Walk Like A Man

Walk Like A Man

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.

Speaker 3 (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 4 (00:41):
Mark Weber, I ask you what do you work for?
I asked myself why do we work? Interesting thing is
it depends who asked the question. Ask your boss why
he works to help make the company successful? Ask your
wife for significant other? Do you work more to ensure
we have a secure life? If it's your children? Why

(01:04):
do I work to provide you with an education to
make sure you have a better life than I have? Now?
What would you tell yourself? Well, first of all, I
know work is work. If it's work, if you enjoy
what you're doing. It's never work. It's part of a
great way to live your life. Having said that, I work, hmm,
I have no choice. I have to make a living,

(01:27):
I have to provide for my family. I work to
afford the best things I can. I work to enjoy
my life. I work to achieve success, to be proud
of myself, to accomplish something. Now, if you're listen closely,
this is starting to sound like you work for your
goals more than anything else. And I think that's true.

(01:49):
I think we all have to be happy with ourselves.
It's important to be proud of yourselves. And some of us, look,
it's not easy out there. It's hard to make a living.
It's hard to get jobs, it's hard to say employed.
It's hard to deal with the people are telling you
what to do. It's hard to deal with life in general.
Work isn't supposed to be easy. Nobody ever said it
was fair. But if you enjoy what you're doing, it's

(02:10):
really not work. But the more you hear about this,
I think that it's true that we work for other reasons,
not money. We all have to live with ourselves. It'stand
to reason. We should know what we want. Perhaps not
how to get there, but we know it could be survival.
Some of us work to make it day to day.

(02:33):
Some of us live paycheck to paycheck. Some of us
get lucky and get inspired. I think about this all
the time. It's changed me for years. Over and over,
I've rethought that. At first, my sole goal was to
make enough money not to live in the city projects.
I didn't want to be poor. My interest shifted as

(02:57):
my focus moved away from money. I then realized that
I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to be proud of myself.
I wanted my wife to be proud of me. I
wanted my family to be proud of what I was accomplishing.
I should also not that I wanted my wife's family
to recognize she wasn't wrong in choosing me. So many

(03:20):
years later, I was sitting with my father in law
and mother in law one day. I was doing pretty well,
and my father in law looked over to me and
he said, Susie always said you'd be okay, which you
could imagine the conversations all throughout the years and why
she picked me. But I wanted them to think that
I did the right thing and that she was right
in picking me. I wanted things. I wanted stuff. I

(03:42):
never dreamed too high, you know, at the beginning an apartment,
I dreamed about a house. I wanted to own my
own car, not my parents' car, and then eventually I
wanted to own a sports car convertible. I never lost
sight of investment. Navy suits, white shirts with ulinks because
I wanted the degree of elegance. This was my uniform.

(04:05):
I wanted to look the part. I wanted to blend in,
but I wanted it to stand out by looking as
best as I could. I keep saying I wanted I'm selfish.
I think we all are. It's okay to take care
of yourself, to want what you want. It's also okay
to have an ego. It'll drive you. I never understood
the conversation egos don't work. Anybody without an ego can't

(04:27):
be successful. That's the way it is now. I suppose
the way you manage your ego making sure your head
doesn't get too big for the pillow you're sleeping at night. Well,
as life went on, it wasn't about money for me.
It was about accomplishing, having a career, making your name
for myself. Work hard, work smart, prove your worth. Make

(04:49):
sure the company is paying you what you're worth, because
if you're doing what you're worth, you're worth a lot
of money. I didn't work for money, though, I worked
to quench my unquenchable curiosity, to learn, to grow, to reflect,
and to be proud. So why do I work? Funny,
It wasn't about money. Money is simply a means to

(05:12):
keeping score, how you're doing against the guy next to you,
at the gal next to you. Money for me was
about being there. I believed at one point in time
that money would take care of itself, as my first
mentor advised me prior to my first job interview, I
have mentioned this before I was going on my first
interview for PVH. I had met a headhunter who was

(05:34):
introduced to me became a mentor to me. That first
day I met him and at one point he asked me,
how much money do you want to make? I've had
fifty thousand dollars and he said, no, that's not the
right answer. They're going to ask you how much you
want to earn, and the answer you ought to give
them is as follows, money doesn't matter to me. Now
what matters me is to establish myself in a good company,

(05:57):
a company that can help teach me what I needed
to learn and recognize I have a contribution to make
to the company. And in time, I am sure money
will take care of itself. And I believe that, and
it took a very important place within my thinking. Then
now forever, I tell you all out there, those are

(06:18):
you just beginning. If you do your job, you do
it well, you do it better than the next guy
or the next gal, You'll be taken care of, and
over time, if you're not, you'll find another company that will.
I worked to develop a position in life. The funniest
thing is, upon reflection, money as I grew older, was
not about money. It became about walking away. It became

(06:40):
what we know as few money, the power to do
what you want, the power to be able to negotiate
your way through anything. So as I got older and prouder,
some say I had the first penny I ever made.
Funny the impression I created because I did everything I wanted.
I bought everything I wanted. Yet I always preached saying

(07:02):
and careful spending. That was part of my mantra. I
always felt that I don't mind spending money, but I
hate wasting it. And I prepared for my career as
it winded down. I walk like a man. And that's
tonight's show. And joining me on Tonight's walk, my lawyer,
my co host, my son, Jesse Weber, Jesse, Why do

(07:25):
you work?

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Why do I work? Money? Now, I look as simple?

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Huh.

Speaker 5 (07:32):
Well, look, you have to work in order to support
your life, make a livelihood, support your family. But you
also hope that you do something that you can build
a career in and enjoy and look back and say
I accomplish something.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Now, Well, money's important. Now I'm going to talk about
when you ask me why do I work? But I
don't know that's it.

Speaker 5 (07:52):
Well, if you told me tomorrow, boom, you get five
hundred million dollars, You don't have to work at a
job nine to five anymore.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
What do you think I'm going to do? I will
tell you.

Speaker 5 (08:00):
Though I've thought about this, I said, I kind of
fantasize what my life would be like.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
I still think I would maybe do a little something.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
I wouldn't go out where we're crazy, but I might
have a little side project of some kind.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
Would you look who you're esky. I don't have five
hundred million dollars.

Speaker 5 (08:17):
But yeah, I wouldn't toil away for no reason. It's
a big part of it is too pay your bills,
pay your expenses, support your family.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Well, you got to keep your mind busy. And that's
a big part of why I'm still going at it.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
But here you go.

Speaker 4 (08:31):
If I told you, if I told you my life's
goal was to be able to walk away, what would
you say?

Speaker 5 (08:38):
I would say, it's not relevant. Most of our audience
is young. They're not thinking about that. They're starting out,
they're building their careers from the beginning. I would say,
it's not relevant.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
And don't you think that I thought like that when
I was your age. I remember Larry Phillips, the CEO
of Phillips fan Us, and came into one day and
had a plan. He wanted to retain his top twenty executives,
all of us were averaging below thirty or thirty one
or thirty two years old. They came up with a
plan that was worth a couple of million dollars based
on an insurance policy that said, if you stayed drug free,

(09:13):
alcohol free for ten years. At the end of that
ten years, you'd be vested in a plan that would
pay you if you stayed with the company for those
ten years a million dollars or two million dollars over
the next twenty years.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Would you do that?

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Well, if that's what you're going with, yeah, I can
kind of see that. And I look.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
I said to him, you know, hey, you're asking me
now I'm thirty two years old, whether I'm going to
give up and commit to something that is meaningful. Yeah.
I don't need to take drugs, I don't need to drink.
But the reality is, do I really think I'll make
another ten years? He said, why not? You're one of
the great guys herema, I said, everybody around me is
being fired, and frankly, at thirty two years old, I'm

(09:51):
not thinking about my retirement. But the truth be told,
I got that money and it was amazing. But now,
you know, I think all of you tell us the
time you plan on walking away the career. You choose,
the path you take, the investments you make, where you
spend your money, picking that which is important counts.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
See, that's important.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
If that's where you're going with this, Yes, having a budget,
buying what you could afford planning it out. That's important.
That's important for all people, no matter of the age. Look,
I what do I love? I love Ralph Lauren turtlenecks.
I love them, They're beautiful. The reality is, though for
one third the price.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I can get great ones at uniclow.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
I know young people, they've bought expensive cars like Lamborghini,
like the Lamborghini SUV for what three hundred thousand dollars?
An Audi you could buy it for fifty thousand dollars.
Who are you impressing? I mean, who doesn't love luxury?
Everybody loves luxury, but you have to be smart about it. Now,
there's a difference. For example, if I were to buy
a beautiful stick with Ralph Lauren, a beautiful Ralph Lauren

(10:55):
navy suit that I'm going to wear for meetings that
I am going to wear on tip, that's an investment.
It's not a car. It's an investment in my actual career.
I think that's the difference. If that's the point that
you're making, I'm all.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
In exactly one of the points I'm making to all
of you tonight. Save your money and press your family
no one else. I'll tell you a story when I
first started playing golf, I was playing at a public
course for two years. I loved the course. It was
a lot of water holes. It really really was challenging
and I enjoyed it. And then they put in all
the tea time booking via computer, and frankly speaking, unless

(11:33):
you were up Sunday night at twelve midnight ready to
plug in a tea time for the following weekend, you're
not going to get a tea time. And if you did,
it would be two o'clock in the afternon or three
o'clock in the afternoon on the weekends. And it was untenable,
and I really got upset, and I realized I had
to join a club. And to make a long story short,
I went to the five golf clubs that were relatively

(11:55):
nearby me and I walked into each one and I
looked around, and some of them were in a little
shabby and I didn't like shabby.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Not for this.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
I enjoyed golf and I wanted to be in a
nice place. And one of the places in particular that
looked great. It became one of my two choices. I
walked in the locker room. The locker room looked nice.
The people were there, and I listened to these guys talking,
and there was all these young guys my age, and
all they were doing is talk about bragging about money
and how much this and how much that. And the
one thing I learned about money growing up, if you

(12:26):
got it, you don't talk about it. And if you're
one of those people who do, your a moron. I
wanted no part of that golf club. The second choice
I went into had old, burnished wood, old fashioned, old money.
It felt rich, it felt quiet. All the guys there
were older, They were genuinely. They talked about their golf game,
They talked about what was taking place in the news.

(12:46):
They talked about everything but money. Exactly what I said,
no money talk. I joined that club. I forgured I'd
be the poorest one there, but I didn't care. I
knew these guys understood how to spend money and how
to live their lives. I've always spent my money carefully.
It didn't want for anything, but I live by the
motto I don't mind spending money, I hate wasting it.

(13:07):
Speaking of which, do you know, Jesse, what a medium
sized dietquote costs at McDonald's.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
I don't drink diet coke. But let me take a guess.
Let me take a guess. Medium sized diet coke two
dollars three dollars.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Okay, a medium diet coke at McDonald's is a dollar
forty nine and with tax one dollar and sixty two cents.
At Burger King, a small, not a medium, is two
dollars and forty seven cents, and a medium is three
dollars and eighty two cents.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
So anybody buying soda at Burger King is throwing away
the hard earned dollars.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Don't worry about it.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
I think RFK is going to ban it soon, so
there's going to be no more die co Ah.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
Well that's a different story. But anyway. Credit card debt,
that's another one I've talked about on the radio. I
want to screen on anybody. If you get a credit
card bill and you don't pay it off at the
end of the month, you are the dumbest human being life.
You're not planning your future better. All you're doing is
throwing away money. Credit cards charge you anywhere from twenty
to twenty five percent interest. Banks are only paying three

(14:09):
or four percent. Think about what they're charging frankly speaking,
I'm gonna do this one more time. If you have
credit card debt, go to a bank, take out a loan,
make sure you have collateral. That's what they'll need, a
house or car something. If you don't pay, they can
take away from you. But you're so much better off
paying a bank loan now of eight percent than twenty
percent on a credit card. I don't mind spending money,

(14:32):
I hate wasting it. The point is save money, let
it work for you, and of course be proud when
you get older you appreciate it. I'm telling you right now,
I never once thought about pensions. I have two of them.
I love them. They're the greatest thing that ever happened.
Businesses were told back in the day to be competitive,
provide for your employees' retirement, and the government would step

(14:55):
in and help. And it's an amazing thing. Now. Some
people will tell you I have the first penny I
ever made, and it's funny, but I did everything I wanted.
Ye'd always preach saying spend carefully, because my goal was
to walk away like a man. For now, I'm gonna
take a break and walk like a man always in fashion,

(15:17):
spend a lifetime of my career building the van Usen brand,
and I am so pleased that they're back with us
now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again and
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(15:38):
an event. Could wear a suit to the office with
or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends,
suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The
choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
packaging yourself is as important does the products you package,

(15:59):
and wearing suit is one of those things that make
men look their best. Venuesing invented a new idea. It's
called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch technology,
giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility. It's wrinkle
resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes it perfect
for all occasions. As we discussed just now, this new

(16:21):
style of looking sharp while feeling cool and comfortable is
amazing and I'm so excited that the van Using company
is involved in this new technology and is embracing the
whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget Venues and
Maine It's name with dress shirts. It's only proper that
the suit business follows strongly in its way. You can

(16:43):
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. Done. Karen began a
career is one of the finest, most successful, powerful women
in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at

(17:04):
the luxury market for women on the go, women who
were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that
extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day
and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing
Donna Karen had a young daughter and she had friends
and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Aaron collection,
and Donna invented dk n Y Donna Aaron, New York.

(17:27):
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? 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,

(17:50):
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, the pants, the sweaters,
the blouse's 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

(18:12):
Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label.
A vast array of casual sportswear that make women look
great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you go
into soccer games for your children or whether you're going
out to the movies, whatever you want to do, DK
and Y Jenes dk and Y sportswear is there for you.

(18:34):
That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I need to
mention DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary. The leggings, the
sports bras, the sweats. You can wear DKY active wear,
certainly in the gym, certainly when you're working out at home,
and certainly if you want on the street, because it's
that well done. The quality of DK why is nothing

(18:57):
short of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be because it
was born from the idea of luxury made affordable for
women of America. DK and Why a true lifestyle brand
that takes you from day and tonight, from the week
into the weekend. D can why. You can find dcn
Why and Macy's dky dot com.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
I have never forgotten the Terminator movie. Now. I don't
watch horror movies. I don't like war movies. They disturb me.
They really disturb me, particular war movies. I saw a
movie called Bridge Over Tocoree when I was a young boy,
by accident, by accident, and it's a story of a
beautiful family. The guy used to be in the Navy.

(19:47):
He gets called back in and he goes to Korea
and he's a flying guy. And I just don't want
to tell you it disturbed me so much. I can't
watch war movies. I've never watched one since maybe Saving
Private Ryan. In all my years, I've never watched war moves.
But two movies in my lifetime scared me. One was Alien.
I'll never forget when that creature jumped out of the

(20:09):
guy's stomach. It was the scariest thing I ever saw
in my life. And then there was The Terminator. The
Terminator scared me because it was intellectually brilliant. It really
talked about machines taking over and killing off humankind because

(20:35):
they woke up one day with everything they learned, they
realized they didn't need humans. All they needed humans for
was maybe some of them to work on some of
the mechanics, but really they didn't care for humans anymore,
and they got rid of us. I still get scared
when I hear that song, the music and here we are.
We're addicted to our machines. Adults to their cell phones.

(20:59):
Go into a restaurant for people could be at the table,
all four of them looking at the cell phone. There's
never a time I don't see a cell phone on
the phone or someone in a group of people looking
at it. Kids they're addicted to their video games. They're
addicted day and tonight. If you let them go, they
will not stop, and if you stop them, they will
get incredibly angry. And then, of course let's not forget

(21:22):
the real dangers that no one talks about. You know,
you go back in time. Nobody knew the sun was
dangerous until now. Cumulatively, you know it's dangerous. Nobody realized
cigarettes in the beginning because the companies hit it. Whatever
research they had, they didn't tell it. People smoked. Today,
we use Bluetooth technology with those air parts in our ears. Now,

(21:43):
I am an Apple guy. I love the company, I
own the stock, I made a fortunate I love them.
But those things are dangerous and so is bluetooth, and
no one's saying a word. And now, if you listen
to the smartest people talking about artificial intelligence, you hear
about inserting chips in our brains so we can mild
with machines. We could be part human, part machine. We

(22:03):
communicate directly from our brains with a chip. This is
the scariest thing I ever heard, because it is determinator.
We're all destined to become cyborgs. Now, I don't know,
And I hadn't paid very much attention to artificial intelligence
until my other son Jared, started talking to me about

(22:23):
chat GPT.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
Yes, what's amazing about it is it's incredibly impressive right now.
But where it's going to be in the next few
years is it's hard to imagine, But yes, it's Is that.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
The only artificial intelligence you come across.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
No, there's other platforms that you can use, like, for example,
if you want to summarize a bunch of articles, you
want to find quick information, you want to write something,
it can help you. And I think when you look
at chat, GPT, or you look at any of these
AI models, the thing that I think you have to
wonder is a can it be just a useful tool
that will help supplement.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
What you do.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
That's one way of looking at it versus will it
replace what you do? And I've heard a lot of
different people who are in the space who are very
encouraged by it. They're very optimistic about it. They're telling
people that it won't replace jobs. It may change your jobs,
but there's always going to be a need for a
human element. There's always going to be a need for
a human to watch over what AI and chat GPT

(23:21):
are doing. It's a nice thing to think about, but
as these are getting more and more powerful. I mean,
I just saw something the other day where they put
together a whole movie using AI. No actors, no production,
no script, you plug it in about this is a
movie you want to see And they created a whole
movie using AI tools. It's crazy and we're like really

(23:41):
in the beginning part of it.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
Well, I got turned on to it and I got
interested because on Instagram I started watching all these videos
that they do. One the other day they recreated the Beatles.
They actually had the four Beatles talking as if they
were right there. And I'm sure you've seen the where
they make an actor and actress they're six months old
and they show them how they develop and how they

(24:04):
grow up, and it looks real like they're right there
all this stuff. Yet it's hard enough to know what
is going on. What I find really concerning is it's
so intrusive. You know, I just while I'm sitting here, Jesse,
I put in your name.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Okay, it's a trat GPTA, Yeah, and it's a Jesse.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
Cord Weber is a multi fascinated professional, combining his expertise
as an attorney with roles in broadcasting anchoring. He serves
as an anchor reporter for the Long Crime Network, founded
by Dana and Briomsbury, hosts and executes produces syndicated true
crime show Prime Crime. Additionally, Jesse co hosts the Always
In Fashion radio show with his father, Mark Weber, airing

(24:41):
on seven to ten War and other podcast platforms including
Apple and Spotify. He also contributes as a freelance radio
host and Serious potem Serious XM's Potus Channel one twenty
four and his guest Nankor on twelve News Long Island.
Beyond his hosting Dude, Jesse provides legal alison networks such

(25:01):
as Fox News, CNN, E T CVS, CNBC News Nation
and Doctor RS.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
Look at this some of it.

Speaker 5 (25:09):
Some of it's true, some of it's true, some of
it's not, some of it's outdated.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
I looked up myself too on it, and it's a
little bit of a different description.

Speaker 5 (25:17):
I did like this part. He's known for his engaging
style and ability to break down complex legal issues for
a general audience.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
I'd like that. I will tell you it's funny.

Speaker 5 (25:26):
I looked up if it got who if I was right,
who I was married to, and it was completely wrong, which,
by the way, I don't mind. I don't mind that
it got my wife's name wrong. But it was that
I was married to somebody completely different.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
It's interesting you say that, because a lot of things
come up. But then I thought it was great. I
played a little game today. I just looked you up
and I read to you what it said, and it's
so accurate. It's scary how they get all this information
compile it. So then I did a few on me.
You ready, yeah? First one is Mark Weber? Interesting?

Speaker 2 (25:58):
How about that?

Speaker 4 (25:59):
You're ready? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (26:00):
What I say?

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Mark Weber is definitely an interesting figure, especially if you're
into fashion, business or leadership. His background as the former
CEO of lvmh Ink, the US branch of luxury conglomerate
that owns brands like Vitone, Dior Gavanci, gives him deep
industry insight. What makes him compelling, I'm compelling. I like
that is he didn't just work in fashion. He played

(26:24):
a major role in shaping it. Compelling and shaping fashion,
he climbed the corporate ladder from modest beginnings, eventually leading
major brands like Phillips van Uzen, where he helped drive
global expansion. His experience gives him a unique perspective on
business strategy, branding, and leadership Beyond fashion. Look at this,

(26:45):
His radio show Always in Fashion, His book Always in
Fashion From Clerk to Ceo off for stories, career advice,
and insights into the industry. His ability to mix personal
anecdotes with professional lessons makes him engaging to listen to
or read about.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well, there you go.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
You know the funny thing. You know what the funny
thing is. I'll tell you. Wait, let me just finish. Uh,
let's see, and then it says my work his Warkweb's
work spans executive leadership, writing, and media. Here's a major
breakdown of his contributions. CEO of LVMH chink you all
know this already, so I don't want to go through it.
Markwbers working blah blah blah blah, Corporate leadership CEO of

(27:26):
LVMH North America led the US operations blah blah blah
blah blah, Chairman, CEO Phillips Venues, and board and advisory roles.
He served as an advisor and board member for various
fashion and retail conglomerates. Books and writing, Always in Fashion
From Clerk to Ceo, his memoir and business book where
he shares lessons from his rise in the fashion industry. Leadership,

(27:48):
insights and career learnings, books in writing, always in fashion,
from clerk to CEO, business and fashion, comedy, business and
fashion commentary has written I've spoken extensively on trends in
fashion branding. Listen, here's the deal, Here's why I'm doing this.
I used to work for a guy in France, Italian fella.

(28:11):
He went to school here in the United States. English
was his third language, perfect French, perfect Italian, of course,
in English with a heavy accent. And the guy was brilliant,
and he was the number two guy at LVMH manager
director in our country we called president and I worked
for him, and it had to be once a week
I would get a detailed letter from him, ask me

(28:32):
where we are in this or that, commenting on what's
going on in the world, and asking for my professional
opinion on what he just wrote. I dreaded those letters
because he wrote them in English. And if I tell you,
they were brilliantly crafted. They were so intricate and so
well in grammar and the way it was laid out
and functioning. It took me maybe a day or two.

(28:55):
I couldn't do anything else but rewrite and write, and
rewrite and write a let that, in the end was
never as good as the one he wrote. And the
funny thing about this AI, all of this stuff that
I just read, compiled from wherever it is in the world,
every single bit of information, they put it together, they
get access to it, and they spit it back to

(29:16):
you better than you could ever write it yourself. I
find it fascinating, I find it exciting. I find this
is probably the most exciting technology to ever hit the world.
But I am concerned with where it's going. And I
have a surprise for you.

Speaker 5 (29:31):
Jesse, you're ready, Well, it's a surprise for the audience.
Ready we tell them?

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Now?

Speaker 3 (29:35):
This is all AI. This is not Mark Webber, This
is not Jesse Webber.

Speaker 5 (29:40):
This is all AI.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
No.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
I think people could tell the difference. But anyway, what's
a surprise?

Speaker 4 (29:44):
I asked AI. Would you hire Mark Weber to host
a TV show? Woh?

Speaker 3 (29:52):
What did it say?

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Would you hire Mark Weber to host a TV show? Why?
He could be a great fit one industry authority. Weber's
deep understanding of the fashion and business industries would make
him a credible and authoritative voice, particularly for shows centered
around leadership, entrepreneurship, or high end fashion. Two charisma and storytelling.

(30:15):
On Always in Fashion, He's demonstrated his ability to narrate
stories from his career, mixing personal anecdotes with professional insights.
This blend of storytelling would make him engaging on a
television show. Three Media experience. As a host of his
own radio show, Weber already has significant media experience. He

(30:35):
knows how to keep an audience engaged while offering valuable content,
whether it's through interviews, discussions, or commentary. Four. Cross generational appeal.
With his son Jesse as co host, he appeals to
both older generations who value traditional business acumen and younger
audiences who may appreciate fresh, modern takes on style and success.

(30:57):
If you are producing a show about business leadership or fashion,
Weber's background and skills could make him a strong addition.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
I love that. That's great.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
So those of you out there in the television and
movie business, Jesse and I are available, even the phony ones,
the AI versions of us. So I thought that was interesting.
And this all came from my elder son Jared telling me,
had Daddy, you see what's going on in AO? And
he told me to look at Chap GPT and there
you go listen while I can. I'm having a great

(31:31):
time until the machines take over. For now, I take
a break and walk like a man always in fashion.
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, car
Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach
to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to
America through car Lagafeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,

(31:55):
ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house
Carlagafeld also off is a ring of watches I wear
in premium fragrances. You can explore the Carlagovo collection at
carlagofelpowers dot com. But it's more than that. I, for one,
love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's
happening and what catches my attention, what would make me
feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's

(32:17):
wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing.
If you want to look right, you want to have
clothes that fits you well. You want to look like
you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you
and yours. You can find it at very affordable prices
at Macy's. Orcarlagofel dot com, Paris, the women's ready to

(32:38):
wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbags and
the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my
appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I want
to look current, I want to look the way I
want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in
black and Carlagofel is my buddy. Calls are great. They
fit great, and they have little tweaks and touches, whether

(32:58):
it's a stripe on the sleeve, a button at the
neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details
that go into Carl Lagathel because he's always been, he
always had been one of the world's great designers, and
this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak
enough about it except to say to you, you want
to feel good about yourself. You want to know that
you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well.

(33:20):
Carl Lagafeld, Paris, Carl Lagafeldparis dot com. I love polar Fleece.
It's lightweight, takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps you warm
and even if it's warm out, it doesn't hamper you,
it doesn't make you perspire. I love polar fleas. I
also love sweatshirts and sweatpants, love them, love them, love them.

(33:43):
I'm a big fan of khaki pants and a big
fan of a golf clothes. And I'm a big fan
of ISID. I used to be the head of iszide.
In fact, my company bought it and aut 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 hand. Can you
do this? And I said, I will do it. I
put everything, my heart and soul into making ISESID the

(34:05):
powerhouse that it is today.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
Now.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
I left a long time ago, and the company just
continues to thrive. ISAOD 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 ISID.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Now.

Speaker 4 (34:27):
That doesn't say that they don't have dress shirts and
they don't have suits, you go find them. ISAOD is
a collective brand that offers lifestyle apparel to everyone in America.
And it's true, it's a fun brand, but it's also
priced at fun prices everyone can afford it. I love
this brand. Of all the brands that I'm involved with
and you can name them, think about PVH and LVMH

(34:48):
and all the brands, ISAOD 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 JC Penny go
look for it. I think you're going to be very happy.
And ladies, those of you do shopping for the guys
in your lives, take a look. I think they'll be
very happy with your choices.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Isaac for men, welcome back to it.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark webber.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
To Night show. I'm talking about walking like a man.
I'm not talking about muscles bulging. I'm talking about feeling
good about yourself and planning your career and your life
so when you get to a point that you done enough,
you could walk like a man. And by the way,
having pride, belief in yourself, and confidence throughout your entirety

(35:40):
of your career is really the goal. Everything you do
along the way you should be doing for the right reasons.
I started the show by talking why do we work.
There's a lot of reasons why we work. Some would
argue it's money. I would argue money is important, money
takes care of itself. I think money is more about
keeping score. I think we work to feel good, to

(36:00):
be proud, to create role models and things for your family,
to show your children that there's a reason to do
the things that we tell them that they should be doing.
I am in the mood of look back right now.
At the same time I am looking forward. I have
a concept called the look Back. It's very interesting. I

(36:23):
bought a sports car a few years ago and boil boy.
I decided to be fancy and I picked a special
color and I paid a king's ransom to have this
special color on this particular car. I also came up
with these fancy wheels that matched the car and the
inlaid with some black epoxy and on paper it looked incredible.

(36:46):
And you know, I spent my whole career in fashion
and retail and luxury. I have an eye for it.
I am a creative by I don't know I'm born
with it. I suppose I'm a creative guy. Look at things,
I know what they are and I how to make
them better. In fashion, if you would walk me into
a room. When I walked to Donna Aaron, I knew

(37:06):
nothing about women's where I was a men'swear expert. Now
I'm the chairman CEO of Donna Karen. I walk into
a design meeting. All the designs are on the wall,
all the paintings, all the cats, computer aided designs, all
the fashion ideas, the samples. I could look at a
wall and I can tell you within thirty seconds what
is right, what is wrong, what is missing, what we

(37:29):
should do to improve it. I just am able to
do that. One of my favorite stories is back in
my day, I had hired this guy designer, and when
I interviewed him, he had everything that he said. He
was right, dressed well, spoke well, looked a part, talked fashion,
understood the technical details. But when it came time to

(37:52):
do the product, it just wasn't right. Just wasn't right.
I've talked about this in my book, Ill Talk to
you about again. There's a concept call one to ten.
Some people do one to five. You know you rate movies.
I rate everything at one to ten. Okay, it's very simple.
We all know what it is. Okay, you look at
a car one to ten, what do you think of
that car? Ten?

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Five?

Speaker 4 (38:13):
We know whatever the number is. You look at a guy,
you look at a girl. Hey, what do you think?
One to ten? You have a rating? Brad Pitt ten.
George Clooney looking a little uh eightish these days. I'll
give you example, Margot Robbie ten. I'm gonna get in
trouble for this side, don't know. But anyway, the point
was this designer put a line together, and for the

(38:37):
first time I was going in to see his body
of work. I walked in the room. There were other
designers there. There were people from operations, people from sales,
and they were waiting to see what I had said.
The colors were off, the pattern work was off, the
detailing was off. It was really really horrible, and I

(38:57):
was shocked by it. And I was so taken aback,
really so taken aback that I couldn't even control myself.
And I walked in the room instead. Of saying, you know,
we really have to talk about I said, I hate this.
What is this? And the designer, you know, he felt
strange and he started to, you know, explain what he's doing.
He said, Mark, you got to give it a chance.

(39:18):
Let me take you through it. I said, okay, So
I listened. I put my game face on. I recovered
from the fact that I couldn't believe this guy is
sitting here telling me this stuff is good and really disturbment,
really disturbment that he's voting for it and trying to
convince me that what I know is not good is good.

(39:39):
So I used to do this game. I called it
the ballot game. And I decided right then and there,
I'm going to play the ballot game. What's the ballot game?
I asked my assistant to get me one of my
baseball caps. I put the baseball cap in front of
it in the center of the table, and I take
a pad and I started tearing the pair into pieces.
I asked my system again, bring me in ten pencils.

(40:01):
There were ten of us in the room. Comes back
five minutes later. I said, we're going to play a game.
I call it the ballot game. It's a great equalizer.
I said, everybody take a piece of paper. Everybody take
a pencil. Everybody's taking the paper and pencil. I can't
imagine what's going on here, I said, Okay, Josh here,
whatever's name was, I don't remember. Josh here thinks this
line is incredible. I'm telling you I don't. The only

(40:24):
way we can get an idea from all of you
other people here, I want to get an opinion. Who's right,
was wrong? What we think about it? I know what
I think, and I am curious to see what the
rest of you think. Now a thing with me in life.
If I ask your opinion, I already know what I think.
Most times, if I don't know something and I say

(40:44):
to you, I don't know, can you tell me that,
I'm willing to listen. But if I ask an opinion,
particularly when it comes to the creative arts, I'm not
interested in your opinion. I already made it in my mind.
Nothing's going to change it. Everybody has the pencil and paper,
and I asked them on a one to ten, I
want you to rate this collection on the wall. Oh
here's the thing. If you work as an assistant to

(41:06):
this guy of course you would say. And if I
asked you and Paul, oh, it's great. I really think
if I asked another designer, they wouldn't want to get
into the discomfort of telling a person that their work
isn't right. But in my ballot game, nobody knows who's
writing because what I said to them is, I want
you to write one to ten what you think of

(41:27):
this line. Zero means it's terrible. Ten means it's great.
I gave you all the se pencils you all owe
the same paper. After you write your answer on your
piece of paper, I want you to crumble it up
and put it in the hat. All of us then
crumpled up the paper put it in the hat. For me,
I was going to call out and read them one
by one. So I take a piece of paper. The

(41:49):
first one says four, take another piece of paper. The
next one is zero, Zero is me, next one, five,
then six, one, seven, And when you're really came down
to it, everything was all under seven except for one
that was a nine and a half. I looked at
the designer and I said, I'm i to believe you're
the nine and a half. He said, yes, well, I

(42:11):
was the zero I'll admit it to you. I came here.
You haven't changed my mind. This line is horrible. We
have to start all over. I'm throwing it all out.
What about the collus, I said, listen, here's the deal.
Look at this rating here. You have an average rating
of four point five. We're not in the business of
four point five. We're in the business of ten. And

(42:32):
the fact that we are so low rated. I can't
risk the company's money, or the future of our people,
or the future of our brands on something that is
not great. And this is obviously not great. Now. I
can't fault you because you think it's great, but we
can't go on, and we're gonna have to regroup and
do this again. Make a long story short. We ended

(42:53):
up letting that guy go not too long after that.
I felt bad about it, But come on, if you're
defending ugly, you don't belong in the fashion business. Having
said that, I designed my own car. I went to
pick it up in a dealership after waiting seven months,
and I looked at it and I hated it. I
hated the wheels, but more importantly than anything else, I
hated the color I selected me The fashion expert the girl.

(43:15):
I hated it. It was a gray, but it had
a brown tint to it rather than a blue tint.
Grays that have blue tint tend to be more pleasing
to the eye. And when I said to the deal
I don't want this car, I keep it, he said,
take it. You don't like you could always bring it back.
So I started to pull it out. And now it's

(43:38):
in the street and I see the color and it
looks like tan. It doesn't look like gray. I'm devastated.
I mean, I had my heart setter, and I waited.
I designed my own car, the whole deal, and I
did what I then to become, and I coined the
look back. I walked away from the car, took a
fast turn and looked at it. I gave it a

(43:58):
look back and it was harrd. I knew then and there.
So when I think about look back, I think about
that story. I'll never forget being in a Calvin Klein
run Dury show. All the world class models are there,
supermodels are there. I remember that particular day and if
you go online, you'll see me with the Italian Ivanovitch.
I forgot her name. She was one of the hot

(44:18):
Russian models at the time. She was a friend in
the sense that I hired her with a team and
she did great. But I have a pictures to so
with her because she was a spokesman for the company
for a while. But one supermodel walked by me and
she just walked by, and she stopped at one point,
turned around, looked at me and smiled and walked away.

(44:40):
That was a look back. I never saw her again,
ever spoke to her. But that's a look back. And
I'm talking about look backs today and walking like a
man because I have a story I want to tell
you that happened this week. I got a phone call
from one of the most powerful men in the fashion,
luxury and retail business today. He's a billionaire, he's an

(45:06):
accomplished guy, owns Megabrands. And he called me to say
that I was recommended to him to be involved in
a new division that was being set up in his
company and in partnership with another company. He wanted me
to come and sit down with him about joining the company.

(45:26):
I said, Tom flattered, I don't I'm speechless. Just the
fact that you are calling me is a great honor,
and of course I'll come see you. So the next
day I came into the city and I went to
see him in his offices, beautiful office, Prestigia guy. And
he was so affable and so friendly. And he said
to me, Mark, I take great pride in hiring people

(45:51):
who've retired and bringing him back to work because they
have such a great wealth of information. He says, I
have a guy that I hired. He retired sixty five.
He was an architect. He built some of the most
beautiful things in the world, in the country. I don't
want to mention them because I don't want you to
know who this guy is. And he said, I brought
him into the company and he's been one of the

(46:12):
most invaluable people that I've ever worked with. He says,
I know you're retired. I'm not going to ask you
how old you are. I said, thank you, because I'm
not going to tell you. He said, but I would
love to bring you back because your reputation precedes you.
I've never met anyone with a reputation. Everyone says the
same thing. You're super talented, you're a good guy, you're

(46:32):
super tough, but you're fair and that works. And i'd
like you to come work for me, and he starts
to explain the job, and now I'm thinking, here we go,
Look who's talking to me. The guy is a real deal.
He's a great guy. His principle here of what they're
trying to build this brilliant. And I'm starting to think,
maybe maybe I think about coming back to work, because

(46:54):
I've always thought that there are only a couple of
jobs that I would consider coming back to work for.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Was Polo?

Speaker 4 (47:01):
Never forget I was thinking about coming back. One time,
I knew that the CEO of Polo a woman, and
I went to see her, and out of the blue,
you know, she knew me. She took the call, came
to see me, and when I told her that I
thought her men's business was suffering and needed improvement, she
was looking at me. And you ever see a ticketape
how it moves showing the letters and the numbers. I

(47:24):
could imagine a ticket tape on her forehead saying how
do I get this guy out of here? I could
see how uncomfortable she was that I came in asking
for a job. I didn't need it. I just like Polo,
I've always thought about working at the Gap ever since
Mickey Drexler left twenty years ago. Twenty five years ago.
The gap has not been The gap went from my
favorite store in the world, who hardly gets on my

(47:45):
radar screen. I never spend more than three minutes there.
Once in a while. They have a denim jacket that
I love. I bought a few of them. But generally speaking,
the GAP's not the gap. It's not what it was.
You want to know what the gap used to look like.
It's called uniclow so. But other than that, I had
no interest in working. And here I am talking to
this guy, and I start calibrating and saying to myself,

(48:07):
why do I need this? I remember I talked to
you once about Jim Carrey was interviewed not too long ago,
and he says, I did enough, I have enough, and
I am enough. And I was taken by that. I
did a show and I thought it was brilliant. I
sitting there and saying I've did enough, I have enough,
I am enough, and I don't need this. But I said,
the fact that it's him, and the fact the fact

(48:29):
that the job was so big, the fact that the
money would be great, the fact that the perks would
be great, the prestige would be there, the office space
would be there. And then he says to me, what
I really want you to do is work in my
partner's offices, not with me. You'll be hired by me
and our partner and you'll work in the partner's offices.

(48:50):
And I couldn't do it. I thought I was talking
to him, and in fact, I said to them, listen,
here's the deal. Here's the deal. I would consider coming
to work for you. One, I need expense money. I'm
going to be commuting, I'll be living this city. I'm
going to be living out here. I'm there traveling. We
need to know the moneing, no problem a second. Secondarily,

(49:13):
if I'm going to come back to work, it has
to be bigger than life and what you're suggesting to
me work at the other company. I won't be the CEO,
I won't be the president. I'm not coming back for
less than what I was. I just won't do it.
And he looked at me and said, well, what is
it you want? I said, First of all, I want
to sit on your board. He said to me, I
can't do that. I looked at him and I said,
you're a master of the universe. You could do anything

(49:35):
you want. He started to laugh. He says, I suppose
he said the board is boring. I said, okay, once
a quarter when you have a board meeting, I'll be bored.
But other than that, I want to sit on the board.
If I'm sitting on your board, it's prestigious. It makes
me feel good, it makes me driven. It shows that
I'm continuing a fashion career at the level that I
was doing. So I don't know if I could do that.

(49:56):
So I said, then I don't know if I can
come and frankly speaking, if I'm not going to report
directly to the CEO, I'm not going to retort to anybody.
He said, I don't know how to do it, but
tell you what you want you to do. I want
you to meet the president of the company that I'm
suggesting you work for. I said, I tell you right now,
I'm not going to work for the president. You meet him.
He's a great guy. So I went and met him.

(50:17):
He's a great guy. Great guy, not a good guy.
Great guy. Could I work fro him? Yeah? Would I
work from No? So I went back to see this
fella and I said, look, I'm not going to do this.
He said, Mark, listen, if you want to be in
the game, you have to be in the game.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
I like that quote.

Speaker 4 (50:34):
You want to be in the game, you have to
be in the game. I reminded him that. He called
me said, I don't need to be in this game.
I've been there, done it. I said, I'm in a
different game. I'm an entertainment I'm on radio, I'm on podcast.
I love it. It's incredibly hard, and frankly, it's harder
than what you're asking me to do. What you've done,
and what you're asking me to do here, I've done
in my sleep a thousand times. Can I do it?

(50:56):
Can I make your company better? Can I make this
thing a win for what you're trying to do with
your partner? Absolutely? No brainer. And by the way, just
having me around, whether I'm on your board or reporting
to you, would make all your other endeavors better because
somehow or another, I always find a way to earn
my key to be value added. I don't know if

(51:18):
I could do that. I said, listen, what I know
of you, you can do whatever you want. He said,
let me talk to my partner, and they I said, well, listen,
I'm going to say to you no right now, And
I can tell you that I am internally grateful that
you thought of me. I am honored that you thought

(51:40):
I'd be an addition to your company. And nothing would
please me more than if I came back to work
to work directly for you. But I'll have to say no,
he said, let me think about it. He thought about it,
and we ended up passing. The point of the story
is is I've talked about this a number of times.
First of all, negotiation, he who could walk away wins.

(52:02):
In this case, both of us could walk away. If
it wasn't me, there's someone else. I often talk about this.
Everyone's replaceable. There's an edict that says no one's irreplaceable.
Anyone who says differently is a fool. And one thing
I'm not as a fool. I know I could be replaced.
I know anybody could be replaced. The problem with that

(52:24):
idiom is when you have someone who's really great and
they leave, a little light goes out, a little star
goes off because you're losing something that was very special.
And when I, in my case, we both could walk away,
and I felt that he was a little less shine
on what he was trying to do not having me there.
But it's his choice. I respect it, and as I said,

(52:45):
I was honored and grateful. And the point of the
story is, back in the day I said it, I
realized money wasn't the answer to everything. But I realized
money if handled properly, if planned well, your pensions, your
four oh one can The money you save allows you
to have what a colloquial call a few money. And

(53:07):
I was able to walk away like a man with
that in mind. Good Night,