Do not let anyone else define you or your brand…
Flipping through the TV channels late Monday night, I came across an interview on the PBS show “Charlie Rose” with Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew. If you are not familiar with Mr. Drexler, he was CEO of The Gap and Old Navy during their insane growth in the 90’s. He was fired during a downturn in the business and now has been the CEO of J. Crew since 2003. To view the entire interview, click the play button below.
There was a particular part of the interview that intrigued me most. It was a revelation Mr. Drexler had following his firing from The Gap – “you can’t put yourself in a position where people who judge you are always right.” After taking The Gap from $400M market cap to, at its peak, $14B, he found himself unemployed. He wasn’t, however, going to let the people that judged him and his most recent performance at The Gap keep him down. He moved on to J. Crew, took the company public, and has doubling the stock price since the IPO.
Mr. Rose expanded on Mr. Drexler’s revelation saying you cannot let anyone else define you in life. It is your responsibility to set your course and embark on the journey. How true this is not only individually, but for businesses and brands. Too often CEOs and brand managers are influenced by what others say about how they should run their business. Instead of using their own thoughts and instincts, they listen to analysts, accountants, and even their competitors to influence their decisions.
I believe to be truly great in life YOU have to live YOUR OWN life and make decisions based on YOUR own experiences. To be truly great in business, YOU have to live your BRAND, using YOUR KNOWLEDGE and YOUR EXPERIENCE to make decisions based on what is best for YOUR BRAND. Accomplished men and women, including Mr. Drexler and Steve Jobs (mentioned in the interview) live this mantra in business and in life every day. We all can take a page from their book to live a more fulfilling and successful personal and business life.
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