Gratitude or Attitude

Gratitude or Attitude

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The
show is sponsored by G three Aparo. The views expressed
in the following program are those of the sponsor and
not necessarily the opinion of seven ten wr or iHeartMedia.
Who is Mark Webber. He's a self made business executive
here to help you find your success, from the New

(00:21):
York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His
global success story in the luxury world 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 (00:41):
Mark Weber, Happy Holidays, I for one have found quiet
time amidst this fest of scenes playing out around the city.
My quiet time has always been important to me. Meantime,
that which is only for me, my time, precious time,
my time to reflect. I'm so grateful for so much.

(01:03):
I have disappointments, as we all do. I'm specifically lucky
that only people I want in my life are in
my life now. The rest have been shut out, eliminated.
I don't listen to I don't deal with the people
in my life are for me. I'm therefore, I have
time to plan, I have time to ignore. Yeah, don't

(01:25):
bother me. If I don't want to talk, I don't
want to talk. It's the time for me to be selfish.
If you consider selfish taking care of yourself. I like
my quiet time. I like my alone time. I cherish it.
I hope my family my friends understand my silence. I'm listening.
But doesn't mean I have to spend my time with you.

(01:47):
I love you. I enjoy your time when we spend
it together, but I also enjoy time apart. I therefore
am enjoying me more. Now what I have to admit,
I have no pays for annoying, zero tolerance for people
who are annoying. It's not just people, it's the robocus

(02:07):
at the end of the line when I need help,
when they make you go through that automated operator to
get where you need to be sooner or later. If
I don't get to the operator, the real human, I'll
never get so except in the case when, oh gosh,
I love India, but I don't want to speak with
anyone from India. When I'm calling some of the guidance

(02:27):
who's around the corner and when I do get it,
I'd like to have people that can understand me and
I can understand them. I don't want attitude anywhere or
any time. I'm just a lone observing, commenting, enjoying the holidays.
Now having said this, I'm focused on life in participating.

(02:50):
As I said in observing, I'm enjoying the pomp and
circumstances of this time of the year, no question, the parties,
the dinners, the holiday events, lights, the joys, and yet
I'm reflected family, friends, life, great country. I wonder whether
I show my gratitude, even whether I showed enough. I'm

(03:12):
also careful at this time, particularly this time of the year,
curtailing my attitude. I don't want to give attitude. Are
you curtailing yours? I'll look aside at this time of year.
Before I complained, I do want to be a good guy.
It makes life easier. I like easy. I'm in search

(03:33):
of easy, only easy. Yet I'm tormented. The other night,
I held a dinner party for seven people. We were demanding.
We were noisy, perhaps too much so. I between the drinks,
the special requests, all the attentionary required. At the end,
I left a tip. I left a twenty one percent tip.

(03:55):
Steve Martin, one of my favorite comedic movies, My Blue Heaven,
had a great quote. I don't believe in tipping. I
believe in overtipping, so I believe in overtipping as well.
But in this case, I don't think I did. I
don't think I was generous enough. Yet I'll keep eating
myself up in spite of the fact that I don't

(04:16):
really believe in tipping. Why is the weight of my responsibility?
I don't get it. I'm an overtipper, but I just
don't like the effort that tipping signals. Why is it
my responsibility? Why is it the rest of the world
has figured it out. No tipping? Why are we tipping?
It might be the only thing I like about the

(04:36):
rest of the world. I also like my club life.
No tipping. Guys cleans my suf shoes, No tipping guy
sends me a drink, No tipping breaks my food, No tipping,
it's all included in the price. Well, I may sound
like a curmudgeon, and I don't mean to. I'm just
trying to improve the world. You believe in tipping, Take

(04:58):
care of your own workers, put the tip on the bill. Ope.
I just don't like the game of figuring it out.
And to the point, why am I tipping? Not my business,
not my job, Taxi's same thing. TAXI shows up to
have a job, to get you from here to there?
Why is there a tip required? I don't get it.
Now the government is used up on tax on tipping.

(05:21):
I don't get it. I don't get it. But I
like easy. I'm grateful for the service. But is my
attitude correct now? Of all things to think about right now,
during the house of the season, all the positives, I'm
caught up in this attitude stuff my parking garage, I've
been there forever. I'm a monthly customer with multiple cars forever,

(05:45):
and yet I don't get the proper greeting when I
show up, and it bothers me. I'm babysitting a dog
day right now. I walk it at all hours, a
dryer off from the snow. I feed her, then I
give it trips from my place, and I give the
treats that she's expecting. And I don't get the hugs
I need. I'm looking for a touch for gratitude. I

(06:07):
guess it's the life of a substitute. Yeah, I'm like
a substitute teacher. I'm a tuptible substitute dog watcher. Now,
maybe I'm a little crazy, and I think we all
get a little crazy when someone doesn't show as the
proper gratitude. I would tell you when people or your
cowork I could send you a kindness or respect and

(06:29):
you don't show the right thing back, you're slighted forever.
Don't give attitude. Here's my tip of the I tell
you about Tippy. Don't give attitude. Someone gives you a
card from work, thank you, sincerely. Someone gives you a present,
whatever it's worth, thank you. You get a bonus from
your company, regardless of your expectations, you say thank you.

(06:52):
I truly appreciate it. People respond better to other people
who show respect day in and day out. I will
respond to people who are gracious to show gratitude. I
meant to gratitude, not attitude. So are you, if you
think about it, I'm sure now, don't ask me how
I got on this topic from the holiday. I saw

(07:13):
a headline somewhere gratitude not attitude. Well, that's what I
seem to want to talk to about tonight. Once a year,
there are certain stories that come out. I have certain
stories that I tell at different parts during the year.
In my calendar. I have a Tickler file to talk
about this guy or that guy, because I think the
stories are worth repreading, and some of them I promise

(07:33):
to talk to the end of time. So let me
state the obvious. I'm a CEO. My time is precious.
My personal space is even more precious. I earn the
right to surround myself with people I like. It stands
to reason. If I have a meeting, I want to
have people in the meeting that I want by my side.

(07:55):
If I need to travel, who do I want to
travel with? I want the people I enjoyed being on
a plane. The person with gratitude or bad attitude, you
figure it out, help yourself to his better spot. Alight, Hey,
enjoy the holidays now, yes, it is a holidays. He's in.
It's time to reflect, time for appreciation, take the stock

(08:16):
of your life, looking at the world for me an opinion,
giving it and joining me. Tonight, my lawyer, my co
host and now major announcement, my friend, my co host
on this show. My son is now an anchor on
a major news network. So here he is my son

(08:38):
and host of the Jesse Weber Show on News Nation.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Jesse Weber beg you, thank you, thank you, thank you
that I first of all, I kind of want you
as my announcer now. Like if we're doing a late
night show and it was announced, yes, I'm anchoring my
own show on News Nation Monday through Friday, eleven pm
to midnight. If it's a late show, maybe I need
you as my announcer. They used to do that for

(09:02):
Johnny Carson, Right, Jesse, what's the deal with peanuts? No,
I'm super excited. It was announced this week. Unbelievable, to
say the least. You and I have been working together
to make this happen for the last ten years. I'm
so appreciative. I'm so excited. It's a great network to
be a part of. And it's great. It's a news

(09:25):
of the day show. Whatever was the big news today,
We're going to break it down in a unique way,
look forward to the day ahead, be creative with it.
And I'm very very excited.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
And what about what's going on in long Crime?

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Oh, listen, long crime is massive. I am continuing all
the work that I'm doing for Long Crime. I mean,
do you realize right now, we have seven and a
half million subscribers on YouTube. My show is ranked top
YouTube podcasts every week. I'm not doing this till I
teut myself. I'm saying we have an unbelievable reach. I

(10:00):
can't wait to continue the work that I do there.
I just my day gets incredibly busy, but I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, I'm too. When am I coming on your news show?

Speaker 3 (10:10):
First of all, can you stay awake till eleven o'clock
at night?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Ah, that's funny. Yeah, you know that's a long time
to stick around and wait to get on and perform
the Beauty of Naps?

Speaker 3 (10:20):
The Beauty of Naps. Well, if you can stay awake,
why not do maybe like a weekly segment and always
in fashion segment.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
We'll mention you to think your producers are gonna want that.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I think the fact that it's my show, I might
have a little sway, but we'll say, we'll see. I
have to picture it the right way.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
So I feel that if you had to figure out
explain to anybody what you did to be able to
have your own you know, like big Now you're hosting
a prime time made your network all around the country,
television show.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
First of all, I think it's funny. You've never called
me your friend until now.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
Are you one of these people that I get a
big job and now you're like.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh, he's my best friend. I'm just kidding. No, but
this has been an incredibly long journey with a lot
of Heartbork. I started as a lawyer. I made my
way into broadcasting by doing appearances on different networks as
a legal contributor. That's how I even got my start,
and I found an opening with Dan Abram's Long Crime

(11:24):
Network to begin hosting a show every day. That's what
built up my skill set. That's what built up a
little bit of a following, That's what built up me.
Covering these built big cases, built up my reputation, and
hosting that show is what led to other hosting jobs,
whether it's for this or Sirius XM. And then I
got a job at NewsNation as a legal contributor, and

(11:47):
I said, listen, I host all the time any chance
I can fill in for the talent there, And they
gave me a shot for one show to fill in,
and then another show, and then another show, and they
seem to be incredibly happy with the work. That I
was doing. And this journey that I think began in
twenty fifteen twenty sixteen has now resulted in me having

(12:09):
my own national cable news show, which I'm again very
very excited for. But it took almost ten years of
hard work. It's amazing working weekends, mornings, nights. I mean,
I work tons, But you always have to look at
the goal in mind. Here's the question for you. As
I went through all of this, I mean, nine ten
years was a long journey, did you think i'd get here?

Speaker 2 (12:33):
You know, it's funny that you say that. I'm going
to answer you a slightly different way. When I was
working trying to make a success of myself, I was crazed,
you know, as you know the audience should know a boy.
Now I'm growing up in the city projects. I had
no help, I had no chance for success, and yet

(12:53):
I found it. But every step of the way was
torture in the sense that I'm learning things, things that
other people know. I'm learning to perfect what I know.
I'm trying to figure out how to be good with
what I did. And myself and your mom were working
to build a life together, and that's all I focused
on and after all the years of hard work like

(13:15):
you talk about, and doing things well and perhaps doing
them better than other people, and finding my way from
the top. I was so proud of myself and so
amazed that I did what I did, and I was relaxed,
and I felt great about the future. And the biggest
surprise that came to me with the idea of working

(13:38):
and success is I never thought about my children having
to do it again. I never thought about fatherhood. I
did so well. I thought I made it easy for
the whole family, but yet you and your brother needed
your own careers. And I have to tell you, once
I started realizing that you were starting from look place

(14:00):
than me. You were an attorney, you were prominent in
that regard. I wasn't. But you had to start all over.
You had to work at the firm. You had to
do this, and I'd never anticipated and to put a
pressure on me and a concern on me that I
never dreamed I would have. And that's a big part
of fatherhood. So did I think you'd get there? I

(14:22):
could only hope, and I did whatever I can, using
my skill sets along the way to help you. Now
you don't have a manager, you have an agent. But
for all intentsive purposes, I've acted like your manager because
I have all this experience. You asked me questions, I
have answers. You have contracts. You're the lawyer. But I've
been through all these contracts. I know what to look for.

(14:43):
So then I think you'd get there. I just didn't
know you weren't sure.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
How can I be sure this? I can be sure
that i'd be successful. How can I be sure that
you do? Now?

Speaker 3 (14:55):
That's fair, that's fair. But I'm glad you continue to
believe in me. Are you proud? Are you proud with
this announcement?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Now that's another great question. Look, I've kind enough you
on this ride to watch what you do? Okay, you
and I did a pilot for a television show. I
had to read the teleprompto. I had three sentences. Took
me an hour. Then I go to the studio and
watch you. When you have to read a teleprompto, when
you're interviewing people, you're so great it blew my mind.

(15:25):
So am I proud? Yes? But there's another word that
defines where I am more than proud? And what's that relieved?
That's how I look at my life with you and
your brother right now. I'm relieved you're making it. You're happy.
This is something that I can't explain how great that feels. Proud.

(15:45):
I was proud of you when you were shagging fly
balls and they were going over your head and illegally.
I made believe you know what you were doing, when
you were playing soccer and you were like terrible, I
told you were great.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Wait minutes they told me. They me, I want MVP
one time.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah, okay, that was the thing nobody plays. The point is,
I'm relieved. I'm so relieved that you're You've gotten where
you've gotten, and you wanted it bad. You did what
you needed to do. You learn what you needed to do. Yeah, excellently.
One of the camera loves you. Everybody you work with
loves you and respects you. I'm relieved. No, I could

(16:25):
worry about something else. I could go back and worry
about myself. I don't need to think about you and
your brother. That's why I'm reflecting on me.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
Yeah, well, I'm happy to I'm happy that you're relieved.
I'm happy I could take that weight off of you.
You mean, I listened to your opening. You sound so down,
you sound so upset. It's it doesn't sound like somebody
who's relieved.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
I'm laughing to myself. Well, I came across this sentence
gratitude or attitude, and I started thinking about all the
nice people I've met and all the jerks I met
along the way. I couldn't help it any Here I
am in the hall these days, and I remember when
it comes to gratitude that the hardest arithmetic to master
is that which enables you to count your blessing. And

(17:09):
it's a time where I like to count my blessing.
Now you're working on cloud nine right now, so I
have to be happy. You know, a happy wife, happy life,
happy children, happy life. You know. So I guess that's
where I'm at.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Well, I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm very happy to do it.
But I'm also hey, listen, I still get a chance
to do the show with you. Nothing like that changes.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
There we go. You have so many shows and so
many contracts right now. It's hard to keep track. But
you said you wanted to be like Ryan Seacrest. You
want to have what I said. Thing's going on?

Speaker 3 (17:41):
I said this always. Originally I said this to mommy
as well. I said it from the beginnings, like I
want to have different jobs. I want to do this,
I want to do this. I don't want to sit
in one place for twenty hours a day. And that's it.
I was like, I want to have all these different things.
I always said to her, and I said this to
you too. I was like, I don't mind working hard.
I just have to love what I'm doing. I just
want to want to do it. And that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
Well, you're getting to be like Ryan Seacrest. You just
need a whole bunch more zeros after your name.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
That would be nice. That'd be nice. Well, we'll get there.
That'll be the next gate, that'll be the next goal.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Anyway, I'm glad you here tonight. Maybe you'll upset some
of my gribungeonness, but I do have a couple of
stories that are either inspiring or good lessons, and they
are on my calendar to talk about this time of year.
And uh, that's what we're gonna do tonight. The good,
the bad, the ugly, the gratitude versus attitude Back in

(18:38):
a minute with a new anchor of the Monday through
Friday late night show career is one of the finest,
most success will take a break back powerful women in
the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at the
luxury market for women on the go, women who were

(19:00):
powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that extended
beyond the workplace. And her clothes went from day in tonight.
An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing Donna Karen had
a young daughter, and she had friends and they couldn't
afford to buy the Donna Karen collection. And Donna invented
DK NY Donna Aaron, New York. It's an offshoot of

(19:21):
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 decaan 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

(19:44):
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. You have weekends, you have events, you
participate in sports. Donna Karen's casual clothes did that under

(20:08):
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 for you. That's what a lifestyle brand is.

(20:30):
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 is nothing short of exceptional. And why shouldn't

(20:52):
it be Because it was born from the idea of
luxury made affordable for women of America. DK and Y
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. I love

(21:13):
Polar fleece. 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 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

(21:34):
big fan of IAID. I used to be the head
of Iszide. In fact, my company bought it and at
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 companies 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

(21:55):
time ago, and the company just continues to thrive. Isaeside
is one of the great wet to make his pant
make his shirt makers, knit shirt makers, polo 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 Isaac. Now that doesn't say that
they don't have dress shirts and they don't have suits.

(22:17):
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
is the one that's most personal to me because I

(22:38):
was involved in crafting the future of this brand. The
clothes are great, fall is great. They're doing well. Isad
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 the guys in your lives, take
a look. I think they'll be very happy with your choices.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Isaad for men, Welcome back to all was in fashion.
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
I am grateful for so much that's in my life.
And on the night we're talking about gratitude or attitude.
I want to start with a story that I tell
once a year that speaks to both subjects. This is
one of the most unhappy events that ever took place

(23:26):
in my corporate life, and yet the sun comes out
tomorrow and have a happy ending. I think about the
people that I work with in my life. I had mentors.
You've heard me talk about Robert Solomon, Robert J. Solomon, Mark.
I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong. Mark. YEA,

(23:47):
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death,
I shall fear no eagle because I am the meanest
son of a bitch in the valley. He had that
in the tapestry behind his desk. He taught me about
no let anyone ever push you. They want an answer
right away. The answer is no. And there was a
fellow named Chuck Smith, the president of the ven Using

(24:10):
Company when I was there. Chuck was world of the
world's great cellos and market Kid. You got a fish
with a fish are swimming, always looking for the opportunities walk.
He was a great guy, never accept mediocre. How can
we be better? There are many people that I worked for.
The first guy that I really looked up to was
an man named Stangeleette. Again, those of you listened to

(24:31):
the show, no that in my first week on the job,
first real job, I was unprepared to work. Everyone I
worked with went to better schools. They had families who
were in business, they had I was backward. I grew
up in the city projects. I knew nothing about life
other than to smile and look good. And Stangellette, in

(24:51):
front of a couple one hundred people, as the president company,
stood up and made a speech, stated the union speech.
So all of us there told us how much appreciated
the idea that he was president, and how the future
of the world was in our young hands, and that
he believed that we someday would be standing up there
and doing this thing. And he was right. And watching

(25:13):
him speak that day without notes, taking questions without notes
was brilliant to see. And I right then and there
set my first goal in life, watching him talk and
convince people and make them happy. At LVMH. In later years,
I got to meet Bernard or No the most important

(25:34):
conversation of my life. I don't know why it happened.
I was impressed with him. I was invited to Paris
on an interview to meet with Bernard or no the founder,
the fourth richest man in the world, the richest man
in France. I sat across from in his conference room
having breakfast when he asked me on an interview, Mark,

(25:56):
what do you bring to a company, and don't ask me?
Why don't ask me how? I looked at him and said,
mister Arnaud, I bring energy. I bring energy and excitement
to companies. Right then and there, I looked at his stace.
I knew I had the job. Took forty five more
minutes of conversation where I ended up asking him more

(26:17):
questions than asked me, But Bernardo Nau was pressing. I
also met a gentleman named Tony Beloni, who was the
number two guy, the managing director of LVMH. I never
met a smarter man. He spoke three languages fluently that
I knew of French, of course, he lived in Paris, Italian,
he was Italian and English. And yet once a week

(26:38):
I would get a letter from me telling me what
he thought was going well, asking me questions that he
had no answers, giving me advice or asking for advice.
That letter was crafted so brilliant that it took me
days to respond, or I would have to close my
door for the entirety of the day to get my
grandma correct to compose an answer that was it's a

(27:00):
sinc that made sense. These guys were brilliant. And then
when I think back of all the people I know,
I can't forget my friend Bruce Klatsky. Here was my
mentor and my first boss, and when I really look
at it, my only true boss, and he treated me
more like a father than a business associate. The day

(27:22):
I met him, he said, look me up and down,
and he said, I didn't have the ability to hire
my own assistant. Go figure it, but you'll look like
you'll do okay, he said, you know what, Mark, I'm
going to be the president of the company someday and
you're now working for me. I need you to learn
my job so I can get out of here and
move on to the next And he was right. I
followed him up the ladder the whole way. But perhaps

(27:45):
one of the most important things I've ever talked about
were friends in business. And I subscribed to the fact
that there are no friends in business. There's no such thing.
You're not at work to make friends. It's all these
very complicated. Every one of you there, even you at

(28:07):
the so called friend are fighting for survival. You're all
looking to get the same jobs. Anyone of consequence wants
to be promoted, and as you go up the ladder,
it's like a pyramid, the number of jobs get smaller
and smaller. I therefore never believe in friendships in business,
and I've done shows on it. There are no friends

(28:28):
in business, and yet I've had a few. And one
of my great friends, who's no longer with us, broke
one of those commandments, no friends in business. He was
one of my greatest friends. His name was Henry Justice.
He's no longer with us. Many rest in peace. Henry
was an executive in an advertising and marketing field in

(28:50):
the company. When I first came to the company, I
saw him in his role. He was the number two guy,
eventually became the number one guy. He knew everything. I
knew nothing, and yet whenever I had a question, he
answered me graciously. He looked at me, and he believed
that I had something to offer. I knew nothing, but
he put me in a position and he accepted my questions.

(29:11):
And because I was becoming an important guy. And when
I say an important guy, I was in a position
where I had to understand marketing and advertising. So he
had to bear with me, and he had patience, and
he was wonderful to be with. And as time went
on we learned to certainly like each other, maybe love
each other. I can't tell you how many times we

(29:33):
shared neils. How every single day in the latter part
of our careers together we walked home to our respective
parking garages together. Very often we'd have dinner. He knew
my boys, Jared and Jesse and he and their relationship
was equally as strong as mine. Whenever there was a
party of family function, Henry was there. And as much

(29:55):
as I could care for someone who wasn't part of
the family, I cared for Henry. And then one day
I get called in to Larry Phillips's office. Larry Phillips,
grandson of the founder of the company, the current CEO
and chairman of the company, calls me into a meeting
with two other executives, my boss and my counterpart, My

(30:18):
boss Bruce, my counterpart Allen, and he looks at us
and he says, without any explanation, but firing Henry today. Now,
Henry at that time had been with the company for
thirty three years. And I looked at him, because Henry
and I were working together at that time. In fact,
Henry was reporting to me and I said, why are

(30:41):
we firing? And he said, because he behaved inappropriately and
the answer is not your business. We were astounded. We
didn't know what to say. I said, please, you got
to give me some idea. He said, look, you had
a supplier. Henry dropped that supplier. He had no right
to drop the supplier, and there were reasons why he

(31:04):
did it. I said, wait a minute, that is my decision.
This guy had been the supplier of the company for
the best I could tell, the last five years. His
work wasn't inspiring, it was terrible. Was he did approach
a brochure that probably would have felt better at Kmart
than Van User. I was trying to make the ven

(31:24):
Using brand an exciting brand. My whole strategy with the
Van Use them at the time is take a brand
that's been round forever, make it look like a luxury,
a world class brand at affordable prices. And this guy's advertising,
he did photo shoots, he put brochures together were horrendous,
and I told Henry I wouldn't work with him anymore.
Henry went in fired him, took the heat. The said Lariy,

(31:47):
I made that decision, not Henry, Henry s Kohn. He
walked out and left the three of us crying, really
literally crying. He was an amazing partner, Henry. And to
see this happen without an explanation other than he did
something that's unforgivable. I said, isn't there any way we
could give him a chance? Can't he correct the problem? No?

(32:09):
About forty five minutes later, I got a call from
an industrial psychologist who was on our payroam. His name
was Joel Goldberg, doctor Joel Goldberg, and he came to
my office. Said, what did you say to Larry Phillips.
I said about what he said about firing Henry. I said,
I didn't think it was appropriate. I said, I thought

(32:31):
we should give him another chance. Henry was beloved the
decision that we made. Whatever he did, I'm sure we
could correct it. Well. Larry wants to follow you now
because he doesn't think you understand, and he's questioning your integrity, silence.
He's questioning my integrity because someone who's worked with the

(32:52):
company for thirty three years, who I believe meant nothing
wrong other than what he had to do, And if
he had issues with this guy, he never told me.
He just followed the direction that we both agreed on
that we could do better than we're doing with this guy.
And because he is a friend of Larry, which he
turned out to be and whispered at Larry's ea, Henry's gone.

(33:13):
I couldn't accept it. And Doctor Goelbel looked at me
and said, Mark, you have a choice to make right now.
Either go in and tell Larry you are mistaken that
you support his decision, or you're gone from this company now.
Over the course of time, I was a small fry
and a big fry. I was a nose shot and
a big shot. I was respected, I wasn't respected. I

(33:37):
was a master of the universe and I wasn't. But
I never forgot when the name of the company is
your family name, you rule. Mister Phillips. And I had
issues with Larry Phillips over the course of time. Unbalanced.
I respected him. He's one of the smartest men I
ever worked with, and I did appreciate him and I
did appreciate the time I spent in the company. For sure,

(33:59):
that joy it better after he retired. Absolutely, So this
is a question of gratitude. Did we understand what Henry did?
Did we give him the gratitude that he deserved? And
what I did with my attitude? Was it the right
thing to do? Should I stand my ground lose my job? Well,

(34:22):
I tell you the story all these years later, because
this is at least twenty five years old, I went
down to Larry Phillips's office and I said, look, Larry,
I'm still young. I have a lot to learn. I
understand your composition on this, and if you feel it
was incorrectible, I have to support it. And I am
telling you that I am okay with the decision, and

(34:42):
I understand why you made it. It was a signal
for all of us stuff. I never forgave myself for
saying it, although I understood why I did. Two years later,
Larry Phillips in a proxy fight with the current CEO
of the company over the the future of the company.
Larry Phillips had gotten none with age. Our current CEO

(35:05):
is a much younger man. The board decided to go
with the younger man and support that team. Interesting to
note when Larry decided he had a decision to make
either to leave the company or to try and fight
back and take you, he asked me if I'd follow him.
The answer was no, I would follow my boss, and
my meant to Bruce. I don't know who else he

(35:25):
approached for the same jobs, but Larry was out. I'll
never forget sitting in my office the day that Larry
Phillips decided he was selling his stock and leaving the
company and there'd be a new chairman, CEO, and Bruce
came down to my office. He called in Allen and said,
the first order of business is hiring Henry back. We

(35:49):
called him Mark. He's going to work for you. He's
waiting for you to call him. It'd be great if
you could see him. We're bringing Henry back. And we did,
and we saved his life. We gave him a future,
we gave him a purpose, We treated him properly, We
showed them the right respect, and we the three of us,
had the greatest attitude towards them. And I kid you not.

(36:10):
Over the course of the next fifteen years, we all loved, worked,
respected and had an amazing, amazing relationship with Henry. I'm
thinking them often. I miss him all the time, and
I think about myself learning the hard lessons between attitude
and gratitude. I'm going to take the break. We come back.

(36:32):
Maybe I have a happiest start always in fashion. 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

(36:53):
to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagafeld
also offers a range of watches I wear in premium
fi fragrances. You can explore the Carlagofil collection at carlagofelpowers
dot com. But it's more than that. I, for one,
love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's
happening and what catches my attention, what would make me

(37:14):
feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's
wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing.
If you want to look right, you 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 com Paris. The women's ready to

(37:37):
wear 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. Calls are great. They
fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether

(37:59):
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 Carl Lagafel 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.

(38:20):
Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot Com spen
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

(38:40):
on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear a
suit formally to go out at night 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

(39:01):
really look the part. I believe that packaging yourself this
is important. Does the products you package and wearing a
suit is one of those things that make men look
their best. Venuesing 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,

(39:24):
it's cool moisture wiki. It makes it perfect for all occasions.
As we discussed just now, this new style of looking
sharp while feeling cool and comfortable is amazing and I'm
so excited that the 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

(39:45):
with dress shirts. It's only proper that the suit business
follows strongly in its way. You can find vanues in
cool Flex men's stretch suits at jcpenny are online at
jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great. You should go look
at him.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Webber talking about gratitude versus attitude. I can't help myself.
I wasn't gonna do current events, but I can't help myself.
Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered. We have a
president who I support wholeheartedly. I'm focused on his policies.
They're all about common sense. He takes the hard road.

(40:26):
He focuses on problems and trying to solve them. He's
branded a maniac, he's branded a bad guy. I wish
all our leaders would take seriously from a common sense
point of view. Now. I know this is not the
high road. I know that they're in for more people
on the left and the right, But when it comes
to policies, I agree with most of what the president

(40:48):
has done, but his attitude Becaud's Rob Reiner being murdered. Jesse,
I gotta ask you, what do you think about this?

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Look, there are times, and I'm always trying to say,
cut through the noise of Sometimes what the president says,
maybe it's taken out of context. Why are you focusing
on what he's saying. Look at what he's doing, you know,
things like that. Try to give him the benefit of
the doubt. Unfortunately, even as a defense attorney, as I

(41:18):
talk about cases, this is an indefensible position. There was
no reason to make a comment like that. And I
have to say one thing. Look, there is absolutely no
indication that the killings of these two individuals was done
for any political reason. Okay, we'll get into that, but

(41:38):
even beyond that, the president last year was it. He
was almost assassinated. And the outpouring of support that he
got from people across the aisle, from enemies was a
very nice thing to see. It was people putting aside
their differences, realizing there's more at stake, There's a human
aspect to this, and he appreciated it. He appreciated the

(41:59):
kind words that go and yes, you saw people really nasty,
say terrible things about the president when that almost happened.
Short but for him to not take the high ground
in this, for him to just put that to the side.
He just couldn't do it. And it was very disappointing
to see. And even those who support him really have
no They have no way to say anything. There's nothing
to say.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Devils of the kid. Have you heard the way that
Rob Ryan had talked about.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
That it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, It doesn't matter,
it doesn't matter. He was brutally killed allegedly by his son.
It's a horrible, horrible crime. There's doesn't matter what he said,
it doesn't it doesn't matter. It's the same conversation that
we have about the Mangione thing, right, the guy who
was accused of killing the United Healthcare CEO. Well, it's

(42:46):
a terrible crime, but health insurance, Well, this is something
to wake people up. It's no, no, no, no, no, no.
Murder is never the answer. There's no justification, there's no explanation.
That's it. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what he said,
it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
So there's nothing I could say to say that Trump. Look,
I can't justify the way that he hat gun rob Ryder,
rob righty. He went. In my first five movies in
the world, my favorite was one of them is a
Few Good Men. Okay, So that's him and I even
if I want to be angry at him, I can't.
But there's nothing I could say. Your mind is made

(43:23):
up and you think there's nothing to discuss.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
There's nothing to discuss. I have to discuss it. We
have to discuss it. Because the President United States commented
on it. I wish he didn't, but there's nothing. There's
no defense, there's nothing.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
He is his own worst enemy. There's no point in
saying what he said. I even if you don't like
the man. Okay, it was unbelievably stupid and unforced, era inappropriate,
the worst thing he could possibly have said. But keep
that as a fatal floor in the character of the president.
You don't need that. No, guys, we're talking about this.
I want to talk about your word, you know, on

(43:58):
a night during the hull Again, this is one of
those once year stories that I like telling because gratitude
or attitude, you are your word. If you think about
things in life. There aren't many things in life that
you own, but you own your words to yours. You

(44:19):
break it, You're breaking a sacred agreement between yourself and
your conscience. I don't care who you're talking to. You
might get away with lying you make, but you break
your word, You're hurting yourself. I have a story to
tell a great story to them. I'm the CEO. At
the time, I'm working for elmh. I'm the CEO. You

(44:39):
know my titles. But at the time, in my capacity
as chairman and CEO of the Donna Karen Company, I
get a call one day from the people doing Donna
Karen dcmhye dress shirts. I had a licensing partner. I
was not an expert of dress shirts at the dcmy company,
we were a women's company. I had a company, a
great company doing das Why dressers, and they called me

(45:02):
and asked me whether or not I would allow them
to sell one of the mass merchants one of their discounts.
I'll give you an example. Should I give you the name?
Let me think about it. Well, it was an individual,
so I'm not speaking ill of the store. I'm speaking
ill of an individual. It was the CEO of Burlington Coach.
I had never been a fan of Burlington. They weren't

(45:26):
big enough for me if I was going to do
business in the off price arena. I had TJ Max
and Marshalls, which is one store in case you didn't
know that that could file a lot of orders of this. Secondarily,
there was Ross Stores, if I remember correctly, had two
thousand stores, and then there was Burlington. I don't even
know how big they are omni stores, but I didn't

(45:47):
need them to be successful. I didn't need them to
sell Sirplus. But I get a call one day from
the shirt company and they want to sell Burlington, and
then they were not allowed to do it. I said,
I have no interest in selling you. Earlin Ten said
market were really important to us. They'll play by whatever
rules you want, but we really want to sell them.
We could do important volume. They desperately want the brand.

(46:10):
Is there something that you want? I thought about it.
I was in the throes of relaunching the Dky Jeans company.
I bought it back from a licensee who had rented
the brand. They weren't doing well with it. They went
from three hundred million to eighty seven million in a
two year period. I bought the company back from them.
I was relaunching it on our own, hired in a

(46:32):
new CEO for the division. I hired it new designers.
I was building the company built in the first year,
we took it back from any to one hundred and
fifty seven million, and I said to them, I'll tell
you what I'll horse train. Burlington is not on my
list for dk Y, but if I were willing to
sell them dresshirts, I want them to buy my jeans

(46:54):
line men's and women's. They said, I can't promise you that,
but let me go talk to them. We'll come back.
Next day. I get a call the CEO of Burlington
is going to be in town next week. Would you
meet with them? They want to discuss dk ON. I
said absolutely so. A week later, in my offices in
my conference room, the CEO of Burlington shows up with

(47:15):
his team, people who are responsible for the merchandising of
men's and women's as well as the sportswearing dress shirt
people and of course the Genese people. And CEO introduces
his team. I had met him before, I never knew
really well. During the course of his conversation, he couldn't
be nicer and more respectful of the Dcamy brand. And

(47:39):
talked about how important it would be in his store
and how important the dress shirts. Now at the time,
dkmy dress shirts, you're a huge business. We sold tons
of them through our licensee. If I recall was the
Venues and Company, and they wanted to do this, and
they said, well, listen, I'm sure you know by now
that I'm relaunching jeans. I took it back from our licensee.

(47:59):
I understand that we don't really sell you any quantity
I'm willing to trade. I don't believe that the price
points and the positioning that you give to the brand
is appropriate with where we are. But if you could
assure me that you'll fixture my product properly, that you'll
maintain the price integrity of the brand, that you'll treat

(48:21):
the brand with dignity. But what does that mean, Mark,
I said, I don't want feature tables in the middle
of the dress shirt department. You know, in the discount stores,
if you look at dress shirts, they're all in bins.
All the brands are together, all the white shirts are together.
And every brand that sells white shirts, whether it's Raw
Polo or Toppy Hill, Figure or Calvin Khin or man

(48:43):
User or dk y. All the white shirts are in
one bin. They're not featured. Same thing for the blues
and the stripes. So no brand is really singled out.
So if your brand is in this discount store, you're
really not hurting your brand because you're with everyone else.
It's not featured. I said, I don't want my brand
to be featured. I don't want to walk in your
stores and seeing it because it's such a hot brand

(49:04):
singled out and you put up signs and make a
big I give you our word. That's not how we'll
do it, So you'll include me with everything else. Absolutely.
What about price, Whatever the prices are, you dictate in
your terms. However, it was legal to say this is
the suggested price at off print they agreed to. If
I remember correctly the way that was done. In effect,

(49:27):
then I want ten million dollars worth of genes, five
million men's, five million womens. It's a lot of business,
wark not for this brand and not for you. You
have plenty of rooms in your jeans department. This is
one of the hot gens brands to begin with. It
appeals to a broad range of people. It's priced very attractively.
Give me ten million dollars. You can have the dress shirt,
said Mark. We can do that. So I looked at it,

(49:49):
and I said, everybody here is agreeing on this. We
will allow dress shirts to be in your store. You
will not segment it. You'll have the price integrity, and
for that, you're going to launch this year ten million
dollars worth of the CEO of the country. That is
what we were. Great, great, and we made a deal.
Two months later. As luck would have it, I was

(50:09):
traveling and whenever I travel, no matter where I am,
I'll visit department stores, I'll visit discount stores. I happen
to have been in Florida. I don't recall why, but
I went to Sawgrass Mills, which is one of the
largest outlet centers in the world. I think it's hundreds
of thousands of not millions of square feet of outlet stores.

(50:33):
And I was in the outlet store business in particular.
One of the reasons I needed to maintain price on
DK white dress shirts is I might be in the
same stores on the same malls as some of these
other people, and if they had my brands, I wanted
to make sure that I wasn't competing with myself, we
all would be careful. This is the suggested retail price.

(50:54):
Now I have to be careful with this because it's
a long time ago, and I don't remember the particulars
about price maintenance, and there are legal is involved, and
when everybody's listening, believe me, I managed to stand by
the legal issues. But I walk into Burlington in the
outlet center at sawgros Mills. They have a big Burlington
store and although it's not an outlet store, they're a

(51:14):
discount store. And I walk in the entrance and what
is in the front of the store decam Why on
its own table five dollars cheaper than anywhere else in
the world with a sign. I was crazed, but I
helped my tongue. First thing I did is I called
the president of Jeans and I said to her, how

(51:35):
much business are we doing with and we'll finish this
year with Burlington, I said, I put us back in.
Maybe we'll do a couple of million dollars. I said,
they promised this ten million. There's no way we're going
to be ten millions. I was really really upset. Finished
my trip, came home to New York, called to see
you on the phone. So I'm on the phone. I

(51:55):
walked into your store at Sawgross Mills featured in front,
there's a table of DKY sign the price points below
what we ever agreed upon. Worse yet, I checked with
my Gens division and there's been virtually no effort to
get to ten million dollars. And the CEO said to

(52:16):
me on the phone, well, we tried our best. It
is a bus no trying your best. You didn't agree
to try your best. You asked me to grant you
access to the dk why brand for dressers, and I
gave it to you, and you're benefiting by it, and
it's in all the stores you wanted it at. You
breached the idea that we were going to be folded

(52:37):
and part of the rest of the assortment there it's
on a feature table. And now you're telling me on
top of it that you did your best. You said,
that's the best we can do. I said, for what
it's worth, I understand it. I respect you, I respect
your position. However, you made a promise. You didn't keep
your word, and that's what we have here. And all
I'm going to tell you is I have no alternative

(52:59):
but to go to the powers to be at of
themage and share with them this disappointment that we have
with you, this mark. You gotta do what you gotta do,
and we did and I never forgot that story. And
it's about retail and wholestol, It's about shaking hands, giving
your word, making promises and a night that It's about
gratitude or gratitude? Who are you? What do you expect

(53:21):
from your partners? When your partners make a promise, do
you expect them to live up to it? When you
make a promise, do you live up to it? I
learned the lesson the hard way doesn't change anything. I
key my word. It is a great night. We're announcing
Jesse a huge new hosting job on News Nation. Jesse,

(53:42):
before you go, hey, congratulations, I'm very proud of you.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
I couldn't have done it without you. I'm very excited
and I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
What I'm more on it.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
You helped me throughout all of it. I couldn't have
done it without you. You talked about your support, you
mentioned that in the first Do you forget what you
said in the first part of the show, how much
your health couldn't done without you. Thank you very much,
Happy to talk about it, happy to be on the show.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
With that in mind, it's a night for gratitude and
to check your attitude. Happy Holidays will be on before
the end of the year. Wish you a happy New Year.
Good Night,