
product in that country, you want to get the benefit
of their price to labor, the workmanshift, and their ingenuity.
Whatever their case may be, automobiles, textiles, it's going to

(43:44):
be their rules. That's what I liked about them. It
was never a guess, it's just we're going to try
and figure out how close you'd come to where you
want to be. In China and Hong Kong, it was
very different than negotiating here in the United States. Every
company you're doing business with pretty much is the founding
family managing it you're talking to the founder, you're talking

(44:06):
to the daughters, their heirs, people who kept the business alive.
And what was amazing about negotiating with those people is
the long term thinking. When you negotiate and you're a
public company in the United States, you're worried about the
next quarter, you're certainly worried about the next half, and
you're certainly worried about the year. When you're dealing with
Chinese families, they're worrying about perpetuity. They're worrying about and

(44:28):
they're interested in making sure that they and their children
and their children's children and the children's children's children have
a business that they can run and they can prosper
form that family businesses forever. And therefore they're very interesting
to negotiate with. When I would go to Japan, was
also very fascinating the japan The people are very very polite.

(44:53):
Half the time, I wonder what they were talking about
behind my back. Can't imagine they all liked me. I
was such a brass American. But nonetheless they were always polite,
partially because do you know, when you ask for Japan
for something, there is no word no, There is no
Japanese word that translates to know. Maybe that explains the politeness.
Very efficient. They get what's done. You can negotiate with them,

(45:15):
but it was always very pleasant. Took a lot to
get someone mad. I don't think I ever saw anyone
get mad in Japan. But one of my favorite stories
has to do with the New York Yankees. Go Yankees.
They're doing incredibly well right now, winning, winning and winning.
It's so exciting, young team, powerful team, amazing to watch.

(45:38):
I'll never forget. I was in Europe, in Sweden, and
I was negotiating with a brand with the owners of
a brand. There were three partners. We owned the brand
in the United States and we had rented the name
to them for around the world usage. During the course
of the negotiations, the CEO of the partners, the three

(45:59):
guys that are owned this company in Europe distributing the
product throughout Europe, got very angry at me because I
owned a brand and I was giving him direction on
how I wanted it to be managed. And he finally
lost his cool and he said, you Americans, you think
the World Series is a baseball game played in Yankee
Stadium once a year when everyone else in the world

(46:21):
knows that the world series is called the World Cup,
played every two years around the world in every city
and country of the world. We know that is soaga.
I thought that was a great lesson about life and learning.
My favorite favorite story though of all time, about negotiating

(46:42):
took place in the south of France. And yes, I
used to go to the south of France a lot,
because I work for a French company Louis the talk
about Tennessee, and because we had us strategic planned meetings
every June. Right after those strategic plan meetings, I get
on a plane and fly from Paris Toise with either
see Er his brother depending who was free, and Jesse
and I did it very often, and I would go

(47:04):
to the south of France. And I wanted to go
to can Can is the scene where the movie To
Catch a Thief took place Carrie Grant Grace Kelly, one
of my favorite movies of all time. The hotel that
the entirety of the movie or a big part of
the movie took place was at the Carlton Hotel right
in the water and Can. I had to stay there,

(47:26):
and the first time I stayed there, it was magical
for me because I knew that movie from when I
was a little boy. I watched it. So I was
at the Carlton Hotel with Jesse on this one particular trip.
Get in there, Get in the door. You can't imagine
what it was like negotiating for a decent room. I
must have been in five different rooms till we finally
got one that they were willing to rent to us

(47:47):
at some excruciatingly expensive price. There were competing with Arab sheikhs,
Russian oligarchs, and some of the witchest people in the world.
But somehow or another, my title am my willing to
pay little more and maybe tip the front of the
person at the front got me a decent room overlooking
the water. But that's not the purpose of the story.
Where in Conage beautiful, every day is sunny. Every meal

(48:10):
you eat outdoors. The breakfast buffet to this day is
probably my favorite meal of all time. Remember the breakfast
jest and ah so good, and the weather and the
palm trees and looking out at the riviera, paradizing paradise.
But the Carlton dinner restaurant outside was part of my
French the coup d'etar. It was amazing now I've stayed

(48:32):
at the hotel and this is one of the first trips.
I get there and I realize there's a pecking order
for where you sit in the restaurant, and we would
get there face to face, which is our theme of tonight,
talking face to face. I started chatting it up with
the matre d and started pointing to the tables that
I wanted to sit in on the first nine. He so,

(48:52):
I'm sorry, sir, that's already reserved. I said, how about
for the next night. He said, well, you come down
tomorrow we'll see, which really meant take care of me
and I'll do it for you. Didn't realize it at first.
The next night we went down there, tried to get
that table or the table in that area, didn't get
it again. So finally I asked one of the waiters,

(49:13):
how do you get to sit there? And he said,
in his French accents, you have to have had a
relationship face to face with the matre d ah A.
That night, after dinner, I went to the matre d
and I said I'd like to have that table tomorrow
and he said, okay, I have to think about it.

(49:34):
I gave him one hundred euros and lo and behold.
The next night we came down, we got the table,
and now we're being looked at, We're being seen. Jesse
and I dressed properly for the South of France and
June looking great, and now we're where we want to be,
sitting in the restaurant. I want to be sitting. Jesse
and I went shopping that day, having a great time,
talk about you need to know culture and you need

(49:54):
to know what's going on face to face. Jesse and
I were in a store and we found what would
be most beautiful sweat top, but not sweatop, the most
beautiful what kind of jacket would take?

Speaker 4 (50:06):
A zip up top, like a zipp zip up jacket.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Top made out of fleece. Yeah, in beautiful riding it
said Italy, Italia, Italia. Yeah. White. It was beautiful, white
white top zip jacket and he wore it with white
pants and sneakers. When we came down and we got
to the Matre Dame and we said we'd like to
sit at a table and he said no.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
And why I was wearing the Italia jacket in France?
And what was going on at that time the World Cup?
And who is fighting who was up against each other,
France and Italy, and who won Italy?

Speaker 3 (50:47):
And he looked at me, he said, monsieur, there's not
enough money in the world for me to give you
the seat you want tonight, wearing that shirt. Lesson learned
talk about face to face. Listen, guys, we're talking less
and less. Texts and emails are growing, talking not so much.

(51:09):
Talking is becoming a lost art, and face to face
discussions are disappearing. Talking face to face seems to be
avoided at all costs. When did you stop talking and
started avoiding? Good Night,