Drexler was the first speaker of the day, framing his talk as an intro to the day's topic: innovation. He is a veteran of the fashion world, previously holding the position of CEO at Ann Taylor as well as Gap. Such a background has given him ample time to recreate companies, but also time to make mistakes. He talked about his biggest screw ups, most of which had to do with hiring, as well has some of his best moves and most important role models. Here I will highlight some of my favorite takeaways! |
It's ok to be a micro-manager.
The most important thing is when the product touches the consumer.
A story that Drexler told that resonated with me had to do with tracking competitors. He said that while leading J.Crew he has often stepped back and asked himself "what can we do better and how are we screwing up?"
This question made him realize that J.Crew had a massive flaw in their online ordering system, which was a huge part of their business. He ordered items from all of their competitors and realized that J.Crew's products were often delivered with terrible presentation, forcing his team to reevaluate their shipping process. This was a great story to hear because I feel that oftentimes it is easy for companies to focus on just the product or just the store, neglecting many aspects of the rest of the company.
The CEO sets the tone.
Drexler spoke about his first CEO position, which was at Ann Taylor, and how he focused on doing what was right and what made sense. He said that throughout the years and after being CEO at Gap, and now at J.Crew, he has realized that in order to become a better CEO you must make mistakes and must take risks, although many don't want to do this because they want stock options.
His talk covered many bases and made continuous references to Apple, which surprised me coming from the CEO of a fashion house. Steve Jobs asked him to join the board of Apple, which Drexler resisted for a year. At the time Drexler was CEO at Gap and was focusing the company on vertical, controlled distribution, something that Jobs wanted to implement at Apple. Drexler joined the Apple board in exchange for Jobs joining the Gap board, and he emphasized that he always felt dumb when leaving an Apple board meeting. I loved hearing Drexler talk about his work with Apple and Jobs because it made me realize that leaders in all industries share similar goals and obstacles. He said that Jobs always thought about whatever he said to people, he just rarely let you know that he was thinking about it. The accomplishments of Steve Jobs have been a recurring theme in my year,which I will expand on later when I post about Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs.