For posterity's sake
"Strategy is just the story you tell everybody after you’ve done it."
-- Franck Riboud, CEO of French consumer products giant Danone (known here in the US as Dannon)
This is from a well-written New York Times T Magazine story about François-Henri Pinault, who is currently the top exec at French luxury fashion conglomerate LVMH. It was a nicely arranged story that equally sated my appetites for both fashion and business news.
In fact, I only just read the February 15th edition of T Magazine this past week when I picked it up in a hotel gym, and the whole issue was quite good. In addition to the Pinault piece, I also enjoyed the thoughtful and fun interview with Lee Radziwill, who these days very rarely speaks to the press. When it comes to Princess Radziwill, you can read the whole thing and also watch the online video embedded here.
-- Franck Riboud, CEO of French consumer products giant Danone (known here in the US as Dannon)
This is from a well-written New York Times T Magazine story about François-Henri Pinault, who is currently the top exec at French luxury fashion conglomerate LVMH. It was a nicely arranged story that equally sated my appetites for both fashion and business news.
In fact, I only just read the February 15th edition of T Magazine this past week when I picked it up in a hotel gym, and the whole issue was quite good. In addition to the Pinault piece, I also enjoyed the thoughtful and fun interview with Lee Radziwill, who these days very rarely speaks to the press. When it comes to Princess Radziwill, you can read the whole thing and also watch the online video embedded here.
The freedom of a jaded world
"Maybe it’s not a good moment to shock people, because they won’t be shocked anyway. Maybe it’s not a good moment to please people, because they won’t be pleased all the way."
-- Raf Simons, who recently assumed the role of creative director at famed fashion house Dior, on his latest collection, which has been praised by critics for "clothes with exceptional beauty and calm, especially for today"
This specifically was said about fashion, but I think it can apply to a lot of different areas these days in our media-saturated and always-on society. Viewed from a pessimist's perspective it could seem like this would spur a "who cares" kind of apathy -- but with a glass half full approach, this kind of world can actually start to sound really freeing.
Can't argue with that
Bryant: "No. Why? I know everything there is to know about me."
This whole interview with Kobe Bryant is pretty awesome, and I'm not even a huge basketball or LA Lakers fan. It's just that 17 years into his pro career he seems to have settled into being totally honest about his talent (and his corresponding huge ego) which I think always makes for a fun read.
The woman who waits
"The woman who waits for something magical to happen will die beautiful, ignored, overlooked, curled in her 'shell,' jabbering in three languages, never realizing the potential she possessed all along."
-- from Elle Magazine's February 2013 "Ask E. Jean" advice column, in response to an overachieving, conventionally pretty tri-lingual reader who has found herself faltering in her late twenties after years of excelling in forums such as school.
I can say without hesitation that E. Jean Carroll's column is the number one reason that I continue to subscribe to Elle. She is just an absolute gem.
Her advice in this instance also dovetails very well with the recent Harvard Business Review article which I discovered thanks to the lovely Laura Oppenheimer, entitled "Women Need To Realize Work Isn't School."
