Subtitles section Play video
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Sal: Well, I just wanted to introduce everyone
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to Angela Ahrendts.
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Just as a little bit of background
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on how all of this happened.
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You all know I was just in England two weeks ago,
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and as part of that, you came to the talk
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at the London School of Economics.
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And then the next day we met at Heathrow Airport.
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Angela: Yup.
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Sal: I had my $6 Old Navy shirt feeling very insecured
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the entire time. (Angela laughs)
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Both Esther and I were there, and you inspired us
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when you said you're going to be in this area
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we're like, well, we would love you to do
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the same thing with the team.
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Just talk about what you're doing etc, etc.
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If you could talk a little bit about just how you...
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I mean, fashion, the world of fashion, is this world...
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I mean, it's not obvious to most people
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how does someone get in to it,
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and especially get to the level that you've gotten.
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How did you start, and what kind of...
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at least at the early stages, allowed you to get here?
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Angela: I mean, honestly, it's not a dissimilar story
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to yours, right?
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My thing is, you...
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I think the greatest thing that anybody can do
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when they're young is discover their passion
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and what they love.
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I know it sounds really, really terrible,
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but I love stuff, and I love to shop,
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and I love fashion magazines, and I love to sew and create.
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It was the only industry I had to get in to,
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but I went to university
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and signed up for all these design classes,
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and realized I really wasn't that creative.
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But I had a really strong opinion
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on what everybody else was doing.
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I had a professor say that, "we call you a merchant."
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I'm like, "Okay," and so then I signed up
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for a lot of merchandising and marketing courses.
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So my university degree is in merchandising and marketing.
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In the world of what we do, I always say
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I'm the monkey in the middle.
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We have Christopher Bailey who's the chief creative officer,
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and he is so creative and so brilliant,
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and his whole creative team does all those videos.
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But then, and so that's on my right,
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and on my left, we have the chief financial officer,
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we have our chief operating officer,
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we have a number of our teams
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that have just arrived as well.
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You have this balance so I will say I'm a 50, 50.
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I am half left brain analytical,
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I am half right brain creative,
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and that was actually one of the reasons
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that I wanted to chat with Sal.
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Because I said, "Someday, as you guys
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start to take over the world,
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you're going to have to also
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start to introduce some right brain curriculum.
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And the Burberry Foundation would be honored
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to help you start creating some of those things
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when you're already down the road out there."
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Sal: Yeah, and now we're already starting a little bit,
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and we could talk more about that.
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No, absolutely, and I think ...
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I mean, say you're not creative,
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I mean that, I think you're really underselling your…
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Angela: Yeah, the design creative.
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Sal: But you obviously had a very strong aesthetic,
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you had a sense for what connective…
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Angela: Yeah, again I'm absolutely a merchant,
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and I will tell you the reason Christopher and I
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created the foundation is this,
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because we are both creative thinkers.
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Sal: Right.
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Angela: We feel very strongly that the curriculum
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specifically in America has become so left brain,
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so much of the arts and things have been cut out.
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But it is... I think for where the world's going
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we need creative thinkers.
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We need... and so many times they're getting lost
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out of the system, so we created the Burberry Foundation.
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We give 1% of our profits into the Burberry Foundation,
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and what we do is, we try and pick up the youth
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that is starting to fall out of the system
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because they think they're dumb, because they don't.
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Hopefully, we can help turn them on to you guys
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to help them.
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If they're still just not left brain
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but they're incredibly creative thinking.
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We bring as many of them as we can.
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We show them a whole another world
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that companies like us need,
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and that's been our calling.
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Sal: Yeah, I know it's incredible.
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I mean, you yourself, you said,
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"Okay I'll be a merchant."
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A professor tells you this,
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and you just go to New York,
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and then you're not even 30,
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and you're the president of Donna Karan?
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(Angela laughs) Is that right?
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Angela: Yeah.
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Sal: How does that happen?
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Is that normal?
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Are there a lot of 20 something's
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running a major fashion houses in the world?
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Angela: Probably not, and I will tell you I'm really guilty
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because I'm not great talking about myself.
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I'm just not. Because I'm only as good always
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as the great teams that are around me,
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and no different than you guys.
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Yes, I think what happens always
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is when you discover who you are,
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and you discover your passion,
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and then it's not work at your life,
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and so you just get in to that zone.
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I was so fortunate that I met the right people,
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things fell into place,
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absolutely worked my butt off because I was single,
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alone in New York, and why not.
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It's all I did was.... But I found my zone, I found…
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Sal: Was there a moment where …
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I just find if a member of my family says "Hey,
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I'm going to go to New York,
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and I'm going to go work in fashion."
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Like, "Okay, I'll see if I can help support you
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at some point or…"
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Just the left brain, the left brain side of me.
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I mean, how did you break in
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and then obviously left such a big mark with people
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that by the time, you weren't even 30,
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you're a president of a major fashion organization?
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Angela: It's funny, I don't think of any different
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than a great athlete, or a musician, or a…
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I think that what happens
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is this is all what I've ever done.
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I've always just stayed in my lane,
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and then you become ...
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Whether you're a footballer or whether you're ...
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I didn't jump around, this is all that I've done,
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and I have always been so passionate about it.
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I think when you direct your energy,
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and you become so passionate,
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and you unite people, right?
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You lead people all around believing in something,
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and then things just fall into place.
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I know that, and when I say things,
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the revenue, the profit, right?
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I never went in saying, "I'm going to do this."
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I went in saying, "What if we did this?"
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I've always been a dreamer.
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My father used to always say,
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"Take off your rose-colored of glasses."
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and I would always say "No."
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Now I don't have to, I can keep dreaming,
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but the important thing I've learned is though,
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I have to get enough people, right?
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I have to surround myself with enough people
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that can help execute that dream now.
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And that's all that I've ever done.
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I don't want to over simplify it,
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but I found my zone,
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I absolutely love what I do,
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it is not work at all.
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I have never once woke up in the morning said,
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"Oh God, I got to go to work."
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It's not work, this is my life.
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Everywhere that I've been...
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because it's not work,
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and the Monterey at Burberry
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or anywhere that I've been
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because the stronger companies get,
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then the more they can do,
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and the bigger influence they have.
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At Burberry, we've always said
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that, we have the power to touch and transform lives
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through the power of our performance.
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The bigger and the stronger we get,
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the more we can do,
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and that's just always been...
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I'm from the heart of Midwest,
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real strong family faith upbringing,
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and I have been raised to give.
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That's how I was raised,
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and so why wouldn't you apply that back in business?
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And so it just...
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Sal: I think you are underselling yourself a little bit. But I'll give you a pass on that.
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Angela: Thank you.
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But I do want... Because the interesting thing about this
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and why we video them is I think
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just the Khan Academy user base,
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there's a lot of young people out there
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who would say, "How do I do that?"
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If you had advice for someone who's 16 years old
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or 20 years old, and they find this world intriguing,
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what should they develop in themselves?
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How should they think about the world?
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And what should they do?
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Angela: Well, and I always say
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that the fashion industry is deceiving
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because everybody just thinks it's only this creative part.
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Where in a company like Burberry,
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there are 18 different departments
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that comprise the company.
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We need, we hire a lot of people from Silicon Valley.
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We need great... We have 130 people
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just in the IT department in the company.
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People don't realize that so we need extreme right,
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and we need extreme left.
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I think sometimes the fashion industry gets a short,
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it's the short stick sometimes when they think
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"It's just fashion, it's just..."
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In order to create... And here's my thing.
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I always say that what we're doing
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is we're creating a great brand and a great company,
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and we happen to be in the business of fashion.
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We didn't set out to create a really great fashion,
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we set out to create a great brand.
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I say that because there's a part of me that says,
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"That is your mission as well."
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Sal: I mean, following on that,
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I do want to think about...
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Well, what in your mind is... what does a brand mean?
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I've heard multiple definitions of a brand,
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and how would you view Burberry's brand?
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And how would you view our brand? In the same...
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they're very similar.
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(Angela laughing)
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Exploring a line of overcoats.
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Angela: To me, a great brand... And here's my thing.
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Think of yourself and when you interact with products.
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What coffee do you drink every morning,
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or you might walk into Starbucks,
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or you might walk in to...
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You might have Apple products, you might...
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How do you feel about..
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And so you want to be a part of that brand
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because you're proud to be a part of that brand,
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because that brand makes you feel a certain way.
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You trust that brand, and it's authentic,
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and it doesn't ever let you down.
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It exceeds your expectations
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so you want to engage with it, right?
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Those are all of the attributes of a great brand,
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honesty, integrity, authenticity, quality,
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but always doing what yo …
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To have a great engagement, or what's the word ...