Underestimated Until You're Not

Underestimated Until You're Not

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 of Parow.

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 Weber. He's a self made
business executive here to help you find your success. From
the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris.
His global success story in the luxury world of fashion

(00:28):
is inspirational. He's gone from clerk to CEO twice. Mark
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. I never dreamed of success. It was beyond
my reach until it wasn't. In life, I've learned to
listen more importantly to hear. I've learned you can watch,
but it's more important to see. I've learned that well
done is more important than well said. I've never accepted
people telling me what I can't do. I just went

(01:04):
out and did what I can do. And yet as
powerful as my thoughts were, I was always underestimated. No
matter what I achieved, I was underestimated. I noticed that
success was impossible until it wasn't. I realized life is tough,

(01:24):
but so am I. I learned early on to expect
nothing but appreciate everything. Yes, I've been introspective this week.
With the season changing, I feel the mood is changing.
I'm now even more serious than I already am. But
I'm interested in all things always. I lived a life

(01:47):
of questioning right for mom. My career was hard, fort
and won, never easy. I didn't go to the best schools.
I must admit. My New York accent didn't help. My
fashion wardrobe sent their own signals. I didn't look the part.
I grew up in the city projects, didn't have a chance,
no mentors, no contacts, no inside help, no relatives that

(02:10):
came over on the Mayflower. And yet something happened, something special.
Maybe I was lucky. Well, perhaps it's true the harder
I worked, the luckier became, Except that everyone works hard,
so that's not a differentiator. What was, as it relates
to me, was curiosity. I always wanted to learn more.

(02:36):
As example, this week, a friend of mine was delayed
on their flight to New York. When I asked why,
I was told the plane had a flat tire. I
immediately went online how do you change a tire and
an airplane of a major airline? I was driven curiosity
in everything. Would you have done that? I could say
my career was all about learning different disciplines. In this

(03:00):
I was cheap right from the beginning. From the onset,
I was moved from division to vision, given opportunities to
learn new things. Funny story, I remember when I got
my first job. After my first interview, I was put
on the executive team. I was on the executive management group,
and I remember calling home and telling my mom, You're

(03:20):
not gonna believe it. I got the job and I'm
an executive. What I later found out what that meant
that I was on the executive payroll. No matter how
many hours I worked, I would get no overtime. So
anybody else who was hired at the same salary as
me at that time made far more money than I did.
I can only say that over time I caught up.

(03:40):
In my thirty years at PVH, I had twenty different
assignments and titles. Now I don't know whether or not
today you'd be able to move around that much. It's
hard and you have to probably find another way. Ask questions,
sit in incillarary meetings, make a lot. Alliances with finance

(04:01):
people or sales people learn what they do. It's harder
today you wouldn't be earning the least amount of money.
And when they dig in you're putting a stovepipe. Here
you are an account and learn account and hear your
sales and learn sales. So it's more complicated. But I
had twenty five different assignments and titles and that mattered

(04:22):
to me. Those titles meant everything. The different responsibilities taught me.
I learned new things and new skills. The changing of
those titles meant a lot, and all of them developed
the hard way I earned it. Now, having said that,
I have to admit there was plenty of disappointments along

(04:42):
the way. I was often overlooked. I was also underestimated
until I wasn't. Now I have different ways I can
tell this story tonight, probably twenty different ways. But here's
what I'm going to do. I want to talk to
you about different experienceearances, my travels around the world. I

(05:03):
have to admit tonight's show I was always underestimate till
I was now A prime tenant of this show is
package yourself is as important as the product you package.
And I've done entire shows on the subject and I
will again, but for now, As I said, I was
underestimated pretty much because I thought cool was king rather

(05:26):
than smart and purposeful. As I looked around me in
the early days, the examples being set to people who
were there, the professionalism and the professional way to handle themselves,
I realized that I had to be seen and taken seriously.
I had to build my knowledge base, know everything no more,

(05:47):
and I realized that there are certain things that I've
talked about add and for item on the show. There
always is a dress code in the company. Now it's
more relaxed today than it ever was before, but there's
still a way of looking. How you dress. You get
the signals from your president, your CEO, your chief financial officer,

(06:07):
those people in the company who are making decisions. My case,
I always felt I looked best in a navy blue suit,
white shirt and navy tie. I migrated from time to
time to gray, charcoal gray and the sum alike gray,
but I always had a look. But it's not just
what you wear, it's how you take care of the
things that you want to All these years. I still

(06:28):
wash my own cars. Why because their mine, and I
take great value and pride in them. You have to
have your shoes shine, You have to have your heals sparkling. Correctly.
It matters the way you look. It shouldn't, but it does.
The words in speaking you choose are incredibly important, and
your presentation manners a great deal. I have told the

(06:51):
story a number of times, and allow me to tell
it to you again, because we get new listeners every week.
I was working for PVH my first week, and the
president of the company's name was Stan Gillette, a powerful gentleman,
a classy gentleman, addressed perfectly. He called a State of
the Union meeting for the people in New York. Because
between two and three hundred people. I'll never forget I went.

(07:13):
I sat in the back because I was shy. I
was always a bit of an introvert. Today I'm a reclose.
But I wanted to listen, and I wanted to listen
unimpeded by the people around me. Mister Gillette got up
and he started to give his speech. Once everyone received,
he said, welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I can't tell you
how happy I am, and how proud I am to

(07:34):
be your president. I particularly want to address the young
people in this audience today because you folks are our future,
and you folks need to like what you're doing here.
Whether you've realized it or not, you're more important to
the company than we are to you. Yes, you need
the job, but you're our future. And he went on

(07:54):
to speak for an hour, taking questions afterwards, taking no notes.
He did it from his mind, he understood it. That
was an amazing thing for me, and I realized how
important it was to speak in public life. And I
set my first goal in a public company and my
business career that day. And then I wanted to learn
how to speak to an audience without notes. So that's

(08:18):
important as well in packaging yourself. And then you're bearing.
How do you stand? Do you fidget? Do you stand
tall when you're meeting people? Do you shake hands while
you're sitting or you know better than anyone comes over
that you shake the hand, You stand up, look them
in the eye and shake their hand, Stand tall, and
always be confident, be proud of who you are and

(08:40):
what you do well. It became clear that knowing and
being smart and polished was very important. I often think
about public life and corporations. They're a lot like the military,
and I can talk about that and for items as well.
On another day, perhaps I will so many of the words.
I'm fifty thousand feet. It's a military term on how

(09:03):
you're looking at a project or looking at something that's happening.
If you're in the Air Force, you're looking for fifty
thousand feet. You're not looking close dress down in a
ship level. But in the military you never relinquished the
high ground. You never surrender or retreat from the ground
you capture. And that is the scene for corporate titles

(09:24):
or responsibility. And I have a very important story that
I want to tell. It's a fun story and it
happened because last week's show I mentioned a business card.
I didn't want to talk about it. I became president
of Phillips Venues, and I was Philly young guy. Was
a big title. I never expected to become president of
the corporation. In my thirty years there, in my twenty

(09:46):
five assignments, I had divisional titles, vice president, even a
president's division. And then I became corporate vice president, senior
vice president, executive vice president, vice chairman President eventually CEO
this story about being president, and I hadn't been to Asia,
which was my stumping grounds ten years earlier. But as

(10:07):
the president of the company and they newly deemed an
announced president company, I felt I had a responsibility to
go to Asia because so much of our products came
from that part of the world, so much of our
marketing was taking places around the world. I needed to
show my face, and I went. I stopped off in Japan,
as I said, my old haunting ground in Tokyo and Osaka,

(10:31):
Taiwan career. But the highlight of the trip was our
China expansion. With the ownership of Common Clin we had
a big business in China and we were attempting to
give it even bigger importance in the company. And PVH
and its various different brands were growing as well in
that part of China. So I went to China, and

(10:52):
I went to Beijing, and I had been back in
the day, but now I'm there as the president because
I was there and I was newly appointed to was
a major banquet dinner after meeting that day with a
couple of government officials, and I went to the dinner
and at the dinner, I was part of a group
of people. On one side there was a dais of

(11:13):
people of the Chinese contingent and the other side was
the American contingent as a big square dinner table.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
But we faced our count and as my translator, who
happened to be the number one guy at our hardcore office,
a gentleman Tony Wong, great guy who I knew very well,
was introducing our staff.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
When he got to me, he explained to these people
who I was. And you can see by their body
language or they're talking the way they were speaking that
for one of a better word. I sensed there was
some confusion, and there was back and forth, and they
introduced me and I bowed and hello, and what have you.

(11:56):
Tony got up and came over to me, said to me,
I said, what's going on? He said, there's some confusion here.
I said, okay, what's the confusion? I said, they're trying
to understand who you are because they claim they've already
met the president. And I got quiet for a minute
and I said, who did they meet? And there was

(12:18):
a woman. I'm deciding whether I tell her name? Yeah,
why not? Her name was Ellen. She was the president
of the shirt division. She's a powerful woman, very capable,
smart as can be. But she was the president of
the dress shirt division of the van Using company as
compared to me, the corporate head of the entire venues

(12:40):
in corporation of which van Using was an important component.
Believe in Calvin Klein other brands. Why would there be confusion, Well,
he said, you know, when she comes here, she's wielding
a very big pencil. It's important that she has all
the prestige et And I said, I get it. I
was a buyer for a large part of my life.

(13:01):
I understand what it means to have clout and presence.
But I would think that the dress shirt division, with
the huge business that we had in that world, in
their company and as a buyer, would be enough as well.
They're confused, so there was much confusion. As Tony is
talking to this group of people, one of the gentlemen

(13:22):
pulls out a binder with all the business cards of
people from our company and hands them the business card
of Ellen, and you could see Tony is uncomfortable, and
I wave him over and he brings over the business
card and what it says is Ellen, And of course
her last name President Venues under the heading Phillips Venues

(13:46):
in Corporation. See, the problem was, she wasn't president of
Phillips Venues in Corporation. She was president of the Vanues
and Shirt Company, the Venues and Shirt Company Rush Shirt Division.
And now I knew what the confusion was. I thank Tony.

(14:07):
I told the people that I've explained, and I began
my address to them. I first thanked them for being
great partners and suppliers to Phillips Venues and Corporation, of
which I am the president. I represent the entirety of
Phillips Venues in Corporation, which clues Calvin Klein, Tommy hilfar

(14:28):
Aisa Gant, all of our brands, including venues and dress
shirts or sports shirt. It is true that you made Ellen,
who is a very important executive in our company. She
is the president of our dress shirt division, not the corporation.
I am the president of the corporation, and I'm very

(14:49):
happy to meet you. So they start nodding their heads,
and now they understand it. Tony, please explain what I
just said for that, and he did. I had some
back and forth, and now everyone smiling, and everyone understands
what's going on. At the break, I must admit I
was angry. I didn't like being embarrassed. I didn't like

(15:11):
having to explain who I was. My title and responsibility
should have predated me. It should have been there beforehand,
which it was, except it was undermine in this instance.
So it was nine o'clock at night, nine o'clock in
the morning. Back home in New York, I called the
head of human resources, a fellow named Dave, and I said, Dave,

(15:31):
we have a problem. I've got a banquet dinner in
China in Beijing, meeting with officials from the Beijing head office.
Were responsible for all the production we purchased in China,
And during the introduction period I was introduced as president
of Thilps nann Using. And they were confused because as
far as they were concerned, they already knew who the

(15:51):
president of THLPS en User was, and you know who,
they thought it was Ellen. And on the other I says,
oh my, I said, Dave, in front of me Ellen's
business card, and in that all business cards come from
your office. I'm reading a business card. This is Ellen
under Phillips van Using President, not Phillips van using, not

(16:12):
van using company, not venues in Dress Shirt Division, those
titles that would have to accompany Phillips van use it
if it was allowed on the card, which generally speaking,
is not the way it's done on our executives President
venues and company president based in Dress Shirt Division, a
division of Phillips fan using COLEA. Let me find out,

(16:35):
I said, A hold on the line. He goes into
his team and he finds out that Ellen demanded that
they print her card the way she wanted rather than
the corporate agreement, and thus the confusion. So I said, Dave,
I need you to do me a favor. Now, let
me rephrase that I don't need a favor. I need
to ask a favor of the people that print on

(16:55):
business cards. I want you to go to them. It's
Thursday here in China. I will be in the office
on Monday. I want you to reprint Ellen's business cards
and I want her to have them on her desk
when she walks in Monday morning with a little load.
Mark will be seeing you today at ten am. Sure enough, Monday,
at ten am, I went to see Ellen and I

(17:18):
said to Ellen, did you look at the card? She said, yes,
she says, I know what you're going to say. I said, no,
you don't. I said, let me talk first. I said, Ellen,
I wish you all the luck Someday. I hope you
can be president of this corporation. I think you have
what takes to be the president. However, until such time

(17:39):
that you get there, I'm the president of the corporation.
I know I earned it the hard way. I put
in thirty years here to get to this position. I
was elected to the board based on my performance. I
am the head of this company. I report to the CEO.
I report to the board. I don't try to be
anything different than what I am. I was in China.

(18:02):
I was embarrassed. I spent the first ten minutes of
my meeting with the Chinese contingent explaining them who they are.
I will never relinquish my position. I work too hard
for it. I will never relinquish my titles. I work
too hard for it. I will never relinquish my responsibilities.
I worked too hard for it, she tried to explain.

(18:26):
She tried to explain the importance of Bravado in faith.
I said, Ellen, you're the president of the van using
dresser company. If that's not big enough for you. You're
in the wrong place. Having said that, I've always been underestimated,
but never untentionally like it was that night. Having said it,

(18:46):
had a great time, came home. I'm going to take
a break. When we come back, I'll tell you about
the first time I ever realized how underestimated I was.
Back in a moment, always in fashion. Venusen actually the
name Venues, and the first time I heard it, I
thought was an old man's company. I was in an
interview and I was being offered a job to work,

(19:07):
and I said, it's old men's company. And the headhunter
who is recruiting me said, you're an idiot. Said they're
a public company. They're one of the world's great shirt makers.
And if, in fact you feel they're old, that's why
they want young people like you Mark to change the
company and to bring it into the next century. And
lo and behold, I joined them. I put my heart
and soul in that company. I did everything I can

(19:27):
to participate in making it one of the world's great brands,
and it is. If you look at van using they
called sportswear. I don't understand the name sportswear. I don't
understand neckwear when you're talking about ties. I don't understand
the name hosiery when you're talking about socks. I'm not
sure I understand the name sportswear when you're talking about
men's clothing. Well, men's clothing is complicated because that in

(19:49):
the retail venue means suits and sport codes. Having said that,
van used in sportswear, shirts, sweaters, knitwear amazing. Then use
it is a modern approach the fashion that appeals to
a broad base of Americans. First of all, it's affordable.
You find it in stores that you visit that you

(20:10):
could afford to participate it. You could buy multiple items
that are all coordinated together. Them primary colors start with
black and tan and gray and navy. They're all salable.
They make sense. The knitwear in the spring of the year, amazing,
golf shirts, amazing, polo shirts in the fall of the year,
whether it's polar fleece or sweaters. Then use it has

(20:32):
a modern approach to fashion. You buy the pants, the dress, shirts,
the suits, the neckwear. But in particular I'm talking about
the coordinated collection sportswear in venues. The styling is perfect,
the fits are generous the design to make you feel comfortable.
Not only aren't your body by the fit, but in
your head? Then use in Sport Collections are one of

(20:55):
my favorite to this day. And believe me, I'm involved
when I see the line. If I don't like them,
I call the principles of the company and say what
are you doing? But I don't have to do it
because that taste level is right. If you want to
buy affordable men's clothes that look right, If you're modern,
you want to get dressed for the day and look
your part, you want to go out at night, van

(21:17):
Using will work for you. I am supporting and recommending
you go see van Using Sportsman J C. Penny or
online at your favorite stores. Van Using a brand that
has always been with me and I'll always have a
soft spot in my heart for it. As one of
the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld was renowned

(21:38):
for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His
unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through Car
Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory,
shoes and bags. The fashion house carlagafeld also offers a
range of watches, I wear and premium fragrances. You can
explore the car Lagovol collection at carlagofelpowers dot com. But

(22:03):
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. If you
want to look right, you want to have clothes that
fits you well. You want to look like you're wearing
something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours.

(22:28):
You can find it at very affordable prices at Macy's
Orcarlagofel dot com. Paris, the women's ready to wear fashion
is extraordinary, as well as the handbigs and the shoes.
I for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my appreciation of
women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want to look current.
I want to look the way I want to feel.

(22:48):
I go out at night, I'm in black and Carlagofel
is my buddy. Clothes 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
car Lagafel because he's always been, he always had been
one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and
goes on and on. I can't speak enough about it

(23:11):
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 Lagafelt,
Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Underestimated until you're not. It's a night's show. I have
been underestimated my entire career. I lived the life of
questioning right from wrong. My career was hard for it.
I never took it for granted. I never understood until
I started working in the real world how complicated it

(23:51):
was to become successful in big companies, and yet I did.
Having said that, I said early, I'll say it again,
and for me it was it's all about learning, and
that learning was what changed my life. I remember the
first time that I ever realized they're not being seen

(24:13):
could be a good thing. I often say now that
I used to be important, I no longer I am,
and I know what it feels like to be glanced over.
But back in the day I didn't realize. And here's
the story that helped me deal with my pride and
disappointment and realized that under the raidar might be an asset.

(24:34):
One day, I'm minding my own business in my office
and the president of the company comes down to see
me and he said, we're going to Marseille, Illinois. What's
in Marseille, Illinois? He said, Larry Phillips and CEO of
the company, just bought a company, Heisman Manufacturing. They've been
brought into the group. They're based in Marsale, Illinois. They

(24:54):
make outwear. They're an outerwear company, and mister Phillips believes
that out Ofwear could be a great opponent of the
company's sportswear business. And they have one particular jacket that
he thinks is outstanding and maybe should be part of
the venues and company where I work offerings. Uh, you
out there would recognize Barracuda jacket if you saw it.

(25:16):
It's khaki it's a short jacket that has been worn
by Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Europeans such as Elaine deelaon
if memory serves me correctly. The anyway, the CEO wanted
us at van Usen to consider buying these Barracuda jackets
and selling them through the venues and distribution network. We
were just much bigger, much larger, had the dominance. If

(25:39):
we wanted the jacket place, they were going to buy
it from us in our sportswear division. And he thought
it would be a great opportunity if venues and sales
would sell them. Here's a story that I think is
great for sales opportunity. I didn't know if he was
right or wrong, whether or not van us And should
sell these jackets or not. But now it was the
sister company and there was an opportunity we should consider.

(26:03):
And I think of this great story because we also
own the Bass Shoe Company and one of our conversations
on how to grow Bess came from a selling story
that I want to share with you, which was applicable
to the story of Barracuda. Out ofwear, A salesman, two salesmen,
the best salesman in a shoe company. I called into

(26:23):
the office of the CEO, and the CEO says them,
I need you to go to Africa. You are two
best salesmen. We need to understand the opportunity. I want
you to go to Africa. Come back and report to me.
What takes place. Two guys pack up, they go to Africa.
They get there and they decide. The first one calls
the boss and says, listen, Boss, I'm here in Africa.

(26:46):
No one's wearing shoes. Makes no sense. I'm coming home.
The second salesman calls a minute after and says, Boss,
send me my samples. I don't have enough here. No
one's wearing shoes. We're going to sell a millionaire. I
love that story. On opportunity. Back to Marseille, Illinois. Larry
Phillips wants us in Marseille, Illinois. We go and meet

(27:10):
with Danny Kiseman, the head of the manufacturing company that
he just sold to Larry Phillips. He's remaining on as
the president, and I'll love to forget meeting him. In
his first comment to me, well, first coming to my boss, Bruce,
it's a pleasure meeting you. I've heard so much about you.
I know you're important in this company and I'm glad
you came from this in me. Thank you and Mark.

(27:30):
He looks at me and he goes great look and suit. Yeah,
another guy looking at me like a good looking guy
in a suit. But he then said, I'd like to
stop by taking a tour of the manufacturing plant to
currently in process, and I'd like you to walk through
and see it now talk about Lucky. During the course

(27:50):
of my career, as I said, I was always curious.
I tried to learn everything fast, fast, fast. You would
find take a moment, I would say that this is
not to brag, it's just to give you a backdob.
You'd find that I'm one of the most astute executives
on legal issues who you'll ever talk to, who isn't

(28:12):
an attorney. Why Because I made my business to understand
the legal issues surrounding be in retail, luxury and manufacturing business.
I could also tell you I'm a death financial executive.
I may not know what derivatives are, but I know
how to read a ballot sheet. I know how to
make money, and I know where all the costs are buried.
But I never studied finance, but when it came to manufacture,

(28:35):
I was an expert. Now again, I've never a manufacturing executive,
but I spent so much time in factory that I
was one of the best who never worked in a factory.
So here we are, mister Guisman telling me how good
I looked in his jacket factory, and it begins. We
start to tour, and I start to ask questions because

(28:58):
it's my nature. Mister Cunnisman, by the way, was thirty
years maybe forty years my elder, and it didn't expect
what would happen then, So as we started to walk
and he showed us in operation. Here's where they put
the cuffs on, or here what they saw on the car.
They said, how many factors allowed minutes to complete a jacket?
And he was taking a back and he started to

(29:19):
have to think about it, and he called overs factory
managers or this Mark asked how many factorm and he
told me. Then I asked him how many rodds per
dozen of fabric does it require to create the shell?
And then I asked the same question for the plaid lining.
What was the course of the fabric from the lining?
What's the course of the purchase the corpse. Where did
you purchase them? Now, all of a sudden, he's looking

(29:42):
me a little bit different. What's the relationship, of course,
between labor and wrong materials. Mister Kauism's behavior changed totally,
and it was a notable change. You could see I
was no longer a pretty face, and he kind of
was on understanding why I was there with the president
of the company. Now, of course he prejudged me. There's

(30:06):
a great story about prejudging. Those of you who listened
to the show before might have heard me tell it before.
I know for a fact we have new listeners this
week and high out there. Thank you for saying you listen.
You wrote me, we talked, whatever the case may be.
There's a story about J. C. Penny John Cash Penny,
the founder of J. C. Penny. Any time it is

(30:26):
told in folklore that he was hiring a new executive,
he would take them to lunch, and during lunch he
would observe them, and if an executive would salt their
food before they tasted it, he wouldn't hire them because
they prejudged the food, and he didn't want executives making

(30:47):
decisions by prejudging. He wanted them making decisions based on knowledge.
So here I was as being prejudged. And while mister
Kaisman was an impressive guy, maybe I wasn't. But of
course this guy was underestimated. At dinner that night I
heard what was to change my thinking forever. He looked

(31:08):
at my boss and he said to him, when we
sold the company in the PVH, Laurie Phillips, the CEO,
mentioned with him a briefing on the most senior management,
and they gave me a book with them and Bruce,
of course I knew of you, and I knew you
as a player. But then he looked at me and
he said, you I never heard of. I've seen you

(31:30):
at corporate headquarters at PVH. I frankly had you down
as a good looking guy in a suit, and for that,
I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously. I had no
idea who you were. I had no idea how serious
you were, how smart you were, and how well trained
and verse you were, he said to me. I was astounded,

(31:51):
and he told my boss right there, I know you
get him. My boss nodded, he's the real deal, and
then he said to me, Mark, I have to tell you.
I was so impressed. I'm so happy you're sitting here. Frankly,
I we should leave New York and come work here
in this factory. But I understand now who you are,
and I understand why you're invited to come here. He
said to me, You're a force of nature, and no

(32:15):
one's going to see you coming. He said. In major corporations,
all the executives are competing for the best job. It's
a war. It's kind of like the NFL. All the
guys are killing each other on the front line, and
the linebacker breaks through the opening to score. You'll like

(32:35):
the linebreaker, Mark, You're being underestimated. No one sees you's competition.
They don't realize that while they're killing each other off,
you're the one they have to look out for. I
am convinced you are going to be one of the
people running the corporation someday. And then he looked at
my boss and I said, I know what your future
looks like. But I had no idea. This guy Mark

(32:58):
was in that company doing what he's knowing what he does,
and of course he was right. We ended up running
the company. I also knew right then and the air
that my ego needed and wanted to be seen on
the company. I'll talk about that when you come back.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Than 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 multip occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(33:38):
an event, to wear a suit to the office with
or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends,
suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The
choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
in packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(33:59):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Ven Using invented a new idea.
It's called the cool Flex suit. It's been engineered with
stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility.
It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture WICKI it makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(34:21):
this new style of looking shop 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
venues and made its name with dress shirts. It's only
proper that the soup business follows strongly in its way.

(34:43):
You can find van Ues in cool flex men's stretch
suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys,
they're great. You should go look at them. My favorite
brand has always been iyes On. My company at one
time bought that brand. The CEO of the company and
did it to me and said you better make it work.
And I put everything in my career to make Eyesod

(35:06):
work and I fell in love with that brand, and
to this day it is one of the most exciting
endeavors I've ever gotten involved with. Isod is an incredibly
strong golf brand. If you play golf, if you play
tennis for that matter. They make a great polo shirts.
I mean great. They fit perfect. The material is unique

(35:30):
because it's a PK fabric that waffle weave you see,
and it's made of a blend of cotton and microfiber
that allows you to stretch, 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 Isod they

(35:50):
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 you is
makes great shorts and great golf pants. 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. Isaad is the

(36:10):
brand for you. I know I was there when it
was created. The strategy behind that brand is brilliant. That's
one of my favorite brands. While I talk about it,
I should tell you about the man's sportswear. Isad wasn't
enough being a golf brand. It wasn't enough being just
great polo shirts with logos, without logos. Incredible brands and
story and history. Isaad makes salt weather programs. They have

(36:35):
great printed woven shirts, short sleeves. They look excellent with colors,
excellent with shorts, excellent with cotton pants, of which they
also make this whole salt order relaxed line from Isaac,
whether it be fleece, cotton sweaters, knit polos, woven shirts

(36:55):
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 talk about this
brand can afford to buy it and know that there

(37:15):
are a lot of other brands that also have a
look like ISID. Although I don't believe it's fun as
Isaada is. The brand has a lot of energy in it,
but at the price points no one can compete. You
can find Isaac at your leading retails and online at
ion dot com. Talk to you later, guys, and I
help you by telling you if you were isaon, You're

(37:37):
going to look great. Dona Karen began her career as
one of the finest, most successful, powerful women in the
fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at the luxury
market for women on the go, women who were powerful
in their workplace, women who had lives that extended beyond
the workplace, and her clothes went from day and tonight

(38:00):
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 Karon collection, and Donna invented
dk NY Donna Aaren, New York. It's an offshoot of
the Donna Karen collection, the same concept a lifestyle brand.
Then we talk about lifestyle brands, What does that really mean?

(38:20):
Simply what they say, there are brands that follow you
throughout your lifestyle. You get up in the morning, you
start to get dressed Donna Karen decan why as intimate apparel,
as hosiery, as all those products. You're getting dressed for work.
You get accessorized shoes, handbags, and it takes you through
the day. The remarkable thing about DK and Y clothes
for work, they work into the evening. The dresses, the suits,

(38:43):
the pants, the sweaters, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable
prices that go from day in tonight. Part of your
lifestyle is active. You have weekends, you have events, you
participate in sports. Donna Karen's casual clothes did that under
the DK and Y label. A vast array of casual

(39:03):
sportswear that make women look great as they navigate their
busy lives, whether you going to soccer games for your
children or whether you're going out to the movies, whatever
you want to do. DCN y Genes, dcay Hy Sportswear
is there for you. That's what a lifestyle brand is.
I need to mention dk Y Activewear, which is extraordinary,

(39:26):
the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You can wear
dk HY active Wear certainly in the gym, certainly when
you're working out at home, and certainly if you want
on the street because it's that well done. The quality
of dk why is nothing short of exceptional. And why
shouldn't it be because it was born from the idea

(39:46):
of luxury made affordable for women of America. Dkay and
Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day
and tonight, from the week into the weekend. Dcn why
you can find DKNY and Macy's DKY dot com.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Underestimated until You're not That's the theme for tonight's show.
I spent a career being underestimated, my entire life until
I got to LVMH. They were astounded by me, they
hired me, they did their due diligence. I met with
every senior executive of consequence that I was going to
be involved with, from Bernard Arnaut, the founder and CEO

(40:33):
of LVMH, to a fellow named Antonio Maloney who was
the managing director or what you know as president of
the corporation, the head of human resources, Madame Conchetta, the
head of finances, and on and on and on. They
hired me. They knew who it was, but I still
found a way to inspire them. I was very clever
when I joined LVMH because I really wanted to work

(40:55):
for them. For me at that time, it wasn't about
the money. I haven't talked about money. In fact, I
never asked for a raise until six years and I
was sitting with the managing director and said, you know,
I'm a little older than you, so maybe I am
wiser than you. But when you have someone you really like,
and I think you really like me, at some point

(41:16):
you are to consider talking about a raise. And he left,
he said, I'll get back to you. So I never
really focused on money. I focused on doing the right thing,
and over the course of my time there, it was
very clear that I was respected appreciated. I brought something
to the table that was different. I was trained in
the United States. I was trained in a different environment
than anyone else, and therefore I had something to add.

(41:38):
And it was a great place, and it was my
first time that I wasn't underestimated. There are times that
I opened their eyes, that I came out with things
that they would never consider. I was always a great questioner.
I was always a great student of the business. I'd
never understand luxury to the degree they did. But I
grew up differently and I had something to offer, and
I was always appreciated. And part of that had to

(42:03):
do with my interest in recruiting executives. I took hiring
people probably more seriously than anyone else you could ever imagine,
and not necessarily for the reason you think. You hire
people you need to perform. You're hiring. That's on you.
It's your responsibility. You better hire the right people. I

(42:26):
came in it from a different angle. I didn't want
the responsibility of hiring people. I didn't want to guess
if they're right or wrong. I wanted to make sure
that I knew everything there is to know about that
individual joining the company, and I went at it in
a very, very discipline, difficult way. I will tell you

(42:47):
I personally think I'm one of the best interviews that
you'll ever find, but I'm brutal. And in particular, whether
I was a president or a CEO, if you got
to be interviewing with me, there was a reason that
you were there because you would been interviewing with all
the other people along the way you would work for
and by the time you got to me, you're going
to get a different level of questions and they would

(43:09):
transpire in different ways. You see, if you hire someone
was out of work, needs a job, and you give
them a job, the only thing you might be doing wrong.
If you hire them they don't work out. You wasted
their time. They could have found a job elsewhere they
fit better, and they would have had a better shot
at the long term future. And for me, that was

(43:31):
really really a burden. Even though they were out of work,
giving them a job gave them a salad, but without
a future, you wasted that time. And then what I
took even more seriously, if you were recruiting executives, there
were other companies doing well and you pull them out
of their company come to you if God forbid, you
were wrong about them and you had to let them go.
Not only did you let them go from your company,

(43:53):
you took them away from a career that they're doing well.
And that is a burden I just couldn't bear. So
my interviews were very, very tough and thorough. I'd begin
by saying, welcome to LVMH, the finest electric company in
the world, one of the largest, most successful companies. You'll
love to be with. It's made up of all professionals

(44:14):
who are experts at their job, and I'm hoping that
you're an expert that we could bring here. I am
representing the CEO of Donna, Karen and DK Why in
this capacity, I'm looking for someone to run a particular division,
and I'd like you to talk to me about what
you know. I will tell you in this interview. I'm
going to tell you about myself and I would share

(44:35):
with them some things about myself, how I got there,
what I expect, what I'm good at, what I need
help with, etc. And then I would summarize and tell
them at the end, I'll summarize and tell you how
you did. And that's how my interviews would go. So
If somebody would come in as a professional designer of
women's woven shirts, college shirts as you'd call them, button

(44:58):
front shirt and going to tell me they were professional.
I would look at them and say, have you ever
manufactured or designed a chambray shirt? And they look at me,
said yeah, I've done many of them. Okay, they said,
can you tell me the fabric construction of the chambray shirt?
What is in the warp, what is in the wet?
And they would look at me dumbfounded, like a deer

(45:21):
in the headlights. I said, let me try it a
different way. If you have a Chambray's shirt with navy
blue in the warp and white in the weft, and
you switched it, what would happen to the chambray? And
they'd look at me dumbfounded, and I would say that
you told me you're an expert and wins woven shirts.
And they'd say to me, well, we don't really. I

(45:43):
don't understand the fabric per se, so you're an expert,
but out of fabric. If I can provide you the
skills on the fabric technicals, can you do the job?
And then they'd say yes. So I would say them Okay,
tell me the manufacturing of a shirt. What's the first
process in cutting his shirt? Excuse me, what's the first

(46:03):
process in manufacturing your shirt? If you're a designer, you
should know this. Those of them who knew that, the
first thing you do is spread the fabric on a
table and then cut it, make the parts, assemble the parts,
they get the job. I'm not worried that they don't
know the fabric. Those who couldn't do that to get it.

(46:24):
In the case of nipwere, someone would come in say
they're expert in nitwere, I would look at them a sell. Okay,
let's talk about RALP Lawrence polo shirt. Can you design
that absolutely? Do you know the technicalities on it? Absolutely?
What's the way to the fabric approximate they use? They
would say three hundred grams is for square met great,
tell me the first operations in making that shirt. What's

(46:45):
the first thing you do? The expert would say, well,
the first thing you do is send out the collars,
because then knit on flat machines and another factory. The
next thing you do you cut the fronts and the
rest of the body parts, sew on the embroidery and
sew in the labels, then put the garment together perfect.
I would be able to hire them from technical No. How,

(47:06):
my favorite story of all was when I was hiring
a DCAM why president of retail. This woman went through
all the channels to personnel to the head of dk
whye than to me. Sat down. She looked apart acted
the part and came from sales knew everyone knew how
to run a business, it sounded like. And I asked

(47:26):
her a simple question. I have six stores in New York.
What'd you think of them? Silence, crickets. She looked at me. Yeah,
I haven't been to the stores. I got quiet. I said,
I'm the CEO of DCNY company. You're coming here with

(47:47):
the desire to be the president of the DKI retail division.
I have six stores in New York. You haven't been
to any of them. How could you present yourself in
this case? Well, I thought i'd be more involved in
the wholesale business. Okay, our mistake. Tell me which stores
you're visited that had my product? Were you and Macy's No?

(48:09):
End of interview. Now the interesting thing here is if
I am going to be interviewing you and I am
the CEO of the company and you've already been through
god knows how many interviews. Are you underestimating me? Are
you underestimating the company? Are you underestimating the brand? What

(48:30):
are you thinking if you're not prepared? So I have
seen this whole question of underestimating your audience take place
and transpire in many different areas. So in a night
where this show seems to be a tutorial on how
to succeed in business, I chose to talk about being

(48:54):
underestimated because I think it's worthy of note that what
does a backdrop? I only want to say I was
underestimated until I wasn't. Good Night,