Take A Stand Or Stand Still

Take A Stand Or Stand Still

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The
show is sponsored by G three of Parol. 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 Weber. 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, take a stand, We stand still self fulfilling prophecy.
John F. Kennedy made it clear that you can't stub
your toes standing still, life and decisions must be made.
Everyone knows you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.
So therefore I'm thinking about confidence and decisions and making

(01:03):
choices tonight. Whether you can or you can't, You're right,
do nothing, get nothing trying. You got a chance, Babe,
Bruth's striking out getting your way. You gotta get up
to bet Okay, Babe, bruth said, never let the fear
of striking out get in your way. You gotta get

(01:25):
up to bet. We live in the future. What I've
said already is in the past. Yesterday's home runs don't
win today's games. We have to move forward now. I
could end the show right now. I made my points point,
made's point taken. I do remember my wake up calls
in Osaka, Japan. A young girl would get on the

(01:48):
phone and go, mushy, mushy, mushy, time full wake up.
It's time for wake up. Whether you think you can
or you think you can, either one is right. You
have to take a stay or stand still. What are
you going to do? Not try?

Speaker 3 (02:04):
What if my name wasn't in lights? What if my
face wasn't on TV every other second? But if there
wasn't a crowd around every corner? But if I was
just a basketball player? Can you imagine it? I can.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
He made it clear he made so many mistakes. I've
made so many mistakes. Some I've learned from and some
I should have learned from. I want to think about
my broadcasting career. I know lots of people listening and
thank you, I really appreciate it. But I had a
choice to make. I spent the first two years of
my career in broadcasting fighting the inevitable. The title of

(02:52):
the show, always in Fashion, came from my book Always
in Fashion. It's a strong positioning statement, but I was
concerned because people would think the radio was just a
story about fashion, or it could mean, as I saw
it for the air, looking good is always in fashion.
Smart business decisions are always in fashion. Reflecting on life

(03:14):
is always in fashion. Common sense is always in fashion,
in spite of realizing common sense is not so common anyway,
I was concerned with the limitation of the show that
it could have been discounted because it was dedicated to fashion.
Last week we played an encore presentation. It was called
Everybody Knows Nobody Knows from May of twenty eighteen. I

(03:37):
thought it was a great show, and by the way,
it's worth listening to it. If you missed it, you
find it an Apple Spotify podcast. Look, Everybody Knows Nobody Knows.
The point is, at the beginning of the show, I
spoke to the fact, as I have for the first
two years of every opening, which began with this is
Mark Weber, this is always in fashion, This is business

(03:57):
now this has always been a business show. The course
of those two years, I realized the title work well.
And as much as I've been encouraged to come up
with a different title, I took a stand. I decided
to go with the brand I was building. Now. My
favorite sorry on the subject I've told it before, had
to do with a truck driver who's riding in his

(04:18):
truck doing his deliveries, whatever it is, and he got
to the point where the station said coming up next,
always in fashion. He listened to the opening, he listened
to woor and he was tempted. When he heards a
fashion show, he was tempted to change the station. He
was tempted to walk away, turn the doll, but when
he heard it was dedicated to helping people find their success,

(04:39):
he decided to stay with him because he's an independent entrepreneur.
And he stayed with the show, and he loved and
he wrote to the station how much he loved it. Now,
I've given great thought to changing the title, but every
person I've spoken with, every program director, they start to
listen and they can't stop the show until it's over.
I've heard stories. My wife is calling on the phone,

(05:02):
where are you. I'm in the driveway. I'll be in
in fifteen minutes after the show ends for another call.
I'm putting my children to bed. Where are you? Why
aren't you here? Keep them up? For twenty minutes. I'm
listening to a radio show. A lot of people love
the shows, learn so much and I love listening, but
it puts me to sleep at night. Oh well, thanks

(05:22):
changing the title. Note, I took a stand like the captain.
I'll go down with the ship in the end. I've
been building a brand always in fashion. Now let's be clear.
I no longer open the show with caveats. It is
what it is. Spotify, Apple and every other vehicle you
find the show on will rate us as business, cultural,
and lifestyle. I can talk about anything that I want to.

(05:44):
I like the opportunity to have a platform to talk
about whatever I think is important. Now hold that for
I've I've mentioned mistakes. My first attempt at radio. Oh man,
I made a mistake, and there's a lesson. I undervalued
how tough it is to be on the air. Anyone

(06:05):
who thinks they can sing listen to American Idol. You'll
learn to appreciate how good they are. If you think
it's hard to sing or hard to be great, you
should do that. I used to be a great baseball
pitcher when I was in high school. I threw the
ball eighty miles an hour, putting in perspective. College girls
playing softball, pitching underhand, pitch faster than I did. And

(06:28):
I thought it was going to be easy. And I
got to tell you, being on radio is not easy.
I wrote a book called Dressed Casually for Success. The
people who published the book were my agent, so to speak.
I told them I had a dream of being on radio.
They had a relationship with Rush Limburg's producer. They brought
me into the studio to record a radio show. Let

(06:49):
me tell you what I did, totally unprepared and what
happens getting ready to record demo tapes. Did I think
it would be easy? Yeah, I'm clever, I'm interesting, I
have a point of view on everything. I'll just talk.
I'll go in the studio, I'll be there at lunchtime.
I wrote nothing, prepared, nothing, and I can tell you

(07:09):
I was nothing. I was terrible. I embarrassed myself. After
the recording session was done, I looked at the program
director and I asked him. How was it? He said, well,
I have to edit. It'll be okay. Two weeks later,
my agent showed up with an edited show, three parts.
They were all okay, not great, not bad. But I
walked away because I know good isn't good enough, and

(07:32):
it was probably the right decision. But there were lessons learned.
Nothing worthwhile is easy. Good isn't good enough. I would
tell you the next time you try something, you have
to think it through, be prepared. Lessons learned, you would think,
But not me, because I got my next shot at

(07:52):
radio fifteen years later. Now, whatever it is, I'm driven
to be on the radio. I never thought about podcast because, frankly,
eight years ago podcasts were just starting for me. I
always dreamed of being on the radio. I drove to
work every day of my career listen to music. Of course,
at night I started listening to talk radio. I was tired.

(08:14):
I wanted to be educated, I wanted to be entertained.
I didn't want to listen to music. I eventually became
one hundred percent on the radio listening to talk radio,
and I became enamored with it. And I said to myself,
these people, man, women, they're interesting they've lived lives, they
have stories to tell, they have a point of view.
I said, you know, don't tell anyone, Mark, But you're

(08:36):
not unlike them. You've lived an interesting career, You're able
to tell stories, you're able to speak. Maybe, just maybe
you could do a radio show. And I decided that
I wanted to do it because I'm driven. And subsequently
the podcast as well. I love podcasts because you have
people listening whenever they want. Anytime, I ask a person

(08:57):
that I meet along the way, do you listen to positive? Yeah?
I do where in my free time, Sometimes in the
car blah blah blah blah, And I tell them about
the podcast. They promised to listen. I don't know what
my success rate is meeting strangers and telling him to
listen is, but I know we have a lot of listeners,
and I think we're doing well. So I've been driven
to radio. Always in fashion, I hire new agents. This time,

(09:19):
new agents get me into the studios, a big broadcasting group.
They set up a week of recording to do demo tapes.
Now before I come in that Monday, they send me
a knowe mark a tip. Make sure you're prepared? Am
I right of course, don't worry. I make speeches all
the time. If I tell you I show up figuring,

(09:42):
I'll wing it. I'll just talk. You want to talk
about lessons learned, You would think I would learn part
of tonight. I want to talk about mistakes, because we
learned through mistakes as well. But here I am my
second choice of radio. I show up at my lunchtime
totally unprepared. I bomb mean, I was terrible. I was
all over the place. I was boring, no continuity, nothing

(10:06):
that made sense from one minute to the night. At
the end of the day, my agents try to console me.
I know they were looking to they make a mistake
hiring me. But they said, Mark, it wasn't bad. But
I'm saying to myself, wasn't bad. That's my rating. It
wasn't bad. Give it a thought. What wasn't bad means seven?

(10:27):
Oh my god. I told them, as they did the past.
Time I didn't learn my lesson, I said, lose the tapes.
I promise you I'll be different tomorrow. Whether they believe
me or not, that remains to be seen. But I
was different tomorrow because I wanted this. I wanted to
be on air. I wanted to stand up or stand still.
I wanted to stand up. I went home that night

(10:48):
and wrote and wrote and wrote. I organized my thoughts.
I layered out sequences. I layered it out an order
of presentation. I constructed a beginning, minus, and an end
to each performance. I prepared for the next day, and
for the day after that and the day after that.
Trust me, I thought I couldn't, and then I realized

(11:10):
I can. I decided to take a stand and not
stand still. I knew I could do this. Whether you
can or you think you can, it's another lesson. If
you don't think it, it's not gonna happen. You've got
to believe in yourself and you'll be right. Either way.
You don't believe that, you won't be well. I decided
they're no more cans for me. This is Mark Weber,

(11:31):
this is always from fashion, and here we are, eight
years later, getting better, always trying, taking a stand, not
standing still. With that in mind, stay tuned tonight is
take a stand or stand still? Back in a.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Moment, Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
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
won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(12:09):
an event. You can 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 mack next.
The choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
in packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(12:31):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Venuesn't invented a new idea.
It's called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with
stretch technology giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(12:53):
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 Usen made its name with dress shirts. It's only
proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way.

(13:15):
You can find van using Koolflex men's stretch suits at
jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great,
you should go look at them. Donna Karen began her
career as one of the finest, most successful, powerful women
in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at

(13:35):
the luxury market for women on the go, women who
were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that
extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day
and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting 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 DKNY Donna Aaron, New York. It's an

(13:59):
offshoot of the Donna Karen collection. The same concept a
lifestyle brand. Then we talk about lifestyle brands, What does
that really mean? Simply what they say, there are brands
that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get up in
the morning, you start to get dressed. Donna Karen decan
why as intimate apparel as hosiery as all those products.
You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,

(14:21):
and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
about dk and Why 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

(14:43):
Karen's Casual Clothes did that under the DKNY label. A
vast array of casual sportshere 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, DCNY jeans,
dk Y Sportswear is there for you. That's what a

(15:07):
lifestyle brand is. I need to mention DKY Activewear, which
is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You
can wear DKY activewear certainly in the gym, certainly when
you're working out at home, and certainly if you want
on the street, because it's that well done. The quality

(15:27):
of dk why is nothing short of exceptional and why
shouldn't it be because it was born from the idea
of luxury made affordable for women of America. DKY and
Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day
and tonight, from the week into the weekend. DCN. Why
you can find DCNY and Macy's DKY dot com.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Welcome back to it Always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Tonight, I'm taking a stand. You have a choice. I
can stand or stand still. You decide who you want
to be. I know tonight I'm taking a stand. I
have an idea of where I want to go. I
have an idea where I am in life, and I
always continue to move forward. After all, we're already in
the future. When I just told you a moment ago
is the past, you got to move forward. It's just

(16:17):
the way it is. I'm taking a stand. I do
not stand still now. I have the right to talk
about whatever I want. I'm on the microphone. It's mine.
I could talk and I try to avoid most times
the hardcore facts about the world. I don't want to
talk about the multiple wars going on around us right
now anyway. I don't want to talk about world events.

(16:39):
I leave it for the others in spite of the
fact that I have a point of view, and yes
I do, but it's not my job to teach the
government and my view of the situation. I haven't heard
anyone repeat anywhere. I have my own view, but I
don't want to do it. I'd rather just talk about
celebrating wins. I wonder do the Democrats want I want

(17:00):
Donald Trump to be successful? By Trump? Who is our president?
I do have to ask do they want a country
to be successful? Does the liberal media want Donald Trump
to be successful? I subscribe to a theory I want
to win. I never want to lose. I don't like

(17:22):
the other guy, And over the course of time, I
adopted the principle that I hate losing more than I
like winning. I don't want to be wrong. I don't
want to be on the wrong side of logic and
common sense, but I don't want I can't let my
competitor win, and a business I would rather be wrong

(17:42):
than win. I don't want to let my competitors succeed.
But we're talking about a country. We're talking about a
president that if he's successful, if he's doing good things,
getting results, winning isn't that good for the country? Illegal
immigration through this conversation a billion times. We're a country

(18:03):
of immigrants. We want immigrants, we allow them in, but
they're supposed to be vetted. As a system. Taxes do
we want more? Taxes? Really eliminate waste and corruption, end
all wars, put America first. Not a single Democrat wants
to step up and celebrate the successes that we've had

(18:24):
under the Trump presidency so far. Don't like his personality,
got it, don't like the things and the chaos he creates.
I get it. We do about it differently, maybe, but
I don't think the Democrats, like me and business want
Donald Trump to be successful. They talk, they behave, they
cry out against everything. Nothing is good. It seems that

(18:48):
rather a country turned to crap fail than have a
successful Republican presidency, particularly a popular Donald Trump. They so
disliked this guy that they make it tough. Tough choices
are never good. He's making tough, tough choices to fix
and solve problems. He's trying for miracles no matter how

(19:10):
many people dislike him. He goes for can, he doesn't
go for cant. He stands. He doesn't want to stand still. Now,
there's a whole lot of people in our country and
around the world who see a chance for changing greatness.
Yet I'll admit it, the media, the Democrats seem to
prefer a failure rather than the country win. I told you,
In business, I really give some thoughts. I'd rather fail

(19:33):
than see someone else win. But in government it's embarrassing
you all want to be on the wrong side of history.
I leave it at that, Like Forrest Gump. That's all
I have to say about that. Back to the show.
What I do want to say is I've been working
hard to make this show more about life. It's always business,
and I'm not running away from fashion when it suits me.

(19:55):
But tonight it's whether you take a stand or stand still.
I want to take a moment to encourage all of
us to tackle the tough issues and get them done.
No one's coming to save you, no one's coming to
save us. We have to do it ourselves. A few
thoughts on business. You have to make money. Hey, New York,

(20:16):
you just voted to raise the minimum wage to thirty
dollars your losers, Who do you think is going to
pay for those other people's salaries? I'll let you think
about that. There's a commercial, an old commercial that was
done by Smith Barney. I'm going to play it for
you now.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
John Housman for the investment firm of Smith Barney.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Good investments don't walk up, bite you on the bottom
and say we're here. Finding them takes good old fashioned
hard work research the kind they do it Smith Barney
Smith Bonnie is among a handful of top investment firms
singled out for their work in research. Smith Barney. They

(20:56):
make money the old fashioned way they earn it.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
I love that commercial. You got to go out and
earn the money the hard way. You've got to earn it.
I've given a lot of thought to everything. No one
ever gave me anything. No one ever said life would
be easy. When given a chance, you have to recognize
that you're given a chance, and then only then fight

(21:20):
to win. Yeah. I've been thinking about being smart, first
for myself and then only for others. Tonight I don't
self be true. And this week something happened they got
me thinking and I want to talk about It has
to do with fashion. Maybe you'll get a kick out
of maybe you own It's a reoccurring thing for me
this week I walked five miles in one hundred degree heat.

(21:41):
I was physically exhausted, soaked through and through. I don't
know if I was having heat stroke or dehydration, but
I didn't feel just right. And I walked into the
club that I belonged to near where I live. I
sat down to have a nice tea who I knew
from the club. I never spoke to who saw me

(22:03):
sitting there, and I know I look like a disaster.
But when I got in there, because it was cold,
I put on a light sweater. So I'm wearing long
pants and a sweater and I was soaked through and through.
And next to me it was a table with this
woman who started to talk to me. Two men, two women,
and they started to engage me. First of all, they
were right, I was drained, wet, physically exhausted. And then

(22:23):
they said, you know, you don't look like your dress
properly long pants, white sweater, and I barely managed to
get it out and I said to him, do you
know what I do for a living? And they said, yeah,
we know. And while I didn't want to get into it,
I did bring it up. You know, I'm very, very

(22:44):
tired and there's no question it was hot out there.
But I have to tell you that when you mentioned
fashion to me, did I ever tell you or have
you ever heard that I wanted to run for president
of the United States? And it looked at me like
I was crazy. I said, yeah, I'm looking at everyone here,
including the two gentlemen you with and with all the

(23:05):
respect I'm aiming at them, but I wanted to run
on a platform of being president that the moment I
become president, all men of banned from wearing shorts. And
I looked at the two husbands or guys, and I said, listen,
present company excluded, of course, But I don't want to
look at men in shorts. I have seen in my

(23:26):
entire time here one guy, young guy, really built athlete,
look good in shorts. Other than him, there is no exception.
There is no one who looks good in shorts. And
then my second platform that I would stand on is
anyone wearing sandals. Any man wearing sandals, I put him
in jail. They have to go before me in a

(23:48):
hearing to get out of jail and promise they'll never
wear them again. So these guys and this women are
looking at me like I'm crazy. Before I finished, the
guy starts laughing and he says, i'd vote for you.
But anyway, I started to be gracious. I was feeling better,
and I said, listen, you know we've never spoken. I apologize.

(24:11):
I'm a recluse. I don't particularly like humans, and I
don't talk to anybody. And now they're thinking I'm really
a nut. And I was getting a kick out of it.
I'm in my Larry David mode. But I did say,
you know, the subject of shorts, and you're looking at
me and saying, how could I possibly go out with
long pants? The sweater I put on when I got here.

(24:32):
I said, you know, if you look at all the
people that live in the desert, they're all covered up
by cloth from head to toe. You look at all
the Arabs living in the middle of the heat, they're
fully clothed. And I said, there's something to be said
for that, because you're not taking the heat directly on
your skin. So maybe I'm not wrong, But for whatever

(24:53):
it's worth, I would also say I'm hesitant. I can
only imagine what your tan lines look like, the whiteness
on your knees and your hips and your arms, not
for me, and it also got me thinking, and here
I am. I know I don't look my best. I
know I'm a mess. I know I didn't serve myself. Well.

(25:15):
I've always said I'm an acquired taste. And I made
four new enemies, I'm sure, although I did think I
was charming, and I did smile a lot while I
was making a fool of myself and perhaps them. But
I watch people and I see the way they dress,
and it drives me crazy, which leads me. The other night,
I went to a restaurant, cool place in Dumbo. Been

(25:37):
hanging out a little bit in Brooklyn, across from the bridge,
underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Down under the Brooklyn Bridge is
not what Dumbo stands for. I forget, and I went
into a very cool restaurant. Everyone is young, The women
looked amazing. The men. You know, what do I have
to tell you? You know, it's scary. The women come in,
they're all dressed well, I mean, they're are women that

(26:00):
gave up. And I don't understand that. By the way,
there are guys who gave up and women gave up.
I'm looking at these couples and I'm saying, is this
what they look like on their wedding night? Is this
what they've allowed themselves to become? What happened here? When
did people give up? I went. I used to celebrity

(26:23):
golf tournaments. I used to sponsor celebrity golf tournaments Palm Springs.
I did the celebrity golf tournament for Frank Sinatra. His
wife was sponsor. They invited me to all the events.
I ended up one night in Bob Hope's house, a
usual house in the middle of nowhere in Palm Spring,
and they had a whole lot of performances. I actually
sat with Robert Wagner and Jill Saint John and they

(26:46):
had entertainment coming up. And they had a guy forget
his name, don Or Dan, who opened for Frank Sinatra
all those years. And Jack Jones came up. Jack Jones
back in the day was a famous singer. And who
was he married to? All people Jill Saint John, who
I'm sitting next to in the audience round the tables
like the Golden Gloves, sitting having dinner, and all these

(27:08):
people are coming into reform. Jack Jones sang the song.
Jackson sang the song he' his famous one, Hey Little girl,
comb your hair, fix your makeup. Soon he will walk
through the door. Don't think because there's a ring on
your finger. You needn't try any more. Because wives should

(27:30):
always be lovers to run to his arms the moment
he comes home to you. I'm warning you. So here
I am in this restaurant and looking at the couples
walking in, and I'm watching how they gave up. But
the thing that intrigued me more than anything was the
way the guys look, the young guys next to the women.

(27:55):
The young women were wearing fashion. They look amazing. I
think some of the shoe choices were tragic, but by
and large, the young girls look great. And the guys
either they look like their little brothers or they looked
ridiculous next to them, beautiful dresses, dressed heels, not heels,

(28:19):
whatever the shoes wear, the mids, some of them at
traffic tragic. But the guys look terrible with the turned
around hats, the T shirts to beggie short, the sneakers
or the sandal I mean ridiculous. And I have to
worry about the future of the American and the world procreating.

(28:42):
So this is a public service announcement. I'm looking at
these attractive women who know what to wear, and I'm
looking at the guys who don't. I'm looking at the
women looking attractive, and I'm looking at the guys and saying,
when did you decide to be a little brother to
this girl ear you're going out with. It's fascinating. If

(29:03):
I would line up ten women and ten guys, you'd
never put the ten guys with the right matches. There
are some guys who are trying wearing nice shirts. They
thought about the pants, their shoes. Very often the tragic,
but they're there. Guys, if you don't look attractive, what's
the future of the human race. We need you to

(29:23):
get married, we need you to have children, we need
a future here. I'm going to do this for the
last time, hopefully, but it's spring and summer and it's
a mess. Now here's the deal. I could just talk
like this and tell you that I'm well dressed all
the time. I get it. I know everything, and hard
to argue with me. I often have these arguments with

(29:44):
someone and they try to discuss fashion with me. It's
hard to argue with me, after all. CEO of two
big companies wrote two books on the radio podcasting Always
in Fashion, I do have some good credentials. If you
will work for the largest paralle company the United States,
the largest global luxury company. Well, it's hard to argue

(30:05):
with me, but I admit I don't always look good.
I make my mistakes. I you know, get up. Sometimes
I don't feel I can take it a shower, I'm tired.
I don't want to, you know, mess with my hair
good enough. Maybe I don't shape, but I know when
I look good, and I know what I know, and
I know when I'm trying. Guys, you have to think
about what you're doing. And that's tonight's show. I hope

(30:29):
I gave you a good example. Those of you who
don't greet me with shorts, those of you don't greet
me with sandals, those of you who think I'm a puffoon, arrogant,
an acquired taste. I agree with you. No argument here,
but I do think it's important to take a stand,
not stand still. I'll be back in a minute.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
Always in Fashion.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl
Lagefeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to
America through car Lagafeld 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

(31:11):
premium fragrances. You could explore the car Lagophl collection to
Carlagofhelparis dot com. But it's more than that. I have,
for one, love to shop. I love going around and
seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would
make me feel good to wear now. I don't wear
the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and
they look amazing. If you want to look right, you

(31:32):
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 at very
affordable prices at Macy'socarlagofel 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

(31:54):
my appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I'm
gonna look current. I want to look the way I
want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in
black and Carl Lagafeld is my buddy. Carlos are great,
They fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches,
whether it's a stripe on the sleeve or button at
the neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of
details that go into Carlagathel because he's always been he

(32:16):
always had been where 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. My favorite brand

(32:36):
has always been ISOD. My company at one time bought
that brand. The CEO of the company handed it to
me and said, you better make it work. And I
put everything in my career to make ISOD work. And
I fell in love with that brand, and to this
day it is one of the most exciting endeavors I've
ever got involved with. Isod is an incredibly strong golf brand.

(33:00):
If you play golf if you play tennis for that matter.
They make a great polo shirts. I mean great. They're
fit perfect. The material is unique because it's a piquet
fabric that waffle leave, you see, and it's made of
a blend of cotton and microfiber that allows you to stretch.

(33:22):
And very often they are treated with solar protection as well,
so they stretch, they're comfortable, and they breathe well. And
one thing about isa they always fit. They'll never tug
on you. You put it in your waist that they'll
fit you great. The colors, patterns are sensational. Now I
will also tell Isaac makes great shorts and great golf pants.

(33:44):
You're a golf friend. You want to look good. You
don't have to think about how do I look. You
want to think about how you play, not how you feel.
ISOD is the brand for you. I know I was
there when it was created. The strategy behind that brand
is brilliant. It's one of my favorite brands. While I
talk about it, I should tell you about the men's sportswear.
ISOD wasn't enough being a golf brand. It wasn't enough

(34:05):
being just great polo shirts with logos without logos, incredible
brand and story and history. ISAOD makes salt weather programs.
They have great printed woven shirts, short sleeves that look
excellent with colors, excellent with shorts, excellent with cotton pants,

(34:26):
of which they also make this whole salt order relaxed
line from ISOC, whether it be fleece, cotton sweaters, knit polos,
woven shirts and pants of a range of colors and
fabrics that are perfect for a guy wants to go
casually in the spring and summer of this year. And
here's the thing, ISOD is affordable. Everyone listening to me

(34:53):
talk about this brand can afford to buy it and
know that there are a lot of other brands that
also have a look like ISID. Although I don't believe
it's fun as Eyaona is. The brand has a lot
of energy in it, but at the price points no
one can compete. You can find eyes That at You're
leading retailers and online at ion dot com. Talk to

(35:15):
you later, guys. I wish you are very happy springing summer,
and I help you by telling you if you were
eyes On, you're going to look great.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
Welcome back to it. Always in fashion, here's your host.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Mark webber Tonight, take a stand or stand still. That's
what I'm thinking about. You either stand for something or
you don't do anything at all. I suppose either one works.
There are times where you have to step on the brakes.
If you take time to think about it, you don't
want to move forward. You need time to ponder. You
need a moment, very pause, a pregnant moment to make

(35:50):
sure you're going right. You need to say no, fine,
I get it. But most times, or more times than that,
you'd have to take a stand. And that's what life
is about moving forward. You think of some of the
greatest people in the world. They've taken stands. They've done
what needs to be done to do the right thing.
In every facet of light and politics, sports, life, people

(36:12):
are taking stands. You got to be smart about it.
You got to be well chosen. You got to think
about all the ramifications. You have to think about unattended consequences.
In business, you're making decisions every moment, every second, to
make a decision on whether or not to go forward.
I get it, I respect it. But on a personal note,
don't ask me why. Maybe it's the summer, maybe spring,

(36:33):
the fact that i'm outdoor, sitting in the beach or
sitting out back looking at the water or the grass
or whatever. I have time to think, and I started
to think about mistakes I've made. And I've also thought
about one story in particular where I've corrected something that
needed to be corrected and I was a part of that.

(36:54):
But first, I want to tell you a story about
the summer. Story that I'm about to tell you is
older than most of you listening. It's something that I
didn't do, but I should have done something about, and
it haunts me to this day. If you're on the radio,

(37:17):
you just heard Garden Party by Ricky Nelson, and that's
what I want to talk about. If you're not on
the radio, you're on podcasts listening. Picture the song garden Party.
It's a cute song. Anyway. I was the president of
the Venues and Shirt Company and we were having a
sales meeting in Biscayne Bay, Florida. We rented out the

(37:41):
entire resort. It was an incredible event. We had a
couple of hundred people and I was a senior most
guy at the event. My executive VP was the number
two guy. I had my nine regional sales managers and
all the people from Bridgewood, New Jersey, and New York

(38:01):
who came and descended upon this event in Florida and
Biscay Boulevard. I forget the name of the resort, I apologized,
but it was great. I had my own bungalow and
we had the greatest food and everybody was happy. Was
during the spring, so everybody was dressed. The women wearing
flower dresses. All the men came to the parties dressed

(38:23):
in appropriate pants, sport coats. You know. We were shirt
companies who with shirts and ties pretty much that time.
All dressed up wearing our nice jewelry, nice watches. It
was evenings were elegant events, and they were appreciated it
by all. Tables were set up beautifully for buffet dinners,

(38:44):
and we made speeches even at the event. And we're
outdoors for this evening. And I was a young president.
I was thirty four years old at the time, and
I was so proud to be there. And when I
looked back, I tell you what happened. You'll judge for yourself.
Maybe I was too young, maybe I had the wrong

(39:06):
mindset on. But I can only tell you all these
years later, I'm telling you, I still feel guilty. So
what happened. I made a speech, and I talked about
how proud I was being the head of the company,
how excited I was to be with everyone, how the
fact that we were doing so well as a company
allowed us to have an event like we were going
to have over the next few days where we bring

(39:29):
the entire company together. We also had people from our
warehouses and school Belhaven, Chattanooga, Tennessee. We had people from
our factories. At that time, headquarters was in Potsville, Pennsylvania,
So we had all these guests and people there and
it was a great event. And made the speeches and
I did well, and I was very proud of myself,
and I was very corporate, and I had learned how

(39:51):
to speak. And after dinner, everyone was standing around the
pool having cocktails, talking, having a great time. And we
were in a circle of people at the time, and
I was holding court. Next to me on my left
was a regional sales manager and a reginal salesman, a
couple of and my executive p And as I tell you,

(40:15):
the event was really elegant, and one guy in particular
always well dressed. His name was Joe. I tell your
entire name, but I don't know where Joe is. I
don't know if he wants me to retell the story.
And of course to my right was the executive vice
president of our sales division, who I enjoyed. I really

(40:36):
liked him. We were friends, and we're all around the pool.
I got a little boisterous. So one time my executive
VP decided to be funny and he hipped banged Joe,
who was wearing beautiful brown swede shoes, brown pants, a
linen a crew blazer, a linen dress shirt and matching tie.

(40:58):
He looked amazing. He was well groomed guy, very good taste,
and I remember he was wearing a beautiful Cartier watch
I think it was Cardia with the tank watch with
the brown leather strap. He hip bumped him and he
went into the pool. Threw him in the pool. In
the midst of this event, in front of everyone. Joe

(41:21):
was shocked, and I pushed him into the deep end.
He came up, he was sputtering water. He was shell shocked,
shell shocked, couldn't believe in a company event that this
would happen to him, and it visually affected him. He
got out of the water. He was more upset than angry.

(41:45):
He looked at his watch and he said, you ruin
my watch. And the guy Phil was laughing, and I
was laughing. And it was one of those awkward moments
life that people laughing and people weren't laughing. And as

(42:06):
I said, I was a young president. And when I
look back, now, what should I have done?

Speaker 4 (42:14):
Now?

Speaker 2 (42:14):
I did walk over to Joe and say, hey, I'm sorry.
I don't know what to say. And he went and
he disappeared, and he had to go back and change
his clothes and dry his hair. And he did come
back eventually later because I think he said to himself that,
you know, I can't just disappear. It doesn't look right.
But what I didn't do is I didn't take philis

(42:36):
side and say what are you doing? What you did
was totally unacceptable. You should go over and apologize. And
I have to tell you, I don't know what this
does for your career. I don't know that you could
stay with the company behaving that way. I didn't do
any of that. I thought it was funny. And as

(42:57):
I tell you all these years later, that error in
judgment on my part has never been forgotten. Now, maybe
the lesson I learned is in life you have to
be Dudley, do right. You always have to take the
high ground. You can't allow people to behave that way.
If people behave that way, there has to be repercussions.
That guy who pushed him in the pool didn't belong

(43:19):
with the company anymore, and I didn't know enough to
deal with it. I don't care how important he was.
I don't care whether I liked him or didn't like him.
I didn't take the appropriate action. All these years later, now,
maybe thirty four I wasn't smart enough. Maybe thirty four
I wasn't young enough. Maybe maybe maybe it can only

(43:39):
tell you a summer. Maybe one of you out there
is going to be at a pool party and think
it's funny to push someone in. I don't know, maybe
this is helpful. You have to take a stand or
stand still. I stood still that day, and I'll never
forgive myself and I'll never forget it. Now. Having said that,

(44:02):
take a moment to you absorb it. I'm really serious
about it. I'm upset about the way I behaved, but
I learned, and maybe maybe over time good comes from
these things. Maybe I can tell you another story that

(44:25):
I did good. I was part of a team that
good good, And I'll tell you a story. It's a
different one. As I said, I have time to think,
and I think about all these things. And there's never
been a swimming pool I've stood around where I haven't
thought about that event. And there's never been an event
I've gone to where it's outside by a pool where
I haven't thought about it. And I'm embarrassed and I'm

(44:49):
disappointed in myself. But I have to believe and learned.
There's a different part of it. Here's the other side
of the world. I work with a guy in marketing
and advertising who's elder states than me. Once again, his
name should be left out to protect the innocence. He
was a great guy, and he and I became extraordinarily

(45:11):
close friends, working together very close. I admired him because
he was twenty years my senior, fifteen years my senior.
I had another area of respect, and frankly, you knew
a lot more about the business than I would ever know.
And we worked very closely together and developed this long term,
lifelong friendship until he passed away a bunch of years ago,

(45:33):
and we're working and it was my first involvement, hands on,
direct involvement with advertising. And don't ask me why. I
can't explain it. There's certain things in life that I'm
good at, and there were certain things in life that
I was great at. When it came to the creative
and visual I'm great at it. I could look at

(45:55):
something and know it's great. It doesn't mean I have
to create it. I can help create great. I'm a
good editor. But when it came to the visuals and
fashion advertising, I knew what was great. And he and
I started to work together and there was a catalog
around the same time and fan Using were talking that
was being put together every year showing the dress shirts

(46:17):
in the best light that they could be shown in.
And it was terrible. It had no energy. That's the
word I'd give it. It had no energy. Taste levels mediocre,
it had no energy. It turns out that the company
that was doing the Cauntagogue was a friend of then
Larry Phillips, the CEO of the company Phillips. Fan Using

(46:39):
say it was a friend to Larry and he was
grandfather this deal, and he'd be doing this calagogue for
multiple years and it really was garbage. I was embarrassed
by it. I always was. I didn't know who to talk,
how to keep my mouth on. Now I'm in charge,
so I talked to my associate and I said to him, listen,
we got to change this. This is terrible. I can't
work this. Bring the guy in, let's talk about what

(47:01):
needs to be done. Brings the guy in, the owner
of the company, Larry Phillips friend and I start to
talk to him, and right away I could see his
back is up. Who's this young guy telling him how
to do a catalog? And I said to them, listen,
you know, it's not a question of whether or not
you guys are capable, but this is not the image
I want for the company. I want it youthful, I
want it more energetic. I want the photos to be shocking.

(47:24):
I want to see them. After all, I learned from
one of your counterparts that the number one rule in
advertising was break through the clutter. There's a million things
being advertised. If you think about it, that that way
hit what advertisements all over the place. Everything we do, billboards, taxis, television, online.
You have to be seen. You have to break through

(47:47):
the clutter. David Altman Altman, Stoller, and Weiss learned that
lesson from him all those years ago. I can't believe
I remember the name of the company. I said this
to the guy, and he's looking at me with the
dull face, and he's looking at me with that face
that you know what. Larry phil is my friend. I'm
going to do what I gotta do. He does the
first catalog for us. We take it. It's worse than
any of the others. So I go to my friend
and said, we've got to get rid of him. We

(48:09):
gave him a chance. You got to get rid of him.
And I noticed, you know right away, he said, Mark,
we got to do what's right. I don't care if
he's Larry's friend. So we get rid of the guy.
A couple of days later, I get called into a
room by Larry Phillips. I'm there with my boss and
a counterpart of mine. Three of us bruce me allan.

(48:29):
Larry Phillips walks in. He said, I have some disturbing
news to tell you. He said, my friend, this is
the guy who makes the catalogs, told me that my friend,
the guy I work with, canceled the catalog business with him.
Which is okay and in of itself, except that my
friend borrowed a thousand dollars from him and hadn't paid

(48:50):
him back. So I'm looking and listened to I said, so,
what what's the point here? He said, we're firing him,
my friend. And I remember I was shell shocked, and
I said, but he's been with us for thirty three years.
What am I missing? He borrowed money, he'll pay it back.
And he looked at me, Larry, and he said, you

(49:12):
don't borrow money from suppliers, let alone not pay them
back right away. He's fired. I remember the three of
us after he walked out, crying. We loved this guy
in our company. He was a great guy. He's an
elder statesman, and what possessed him to borrow money? And
how bad was that? And I'll never forget. I got

(49:33):
a call from the industrial psychologist in our company at
the time, doctor Joel Goldberg, another guy, a older statesman.
What did you tell Larry today? I said, what are
you talking about? This is one of the many times
that Larry Phillips wanted to fire me. You told him
that it was okay? What the other guy did? I said,
I did nothing of the sort. I'm very close to

(49:54):
this guy. He's with the company thirty three years. I
was taken aback. You didn't believe he just to be
fire And now I remember again compromising because of fear,
and I said, look, it's not for me to decide
whether it's right or wrong. I was just taken aback.
If Larry Phillips doesn't understand that, I'm sorry, but it's

(50:17):
his decision. I respect it. So now I got a
black mark against me, and it was really ugly. I
want to fast forward two years later. The guy we
fired suffered, suffered, couldn't get a job, couldn't get a
job where he was. I don't want to go into
the personal details. He was really having a tough time.
We were worried for his safety. And as life would

(50:42):
intercede or luck would have it, Larry Phillips had left
the company in a proxy fight with my friend who
became the CEO, Bruce. He was angry at something going
on in the company. He didn't want to support an
acquisition that we were making of Gant and Isaart, and
he said, I'm not supporting it, and the board said,
we want to support the younger team. In the company.
At the time, Larry Phillips was sixty six years old

(51:03):
and Bruce and I were in our early fifties, late forties,
early fifties. Said Larry, you're sixty six, you're thinking about retirement.
We know your energy levels that day. You're a wealthy guy.
If you put it to this this way and you
make us fight it out, we're going to choose the
other team. And as it worked out, Larry chose to
leave the company if in fact we could get someone

(51:25):
to buy his shares, and my friend Bruce went to
Hong Kong and found one of the most prestigious companies
in Hong Kong, great family suppliers, friend stores who invested
in the company, became board members and made a lot
of money. Eventually, with the stock they bought out Larry's shares.
Larry left. So it's two years later industrial collegist calls
the three of us together against we have to hire

(51:47):
our friend back. He's in bad shape. I'm fearful where
it'll become of him if we don't hire him back.
And we did, and I'll never forget how happy I
was that we brought him back. He explained to us
the problem he was having financially had every intention of
paying him back, and he said to me, Mark, do

(52:08):
you think I ever made a decision in business based
on whether or not I borrowed money. You know me,
my reputation is the toughest guy to do business. And
I was tough with this guy. He loved me all along,
as I thought he was a friend. But the minute
I didn't give him his catalog anymore, which frankly, was
your decision, not mine, which I agree with wholeheartedly, the

(52:28):
guy goes to behind my back and tells Larry, I'm
a bad guy. So that dirt bag destroyed my friend. Well,
we brought him back. We gave him a new life.
I work with him, hand in glove. I'm patting myself
on the back right now. As I said before, I
had a vision for what our advertising should look like,
and he had a vision on how to execute it brilliantly.

(52:50):
Him and I worked together for ten years. We were
words in music, the closest of friends. I loved him.
I believe he loved me and my family. We brought
him back in the company. We gave him a life.
My friend Bruce made the decision to do it. I
was the one who worked with him to give him
his dignity and give him his life back. And the

(53:10):
point of tonight is sometimes you take a stand and
sometimes you stand still. Either way could work. I believe
in taking a stand. And when I did it with
this guy whose name shall continue to be left out,
to protect the innocent, we saved the life, we saved

(53:32):
the family, and we did great things. And for that
I'm internally proud. I immediately as proud of the role
I played in bringing him back as I was in
embarrassed by not taking the right stand at the garden party.
So when you listen to this, we all have choices
to make. I tell you, nothing worthwhile in life is easy.

(53:54):
We all don't have the answers. We all make right decisions,
we all make mistakes. We all applaud our successes, we
applaud our winds. We try and win whenever we can.
Nothing is easy, Nothing worth while in life is easy.
But here we are where individuals, we are families. We

(54:15):
have to make decisions and business it's every minute, every day.
You have to be proud of yourself. You have to
have integrity. In my case, I've had my wins, I've
had my losses. I've done a lot right and I've
made mistakes. But one thing I can tell you, you
have a choice, take a stand or stand still. I
vote for taking a stand. Good Night,