The Best Things In Life Aren't Things

The Best Things In Life Aren't Things

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.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Clerk to CEO twice.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
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. I'm a little lonely. I admit it, a
little said I'm allowed. It's part of life. I'm thinking
about life tonight. I'm in a strange place. I'm feeling
a touch of melancholy surrounding me, engulfing me. No course
that I could really think of, no reason. Although I
did have a birthday recently, and for that birthday, I

(01:03):
did watch a video that was made specifically for me,
where we were all younger. My wife was gone, very sad,
but it was a tribute to me. All friends family
talked about my accomplishments, the time that I've spent well.
I guess it's clear that I'm a role model to
my family, and for that I'm very grateful. I've seen

(01:24):
the proud moments in my life to date, but I
can't help reflect around birthdays. I'm not twenty three any longer,
and it bothers me. Funny thing is in my head,
my hopes, my dreams, Who I am, I'm still twenty three.
Over the years, I've done an ongoing accounting of Mark Weber.

(01:44):
I know I've become sophisticated, successful, worldly, but I'm still
a kid inside, aren't we all. In some circles, I'm
appreciated for my boyhood charm. In others, I'm an acquired
taste the good the bad of me life. You stand up,
you take the good with the bad. It's clear, as

(02:04):
I think about it, that the good things in life
aren't things. The sum total of all you do, all
you see, all you say, is who you are and
what you are. My philosophy is simple. I believe in
doing the right thing. Only I know that telling the
truth makes life easy. You don't have to remember lies,
and nor will you be conflicted that sometimes I'd like

(02:27):
to think oftentimes it's appreciated, but I also know that
more times than I care to admit, humans spoil doing
what's right. My birthday was happy, it was sad, but yes,
it got me thinking. I like me. I like being
Mark Weber. It's not easy being Mark Weber, but I
like it. And after all, everyone else other than me

(02:49):
is already taken. I'm thinking. I also watched the movie
this week, A Complete Unknown. I love the movie. It
affected me. A gene comes out of nowhere invents himself
into Bob Dylan. I was always aware of Bob Dylan
had some songs I loved and appreciated, but for me,
he was just there. Turns out he was and is

(03:12):
an amazing person, amazing artist. However, watching his life acted
out on screen made me think about my life's work.
I came out of nowhere, I wasn't supposed to have
this career, and yet here I am thinking. I can't
help but reflect. I wonder what if I didn't get
that interview, What if I wasn't prepared. What if I

(03:36):
didn't see and feel the opportunities. What if I didn't learn,
didn't behave didn't have patience. What if I wasn't meanted,
where would I be? I recognize I'm behaving like a
mood runa my life's work, the choices, the turns, the
reinventing myself three times it points out it could be done. Now.

(03:56):
Having said this, I'm thinking deeply I'm a little too
melancholy for my own good. But the good of it
is I have stories to tell and maybe just lessons
to be learned along the way. Tonight I'm feeling and
I think about it. I'm feeling lonely. I suppose I
can't help it. It's interesting. I could be in a
room filled with people, people I know, and I still

(04:17):
feel alone. I will tell you you'll never meet anyone who
loves his alone time more than me. I think about
it all the time. I realized during COVID I had
nothing to do, but not enough time to do it. Yet,
if it wasn't being separated from the family, I had
a good experience. Alone is underrated until you feel alone.
Tonight I'm feeling alone now, don't get me wrong. Give

(04:39):
me a choice to eat alone or eat with friends.
I choose alone. Give me a choice of travel with
business associates. I pick alone. Alone is underrated until you're said,
and I am said. I seek my own counsel. I
prefer to talk to myself, solve my own issues or problems.
I do anything. Alone is my first choice. But I'm

(05:02):
feeling lonely. I guess it's just the way it is. Family, friends,
interesting people. Sure, Yet here I am and what I
am I'm thinking anyway, I'll get over it. He had
to cheer me up, my lawyer, my co host, my son,
Jesse Weber.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
So I gotta worry about you now. Huh, that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
I don't think.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
So what does that mean?

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Why would you worry about me?

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Have you heard yourself? You're sounding incredibly down and out.
You're not sounding like you're happy.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Go luck yourself.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
I'm being introspective. I'm thinking those things that define me
and will define me. It's normal.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
No, it's not normal. It's not normal.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
You're usually a like a cheerleader. I'm not seeing you
jumping up and down.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Got a lot going on. I thought you'd be happier.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Okay, I'll play alone, like.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
What Well, First of all, it was your birthday.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
It was a great time. It's spring, the golf beach,
more daylight.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
I got a new show. We're together here. You have
another show, the CEO Exchange.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
A lot of good things are happening right now, and
yet you act like you're in uh I don't know,
like Siberia.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Well, when you put it that way, you're right, of course,
it's just the birthday thing. It got to me. I
count you a young guy.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
You're a young guy.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
You're healthy, you're fit, you look amazing. I think you
just look at the number too much. I think you
should snap out of it. That's what I think. I'm
hoping you'll be fun tonight.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
Interesting. You didn't mention things in my life to cheer
me up.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, I mean you said it before.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
The important things in life aren't things, So cheer up,
be fun.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
You deserve it, you can do it.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
You're putting pressure on me. Now.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
If anyone I have ever met thrives on pressure. If
that's what you want to call this, it's you.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
What's pressure?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Exactly? What is pressure? I'll cheer you up.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
You want to talk about something that'll always make you happy,
Let's talk President Trump.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Ah, Okay, we haven't done that, all right. I have
a question for you. I'm glad you brought this up.
You got to explained to me how any federal judge
from anywhere Poduck, Iowa can derail any policy that the
president puts in place. I don't get it. He's the president.
Deportations those he's president.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
First of all, a couple things. Have you never heard of?
Checks and balances? Do you know we have?

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah? But you want to talk about it? Yeah, okay,
but you could talk about the Supreme Court. I get it,
the Congress, the president of the Supreme Court. This is
some judge in the middle of nowhere.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Every court has a function, Okay, the lower courts here
here at first, the appellate Court's here at second to
see if there was a mistake made by the trial court.
And then the Supreme Court is the last stop. And
they only hear a select few cases. They can't hear everything.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Okay, I don't understand. Wait, I don't understand. There are trials,
there's juries. Why are they spending their time on the president?
What's this guy in the middle of nowhere? I have
to say with the president. First, wait, does he get
the check and balance? The president?

Speaker 4 (08:04):
First of all, First of all, it's not like the
judge looks at an action from President Trump and goes up,
I'm going to stop it. Someone has to file an action.
Usually it's in the form of a temporary restraining order
or an injunction. Stop it immediately so we have time
to briefit, argue it. And that's what the judges are doing.
They're looking at the said, wait a minute, we got
to put a pause on this. It looks like there's

(08:24):
a violation of the law. Will allow both sides to
do it, because what happens if you don't have a
tro if you don't have an injunction, then something could
happen and by the time you hear.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
The case time out, you're losing me. Someone told this
to the judge, or the judge on their own went
ahead and did it.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Someone has to appeal that.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Someone has to file a case, They have to file
a lawsuit, they have to file an action to the judge.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
So who did that?

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Who did that? With the issue of deportations, for example.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
I believe it was the ACLU. I believe it was them.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
I don't want to say one hundred percent, But like
for example, when it came to all the federal workers
that were fired. The unions filed an action on their behalf.
So someone has to file an action. It goes to
a court. They determine what to do first, and then
if Trump loses, by the way, he hasn't lost every
court action, he'll take it to an appellate court and
they might look at it differently.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
So time out. First of all, I was under the
impression that federal workers are not allowed to be part
of unions. So are you sure about that?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
There are federal unions at advocacy groups.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
So back to anybody in the world, can I go
against the president if I don't like something.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
No, you have to have standing.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
You have to show that you would be injured by
this decision. You're not a federal worker, you can do it.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
I'm injured by stupidity.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Don't think that's going to cut it.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
So anyway, the point look, going back to your major question,
how can a federal judge do this? There is a
debate out there whether or not one judge should have
the power, through a decision, to set national policy that
has national effect. I can hear that, although I would
say the other way of looking at it is you
need a nationwide decision, a nationwide effect, because the issues

(10:00):
they're dealing with, for a practical reality, should have an
effect across the country.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
I think I'll give you a good example. You want
a good example.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
If you're dealing with water rights or air rights, if
you're dealing with regulations regarding clean air or clean water.
You need a judge to make a decision that's for
the whole country, not just one area.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's not going to work.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
You have to make sure that when there's a decision
in place, that other people who are similarly situated that
their rights are not violated.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
You need it to be all in.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Time out, time out, time out, time out. You're an attorney.
I ask you questions about parts of the low. I
may have a contract, I may have some other issues
that I want you to look into, filing trademarks, whatever
it is. And you tell me you don't know everything.
You have to research it. You have to. No lawyer
knows everything. So how does a judge in the middle

(10:51):
of nowhere know about air rights and all these other
things you're mentioning? Hold on? What makes it qualified to
argue with the President of the United States.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
So the judge is briefed, The judge is briefed by
both sides on an issue, looks at the arguments from
both sides, and then makes a decision based on the law.
Why is a constitutional right violated? Is something illegal? That's
their job.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
They don't have to be experts in that's his opinion,
legal opinion. That's his legal opinion.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
And then an appellate court could look at it differently
and say, I think they made a mistake.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
But that's the way our system works. Just because you.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Don't like something doesn't mean that the judge is wrong.
It doesn't mean that the judge is violating their duties.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
That's our system. That's the way it works well for me.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
It's not a question of whether I like it or not.
You elect the president. There's checks and balances. You started
with that, checks and balances. That's why there's a Congress,
that's why there's a Supreme Court. But anyone anywhere could
stop anything the president wants.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
To be the president. Let me ask you this point.

Speaker 4 (11:56):
I know you're not a huge fan of President Biden,
former President Biden.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Let's say he did some thing, and then you have
a federal judge.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Let's say, and I don't know Washington, DC, say I
think what the president's doing is illegal and this is
going to apply all across the country, and we're putting
an end to it.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
You wouldn't agree to it.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
No, it has nothing to do with whether I think
it's Biden or Trump or any other president. It has
to do with you have to be able to run
the country. You have to be able to make decisions
if in fact we're going off a cliff with the
amount of money and wastew'th spending. And the President of
the United States says, I want to go in and
look at this, and these are the moves I want
to make. He has the right to hire and fire

(12:36):
federal employees, does he not?

Speaker 4 (12:38):
No, he doesn't, he doesn't. The problem is the problem
is is that role regarding agencies and firing. That's usually
that's Congress's role. And Congress said to each agency, each
agency said, you have the responsibility agency head to determine
who is hired, who was fired. You can't have Elon
Musk or the executive branch dictate it. And that's the key.

(13:00):
The thing is is, here's the thing. You want to
say that the goal is good, the motives are good, fine,
but you have to follow their system of laws and
our procedures that we haven't put in place in order
to make things happen.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
You can't just say it happens.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
And if you know that, how come Trump and Elon
must don't know it.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
I don't know if they don't know it or they're
just saying how far they could push the boundaries of it.
They have every right to try to make every legal
argument they can, and they're raising a lot of very
interesting legal arguments, like, for example, when when Trump said
this week that Biden's pardons, those preemptive parties are void,
they're invalid because he used an auto pen. Just because

(13:41):
he says it doesn't mean that's true he's trying. First
of all, auto pens have always been used, and even
the Department of Justice is said they're legal. But if
you want to say that's evidence that President Biden didn't
know what he was.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Signing, what's the proof of that?

Speaker 4 (13:54):
Don't you need a little bit more to just say that.
So the point is is just I think Trump, well,
hold on, He's raising a very interesting legal issue. Never
thought it about it before. But it doesn't mean that
he's going to be successful.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, I don't think it appropriate to go back and
rechange other president's decisions. I don't agree with that. Okay, Well,
there's a system that the president has unilateral rights to
pardon people.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
Okay, I'll give you another example. Your question is, well,
don't they know this? Sure, they know it, doesn't mean
that they're not going to try to test the limits.
That was the whole thing with presidential immunity. No one
raised that issue before, but he brought it up to
the court and said, well, as a president immuted from
criminal prosecution, what's just happening now? Steve Bannon was on
Chris Cuomo show last night and said, we are now

(14:43):
looking into how President Trump can run for a third term.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
What exactly does it mean term limits?

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Now, he didn't go into more about what the legal
arguments are, but if he wants to present a colorable
legal argument that a president should run for another term,
I'd be very interesting to very interested to see what
that means.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
Well, now you're talking about what the law is and
how interesting the laws and our constitution is an organic
document that allows you to continue to make changes. Because
the founding fathers realized they didn't have all the answers,
and they weren't going to legislate from the grave. That's
one thing in this regard to countermanding president's decision making
policies is a problem for me. If you tell me

(15:24):
the Supreme Court heard what he did, they stepped in,
they had a vote, and they said stop. But there's
how many federal judges a million, So any one of
a million could stop anything the president's doing. I find
that hard to believe.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
It goes back to the idea if you want you
want to prevent a widespread violation of a constitutional right,
you have to make sure that applies across the board.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
Okay, President Trump wants to start oil drilling, fracking and
eliminate all the things that get in the way of that.
Can he do it?

Speaker 2 (15:56):
I don't know what the legal issues are. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
I have no idea. Say, but a judge what you.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Don't put a judge, you tell a federal judge. Can
a president do that?

Speaker 4 (16:03):
Present to me the arguments, present to me the arguments
from the side who's challenging in it, and present to
me the arguments from the Trump administration, and he will look,
for example, everything that's going on right now with Doge
and everything. They're looking at separation of powers, they're looking
at the appointments Clause. They're looking at something called the
Administrative Procedure Act, which basically governs what agencies can do.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
That's how they're making their decisions.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
They're looking at the law and interpreting the law, not
necessarily the facts of oil drilling or the facts of
United States aid. Sure, that's a part of it, but
they're looking more at the law and its application to
the facts.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
So let's just be clear here. This policy that's taking
place right now can really get in the way of
every single decision a president makes and really bring our
country to a standstill.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
That was the way it always was. It wasn't just
Trump's specific. Same thing happened with Biden, the same thing
happened with Obama, same thing happened with Bush. It's the
way our system works. It's not unique to Trump.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Okay, well you depressed me. I thought you wanted to
cheer me up.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Well, I don't know what you want to hear. It
was funny, Actually it's funny.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
There was a guest on Newsmax and he was asked
about the pardons, and he basically was like, listen, I.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Know what you want me to say. I know you
want me to say.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
That that Biden's pardons are invalid, but I can't do that.
And so I think you want me to say something
that you want you want me to be, like.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, how can this judge just do that? And by
the way, let me tell you something. The Supreme Court
recently questioned.

Speaker 4 (17:37):
Whether one judge should have the ability to interfere with
executive authority. So maybe that's an issue that'll come up
one day to the Supreme Court, not saying it won't.
There's even talk about maybe if there's the only aside
from the Supreme Court, maybe it has to be a
panel of judges that actually make a decision that has
a nationwide effect, not just one judge.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
So we'll see if they decide that later on.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Okay, if you say so, I'm still confused.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
All right, Well, I think you're sounding a little happy.
I don't know you've said it.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Not happy. I'm just doing my job.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
By the way, you said, in your head, you're what
like twenty three years old. So what would twenty three
year old Mark Weber do tonight if he was feeling bad?

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Well, I wouldn't feel bad, Oh, sorry for myself exactly.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
So let's have fun. Tell a story with meaning. That's
why you chose to host a radio show in podcast.
Not everybody can do that. Not everybody has that opportunity.
So people love your stories. Come up with something good.
Tone it down a little bit. You know, that's be inspiring.
That's who you are.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
Thank you, Jesse.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
You're welcome.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
You're welcome, and I will back in a moment.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
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(19:06):
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Speaker 5 (22:48):
Welcome back to it Always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Tonight, I'm discussing very simply that the best things in
life aren't things. In particular I want to I like stories,
and in particular I read stories. But having said that,
I also love being a storyteller, so in spite of me.
I don't know being sad a bit tonight. I do
recognize that the best things in life aren't things. There

(23:18):
are what you are. And Jesse said I should be inspiring.
So I thought of something that I wanted to talk about,
and here we go. There is never a time that
I'm not reading a book. It's part of my life.
I started reading novels when I was thirteen years old,
at home with pneumonia. When I think back, I was
home for three months. I don't remember why it took

(23:39):
so long to get better. I should have asked, Eustaces
wasted on the young. I should have asked, I've been
an adult. I never asked why I had to be
home three months. But anyway you slice it, I was
watching movies. And when I wasn't watching movies, I was reading.
Transported me to new worlds, new country cities, interesting people.
I found. Reading is transformative. And if I ended this

(24:02):
story right now, I would tell you all of you
out there become readers. If you're in work, read everything
there is to do about your industry. It'll make you
better than your competitors. I can't tell you how many
times I walked into a meeting having read an article
and my ability to cite what was going on in
the article made me look like a genius and certainly
had more information than the other people that I had

(24:24):
in those meetings. So that's a takeaway from this. But
reading books when I was young, Harold Robbins, The Carpetbag
Is The Adventurers changed my life. The Flighter of the
Intruderst Stephen Cooge's Tom Clancy Hunt for readA October all
of Nelson Demill's books. He's a great He died last year.
I'm sorry to say, mazing. I read Ian Fleming when

(24:45):
I was very young, Jack Higgins, Flight of the Eagles,
and Ken Folet I of the Needle. Why am I
talking reading? I'll get there in a minute. I have
a story to tell. I was having dinner the other
night talking about restaurants, and as I started to talk
about restaurants, I reminded myself that one of my favorite writers,
Stuart Woods, wrote a series of books. I've read sixty

(25:07):
six of them. But as the story goes, I had
my closest friend, the guy named Bill, and anytime we
hung out together travel together, people would introduce him. I
would introduce him. He'd tell people his name was Stone Barrington.
And I said to him, what are you getting this from?
It says, I'm Stone Barrington. So little did I know.
One day I'm in the airport and I'm looking for

(25:27):
a book to buy by first of the sixty six
Stuart Woods novels, and I'd buy the book. I didn't
see anything else to read when I was getting on
the plane, and in it, I turned the page and
there was Stone Barrington. And right then and there I
realized that my friend picked up this name Stone Barrington
from this series of books by Stuart Woods. Stone is
an attorney. He is had a buddy, chief of police,

(25:49):
Dino Barcetti, and they go back and hang out at restaurants.
At first, I hung out at Elane's. Eventually I don't
know what book it was. Towards the tail end of
the sixty six passed away and they moved to another
restaurant called Patroons. And I'm talking about this, and then
I realized why reading and one of my reflective moments

(26:10):
and a career lesson to have because of reading books.
And I remembered Patroon and got me into a story.
I was a young man. I was working for van Usen.
I was at the time a design director. I was
doing well, and one day a friend of mine, a
business associate, came in. His name is Bud Winstrel May

(26:32):
he rest in peace. Bud was the president of the
largest button company in the United States, Copper's Buttons kopp Ers.
I don't know if they're still around. And I know Bud,
isn't I miss him. He's a great guy, a senior statesman,
and he took a liking to me. Now I also
had a big pencil. I bought a lot of buttons
for van Usen, the third largest shirt company in the

(26:54):
world at that time. So we became friendly. And one
day Bud invites the entire company out to lunch for Christmas.
And he invited our president, senior vice president, executive vice presidents,
all the vice president and at the time I was
on low on the ranking. We all walk into this
beautiful restaurant. Everybody starts to take a seat and Bud

(27:16):
puts his hand out in front of me, right where
my chest is is his weight. So everybody sits down
and then he comes and he says, come on market.
And he is the host of the afternoon, takes me
aside and seats me right next to him, and he
looks at me and he said to me, Mark, do
you know why I have you sitting next to me?

(27:37):
I said, no, I don't. Bud. He said, because you're
the future, and I want to spend my time in
the future. I believe you're going to be important someday,
and I want you with me whenever I can. That's
how I met Bud, That's how I liked him, and
it was such a nice thing. Fast forward a few
months later. I get a call Mark and I come
up and see you. Bud comes up to see me,

(27:57):
says to me, you're leaving the company. I said, Watt,
does I have a job for you. I want you
to leave the company. Said, what are you talking about.
I'm here three years, I'm doing great. He says, I
know you've been here three years, but I have an
opportunity for you. And he said, there's a shirt company,
private shirt company. It was about one hundred and fifty
million dollar business, two owners, great company, private label. They

(28:18):
didn't have brands. They made shirts with the stores brand
in it. So if you went for Macy's, it would
be bar one or Alfani or if you went to Sacks,
you would make Sacks private label. So he asked me
to go, and I went, and I introduced myself to
the people, and I met them, and the fascinating thing
at the time was they wanted someone from the brands
who would think like brands, who would bring them new products,

(28:39):
new ideas, And they offered me triple what I was earning,
which was double that my boss, the vice president was earning.
I went from being a nicely paid, relatively new associate
to making more than my boss by thirty percent. So
it became one of those things that you couldn't really
turn down. But I spoke with him about He said, look, more,

(29:02):
this is not the end of your career. It's a
way to jumpstart your salary, to get a high profile position,
learn new skills. You should go. And I made a
decision that he was right and I would go. I
went through my boss, who is my long term ally,
who's my long term ally. We in the course of
our career, work together for thirty years. We were words
and music. I went and I told him I'm resigning.

(29:25):
Said why you're resigning? I said, listen, I have an
opportunity to make a lot of money. I could jumpstart
my career. I could learn things that I'm not going
to learn here for the next few years. I want
to go, but I also want you to know I
am coming back. He said, how do you know we'll
take you back. I said, I know, because I'm not
leaving out of malice. I'm not leaving you hanging. I

(29:45):
will give the company four weeks or more if you
need severance. But I wanted you to know before I
go to my direct boss and tell him I'm leaving.
He says, look, I got your back. If this is
what you want, I respect it and good luck to you.
Oh and by the way, I hate you. You're making
more more money than me. So I went into my
vice president. I was at a sales meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(30:07):
I'll never forget, and I said to him, I'm leaving
the company. He says, no, you're not. I said, I am.
I said, listen, I love it here. I'm sorry I'm leaving.
It's an opportunity to learn more, grow more. I make
a lot more money, and I've decided I'm going to leave.
But I want you to know. I promise you. I
can't tell you exactly when, but I'm going to come
back to the company because this is where my heart

(30:27):
is and I want to be here, and I will
be here when the time comes. So please, if you
need four weeks, eight weeks, tell me what you need
and I'll stay and make sure no one gets stuck.
So I went and I left to work for this company.
And it's true they desperately wanted someone who had branded experience.

(30:47):
In fact, the vice president that I followed into this
position he left and he was from branded companies who
know how to market and build things that were bigger
than life. So they graciously and effortlessly brought me into
the home, made me part of the company, treated me brilliantly,
and I loved it for a very short while. You see,

(31:09):
what happened was while they were one hundred and fifty
million dollar private company, and I'm sure the owner of
the company had more money in the bank than the
CEO of PVH. But it was a private company, and
it didn't have the bells and the whistles, it didn't
have the flare, It wasn't bigger than life. And USEN
was the third largest share company in the world. It
was traded on the public stock the New York Stock Exchange.

(31:31):
It was amazing, and I missed it, and I really
decided that I wanted to go back to van use it.
After three months, I called my friend and my boss
and I said, I want to come back to the company.
And he said to me, let's have dinner. I'll call
you with a restaurant. He called me back. He said,
we're going to have dinner at Patroons. So that's what

(31:54):
got me thinking about the story I'm telling you right now.
We went and I met with he and his wife
at Patroons and we started to talk and I told
him how great the company I was. I was with,
but I missed venues and I want to come back,
and anything he can do to make it happen I
would appreciate. He said, look, I don't know. The jobs
are not growing on trees. You're coming back. You're making

(32:16):
a lot of money. I'll see what I could do.
The following day, calls me up. I spoke to the CEO.
We take you back. There's no opportunity in venues. And
there's another division that's being started also in the private
label business where you are so fortuit is that you
went and learned private label because we're building a collection company,
a company that will make and design products to sell

(32:38):
as a collection. What does that mean? Suits, sweaters, shirts,
dress shirts, pants, everything, and we're going to sell it
to the mass market chains. J. C. Penny specifically has
asked us to build a division to sell for them.
You'll sell Kmart, you'll sell Walmart, You'll sell whoever there
is to sell in that area. It's big business. We
want you back. That's where you're starting. And by the way,

(33:00):
you're going to work for Robert Solomon. Now, Robert Solomon
turned out to be one of my great mentors in life.
He was more a friend than a business associated. We
worked very very closely for the year I was in
this division, which was called PVH Sportswear. It was the
first sportsweark collection company that was built for Phillips Vanues

(33:22):
and I went in to meet with Bob about coming back.
Bob loved me. He knew me from my days at
van Us and he was always a great guy and
many the lessons that I've talked about in the past.
No is my favorite word. Anybody comes to you and
asks for a decision right now. The answer is no, Mark,
I may not always be right, I'm never wrong. I
learned this from Bob Solomon and those stories. If you're

(33:43):
a follower of the show, you've heard, and if not,
I'm sure I'll get around to them again. So I
go in to see Bob and at the time, now
I knew that many of the people that I work
with have were becoming vice presidents at van Usen, although
I wasn't in van Usen. I wanted to be a
vice president. And Bob said to me, look, Mark, I'm
going to pay you what you want to make. I

(34:04):
want you with me. You'll be treated with respect, you'll
come back to the company. It's not fan using. But
I can't make you a vice president. I would have
to ask permission. I said, well, ask permission. I want
to be a vice president. So he went to Larry Phillips,
who was the CEO Phillips Family Phillips Venues, and said,
I want to bring back Mark, but he wants to
be a vice president. Between the two of them, I

(34:26):
don't know how they came up with the scheme, but
basically they agreed that at the end of a year,
if I'm still with the company, they will make me
a vice president. And Bob said, that's the best we
can do for you, Mark and I accepted it because
I trusted them, and I knew Bob and I would
work well. I knew I'd be successful, at least I
hoped I would, and then I'd be a vice president.
I wait a year, I would have the patience. Over

(34:48):
the course of the next six months, Bob and I
became words and music. We did everything together. We traveled,
we met a lot of people. We were doing well,
we were developing collection. We were applauded. The people in
van Usen had to come to see what we were
doing because they couldn't do what we were doing. The
two of us were gifted in many ways. He was
smarter than me, far more experience, and together my youth,

(35:11):
my enthusiasm, I taste level his experience, expertise. He was
a seller at one time, brilliant. We did well. All
of a sudden they decided to bring in a boss
for Bob and I, someone who heretofore was below Bob
in other areas in the company. I'll never forget. His
name was Geene Warsaw, Geene Warsaw was a brilliant executive,

(35:32):
brilliant sales executive, brilliant in selling the national chains. He
knew everyone from the President CEOs on down. If he
wanted an order, he would get an order. If he
needed a favor, he would get a favor. He knew
how to navigate. Bob was disillusioned. I was disillusioned, but
we said we'll do it and we started to work.
And Geene was brutal. He was not easy. In hindsight,

(35:55):
when I look back, I didn't like his style then,
But in hindsight, he knew what he wanted, he knew
how to get it done. He demanded expertise, he demanded
it quickly. He had no patience. He would not suffer fools.
And if Bob and I had chips on our shoulders,
too bad. There are chips not his toe the line.
So in the beginning he really didn't enjoy us, and
he really didn't like us, and it was an unpleasant experience,

(36:17):
particularly for Bob, not for me, because I reported to Bob.
Bob reported to him and he had a deal with him,
and Bob screened me from a lot of the ugly.
But as time went on. We got to a year
that PVH Sports where it was open, and now my
review comes and they give me a nice raise and

(36:37):
they say to me, I hope you're happy, Mark, We
really appreciate you. I said, what about the VP? And
Bob looked at me and he said what VP? And
I said, do you forget what happened when I joined here?
He says, refresh my memory. I said, I'll do better
than that. I'll be back in a minute. And in
my desk I had the letter that said they would
pay me such and such at the end of the
year they make vice president. He says, I forgot about this,

(36:59):
but I'm sure we'll make you a vice president. Let
me go talk to Gene. So Bob goes to Gene,
and Gene uncategorically says to Bob, I will not make
him a vice president. I didn't make him this problem.
I don't want a vice president. He's not becoming a
vice president. Bob said, he has the letter. He says, well,
Larry phillipsweater. Larry Phillips agreed to it. Let him go

(37:20):
to Larry Phillips. So Bob comes back to me, says, look,
I have to talk to Larry Phillips. But I'll get
back to here. A day later, comes into me, said,
Larry wants to talk to you. So I go to
see Larry Phillips, the CEO of the company. Very gracious,
very smart. I always had a great relationship with him,
and I had a bad relationship with him. It depended
on when. But we had something together. And you know,

(37:43):
remember he's the CEO of public company. I'm a little
whipper snapper. I knew nothing. And Larry said to me, look, Mark,
I know I promised you the role of vice president,
but your current boss, Gene Warser, doesn't believe in it,
doesn't think you should be a vice president. He wants
you to work there more time. He wants to get
to know you better. He thinks a vice president's role
is very important before he gives it. He wants to

(38:06):
know that he's giving it, not me. So I will
tell you where we are.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
If you hold me to it, we'll make you a
vice president. But you have to consider that your boss
doesn't want you to be think about it and come
back to us. Dilemma. Dilemma, dilemma. Now, when I look
back and I think about my career and tonight, in particular,
when I'm talking about the best things in life, aren't things.

(38:31):
This is about character and making decisions. What should I do?
I waited a couple of days. I went back and
to see Bob and I asked him to arrange a
meeting for him and for me with Gene. Gene brought
us into the conference room Bob had briefed him. I said,
I'm here to talk to you about the vice president.
I'm here to talk to you about the vice president's role.

(38:54):
I want you to know, Gene, that I really appreciate
the fact that Larry Phillips recognized that he made me
that promise, that he's put it in writing that I
have the right to become a vice president. More importantly,
I believe that I did everything I should do to
become a vice president. I've traveled around the world. I've

(39:14):
demonstrated the kind of executive I could be. I've proven
that my skills in fashion working for the company, the
division that you started we started is working out very well.
And by the rayge you've given me, obviously it says
that you guys appreciate the work I do. But I'm
going to tell you I've made a decision. I am

(39:37):
not going to push for the vice president's role right now.
I don't want it under these circumstances. The fact that
you don't believe this time is right. I'm going to
respect you in your position, and I'm going to walk
away from the letter, and I would hope that as
time goes on, we have a chance of doing this again. Now,

(39:57):
I can tell you when I looked in the eyes
of Gene Warsaw, when I looked in the eyes of
Bob Solomon, I knew right then and there that my
life and my good fortunes in the company had changed.
They looked at me with a degree of respect that
I don't know then till today I've ever seen again.
The fact that I had the wherewithal to recognize what

(40:20):
the right thing was to do earned me tremendous points
that day. Why I had that character. Whenever I've done
something special and I think about it, I always wonder
where did I get this wisdom? On one hand, I

(40:41):
could tell you I believe in God, and maybe he's
whispering in my ear. Maybe that conscience that sits on
one end of your shoulder versus the bad guy the
good guy, A good guy was whispering in my ear.
Whatever it was, I had the presence of mind to
put it off, and for that I earned the respect
of many executives in the company. Fast forward six months later,

(41:03):
Bob and I left that division. I went back to
van Usen. I became the head of the Dresshert division,
the largest division in Phillips van Usen Corp. At that time,
larger than any suit division, any sweater company. Huge. I
had a big job, but I didn't have the title.
That took a few more years. But having said it,

(41:23):
the best things in life aren't things, and character is
one of them. Back in a minute.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl
Lagefeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
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(41:55):
premium fragrances. You could explore the Carlagofl collection of Carlagofeld
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.

(42:15):
If you want to look right, you want to have
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(42:38):
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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
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neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details
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(43:01):
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 Lagafeldparis dot com. I love polar fleece.

(43:21):
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

(43:42):
of IAID. I used to be the head of Iside.
In fact, my company bought it and out of bankruptcy,
and the CEO of the company asked me to come
in and fix it. And he said to me, Mark,
the future of the company's in your hands. Can you
do this? And I said, I will do it. I
put everything, my heart and soul into making eyes on
the power house that it is today now. I left

(44:02):
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

(44:22):
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,

(44:43):
Isaot is the one that's most personal to me because
I was involved in crafting the future of this brand.
The clothes are great, fall is great. They're doing well,
isod dot com, isaadat jcpenny. Go look for it. I
think you're going to be very happy. And ladies, those
of you the shopping for the guys in your life,
take a look. I think they'll be very happy with
your choices.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
Isaac for men, Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's
your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Those of you who are just joining us now, Tonight's
show is entitled the Best Things in Life Are in Things.
And those of you who haven't listened to this podcast
and radio show from the beginning, you just lost out
on something that's not a thing. I'm going to pick
up where I was on the story and of Hey,
what can I tell you? Not only did I become

(45:32):
a vice president, I became a senior vice president, executive
vice president, division president, a group president, president of the corporation,
CEO of a corporation, and board member. Doing the right
thing always counts. Having said all of that, tonight, I
have not been in a particularly happy mood. A couple

(45:54):
of things had happened. My birthday came, and although in
my head I'm twenty three years old, i am not
twenty three years old. And it's a pause to think
about life, and I've been doing it. I've watched the
movie The Complete Unknown, and it made me think about
my career coming out of nowhere and becoming what I've
become three chapters, business and van Usen van lvmh CEO

(46:19):
and the United States, and then of course the radio
and podcast and author. And while I've done very well,
I had one moment that was the loneliest and saddest
moment of my life. Now, I'm not talking personal. We
all experience things in our lives that are personal that
rock us and it's just part of life and I'm

(46:40):
not going there. But this is the single settest thing
that ever happened to me, the company that I talk
about with such great love and revere Van Usen. I
got fired to no fault on my own. I remember
one time talking to Donald Trump about her and he said,
you know, I've never seen anything like it. Mark. The
day you got fired, they took up the estimates on
Wall Street stock grew sauce. I've never seen anything like it.

(47:04):
You know. I read the SEC filing. There was no wrongdoing,
and here you are said, I never saw it, and
I haven't thought about it. I can't wait to see
Trump again when I tell him that, look what happened
to you, mister president, same thing. You did everything right,
nothing wrong, and you got slaughtered, impeached, lost the election,
but you're back like me. But it's a time for reflection.

(47:25):
And I got fired, and I remember I was career
lost lost. I was financially okay because I had a
great track record, and more importantly, I saved money. I
subscribed to my father in law's theory on money. Make
a dollars, save two, let the money work for you.
Anyone you read anything you see on the end at

(47:45):
any way you hear Warren Buffer any when they always
tell you when you get your paycheck, save money and
then whatever else you could do with want, but not
after you didn't save money and you invested. So I
was career loss, but not financially. I was really down,
I remember, and I was sitting at the kitchen table
by myself alone again. I started to cry and thought

(48:09):
about what happened to me, and I was sad. You
go through stages. I became angry, I was incredibly embarrassed.
I was feeling sorryfy myself, and I realized that there
was a future if I wanted. I thought about retiring,

(48:30):
and one day an article in the newspaper came out
and I read about luxury companies can't find CEOs, and
I said to myself, that's because you don't know where
to look. I ended up interviewing with two people, one
in Europe, one in the United States. The one in
Europe called. After I called, they called me back and

(48:51):
we started to talk, and it was at the CEO
job of Mark Jacobs. We got along famously until we
started to talk about what I wanted to be paid.
And at the time I was a public officer, so
my salary was published in the New York Times and
SEC filings and PVH filings so anyone can find it.

(49:14):
And I said, you know, let's not talk about salary.
Money doesn't matter. What matters is the job. I'm very excited.
I know Mark Jacobs. I think it'd be a great
opportunity for me to contribute. I know how to run
companies and blah blah blah. So no, what did you
Earn said, let's not talk about it really doesn't matter.
Make me an offer. What is it paying? She told myself, accepts,
don't but I need to know what you're ernest. I

(49:34):
finally told her. She said, this job is not for you, okay.
Second person I called, her name was Maxine Martin. She
owned her own boutique search firm. I called her and
I spoke to her assistant and she wasn't there, and
he promised me she called me back. She called me back.
He put her on the phone. I said, Maxine, you
don't know me. My name is Mark Weber and I'm

(49:57):
looking for work. She just Mark, don't be silly of
I know you. In fact, I have a folder on
my desk that's an inch thick with your name on it.
I have a record of everything you've done. But I
never dreamed that i'd be talking to you about placing you,
because you were alifer at that company and your track
record was so strong. So I said, would you be

(50:18):
willing to meet me? She says, yes, what are you
doing tomorrow? And I went to meet her the next
day and we started to talk and she says, how
has your experience in looking for workmen? I said, it's
a humbling experience. She's a house so I said, I've
met with people who show me absolutely no respect. I'm
sitting either in interviews or with search firms, and they're
reading their mail, they're taking phone calls. This one thing

(50:41):
I learned in my career, no matter who was sitting
in front of me. If I was with them and
I was having a meeting or they were talking about
important stuff like hire and fire and looking for jobs,
I would never take a call. My assistant was instructed,
never place a call, never anything. These people deserve my time.
They're out of work. They need to be treated properly.
I've always had an affinity for people who are out

(51:03):
of work. I know so hard it is to work,
and I went into it. And she says, that's life.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
She says, but you have a great record, and I
want you to remember that, and I said I did,
but thank you. I will tell you a story, maccine.
I will never forget Spencer Stewart, the great search firm,
the women who handled the fashioned luxury and retail practice.
I was sitting there talking with her about becoming the
CEO of Liz Claiborne, which at the time would have

(51:30):
been bigger than life from me. They were a big company,
four billion dollars. She had no intention of hiring me.
She was on hiring me. She was so disrespectful for me.
And I was sitting there and watching her take phone
calls and take notes and do everything else. Get back
to me in between her other business, her other busy business.
I said to myself, you know this is so demoralizing.

(51:51):
But I was sitting in a club chair, and I've
always loved club chairs ever since al Pacina sat in one,
and the Godfather when he became Michael Coleon Godfather talking
to Santino and Tom Hagen about what they should do
to protect their father. I sat there in their club
chair and started to think about what I would do
if I came back. And I recognized two things. One,

(52:13):
they could take away your title, but they can't take
away your education. They could take away your title, but
they can't take away your skill sets. And while this
woman isn't listening to what I have to say, I
know that every subject she's asked me, I knew it.
So Maxine, I'm ready to make a long story short.
Maxine placed me in front of LVMH first, the executive

(52:37):
vice president of recruiting in the United States, Edie Steinberg,
who in turned like me enough to introduce me to
the managing director, Antonio Beloni, who in turn asked me
to fly to Paris to meet with Madame Conchetta, who
is the h head of HR for Global human resources
at LVMH and then of course to Bernard Ornau, the

(53:00):
chairman and CEO and founder of Louis Viton Mohat Hennessy.
And I er talking to you about this because I
said before to Night's show, it's the best things in
life are not things. Their life, their experiences is about
who you are, and I'll never forget. After getting the job,
my first board meeting six months later, where I would

(53:23):
introduce myself to the board and to all the managing
people in Paris, sharing with them what's been going on
in my future and what I thought was best for
the brands that I was managing, in particular Donna Karen,
which they hired me for to turn around. They had
spent hundreds of millions of dollars and just couldn't make
a profit. I did eight years in a row, record years.

(53:45):
Having said that, I got there eight o'clock in the
morning to the board room. They let me up. They
put me in the broad room. I had my papers,
no one else was there. The shades were down, was
dark in the room. I didn't even know how to
turn on the lights. I tell you, their board room
was the size of a city block. It was huge,
and as I stumbled around, I finally found the switch

(54:07):
to open the blinds, to open the shades, waiting for
all the executives from France, from other ports of call
around the world to hear Mark Weber present his plans
for the future of the US companies. I pressed the
button and the automatic shades started to rise, and as
they lifted, the sun came in. It was a beautiful,

(54:29):
warm spring morning in June. And as the shades went up,
there before me was the Eiffel Tower. Now not a
worse but I started to cry, thinking, here is this
guy from Brooklyn who should have never had this opportunity,
who lost the love of his life, the Venues and Company,

(54:50):
and here he is at the finest luxury company in
the world, in this capacity, meeting with the heads of
the Luis Vetom o't Hennessy Corporation. I started to cry
and realized how lucky I was to have re emerged,
survived and prospered. And yes to night. When I tell
you the best things in life are in things, I

(55:11):
hope you learned that yourself by listening to the show
Good Night