Sense Of Occasion

Sense Of Occasion

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The show is sponsored by G three Aparo.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The views expressed in 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

(00:28):
is inspirational. He's gone from clerk to CEO twice. Mark
is classic proof that the American dream is alive. And well,
here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Mark Weber, Tonight about me? I'm meant to meet tonight.
I've been busy meeting a lot of people. Hold on
to that for a second, because maybe there's in adendum.
We're getting a lot of new listners every week. Now,
if you put that together with people talking to me,
I'm getting quite a bit of a quests for topics
to be discussed. I recognize in these dialogues that many

(01:05):
of the requested topics I've covered over the years, how
to dress, where to shop? How did you get where
you were going? The politics of the office is their
room for individuality in the corporate America. Having said this,
I've been told by radio gurus that I'm entitled to
I can revisit any subject I want, new or that

(01:26):
I've covered. I'm the host, mark just be interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
I know many people haven't heard many of my stories
and insights enough. Have you wrote me or told me
personally that the stories are a must? You love them? Thanks,
I get it. I'm proud. I'll admit, I'm proud to
hear my storytelling, whether they're retold stories or or new
stories from my experiences, are educational in many ways, inspiring.

(01:52):
Some are funny. I think. I think I am funny,
and I do tell you whenever I'm funny, I do
get in trouble. Yeah, but that's se leve I say.
But this is a backdrop tonight. I intend to laugh
a little, even at myself. Teach a few important lessons
under the heading of understanding a sense of occasion, how
to behave or not behave in a particular set of circumstances,

(02:15):
what to do when. So for those of you who
know me, sit back and enjoy, and those of you
that don't, I'll make you a deal. I've got a
lot to say, you've got a lot to hear. Now,
I've been thinking words matter. I will tell you right out.
I don't like humans, but words matter, and unfortunately they
say them to me and I have no choice but

(02:37):
to listen. The other day, someone I don't know came
over to me out of the blue and said, I'm obtoose.
I don't even like the word obtoose. What is aubtuse.
I'll tell you what it meant.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Obtuse annoyingly, insensitive or slow to understand, not sharp pointed
or sharp edged blunt.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, I'm obtuse. Thanks for that. I'm annoying, I'm insensitive
and I don't even know I'm doing it. Swell shocking, Yeah,
shocking to me to know I don't have a filter.
But they did go on to say they know by
knowing me that I'm not a d They said, I'm

(03:15):
a jerk and I don't mean it. Okay, that was
a little good to hear anyway. Now I'm the first
to admit I'm an acquire taste. It's not easy being
Mark Weber, but I like it, and all these things
get said and done. I'm ab toose.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
That's what I am.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
I'll tell you what. Yeah, you don't like that I
do what I want? Too bad. I'm quick with advice,
yet you take none of your own. Of course. Hey,
I might not always be right, but I'm never wrong.
Of course, I don't want your opinion. When I want
it your opinion, I'll give it to you. Of course,
I'm a toos. Why would anyone question me? Well, Mark, maybe, Mark,

(04:02):
you just don't realize. You live in a world inhabited
by people who have opinions, and they too get to say.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
I don't like criticism, particularly when they're right. I don't
like to be told what to do or when to
do it. I don't want to be judged or bothered.
I believe my logic is sound and my decisions are
well well thought out, and then they should be carried
out without delay. I tell you to do something I
want to done. This is my opinion. Don't question me now.
Some say I'm impossible to have a conversation with, let

(04:31):
alone an open discussion. You're always right, Mark, and I think, yeah,
it's a burden being always right. Ah, you're impossible, I'm told,
I say, so, what, how can I possibly be obtuse
I don't like the way that word sounds. Now I
have to admit I've been accused of some other words

(04:53):
along the way, which I never gave much thought to.
I was accused of being eccentric. Then one faithful day,
someone call me a character which I'm going to talk about.
So tonight, I'm going to put before you Mark Weber
on a sense of occasion. Before I challenge me, before
I attempt to defend my unique behavior, I promise you,

(05:16):
and dissecting me mentally, all the rationale will paint a
picture and offer some lessons the good and the bad
of me. See, I believe in a code. I believe
in always doing what's right. I think humans you could
do a thousand things that are nice to someone. You
could say, the nicest things, you could do, the nicest
things you could do, everything you could ever do that

(05:36):
would be fair, and just the one time you say no,
you're a dead man, nobody appreciates it. That's what humans are.
I'm simple, I tell the truth. I treat people fairly.
I'm consistent, I trust, but verify. I'll listen to anything
anyone says, but I'm going to check to see if
they were telling me the truth that was Ronald Reagan. Trust,

(05:57):
but verify. I don't like humans. That's just the way
it is. They don't have a code. They don't have
your code. Mark the Good Mark Weber. That's what I
want to start with tonight. If that's okay with all
of you, I'm going to give you a little insight.
And I made a promise a number of years ago
that I'm going to do what I'm doing right now.
And this is a chapter from The Good Mark Weber,

(06:19):
the one I don't hear enough about, Frankly, and it's
a story that's worth telling. And it's a business story.
There was a man named Kevin Morrissey. He was forty
five years old. He was very smart, very opinion. He
worked for Macy's. He was a head of all men's
were at Macy's. I never really got along with him.

(06:39):
We were like not oil and water. We just had
nothing in common. Until we did. I promised once a
year I would honor him and never let him be
forgotten for the way he treated me. And I want
to tell you a story. The week, literally the week
I become president of Vanusen, my whole life I'm working
at this company, I become the president of the operation.

(07:01):
My CEO comes into me and I just heard it
through the grapevine. Macy's is dropping van Ues. For those
of you who don't know what that means is I
had a long twenty five to fifty one hundred year
relationship with Macy's and Vanus. They're dropping us. No more
vanyers and dresshirts. He said, he looks at me this season.
What are you going to do about it? Welcome to

(07:21):
the world of corporate life, Mark. So I put my
head down for a second, and I found out. I
made a call and I found out at the time
there were two Macy's. There was Macy's East and Macy's West.
Both of them had CEO's, chairman's, presidents, etc. Macy's West
made a decision to drop us gentleman named Paul Fitzpatrick.

(07:43):
I love calling out these names. Do you know? Do
you know that you could be sued by anyone for
any time anywhere. I remember when I got let go
of the company and my boss was telling me, you know,
if you do everything right, you'll get everything you're entitled to.
And I said, what, I have a contract and He
looked at me and said, so, so back to this, okay.

(08:04):
Paul Fitzpatrick, gentleman, well spoken guy, good looking guy, always
well dressed, decides he's dropping venues in after one hundred
years we had a huge profitable business. Great shirpusess great
shirps as he decides to drop it. So I make
a call call California, talk to Paul Paul, Mark Weber.
How are you, Mark, Congratulations on your promotion. Thank you.

(08:25):
Hey Paul, it's not even the papers and Dry yet,
and I've just heard that you're dropping the brand from
the store. Yeah, Mark, I made a decision. And why,
He says, Look, you guys are be great. It's performing
very well venues and it has always been a mainstay.
But I have a private label business. I need to
protect you mean John Ashford he said, Yeah, I said,
nobody knows what John Ashford is. Nobody cares what John

(08:48):
Ashford is because it's a little cheaper. There's a reason
you have our brand, he said, Mark, I made a decision.
I am no longer to carry venues and I'm going
to intensify John Ashford. Paul, you can't do this to me.
You want to do it a year from now. Fine,
we'll talk about I'll do everything I can to make
it work. Market is working. I just made a decision,
and the interest of the company and the interest of
our corporation, we should build our own private labels. I'm

(09:10):
dropping you, I said, Paul, Please. You know, ordinary times
I could listen to this stuff, but I just became
the president, and I really don't want to sit down
in front of my board and my first meeting and
tell him Macy's is dropping this brand that means so
much to the company. He said, Mark, I made a decision.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
That's that.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
So I ended up hanging up. And the first thing
I did, I said, what should I do? So I
called the CEO of Macy's West. His name was Bob Mettler,
who I knew very well. When I got him on
the phone, I knew he knew why I was calling.
I said, Bob, you got to help me in Paul
just decided that he's dropping van Usaid from the assortment.
I can't deal with that. I just became president. It's

(09:52):
not good. You got to help me. Everything you guys
have ever asked for our company has done for you.
I have great relationships I'm asking one in return, He said, Mark,
I love you. You know I would try and do
anything for you. Guys have been great, but I can't
go over his head. You're calling me and asked me
to make a decision and push my president of menswear
into a decision he already made. I can't do that.

(10:13):
What do you think I should do? I said, I
don't know if you could do anything Mark. He made
a decision. So what did I do next? I called
the CEO of Macy so I knew Terry Lundgren, another
guy had not a good relationship with I mean, you know, cordial.
We knew each other. We weren't friends, but we knew
each other. Got him on the phone, Terry, I need
a favor. He says, I know what you need. I

(10:35):
can't do it. I said, Terry, We've had this great relationship.
Anything you've ever needed van Us and has always been there.
If you had a problem with inventory, we'd take it back.
If you needed extra markdowns to make the goods sell better,
whatever it is you ever asked we did. We have
this huge profitable business in Paul on the West Coast
has decided to drop us in favor of John Ashford,

(10:56):
whatever his name is. I said, you can't do this
to me.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
We made a decision, Terry, you can unmake the decision.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
You know and I know you can't go over your
people's head. He made a decision. I have to respect it.
What to do, what to do? So now I figure
I got to deal with the East Coast and I
call Kevin Morrissey, who's the I forgot his title. I said, Kevin,
the West Coast has decided to drop van Ues, and
I'd like to come talk to you about keeping in

(11:26):
the East said when do you want to come?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Said?

Speaker 3 (11:28):
How about right now? He said, come on over. Went
over the office in thirty fourth Street. They're beautiful offices, Macy's.
It's attached to their building up on the top floor. Beautiful,
old money kind of offices. You would picture the original
Macy's guy. I forgot his real name, but you picture
him in those offices. Beautiful wood and you know you're
in a bank, you're in a Harvard University library, beautiful office.

(11:53):
I sit down, I said, Kevin, I just became the
president of the company. My whole life, I worked here
to become the president of the corps. Huge and now I'm
being told that Macy's is dropping me, and he looks
at me. He said, I'm not dropping you. Silence Mark.
You guys have always done whatever I've asked him, whatever
I needed. You've been great partners. Your shirt continues to

(12:16):
sell very well, and I will not be pushed to
put John Ashworth or whatever, John Ashvin, John as I
don't even remember. I'm sorry, I'm so upset. See whatever
it is, I'm going to continue with you. Now. If
he had a ring, I would have kissed it. If
I was a sentimental guy, I would have got down
on the floor and bowed him. But I was a businessman,

(12:37):
and I said to him, Kevin, I can't tell you
what this means to me. He said, market has nothing
to do with you and me. It has to do
with it's right for the company. I said, well, what
you're doing is right for the company, means a great
deal to me, and I want you to know that,
no matter whatever happens to your career, my career, I
will forever be grateful for your decision to support the

(12:59):
company at a time when it meant so much to me.
Kevin died very young. I would say within the year
I don't remember exactly when. No, he was never sick,
and one day he just disappeared, and the whole industry
was shocked by him, because he was very highly regarded,
very well respected, always did what was right for his company,

(13:20):
always treated everyone fairly. And at that time I promised
when I heard he passed away, I said, no matter
whatever happens, wherever I am, whatever i'm doing, once a year,
I will call out to Kevin Morrissey and thank him
for what he did for me that day. Now, wouldn't
it be great if the story just ended there? But
it didn't. Fast forward a couple of years, called three

(13:43):
four years. I'm sitting in my office at LVMH. I
happened to be at the tower that day. I had
multiple offices. I had offices at the Tower on the
executive floor, the LVMH Tower on the executive floor, and
I had an office in the Dunna Karen building where
I was running Donna Karen had a lot of titles,
as you all know. And get a call. My assistant

(14:03):
gets on the phone and she goes, wait till you
hear she had that accent. I wish I could do it. Wait,
do you hear. Who's on the phone, Mark, I said, who.
She's not going to believe it, I said, okay, tell me.
She said, you know what, I'm a I'm going to
put him on the phone. Who's on the phone. Hey, Mark,
it's Paul Fitzpatrick. Paul, Hey, what's doing? He said, Mark,

(14:25):
I'm no longer with Macy's. I'm looking for a job.
I want to come up and talk to you. Thank you, God,
thank you. So I agree to see him with the
idea that I'm going to be obtuse, which is why
I got into all this. So I agree to see
him the next day and he comes to see me

(14:45):
in the office. And I told you before he was
a real gentleman. He always dressed well. I always was
impressed by him. I just didn't like his decision. And
comes up to see me. He said, Mark, I'm no
longer with Macy's. I'm looking for a job. I'd like
to get in with LVMH. I know you're connected there,
and I wonder whether or not you would help me.

(15:06):
And I looked at him and I said, Paul, you
forget what happened. He said, no, of course, I remember.
I said, Well, why do you think I will help you.
And he said to me, Mark, your reputation is your
tough but fair. You know, the decision I made was business.

(15:27):
Whether it was right or wrong, it wasn't personal. It
was business. And I just figured that in my time
of need, sitting here asking you to help me meet
this group, You're going to do it. I remember putting
my head down. That's saying to myself, this guy just
got me, said the exact thing he needed to say

(15:48):
for me to do the right thing. I did give
him a great introduction, and you never got the job.
I don't know that I cared, but I knew I
cared about me, that I did the right thing on
them too. So or not this world, you do the
right thing. I'll take a break, we'll come back. We
can continue with the sense of occasion.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Spent 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 worn
on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear a
suit formally to go out at night or to an event.

(16:32):
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, and

(16:53):
wearing a suit is one of those things that make
men look their best. Venues and invented a new idea.
It's called the cool Flex suit. It's been engineered with
stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wicki. It makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(17:15):
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
van Using, Maine, it's the name with dress shirts. It's
only proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way.

(17:37):
You 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.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
I've been thinking about a lot of stuff. I got
a lot of you folks writing me telling me you
just became listeners. I have people writing me every week
telling me they listen every week and how much they
enjoy the show. And people telling me that they like
my stories more than anything. Bothers me a little because
I always think my opening monologue is more important than
anything else. Go figure, you know, it's like, I'll tell

(18:13):
you what that's like. You know, you ever see these
athletes on TV? I think about that all the time.
Some guy scores the winning touchdo He's up there, he's screaming.
I think, you know how proud his father must be.
That father, when he was a young guy, is rolling
around in the grass in the backyard with him tackling
him being tackled, teaching him how to throw the ball,

(18:34):
teaching him how to win at a run, do all
these things. And the guy gets up in front of
the national news he just scored the winning touchdown. He
puts his hand up and says, Hi, ma, Hi, mom,
where's the father? He did all the work. That's how
I feel about with the show most of the time.
Alida and Jesse's not here today. But no matter what
I do, no matter how good I am, no matter

(18:55):
what I write, no matter how well I deliver it,
everybody writes me and tell me that I love Jesse.
Oh well, that's life anyway. Tonight I was thinking about
I've been called a bunch of things of late. I'm
not going back over into obtuse. If you missed the opening,
shame on you. Anyway, I had a lot to talk
about tonight. The title of tonight's showed his sense of occasion.
I want to talk to you about respect. I didn't

(19:18):
give much thought to respect of the president, because there's
not much to talk about. A president's a president. You
need to respect them. I guess that's the case up
until a few years ago. The Bush is picking the
wrong war after the right war. You know, Bush was
a hero Bush too after he fought the war in Iraq,

(19:38):
and he was a hero second one.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Nope.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
And then of course there was Obama, who I loved.
I just didn't love his policies, but he got a
lot of crap and nobody's disrespected ever in the history
of the world more than Donald Trump. But that's not
the point I want to talk about. I grew up
in business with the idea you didn't have to like
your president, but you had to show them respect. You
have to respect the office in which they hold. I

(20:06):
don't want to tell you a story which is a
really good one. I think I was a very young president.
I talked earlier about being the president of the corporation.
I did that when I was guests in my fifties,
but I became the youngest president of the venues and
shirt division when I was thirty four years old. It
was the largest division in the corporation. I'm the president,
and with it came a tremendous burden of what do

(20:28):
you do to make sure the company has a future?
What do you do to make sure the company's set,
What do you do to make sure the company maximizes profits?
What's going on, what are the changes, what's the vision?
And what was happening at the time that I became
president of the shirt company. Everyone was consolidating. What does
that mean? Dillard's was buying stores in the Midwest and
the Southeast with different names on them and making them Dillads.

(20:51):
Macy's used to own Burdines in Florida, Bamberger's in New Jersey,
Abraham and Strauss in New York, and they consolidated them
all under the name of Macy's. Now coming with this
what was actually happening. Each of these different store groups
around the country may company O'Neil's in Cleveland. All of
them had different buyers, different management, and they realized that

(21:14):
to compete long term in the industry, they had to consolidate.
They couldn't have Macy's East and Macy's West that have
won Macy's. They couldn't have forty two different make company
stores with different names on them. They had one. Remember
Marshall Fields if you're for Chicago, Macy's bought them. Was
no longer Marshall Fields. It became a Macy's. Those people
who loved that store never got the same store again

(21:35):
because Macy's was a less expensive and targeted people with
a lower income than the people at Marshall Fields. But
so be it. That's the decisions would be made forfe.
So at the time, we had a company that was
designed to sell all these stores around the country. So
if somebody has a buyer and make company in Cleveland,
and somebody as a buyer in New York and New Jersey.

(21:55):
We need people who call on. And we had a
sales force of one hundred and twenty people with six
regional managers. And the idea was to service all these
companies all across the United States. They were consolidating, so
I had to consolidate, and I came up with a plan.
I said, we have a lot of good salesmen, but
our best salesmen are these vice presidents and regional sales managers.

(22:19):
They're all masters of the universe. They know what they're doing.
They have the respect of the industry when they walk
in the room. They've been through all the wars. They
know exactly what to do, they know what the issues are.
Most importantly, they had the respect. And I made a
decision to consolidate one hundred and twenty Mann salesforce down
to twenty people. Now, don't get me wrong, there are

(22:39):
a lot of administrators in our administrative facility to take
the orders and put them through the system, etc. But
I no longer needed salesmen who making one hundred thousand
dollars a year to write an order up and enter
it into the computer. I made a decision to if
needing be whatever the size, I need to do a
bolster administrative staff. They were making twenty or thirty thousand dollars,
I would do, but all the sellers with what I

(23:01):
wanted to focus on. And I took those six regional
managers and added three to their ranks and made nine
regional managers who would call on all their accounts, and
each of them would have one or two sellers who
would help do the grunt work, so to speak. I
thought it was a brilliant idea. After all, if you're
going to call on very smart, consolidated retailer who understood

(23:26):
their business around the country, who understand the marketing, understood
the prices they needed to be at, I'll tell you
what retailer is a real career. People go to school
for retailing. Nobody goes to school for a wholesaling and branding.
They just don't. They can go to marketing, but we
do for a living. Retails are smart. I don't like
them because they have the pencil. They're the ones in control.
It's their way or the highway. That's just the way
it is. I'd rather be one of them, but that's

(23:48):
not who I was. Retailers I admire for many reasons. Anyway,
I consolidated my group. I brought the regional sales managers
into a Roboro nine three who were promoting, and the
six that were there. I said, I'm changing the structure
of the company. You nine people are the future of
our company. You nine people are now all going to

(24:08):
get raises. You're going to have new titles. You're all
going to be responsible for the areas you're assigned to.
You are going to be the masters of your universe.
And I mean that literally. All of you know me.
I'm not a seller. I need good sellers to sell.
I don't have what it takes to be a good seller.
I don't have the temperament to be told no. I'm
an operational guy. I'm a marketing guy. I'm a physician

(24:30):
where whatever I want to do I get done. I
don't need people's opinion except my boss or the board
of directors. You guys know how to do that. I
admire you, I need you. But this is how we're
going to organize. We're going to eliminate most of the
sellers in your territories. Each of you will get a
couple of guys to help your gals. But you're going
to be responsible. And my theory is it only stands
the reason. And you had to be half a brain

(24:52):
watching all these consolidations, knowing that we on this side
of it would have to consolidate as well. And I
hope you understand that. And to the man, to the woman,
they all nodded and they got it, and they were
all relieved. You know, whatever there's changing company, there's only
one that people think about. Anytime there's a restructure in
a company, anytime a president or EXECUTVP is standing up

(25:12):
talking about the future of the company's only one thing
the individuals think about me. It's all about what about me.
That's just the way life is. Maybe it's not fair,
maybe they stop and think about it. I'm going to
have to leave this meeting in fire ten people. I'm
not happy, But at that one moment, they were leieve
to know that they're in a good position. I explained
it in great detail. I handed out the new structures.

(25:35):
I showed them what territories they're going to work on.
My executive EP of sales did that for me. And
we were all squared away and we all did it,
and it was a great meeting. Now within that meeting,
there was one gentleman. His name was Ted Self. I
have to say he may he rest in peace unless
he's broken their age limit for staying alive. He was

(25:57):
a brilliant guy, elder statesman. And it was interesting to
note that at this stage of my career, thirty four
years as a president, I started to have a lot
of elder statesmen working for me. Was it fair? Now?
Fair as for kids? But this is real life. I
was growing up in corporate America. I was in the

(26:18):
headquarter office in New York City. All these guys were
talking about it in different regions around the country. I
had been exposed to everything warehouse distribution, sales, marketing, design, sourcing. Internationally.
I was getting this kind of education that no one
can compete with. Certainly people in the field, they just
weren't exposed to it. So I went through a whole
period that I asked my growth was so dramatic. People

(26:42):
who'd been to the company longer, people who are older
were starting to have to work for me. It was
awkward at times, but the smartest ones got it, and
I always had the even though I'm obtuse. Even though
I'm a jerk. I don't know I'm a jerk. But
even though I had the WHEREWI though to recognize that
there was a sensitivity there. But I had great deal

(27:04):
of respect for everyone, and I knew what I needed.
You could give me any company to run tomorrow. You
send me over to the gap, you send me over
to general motives. Let me tell you, I need a
financial guy. I need a salesperson. That's it. The rest
I know. But I know what I need. Oh and
I need a good lawyer to keep me out of trouble.

(27:24):
There's so many regulations in this world, so many things
you could do. You think of right that aren't you
want to stay out of trouble. So the three jobs
I need are seller, a financial guy.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
And a lawyer.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
But Ted Seloft was a great guy who's an elder statesman.
He ran the Texas region and the surrounding states. Everybody
loved and respect him, and I loved him. So he
had this meeting that I just articulated to you, And
at the end of the meeting, I asked if he
would stay when everyone left, and I said I wanted
to talk to him, and I said to Ted, Ted,
what do you think about what I just did? Now?

(27:56):
Remember why I started this about respect? A moment ago,
he yelled at me, he said, how dare you the
president of the company after he made a decision? Ask
me what I think you are the president? I respect
your office, I respect you. You cannot ask me what

(28:16):
I think of your decision after you made that decision.
If you wanted to speak to me beforehand and get
my input, I would have gladly given it to you.
But I have respect for your office. I just wanted
to say, you made a decision and I agree with it. Now.
Wouldn't that be nice if the rest of this country

(28:37):
thought about what the president's trying to do and maybe
just maybe respect the office in which he holds. I
know I'm up too, I know him omnoxious. I know
I'm hard to take. But I'll tell you what. I
just gave you two great examples and two segments here
that you all could learn from. What do you think

(28:58):
about that? Back in a moment?

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Donna Karen began her career as one of the finest,
most successful, powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed
a collection aimed at the luxury market for women on
the go, women who were powerful in their workplace, women
who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and her
clothes went from day and to night. An extraordinary collection.

(29:26):
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 n Y
Donna Karen 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

(29:48):
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, and and it takes you through
the day. The remarkable thing about DK andy clothes for work,
they work into the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants,

(30:09):
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 the dk and
Y label, a vast array of casual sportswear that make

(30:30):
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,
dkn Y Jeans, dk Y Sportswear is there for you.
That's what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention
DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,

(30:53):
the sweats. You can wear DKY active Wear certainly in
the gym, when you're working out at home, and certainly
if you want on the street because it's that well done.
The quality of DKY is nothing short of exceptional. And
why shouldn't it be because it was born from the
idea of luxury made affordable for women of America. DKY

(31:16):
and Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from
day and tonight, from the week into the weekend. Dcn
why you can find DCNHY and Macy's DKY dot com.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Welcome back to it Always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
Webber Tonight's show is entitled sense of oication. What it
basically means, in a clever way is I want to
talk about the way you're supposed to behave under certain circumstances. Now,
those of you who know me, no, I have gotten
in more trouble than anyone you ever imagined who ended
up becoming a CEO, not only once, but twice. I

(31:56):
have put my foot in my mouth more times than
you can possibly imagine. I have gotten so much trouble.
My boss, my predecessor, the guy who I would say
what words and music went from the bottom to the
top almost overnight. No blips know nothing me. I was
like the edge of a sword, up and down, up
and down, up and down, up and down because I
learned how to behave the hard way. Now I'm about

(32:20):
to share with you and give you some advice and
teach you a very important lesson. But rather than sound
like a blowhard, let me just make sure you know
who you're dealing with. I'm on a business trip one
day and I get a call. I'm in Nuremberg, Germany,
shopping and it was all over the world looking for
ideas for our next shirt collection. I get a note
from an email from the president of the company. More

(32:41):
call our offices tonight for six hour difference in time,
and tonight meant tonight, so I'm talking. If I'm calling
him five o'clock, it's eleven o'clock at night, so I'm tired.
And he said, we have important news, good news to
share with you. So eight o'clock my time, I call
New York and I get him the president on the phone,
the execu vice president and who is to become the

(33:01):
new senior vice president of merchandising, my new boss, which
I had known until I made the call. We have
great news to tell you.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
See. The president of the company, Charles J. Smith Chuck
was a great guy, great guy, smart sales executive. He
rose to the toft from sales anyway, by the way,
you can rise to the top from anywhere. You'll be
a financial guy. You could be a sales guy. You
could be a marketing person. You could be from the warehouse.
It could be from anywhere. As long as you're smart, dedicated,
and your work key the key, key key for me

(33:32):
in success. I mentioned it earlier. The more you know,
the better chance you have. The more you know about
all the different operations, the better chance you have, and
if you stay tuned to me as time goes on,
I'm going to give you my greatest lessons on what
it takes to be successful, as I've done again. Some
of you have heard me talk and some of you
never had. But anyway, I'll come back to that. I'm

(33:52):
on the phone calling in from Europe. I'm traveling, I'm tired.
It's late at night for me because jet Lago. Wanna
have a great news, Mark and the President, Chuck says,
First of all, John Conrad is becoming senior vice president
of merchandising, and you will now report to John. We
all know he's a great guy. He's proven himself in sales.
He can do so much more. I think we're going

(34:13):
to be great. Thank you, hey, John, Congratulations, He says.
We have some other promotions, and he tells me I
got all these names. I can't believe how I remember everything.
Jeff pink Out my counterpart. He was the guy doing
sports where I was the guy doing dress shirts. My
volume was twice as is. He is a very smart guy.
No question about it. Is that Jeff is becoming vice

(34:35):
president of the sportswear division. Oh great, Then he says,
there's a woman who is who Her name was Eileen Cabanis,
who was my junior in the company, and she was
in the sportswear division as well, and I really admired
I like to I've traveled with her. She's becoming general
manager the same as you, Mark. For the sports we're

(34:56):
replacing Jeff. Great news all around. I'm listening and you know,
at the time I was doing really great and I
can't believe I'm getting promoted. Wow. I didn't expect it
to be long distance. And I'm waiting for him to say, Mark,
you're now becoming a vice president of the treasurer nothing.
So I said, what about me? In the president of
the company. Charles J. Smith says, what do you mean?

(35:19):
What about you?

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Mark?

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Aren't I getting promoted? Not this time? You told me
to call it was great news? Is I just gave
you the great news? And I said, are you out
of your mind? Are you crazy telling me this? Are
you crazy? This is good news. I can't believe you
made me called this silence on the other end of

(35:42):
the phone, and then Charles J. Smith says to me,
if that's how you feel, be on the next plane
home in the morning. And he hangs up the phone.
Now I'm sitting there with a woman named Helen Katz,
who turned out to be one of my great business
as friends for no other reasons. She's the most talented

(36:02):
woman I've ever worked with in my life. I don't
say that without a really meaning it. She says to me, Mark,
what are you doing? Do you realize you just resigned
from the company without even telling your wife? I said,
what are you talking about? She just resigned from the company.
Are you nuts? I didn't resign? Says, yes, you did.
You better call him back. So ten seconds later, I'm

(36:24):
dialing the phone and praying the connection from Europe to
the you know the office will get me there. Sure enough,
they were still sitting there because there it was two
o'clock in the afternoon. They were all shell shot, and
I said, I got Charles j What do you want Mark?
I said, listen, mister Smith, I have to apologize. I
was disappointed, you can imagine, but it's not no excuse

(36:45):
for my behavior. I'm happy for John, I'm happy for Jeff,
I'm happy for Eileen. I want to apologize. I recognize
my behavior was terrible. Silence, and then John Conrad who
needed me because he was now coming in to me,
my boss. He knew how good I was at the time.
He said, Mark, listen, what you did was stupid, but
you're young, you have a lot to learn. You never

(37:06):
do that in public. You never to speak that way.
But we love you, We need you continue your trip.
When you come home, all be fine. So this is
the guy who's about to give you advice. Okay, now
I'll tell you just as a side For the next year,
I was in the dog house. Every time there was

(37:26):
an important meeting and they invited you know, everyone, they
would leave my name off the email list to be
invited to the meeting. To make it worse, they'd invite
my assistant. Then the meetings that I did get invited to.
At the end, Mark, you can recuse yourself on the meeting,
and they continue without me. I mean, I was in
the dog house. I got a no raise whatever worse worse,

(37:50):
we had an industrial psychologist on our board. They made
me sit with him. They made him analyze me. They
wanted to know what was wrong with me that I
could lose my temper. You're up toos. You don't even
know what you're saying. I'm up, Tous, You're up, Tosh. Anyway,
I learned my lesson. But here's a great story I
want to tell you. It's about a guy named Scott.

(38:11):
I'm not going to tell you his whole name because
this is not a flattering story. I'm going to leave
it out. The names are going to be changed to
protect the innocent. Scott came into our company through recommendation.
One of the most senior executives in my company, when
I was running the venues and company as president, came
to me and said, look, my closest friend, he's more
of an uncle, more of a father to me than

(38:32):
a friend. His son needs a job. I want you
to hire him. Bring him in, let him come and
start in sales, and we'll see how he does. Would
you do that for me, Mark, I said, of course,
we'll do it. I've always believed in nepotism. I don't
believe in giving people jobs and promoting them because they're related,
or they're friends or that. I believe in giving people
the jobs because they are related. Why not you look

(38:54):
for good people. Great people bring their fellows and their
girls and their reputation with them, and they come in
and they're good. I want to give him the chance.
So I hired this guy, Scott, and he was very
smart and very good, and he was someone to be
proud of. But because he was related, because he was good,
we moved him from job to job. He was on
the fast track. We treated him like gold. Every time

(39:18):
there was an opportunity to move him, to give him
another area of expertise and excitement, we move Scott. He
moved rapidly up the ranks, became a vice president with
a year and a half making a fortune. He was
a great guy. Great guy. I'm taking a pregnant pause.
There was a period in time at van Usen that
we were an amazing company making tons of money, but

(39:42):
we weren't growing. We're public companies. See the issue with
public companies. It doesn't matter how good a public company is.
If it doesn't grow, you're useless. People don't invest in
companies because they're good companies. So, no matter how much
money you are making, if you don't growth, if you're
not a growth stock, you're the meet on Wall Street.
People aren't investing because you're nice guys. You know, they're

(40:04):
not investing because you're the best product. I assure you.
If Apple didn't grow, the stock wouldn't grow. So we
were in a position where we recognized we had to
make a transforming transaction. We had to buy something that
would change the tenure of the company and change our
trajectory forever. And turned fast forward. Within that year we
bought Calvin Klein and it just completely rocked the company.

(40:25):
The company went from stock at eight and a half
to twelve dollars to one hundred and some more dollars.
So we did it, but we were in that position
we were trying to do that. One day we called
to dinner amongst the senior most executives of the company,
twenty six twenty eight people, and we brought him out
to dinner. And I was at one end of the table,
and my boss, the CEO, is another end at the table.

(40:46):
And next to me was a woman I mentioned earlier, Helen,
And next to Helen was Scott. And we're all having
a nice time and everyone's drinking a little and what
have you. And there is Scott, this guy that we
brought in and put him on a cloud, treated him brilliantly,
moved him along and forgot who he was. He starts
talking over dinner. I can't believe my four to zho

(41:09):
one k company has gone down. It hasn't gone up.
I can't believe how stupid this company is. I came here,
I thought it was the smartest company in the world.
I can't believe they don't know what to do. This
company is ridiculous. It's embarrassing. Now I'm sitting there and
I'm saying to myself, this guy, we put him in
a position. Let him walk on water. We've done everything

(41:30):
he can we can to make him successful. And this
is how he talks about the company. Hold that thought
he was a vice president. Not only do you have
to respect the title of your peers, you have to
respect the title that you have when you have those
two initials in front of your name. If you're a
vice president, you're an officer of the company. You have

(41:51):
to respect the company, even if you don't keep it
to yourself. You never let anyone outside the family know
what you're thinking. I was gonna do my invitation here,
Let's see if.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
I at it.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
Santino, what's wrong with you? You never let anyone outside
the family know what you're thinking. Bottom line here is Scott,
you were talking bad about the company. But you were
talking bad about me and our CEO. You were telling
people like it was nothing, that you have no faith
in the company, that we let you down. You forgot

(42:23):
what we did for you that day. That night, I
decided he was no longer protected species. His boss hated him.
Scott's boss hated him.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
It was a woman. She didn't like him. That he
walked around like he walked on water. They had the
special status that he could do no wrong, say anything,
do anything. She had told us about him. She didn't
want him working for us. She didn't like his behavior.
I never saw it because I was blinded by his
smarts and his ability to do things, and I thought
he was a loyal soldier. I walked into her office
the following day, I said, it didn't Last night, I

(42:56):
learned something, said, what's that mark? He said, I learned
that Scott really isn't loyal to the company. That doesn't
appreciate what we're doing. He doesn't appreciate the people he's
surrounded by, doesn't appreciate that which we did for him.
And I just want you to know the decision on
where he goes from here on in is yours. You

(43:17):
want him, he's yours. You don't want him, that's up
to you. I lost faith not too long after Scott
was gone. So there's a lesson here, folks. It's consistent.
You have to recognize the sense of occasion, what you're doing,
where you are, who you're talking to, what you're saying,
because words matter. If not, someone will call you obtuse

(43:40):
back in a minute.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
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 Carl Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,
ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Carlagofeld also offers a range of watches I wear in

(44:06):
premium fragrances. You can explore the Carlagopho collection at carlagofilpowers
dot com. But it's more than that. I, for one,
love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's
happening and what catches my attention, what would make me
feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's
wear obviously, but I can appreciate it, and they look amazing.

(44:26):
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
wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbags and
the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my

(44:49):
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 Carl Lagathel because he's always been, he

(45:11):
always had been one of the world's great designers, and
this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak
enough about it except to say to you, you want
to feel good about yourself. You want to know that
you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well.
Carl Lagafeld Paris, Carl Lagofeldparis dot com. I love polar fleece.

(45:32):
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 of Iszide.

(45:54):
I used to be the head of Iside. In fact,
my company bought it and at a bankruptcy in the
seat 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 Eesad the powerhouse that
it is today.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Now.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
I left a long time ago, and the company just
continues to thrive. Isaot is one of the great sweater makers,
pant make a shirt makers, knit shirt makers, polo shirt makers.
They're incredible company. The colors are great, the fabrics are great. Guys,
you ever wonder what you should wear, I'll make it
easy for you. If you're going to be casual, go
in and look at ISOT. Now that doesn't say that

(46:33):
they don't have dress shirts and they don't have suits.
You go find them. Isaot 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,

(46:54):
ISAOT is the one that's most personal to me because
I was involved in crafting the future of this brand.
Close a great fall is great. They're doing well, ISAA
dot com, isaacat jcpenny. Go look for it. I think
you're gonna be very happy. And ladies, those of you
do shopping for the guys in your lives, take a look.
I think they'll be very happy with your choices.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
ISAAD for men, welcome back to it. Always in fashion.
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Okay, you're just joining us this show's sense of occasion.
I've been called a bunch of things. Someone called me
up toos this week. Not only don't I like the
way it sounds, I don't like the way it I
don't like what it means. I don't like what it means.
I don't like anything. I don't like being calling eccentric.
And I was going to talk about that, but I'm
not gonna do that now. I don't like being called

(47:41):
the character. Stay with the show the next few weeks.
I'll make sure i'll circle back. But the reality is,
you got to know who you are. You gotta know
what you're doing at all times. And I just talked
about two great examples. One your host, your guy decided
one day to curse the president of this company over
the and get away with it somehow. And I just

(48:03):
told the story of another young guy named Scott who
spoke disrespectfully of his company and I made it easy
for him to be fired. The phone lines ran off
the hook. I never take calls, never take calls. But
one woman got on the phone and started to talk,
and she wants to ask me a question. So I'm
going to take the calls. So here we go. I

(48:25):
have a young lady on the phone. Her name is Whitney.
What do you got to say?

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Whitney?

Speaker 5 (48:28):
Hi, this is Whitney from Chicago. I'm so excited that
you guys took my call. I'm a giant fan of
the show. I think you're amazing. I've learned so many things.
I'm a big fan of fashion and I've learned so
many great things from you and Jesse, just in terms
of the business and you know that just goes beyond
like working hard and having a work ethic. And I'm
just curious now.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Before you speak, now, please don't ruin what you just said.
You're not going to criticize me, aren't you.

Speaker 5 (48:55):
No, it's it's in terms of I'm questioning of place,
like when do you know when you're in a boardroom?
When do you know is it appropriate for me to
say voice what I think or not? You know, that's
got to be really a political you know. I think
CEO is like you because I've heard you so often
on the radio and I am a big fan. Do

(49:18):
you really want to hear the truth from people? Or
is it just again, as you said, time and place,
what would have been a better choice for him? To
make to approach you with that information. You know what
would that he.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Thought I was a complete fool, that my boss was
no good at what we're doing, that we were mismanaging
the company, and there was no future.

Speaker 5 (49:35):
Is there ever a time? Is there?

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Well?

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Is that your question? Yes, sir, Well, first, there was
a difference between what I did and he did. If
those of you listen get the benefit the story. I
cursed out the president because I was upset that I
wasn't promoted. I thought my time had come, my cohorts
were promoted. I was angry and I didn't think it
was fair. Was it wrong? One hundred per Not only

(50:01):
was I disrespectful to the president, I was disrespectful to
the people, But more than anything else, I was disrespectful
to myself. I lost my cool. I behaved inappropriately, and
I as much as I hated having to apologize and
my disappointment, over the course of time, I recognize how
inappropriate my behavior was. Fast forward ten years later, I'm

(50:24):
the president of the company. Here's a young man and
he's talking to our colleagues and he's disrespecting everything. It
wasn't that he was disappointed that he didn't get promoted.
He didn't believe in the future of the company. He
didn't want to understand that we needed to come up
with a transforming transaction to change the tenure of the company.

(50:46):
He was talking about us all as a collective body
of being the stupidest people on our earth, that we
didn't know what we're doing, that we ruined the value
of the stock, that he had no faith, that we
thought we were stupid. That was very personal to me. At
the same time time, he was downgrading his respect for
everyone else in the company. And more importantly than anything else,

(51:06):
he's an officer of the company, he's a vice president.
As an officer of the company, if he had any
doubts about where we were going, there are plenty of
forums and plenty of people to talk to. He was
a valued member of the team. What are we doing
where we're going? You didn't like the idea that we're
looking for an acquisition, then come and say so, talk
about it. You have the opportunity to say, I have

(51:26):
another quick answer to you. I was in a meeting
one time with a whole bunch of people wouldn't even
answering your question.

Speaker 5 (51:32):
Sorry, Oh I think that's great. Yeah, no, thank you
so much.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
There's another example before we hang up. I was in
a meeting twenty people around and everybody gave their opinion
and it got to me and the senior vice president
of the company said to me, Mark, what do you
think about what we're doing. I said, I don't agree
with you. I think you're wrong. And I grew silent,
and he said tell me more. Well, you know, I'm

(51:56):
perhaps some younger than you, and maybe I haven't learned everything,
but what you're suggesting, I just think it's wrong. So
the meeting ended. The senior vice president released everyone. He said, Mark,
stick around. I was sitting in front of his desk.
He said, don't get up. I'm sitting in front of
his desk. He says, you know what, now's the time
for you to stand up. So I'm okay. I stood up.

(52:18):
I realized everyone else is gone, and he said, listen,
I have to teach you something. He said, I may
not always be right, but I'm never wrong. Don't forget it.
So there is always a time and place and a
way to present yourself. One of the backdrops backbones of

(52:39):
of this show is packaging yourself is as important as
the products you package. And yes, the way you look
shouldn't matter. Yes, the way you dress shouldn't matter, but
it does. You're part of an environment. You're making a
statement the way you groom yourself. Guys, if the heels
on your shoes are worn down, trust me. If you're
in my office and you walk out, I'm seeing that.

(53:01):
You don't want me seeing that. Every single thing matters,
and I'll tell you something else. What matters more than
anything is the words you use. Not only the words,
but the way you use them. So in these instances
you've heard tonight, there's some very good examples about what
you can say to people, what you can't say to people,
because words matter, and packaging yourself is important as the

(53:21):
products you package with that. I don't know about you,
but I had a great time, and I made you
all a promise. Those of you know me, I said,
sit down, you know what to expect. Those of you
don't know the show. I promised you I would entertain
you if you stick around and listen. I hope you
enjoyed a sense of occasion. Good Night,