Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Leaders 20240703 : vimarsana.com

BLOOMBERG Leaders July 3, 2024

Luxury brand. Youre always the first. Youre always underestimated. People dont know exactly what to expect. Francine leena nair is in charge of one of the most exclusive Luxury Brands in the world, chenal, the french fashion house known for its iconic designs and fragrances, made the avant garde move to appoint her in the top job. Previously a Human Resources veteran, she spent three decades at unilever before switching from the world of fastmoving consumer goods, to haute couture and beauty. The firms history is legendary. From its founder, gabriel okechukwu, to its fans, including marilyn monroe. For the manager, its a chance to make history. I want to change the world but look good while doing it. Francine on this episode of leaders with lacqua, i speak to lena nayar about her professional and personal journey, how it defines her leadership style and her unique approach at the top of luxury. Thank you so much for joining us here on bloomberg. Leena delighted to be here. Francine what is it like being a chanel chief executive . Leena its a great place to be. Its the best job in the world. Its creative. Its energetic. Its vibrant. The sector is doing well. Its a great place to be. Francine so what kind of difference do you want to make at chanel . Is it on the business . Is it longevity . Is it what it stands for . Is it sustainability . Leena you know, i want to lead chanel into the future along with my team and lead chanel into the future by protecting whats cool to us, by protecting our differentiation, protecting whats unique about us, and by evolving as a scaled, iconic business and brand. You know, its always important to understand the context we operate in. The context we have externally is very dynamic geopolitical uncertainties macroeconomic , challenges, inflation and complete fragmentation, Media Channels, ecosystems. I mean, winning hearts and minds of people is so difficult in todays day and age. So we see all of that externally. Ai, i mean there is not a leak that you dont hear about ai. All of this is happening externally. Internally, there has been a phase of rapid growth. In the last 10 years, we have more than doubled our revenue. We more than double the number of people who work for us. Weve more than doubled our distribution presence. Weve more than doubled the number of countries we have presence in. So thats a lot of growth. So my role, along with my leadership team, is to ensure that we make coherent these changes, that we make sense of these changes. And we are constantly shaping what is next. Francine as far as i can remember, chanel was beautiful, high end luxury. Everybody wanted the products, but it was always quite secretive. And then theres been an opening in the last couple of years through cultural events, podcasts. Why is that . Can a highend Luxury Company no longer be secretive in 2024 . Leena for me never having been , in the world of luxury or sophistication or refinement, i didnt know what to expect when it came to chanel two and a half years ago. But it is a very humble company. People are truly humble. And you have met many of my teammates. It comes from a sense of we dont see things unless we really have done them. It is highintegrity. We would rather do things before we speak about them. So some of the shyness has been to do with that. Part of the opening up is also as weve grown larger and i explained some of the internal context, weve been to rapid through rapid growth being in so many markets, having so many people work for us, it becomes important to be clearer and more open about who we are and who we stand for. It is a hundred year old company. Its important to have been a beacon of inspiration for all these years and to continue to be a beacon of inspiration for the next hundred years. Francine is that because we are buying luxury differently, so clients and customers now want more of a story than they maybe did ten, 15 years ago . Leena i think there is no typical client. We see all kinds of clients, people who are longtime fans of chanel. People who are dedicated buyers of couture, people for First Time Buyers. In fact, First Time Buyers are 30 of our clients, which is a lot. We see a lot of genz and alpha. 35 of luxury consumers by 2030 are going to be gen z and alpha. Its hard to believe. The vitality is huge. For each of those clients, there is a different set of reasons for why they engage with us. For gen z and alpha, they buy because they want to buy less and buy better. They want to buy because they see its a financially wise investment. Everybody buys for a different reason. For me, its part of continuing to build our brand, our reputation, our company, and telling our story in engaging ways to all sorts of clients. Francine you speak differently to the Younger Generation . Leena not really. Our story of savoir faire, our story of craftsmanship. Our story of how many hours goes into making this jacket like 100 hours, all handmade it is still the core of our story. Our craftsmanship. It is still the way people engage with luxury, the quality and beauty of it. A thing of beauty gives us all joy. So that is still a very, very big reason how people look at luxury, the quality, the savoir faire being part of that, and the story of people at chanel. The story of our dna. What it means for us. Our spirit of constantly innovating in radical ways. Because when she designed clothes, it was about the freedom of movement. It was about anticipating the needs of the modern woman. It was about creating trousers crossbody bags so that women , could ride bikes, ride horses. It was about supporting women to be and become whatever they wanted to be. It was about being on this journey of selfdiscovery with women. That core part of our story doesnt change. It is the story of being , supporting women to be and become the best version of themselves. To discover themselves. That story still engages no matter what age you are. The core of the story doesnt change. How we say it might change, there are more channels than you and i can count today. Theres all sorts of things instagram, tiktok. The Media Channels might change, the ecosystem and how we engage might change. But the core of our story is still very much who we are as chanel. Francine chanel is like a pioneer, and i feel like when you talk about her, it may be telling a little bit of your story. You have a unique story. You grew up in india were not many where not many females were educated to a higher level. What was the journey like . Leena it was a long journey. I grew up in a small town in the southwest of india, and the world of luxury, refinement and sophistication was far from where i grew up. It was a small town like many other. Most of my memories of me running barefoot in the town or having my little bike and being around. Women being ambitious was not not the norm. In fact, i remember my mother constantly telling me, who will marry you . You are so ambitious. Do you really know what youre going to do with your life . [laughs] very limited access to role models, to opportunities. I did engineering after sort of convincing everybody in my family that engineering was good for girls, which is great. It was electronics and communications and i quite enjoyed, again, being in the minority, but learning more about the world of technology which we all are now part of. Then i did Management Studies and worked all over the country as part of hindustan unilever. I worked, i had an all around experience, a hands on experience, worked on the shop floor, worked in front line sales, drove trucks in the morning, going to the trade, selling tea. So it was a fun experience. An adventure. It meant being constantly underestimated. It meant that you always looked different because you were the first woman and the first brown person, the first asian, the first indian, the first person of color to lead a global luxury brand. Youre always the first. Youre always underestimated. People dont know exactly what to expect. They are suspicious of what your agenda might be. And along with it comes the responsibility of making it easier for those who come after you. So i feel a tremendous privilege from a tremendous sense of responsibility to make it easier , which means questioning norms, being a role model, mentoring as many people as i can, trying to make it easier for others, constantly championing a more equal world. Francine is like a challenge. Is there ever a challenge you actually shy away from . Leena [laughter] you know, every single thing i have done, everybody has said it cant be done. I remember i was in a factory and i said, i want to go in the nightshift. And they said, no, we dont put women in the nightshift. I said, how will i be a successful production manager, personnel manager of a factory if i never went into a nightshift and knew how a third of my people worked . So, in some ways, it has fueled some of my determination, some of my, ok, i am going to get on and do it. It also gives me courage because i feel that i am not doing it just for me, i am doing it for everybody else who comes after me. So a few of my determination, so it fuels my determination, fuels my courage. But as i dont shy away from challenges and i always tell the men who ask me for advice saying, put your hand up for the most difficult job, put your hands up for the things that are challenging. Fleeing into things that are difficult and challenging because thats is what gives you the greatest credibility and respect and reputation as you build your career. Francine coming up, chanels leena nair on the longterm outlook for luxury, and the changing role of what it means to be a chief executive. Francine chanel is behind some of the most recognisable designs and fragrances in modern fashion. The french luxury house is still privately held by everyone in your family involved with the company over the past century. I continue my rare interview with the firms chief executive, leena nair. Do you see that the highend luxury, does that go higher in luxury, that actually there is a lot of players in the fashion world right now in luxury world. And its really the ones that are very high that that will do well. And does that also justify some of the price increases we have seen at chanel . Leena prices are related to our cost prices. These exquisite raw materials. Send our production, as you know, is very rigorous, laborious, handmade. So, we raise our prices according to the inflation that we see. It is really linked to the cost price. We have also made a commitment to price harmonization across the world, which means a client should not experience excessive price differentials. No matter where they buy. Francine and the secondhand market is also something we are seeing more and more in the last four to five years. What does that mean for a company like chanel . Leena we have famously not been on ecommerce. Weve always said we want our clients to buy from our beautiful stores. Because we believe clients must enjoy the immersive experience. Immersive physical experience where they can build a relationship with the fashion advisor, the beauty advisor, the boutique assistant, which is so magical and so core to the chanel story. Francine and how do you see the china market right now compared to the u. S. Market . Its not that volatile, actually, you kind of have like a base that stays for quite some time . Leena china is a very Central Market for the luxury ecosystem because of the fast adoption of luxury, because of the appreciation of refinement and sophistication. So it is a very important and essential market for us. I came back recently from china and i was really happy to see the energy and vibrancy in the market. So we continue to run our business for the long term and continue to invest in china for the long term. Similarly the u. S. , i see the u. S. As a longterm market for luxury. It always has been. All markets see a bit of ebbs and flows. But if you keep a long term perspective, we continue to invest. I mean, we just opened our beautiful watches and fine Jewelry Store on fifth avenue. It is absolutely breathtaking. Designed by peter marino. With everything that you would expect in the chanel boutique. Great personalization. Intimacy, beauty, think that uplift you. So we we believe in both these markets and theyre important to us. Francine it is probably tougher being a chief executive into 2025 than it was the last 20 years because of the constant change. And we dont really know what ai brings either. Leena it is definitely challenging. One of my principles as a leader is about tapping into collective intelligence, because i truly believe the days of the superhero leader are well and truly behind us. The world is so complex. There are crises on multiple levels. No chance to imagine one individual no matter how bright , they are, how experienced they are, can have answers to all the questions. No chance. Thats why i believe in collective intelligence. Diverse perspectives. Go around the room and listened to every voice. Francine is that why you always lead by empathy . You always say that you lead and lift. Which is not always easy. Leena leena i remember in my early days in my career at unilever, when i was going to a place in a factory. I felt it wasnt unsafe for women. I would go back and fight the battle to make sure it was made safer for women who came after me. It was always questioning the norms, challenging what was happening so i could make it easier for others to come after me. It is beautiful in chanel. We have 76 women. 60 of my Management Team are women. It is easier to set into place everything to support the development and career of all these talented women and create a more equal world. Francine would you ever go into menswear with chanel . [laughter] leena it is a rare time in our history where we have a female founder, a female ceo, female creative director of fashion. So its a rare time, and i think we support women everywhere in such a beautiful way. We do make things from men. Bleu is one of the largest7 selling perfume for men, and i hope it stays that way. We really are by women for women support women, and we hope to empower and support women on the journey of becoming. Francine you are right. The perfume. I forgot the perfumes. [laughter] talk to me a bit, there are things that people dont understand about chanel. We talk about the foundation because actually for so long it was all kept, you know, inhouse. How do you see all of these other brands working together . Leena we are the world leader in many categories. There is fashion which is well known. We are in fragrances and beauty. In skincare. One of the things with my leadership team, which we started working on what we call a beacon of inspiration for the next one hundred years, what we called the 100year plan, you know, constantly thinking ahead. We started Building Blocks of it , which is having a positive impact on the road. Sustainability, environmental, social sustainability, and the whole idea of womens empowerment and girls. So we are one of the largest Philanthropic Organization dedicated to Women Empowerment and girls. Francine its amazing because not many people know that. Leena 125 million this year. We have increased to that. We are truly one of the largest organizations in the world. We work with 200 37 partners in 50 plus countries on beautiful programs that support women to be free to shape their destiny. Francine coming up, leena nair, on how chanel is trying to change luxury, and how her background in hr is helping to shape her mindset of the chief executive. Hey you, with the small business. Whoa. Youve got all kinds of bright ideas, that your customers need to know about. Constant contact makes it easy. With everything from managing your social posts, and events, to email and sms marketing. Constant contact delivers all the tools you need to help your business grow. Get started today at constantcontact. Com constant contact. Helping the small stand tall. Francine leena nair is used to breaking convention and changing norms in the workplace, including her transition from unilever and Human Resources to becoming the chief executive of one of the most prestigious names in luxury. She tells me how chanel is positioning for the future of fashion, and what it means for her legacy at the iconic firm. How difficult is it for a big Luxury Company to be sustainable . You have Ambitious Goals . Leena i would like us to set the bar for luxury. I would like other luxury players to be inspired by what chanel does every day. We are one of the few luxury players that has now publicly set a goal of net zero by 2040. We want to really reduce our carbon emissions. In carbon emissions, we are reducing our logistics, transport and Carbon Footprint to do with digital. Chanel. Com saw an increase in traffic of 30 , but a 16 reduction in Carbon Footprint. Francine how much of this comes from the heart, trying to do good, and how much does this also play with consumers, because in five or 10 years, there will be even more focus on this . Leena you know, i think clients believe luxury is sustainable because they know we make few things and we make them beautifully and we make them with hand. And a genuine desire by clients to see us continue to be sustainable is only going to go up. I mentioned that more gen z and l4 are buying. They buy because they want to buy less and buy better, which is the right mindset to engage with luxury. So it will be increasingly important. Francine in sustainability, do you need to be a risk taker . The idea that as a chief executive, i guess you need to be careful, but is there anything coming that will challenge, i guess, your risktaking . Leena i think for all of us, the world today is so complex and moving fast, that you are constantly adjusting. For me, we are a courageous brand because we walk in the footsteps of a courageous woman. Gabrielle chanel lived the life she wanted, courageously, fortunately made the choices permit one of the values is the death of firmly on so important. You call it risktaking, i prefer audacity. Francine i actually prefer audacity. It has a certain thing that Gabrielle Chanel would have loved. What have you learned about yourself as chief executive . You unilever. Were in charge of hr at its a at unilever. Its a massive company, hundreds, thousands of employees. Is it different actually being in charge of a company than being in leena nair on transition from unilever to chanel . Leena when i was moved into chanel, a mentor told me youre doing a quadruple jump start. Its a change on so many dimensions. Public to private. Anglodu

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