WEBVTT - Skims Co-Founder Emma Grede on the Kardashians and Why Work From Home Is ‘Career Suicide' 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:09.039 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:15.840 And You've talked before about needing different people around you 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.479 to go from ten million to one hundred million to 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:19.040 five billion. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.800 Oh don't you just it's not the same people. And 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.320 you know, I kind of raised myself in business having 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:26.680 an enterprise mentality. 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.520 I learned that very very on. I'm more here to 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:30.480 do people favors. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.159 Business is business, and I do what's best for the 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.520 company every single day, and often that is what's best 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.000 for the individual. Nobody wants to be kept in a 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.960 role that they're not best suited to because that never 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.080 works out for the individual or for the organization. So 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.239 I've learned over time that you know, what is good 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:51.320 for the company is ultimately good for everybody. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.360 I'm Francy Lacqua and this is leaders, the podcast that 0:00:55.480 --> 0:01:00.600 explores what drives the world's most influential people. Well, this week, 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:01.760 I'm speaking to Emma Greed. 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:03.800 She is a chief executive and co. 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.880 Founder of Good American and founding partner of Skims, the 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.720 shapewear and loungewear brand, which was valued at five billion 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.840 dollars in November twenty twenty five. Now, the last ten 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.400 years have seen her star rise. A lot of it 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.760 really down to her successful partnerships with the celebrity family 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.520 named the Kardashians, but now may be a pivotal time 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.959 for her and I wanted to talk to her about 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.480 one of the best and worst days of her career, 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.840 how she leads with radical honesty, and why, as a 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.280 self styled behind the scenes woman, she has chosen to 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:48.240 step out into the limelight. Emcgreed, thank you so much 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:51.000 for joining us. It's exciting to speak to you again. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.400 It's so lovely to see you again. 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.080 Talk to me about the good American. The day you 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.760 launched was seen as one of the biggest successes almost 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.400 of all times in the didden world, a million right 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.280 in sales. But then you writing your books that actually 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.160 was it was quite stressful and didn't go to plan. 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.280 You know what, that's an understatement because it's really interesting 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.600 when something from the outside looks so perfect and in 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:17.760 one way, it was a total dream. 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:17.960 You know. 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.079 It was the first time that I'd done a business 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.880 in apparel, and for all intents and purposes, it was 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:27.760 like this beautiful, amazing thing that went so well, except 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.720 from the inside, where you know, I had no inventory. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:34.440 We'd had this beautiful dream first. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.040 Million dollar day that kind of went down in history, 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.960 But behind the scenes, I was scrambling. I had like 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.880 a waitless kind of coming out of my ear holes 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.760 and no way to satisfy the demand. But more than that, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.080 I had like this kind of doubt permeating through the 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:53.280 company on the board with my shareholders that perhaps because 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:55.760 of that oversight, that I wasn't the right person to 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.920 run the company. And actually, looking back, it's kind of 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.320 interesting that I never felt any fear around that moment. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:04.920 I just kind of looked at everyone and was like, 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:06.480 leave me alone. I'm going to figure it out. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.640 But actually fear there was not a moment where you thought, actually, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:11.720 you know, I need to take a step back, or 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.240 I need to convince the board or no. 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.000 And it's so interesting because so many people talk to 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.320 me about, you know, imposter syndrome and being a first 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.280 time founder. I never had any of that. I always 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.040 think like, if not me, then who. In my head, 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.760 it was my idea and I brought it to fruition 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:29.800 and I was going to figure out any of the problems, 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.680 and so much of being an entrepreneur is about figuring 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.040 it out you never have the answers, and I think 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.560 if you have the answers, you're probably not moving fast enough. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:39.640 But the board told you of. 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:41.640 I got a bit of a tell enough. Yeah, well, 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:42.920 I wouldn't say it telling off. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.680 There were just some dismissive tones, like oh, you know, 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.640 it's like I was a genius at nine am, and 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.240 by at noon it was like, perhaps you're not best 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:53.240 suited for this role. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.240 And I just completely dismissed that. 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.200 So how do you regroup in a. 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.640 Really tumultuous like way. 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.880 I did what I know to do, which is when 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.440 you don't know something, you ask somebody who does. And 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.880 so I started calling around. I tried to like information gather. 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.280 I was calling competitors, I was calling retailers. I was 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.760 like literally visiting factories and so in a way you 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.720 could literally get on the ground and say like how 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:20.560 can I change this? 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:21.400 How can you move this? 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.080 But the simple fact was the fabric wasn't available because 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.800 I hadn't had the foresight to get out in front 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.520 of the calendar and know what I was up against. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.000 But a new brand is a new brand. 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:32.919 There was no data, there was no history, there was 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.360 nothing telling me that this was going to be that successful, 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.360 and so would I've done anything different? No, I don't think. 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.240 So what did you learn about yourself? Because a lot 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.400 of chief executives will say, look, it's only by learning, 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.159 and failing that, finally you have the pasture to say, like, look, 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.080 I got this, but you think I got this right 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:49.599 from the start? 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:50.679 I really did. 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.159 And perhaps I was naivete but I knew I'd figure 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.839 it out in my head. I just thought, this is 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.520 just another problem, and my life is a series of 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.599 problems as a leader and as somebody who starts companies 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:03.840 and builds things from scratch. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.200 Did you tell the employees or did you celebrate with 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:07.560 them and figure it out about yourself? 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:09.000 Do you know? I had no choice? 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.680 The great thing about Good American It's the start, is 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.240 that I'd chosen that initial team really well. So I 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.560 had veterans in my business. The person and thank god, 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.919 she still works with me now but in a different company. 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.360 But the woman that was really in charge of products 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.840 had been in the denim space for twenty years, and 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.960 the guy that ran all design really was the you know, 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.320 like so ingratiated in the denim community in LA that 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.240 we were able to literally knock on doors and ask favors, 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.160 and so I thankfully surrounded myself with people who knew 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.240 better and could help me open doors. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.880 You talk a lot about, you know, giving employees honest feedback. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.760 Is that about radical honesty? How do you describe it? 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.320 It is radical honesty, but that's also so much about 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.960 who I am, and so I've always thought to myself, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:56.760 I can just be honest with myself. I don't need 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.080 to walk around with some you know, guilt on my 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.240 shoulder and carrying stuff that doesn't serve me. So for me, 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.320 it's just about honesty, take the learning, move on. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.680 What does that look like when you talk to employees? 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:09.240 It looks very straightforward. 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:09.720 Here's the thing. 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.480 I don't think anybody in my organizations ever wonder what 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.240 I'm thinking. Nobody's like, oh, I'm trying to figure out 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.920 how Emma's feeling. It's like, I am really firm and 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.359 really fair. I have very very very high expectations for 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:26.400 myself and for everybody around me. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.120 I give very very clear feedback. 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.720 And my job as founder and as a CEO is 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.839 to have the vision right, but it's to communicate that 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.960 vision downwards. And so I'm in a constant conversation with 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.080 everyone around me. I think I'm super repetitive. I say 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.919 the same three things over and over and over again. 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.760 And everybody in the organization should be able to know 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.320 what our priorities are and know what we're doing. And 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:52.800 so I think I'm a little bit of a broken record. 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.160 But I think that there's an element of consistency that 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:55.760 comes with that. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:57.920 And I'm bloody consistent. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.920 And You've talked before about needing different people around you 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.520 to go from ten million to one hundred million to 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:04.080 five billion. 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:06.840 Oh don't you just it's not the same people. And 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.360 you know, I kind of raised myself in business having 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:11.720 an enterprise mentality. 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.640 I learned that very very on. I'm here to do 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:15.560 people favors. 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.200 Business is business, and I do what's best for the 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.559 company every single day, and often that is what's best 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.040 for the individual. Nobody wants to be kept in a 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.040 role that they're not best suited to, because that never 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.080 works out for the individual or for the organization. So 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.640 I've learned over time that what is good for the 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.520 company is ultimately good for everybody. 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:36.760 What is that ruthlessness? 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.480 I don't know that it's ruthlessness. 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:44.320 I think that it is just being able to delineate. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.000 What is right at the time. 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.400 And you know, here's the thing I think, specifically as 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:53.440 a female leader, you're judged on you know, how empathetic 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:55.360 are you, And so I think the way that we 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.320 work and the reason that I think directness is always best. 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.880 We all know where we stand all the time. I'm 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.680 not waiting for an assessment moment or a six month 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:05.800 mark or some kind of like former of you. If 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.440 you're failing, you probably know you're failing because we've probably 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.160 spoken about it. It's not like a bolt out of 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:10.520 the blue. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:11.880 So how do you hire or do you hire people 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:13.600 that you think can take the heat in the kitchen 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.640 or do you expect everyone to just take it well. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.600 I hire differently for different stages of the business, but 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.680 I think in the beginning, you know, you want generalists, 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.360 you want people that are going to have a I'll 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.400 do that hand up mentality, whatever it is. I think 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.560 as business is mature, you're looking for more category and 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:36.920 subject and departmental expertise and typically hiring for an enormous 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.320 amount of experience. But for me, what I play so 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.440 much value on is flexibility. You have to be willing 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.560 to look and take your experience and do things a 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.760 little bit differently. So I'm always trying to hire for 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.800 people that are seriously experienced, but seriously flexible. 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.400 Is there a concern with loyalty or employees still loyal 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:58.720 if they feel that you can cut them off at 0:08:58.760 --> 0:08:59.280 any point. 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.920 I mean, I know about cutting them off at any point, 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.559 And I think that loyalty is something that you earn. 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.120 You know, there's a trust in a business and it 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.960 really is about people learning to trust that what you 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:13.960 say is what you mean and is what happens, and 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.040 when you do that, you can be trusted regardless. 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.200 Do you think a lot about incentives. 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.920 Yeah, I mean I think that that is just the expectation, 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.720 Like incentives have to be built in for the best people, 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.640 and that happens at all levels of the organization. For 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.760 everybody has to understand how the incentives come to be right. 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:33.880 The company has to perform well in order for the 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.960 incentives to be created, but then for them to be 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:38.360 paid out and to make sense. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.040 After the break, em Agreed reveals how she got her 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.480 foot in the door with the Kardashian family and the 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.920 strategic moves that made her the go to partner to 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:55.400 launch Good American you can't mention and agreed without the 0:09:55.520 --> 0:10:00.440 Kardashians in a way, they were her biggest supporters, importedly 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.960 matriarch Chris Jenner first and pitched teaming up with Chloe 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.120 Kardashian for a Good American. But was there actually a moment, 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.439 a meeting of minds and how did she convince some 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:13.839 of the most famous people in the world to go 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.240 into business with her? Can you talk to me about 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.840 that pitch when you pitched Good American to the Kardashians. 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.760 There was never such a pitch idea, you know, specifically 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.040 with Good American. There was an idea that I had 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.840 and I really felt that the partnership would, you know, 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.600 make this thing just accelerate, But it never is, you 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.800 know how people kind of see it in the movies. 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.560 There was a relationship that existed and a moment in time. 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.640 And the best things and the best businesses always work 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.120 when what's happening in the culture chimes with whatever you're doing. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.280 And I think at that moment, when you go back 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.720 nine years ago, the idea of body positivity and what 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.440 it meant to do real inclusivity and fashion just wasn't 0:10:57.440 --> 0:10:59.960 what it was today. And so I think that whenever 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.880 you're starting something, it's like this melting pot and a 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.600 smagas board of small decisions and the right thing in 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:07.480 the culture and the right moment in time and you 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.560 being the right person, and some element of magic has 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.200 to happen. But there's never like this like bingo moment 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:14.080 where everyone goes. 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:14.719 Yeah, let's go. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:16.720 Don't you have to I mean, you had to sell 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.280 your idea, right at some point, Yeah, but you had 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:20.240 to say, yes, we're. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.640 Really need to sell an idea. That it's like that good. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.960 You know, It's like there's an idea and then there 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.360 are people that decide to jump on board. 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:31.040 But you know again, I think it. 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.800 Like it feels more more like a fantasy to be 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.320 like there's this moment of sell and this moment of yes. 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.199 Because the best partnerships may happen over time and they 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.120 come together because everybody has something to bring to the table. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.400 And I think that that was one of those magical moments. 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.280 A lot of people have ideas, but then they don't 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:49.880 really come to fruition. 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:51.200 I mean to get amazed. 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.120 They have things that they want to do in their head. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.920 And an idea can live on a piece of paper 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.400 or on your desktop for the longest time, but you've 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.080 got to get out. The hardest thing is to just 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.040 get out of the gate. What's holding people back? And 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.400 I do see that a lot Actually people are either 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:09.840 too afraid or say they don't know where to start, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.600 or they don't have the capital. I don't come from 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:17.040 a background where I had either the capital or the network, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.520 or the educational background or any of those things. I 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.600 just tried a lot of stuff and eventually one of 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.320 those things happened to work out. And at some point 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.400 you've just got to take whatever it is that you 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.520 have and try and again. I think that we're in 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:35.079 such a time where there's this idea that everything has 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.640 to be like a billion dollar brand, everything has to 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:38.440 be a unicorn. 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.680 But you've managed to do everything at scale, right, So I. 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:46.520 Mean everything that you know about what's the failures. There's 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:47.520 a ton of failures. 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.640 There's a ton of things that I've done that didn't work. 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.160 And when I think about my early businesses, I'd opened 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.559 offices that didn't quite work out. I have grown companies 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.560 and then had to downsize them, and those things are 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.560 really right now, we only show the glossy side, the 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.439 amazing things, the great headlines, the stuff we want to 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:07.439 put on our Instagram. 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.000 And the reality is anyone. 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.920 Who is an entrepreneur that's done multiple things will have failed. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.360 And you have to get comfortable with this idea of 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:20.400 not everything working out. It's not always that you did 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.600 something wrong so that this thing in this time, this 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.840 situation didn't work for a myriad of reasons. So long 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.560 as you figure out what are those reasons, and what 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.200 did I learn from it, and what will I do 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.000 different next time, then that has to be left behind. 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.160 And I think that if you look around in the culture, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.959 that is way harder for women than it is for men, 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.880 because women are held to an entirely different standard when 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.320 they start things and they fail, And yet we have 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.920 men that fail over and over again and close it 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.080 down and go out and raise the next day and 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.480 nobody mentions anything about it. 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.240 So once you have a failure, do you do a 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:54.760 post mortim to see what work wrong? 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:56.240 Do you the whole to you? 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.520 I tell it just like spreadsheets, absolutely, and you really 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.079 have to understand well what you do right, because I 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.640 think it's easy to point to the market and conditions. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.880 It's easy to look at all of the things that 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.640 were outside of your control, but often there's a pattern 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.640 in these things, like that you are a huge part of. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:17.720 And so I really try to you know, and I 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:19.440 hate to go wooh woof. You kind of have to 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.760 go inside. You have to understand, like what is it 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.120 that I miss and what is it that I didn't see? 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.120 And how can I change that for the next thing. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.920 When we come back. Emma Green sounds the alarm on 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.080 and pastor syndrome, how it can be stopped before it 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.960 even exists, and why she's determined to stop women from 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:49.320 holding themselves back before they've even begun. For a long time, 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.160 Emma Greed has been the brains behind growing other people's brands, 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.240 but over the last few years she's been making a 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.640 visible effort to be front and center, whether it's launching 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:04.160 upon cast, high profile TV appearances, or now her debut book, 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:08.160 Start with Yourself. This new chapter appears firmly focused on 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.440 building her own brand. But I want to know why 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.960 now and what next? So in the past, you used 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.120 to say you were a behind the scenes woman. Yeah, 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:19.920 what's changed? 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.320 You know? I still feel like a behind the scenes woman, 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.520 I still go into the upper of every single well, 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.360 you know, I'm like behind the scenes in front of 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:27.760 the camera. 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.440 I do a lot of things and wear a few hats. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:34.520 I think what I've realized as I've become more successful 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.480 is that wherever I go, people ask me the same questions. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.680 I always say, you know, how did you do this? 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.120 And I don't think people are that interested in me. 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.160 I think they want to understand how they can be 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.760 successful for themselves. I'm really trying to like lift the 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.280 lid and demystify what it means to have a successful 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.320 career and to start a business and to scale a business, 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.680 and what it means to sell or ipo a business, 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.960 and specifically through the lens of a woman, because I 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:06.640 believe that there is social conditioning that actually makes women 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:11.000 avoid the exact behaviors that lead to wealth, creation, that 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:15.040 lead to success, that lead to leadership and opportunity for us. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.640 What do you think actually doesn't sort of female leaders 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:20.000 because it starts from a very young. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.200 Age, how long of you have a lot of times 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.200 I need to get these girls like when they're ten, eleven, twelve, 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.480 you know, because a lot of it is what we carry. 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.200 I don't know that the idea of imposter syndrome even exist. 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:38.400 When we talk about male founders, male entrepreneurs, why would 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.960 we be talking about it so frequently for women. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:45.840 Actually, I've heard me, yeah, I had it. Yes, really, 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.320 I've never heard one. And then they say look. I 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.480 looked around the room and I thought, actually, if they. 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.160 Can do it, I can do it. I can do it. 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.760 But the same sentence said by women carries a different way. 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.680 And I have seen, certainly in my own career, this 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.840 notion of imposter scene can be planted as a seed 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:03.680 even when it doesn't exist. 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:05.040 And that's what I want to stop. 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.919 I want to stop us stopping ourselves getting out of 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.600 the gates before we've even given ourselves a chance. Because 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.800 my experience is that women are excellent at making money 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:18.000 in the business, and they are excellent at just thinking 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.920 about things in a really unique way. And I hire 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.320 so many women that are brilliant, especially when they come 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.800 back into the workplace after having children, because their time 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.359 and the way they think about things and is so 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.119 much more precious that they get really really good at 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.959 don quickly. It's so much done, and they get it 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.520 done so quickly. With a different sense of urgency. 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:43.280 Do you see yourself as a retail model? 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:45.080 That's cong. 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.280 You know, you're trying to build the next Selvia Mage? 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.880 Does that feel good? I mean, that's such an interesting headline. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:58.719 How flattering that. I think that's like Instagram headlines. Ah, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:17:59.880 that's good, it's a good one. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.280 But what do you want to what are you trying 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:03.679 to build? 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.080 What's really interesting is that what I set out to do, 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.600 I've kind of done. I wanted to create businesses that 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:13.560 I could be really proud of, and I wanted to 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.160 be part of businesses that I really enjoyed going in 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:18.400 and working in every day. 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:20.359 Like I wake up on a Monday and I'm like, 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:20.960 let's go. 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.680 And that for me is winning because where I grew 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.000 up and where I come from, people dreaded work. They 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.000 went to work to pay their bills. And that is 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:30.840 not what I do. I do it, and I do 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:32.600 it for a lot less. I mean, I'm glad it 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:33.760 comes with what it does. 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.160 But you see big, you dream big. 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.080 Yeah, I've always seen big and dream big, But I 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.320 think that, you know, there's a level of responsibility that 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.080 comes with that because I think that, you know, when 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:48.200 I look at the landscape, specifically for women, specifically for 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.880 women of color. I think that talent's fairly evenly distributed, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.640 but opportunity isn't. And so when I look at the 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.000 ability that I have to create opportunity for other people, 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.919 that feels like a responsibility for me. Not in a 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.280 like super worthy way, but in a way where it's like, wow, 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.320