[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_139":-5,"_140":-5,"_141":142,"_143":144,"_145":146},"routes/clips.$id.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12},"clip",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":-5,"_18":19,"_20":-5,"_21":22,"_23":24,"_25":26,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":32,"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":45,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5},"canonicalUrl","https://howleaderslead.com/clips/2670/internalize-what-you-learn-from-others-so-its-authentic-to-you","id",2670,"title","Internalize what you learn from others so it's authentic to you","subtitle","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.040\ntoo many people too many times people are afraid to ask for help and\n\n2\n00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:08.170\nYou can't be so I think that that number one is really important. I think how\n\n3\n00:00:08.170 --> 00:00:08.840\nyou digest it\n\n4\n00:00:08.840 --> 00:00:12.800\nYou got to be authentic about it, right? It doesn't matter what book you read\n\n5\n00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.480\nor person you talk to like I'm never gonna be David Novak\n\n6\n00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:19.480\nNo matter what I could do everything you do\n\n7\n00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:23.020\nI'm not gonna be you and I think there has to be an authenticity of like taking\n\n8\n00:00:23.020 --> 00:00:24.000\nbits and pieces of\n\n9\n00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:29.640\nGleanings along the way or from different people that you you admire and look\n\n10\n00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:30.380\nup to and\n\n11\n00:00:30.380 --> 00:00:34.840\nTrying to put them into play in your life in any capacity and it gets it starts\n\n12\n00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:35.080\nreally small\n\n13\n00:00:35.080 --> 00:00:38.280\nSo whether I read a book or get advice from somebody in my life\n\n14\n00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:43.120\nI try to I try to internalize it think about okay. Where does this?\n\n15\n00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:48.180\nWhere does this apply to my life in a way where it feels like I'm not being a\n\n16\n00:00:48.180 --> 00:00:50.160\nphony to do it that way, right?\n\n17\n00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:53.590\nI don't want to be like he sounds just like so and so I want to I can only\n\n18\n00:00:53.590 --> 00:00:54.760\nsound like me because I'm me\n\n19\n00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:57.280\nSo I think I think it's about\n\n20\n00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:59.800\nbeing honest and aware of yourself\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",1646518,"end_time",1706579,"keywords","Authenticity, learning, self-awareness","slug","internalize-what-you-learn-from-others-so-its-authentic-to-you","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","4SM7SIS3Z2Ee6zUMi8rjhWKufeqk3401WSr2QY702J56o","mux_asset_id","TucuCZTKa5ArUXwxw01REhXUpEElsjw00rCm3VqXo8t3o","leader_id",200,"episode_id",350,"updated_at","2025-12-19T03:06:48.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/2670/internalize-what-you-learn-from-others-so-its-authentic-to-you","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":36,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_107":108,"_25":109,"_110":111,"_62":112,"_59":112,"_113":114,"_69":115,"_39":116,"_117":-5,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_118":119,"_91":120,"_44":121,"_122":123,"_124":125,"_46":-5,"_126":127,"_128":129,"_95":130,"_51":-5},"episode",{"_13":38,"_15":52,"_27":53,"_17":54,"_55":56,"_18":57,"_20":58,"_59":60,"_61":-5,"_62":60,"_63":-5,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_68":-5,"_69":-5,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":75,"_35":36,"_39":76,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_77":78,"_79":80,"_81":82,"_83":84,"_85":-5,"_86":-5,"_87":88,"_89":90,"_91":-5,"_46":-5,"_92":93,"_94":-5,"_95":-5,"_51":-5},"og_image_media","Connection creates results","connection-creates-results","Learn how to make meaningful connections with customers and team members—and why it’s a powerful way to drive results. Plus, unmissable advice for anyone who works with a founder.","summary","

Today’s guest is Tom Nolan, the CEO of Kendra Scott, a jewelry brand that’s been crushing it lately—posting nearly double-digit growth for 44 consecutive months and counting.

But as you’ll hear today, it’s not just about the results. It’s about how you treat people along the way. In this episode, you’ll see how to make stronger connections with both your customers and your team members. And you’ll see how it can drive meaningful results in your business.

You’ll also learn:

A weird advantage of not being passionate about your product
What most leaders miss about customer satisfaction
Must-hear advice for anyone who works with a founder
Why innovation doesn’t have to mean chasing shiny new objects

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.720\nWhat we see is a byproduct of caring about our customer.\n\n2\n00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:05.520\nLike our customers are boss, right?\n\n3\n00:00:05.520 --> 00:00:07.200\nLike if we don't treat her the right way,\n\n4\n00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.600\nif we don't make decisions based on that person the right way,\n\n5\n00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:11.000\nthen we lose.\n\n6\n00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.280\nAnd with that mentality, it's how we approach everything.\n\n7\n00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:16.000\nSo retail thinks about it that way.\n\n8\n00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.920\nAnd as a result of that, we have about as high a conversion\n\n9\n00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:21.440\nrate as you can have in the consumer retail world.\n\n10\n00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:23.080\nI mean, our conversion rates in our best stores are\n\n11\n00:00:23.080 --> 00:00:24.440\nnorth of 40%.\n\n12\n00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:25.240\nAnd that's unheard of.\n\n13\n00:00:25.240 --> 00:00:26.840\nAnd it's because we don't focus on it.\n\n14\n00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:29.720\nLike, you know, the irony is we focus on making connection\n\n15\n00:00:29.720 --> 00:00:31.680\nwith somebody and it works.\n\n16\n00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:40.880\nWelcome to How Leaders Lead.\n\n17\n00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:41.880\nI'm David Novak.\n\n18\n00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:44.760\nAnd every week I have conversations with the best\n\n19\n00:00:44.760 --> 00:00:48.080\nleaders in the world to help you become the best leader\n\n20\n00:00:48.080 --> 00:00:49.600\nthat you can be.\n\n21\n00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.680\nToday I'm sitting down with Tom Nolan, the CEO of\n\n22\n00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:56.200\nKendra Scott, a popular jewelry brand that's been\n\n23\n00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:58.000\ncrushing it lately.\n\n24\n00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.640\n44 months of nearly double digit growth.\n\n25\n00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:03.240\nAnd guess what?\n\n26\n00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:07.520\nTom's been the CEO for 45 of those months.\n\n27\n00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:11.360\nSo yeah, this guy knows how to get results.\n\n28\n00:01:11.360 --> 00:01:12.760\nBut here's the thing.\n\n29\n00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:16.720\nTom's not the kind of leader who bulldozes his way to the top.\n\n30\n00:01:16.720 --> 00:01:20.720\nFor him, it's all about making real connections with his team\n\n31\n00:01:20.720 --> 00:01:22.120\nand his customers.\n\n32\n00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:25.600\nAnd when you focus on that, the results tend to take care\n\n33\n00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:26.600\nof themselves.\n\n34\n00:01:26.600 --> 00:01:30.080\nThis episode might just be the mindset shift that you need\n\n35\n00:01:30.080 --> 00:01:32.880\nto start building those connections and getting real\n\n36\n00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:33.800\nresults.\n\n37\n00:01:33.800 --> 00:01:36.520\nSo here's my conversation with my good friend\n\n38\n00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:38.760\nand soon to be yours, Tom Nolan.\n\n39\n00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:47.840\nYou know, when we first met, we talked about our mutual belief\n\n40\n00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:52.440\nand the power of recognition that when did you get sold on\n\n41\n00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:55.240\nrecognition, you know, as a real business driver?\n\n42\n00:01:55.240 --> 00:01:56.440\nTell us a story.\n\n43\n00:01:56.440 --> 00:01:59.800\nWell, I mean, look, I would say just as a young person\n\n44\n00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:03.280\ngrown up in business, I always felt like I had a voice\n\n45\n00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.320\nand it wasn't always heard, right?\n\n46\n00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:07.800\nSo when it was heard, it made me feel really good.\n\n47\n00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:10.440\nAnd I think it started probably before that, just playing\n\n48\n00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:13.040\nsports as a kid, you know, everybody wants to get an\n\n49\n00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:15.240\nout of boy and it made me feel really good.\n\n50\n00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:19.960\nAnd then I read a great book called Oh Great One.\n\n51\n00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:20.800\nSomebody wrote.\n\n52\n00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:23.440\nAnd that one really solidified it for me.\n\n53\n00:02:23.440 --> 00:02:25.200\nAnd I started making it--\n\n54\n00:02:25.200 --> 00:02:27.520\nI've always, I think, made it a fundamental part of kind of\n\n55\n00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.680\nhow I've parented my kids, how I've led in business, in that\n\n56\n00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:33.840\nbook, and I'm not pandering you, but really that book kind of\n\n57\n00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:35.920\nchanged how I thought about it internally at our company,\n\n58\n00:02:35.920 --> 00:02:37.400\nKendra Scott.\n\n59\n00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:41.840\nAnd we incorporated recognition in a way where, you know, on a\n\n60\n00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:45.880\nweekly basis now, I asked for getting--\n\n61\n00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:47.960\nwho's doing a great job that we could just give a high five?\n\n62\n00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.160\nAnd because it's so important, people work really, really\n\n63\n00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:51.160\nhard, as you know, David.\n\n64\n00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:53.600\nAnd a lot of the times and most of the times, I think, for\n\n65\n00:02:53.600 --> 00:02:56.400\nthe right kind of people, what motivates them isn't money.\n\n66\n00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:59.600\nIt's knowing that they're doing a great job and a feedback of\n\n67\n00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:00.600\nthat.\n\n68\n00:03:00.600 --> 00:03:01.800\nSo I knew how important it was to me.\n\n69\n00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:05.680\nI've seen how important it is as a dad to my kids.\n\n70\n00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.080\nAnd it's really proven and paid high dividends in our\n\n71\n00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:10.040\norganization.\n\n72\n00:03:10.040 --> 00:03:14.800\nYou have one of the most original CEO personal\n\n73\n00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.600\nrecognition awards that I've ever seen.\n\n74\n00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:19.240\nYou know, tell us about it.\n\n75\n00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:20.240\nYeah.\n\n76\n00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.520\nAnd literally, it was after I read your book.\n\n77\n00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:28.160\nAnd the jar, I read a book called The Way of the Shepherd a\n\n78\n00:03:28.160 --> 00:03:29.040\nlong time ago.\n\n79\n00:03:29.040 --> 00:03:31.880\nAnd it really changed how I led.\n\n80\n00:03:31.880 --> 00:03:34.920\nI consider myself a servant leader.\n\n81\n00:03:34.920 --> 00:03:37.840\nAnd when you first become a leader of people, it's scary.\n\n82\n00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.600\nSo somebody gave me this book with my first real\n\n83\n00:03:40.600 --> 00:03:41.400\nmanagement role.\n\n84\n00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.800\nAnd it really just talks about how to be a servant\n\n85\n00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:44.120\nleader.\n\n86\n00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:45.600\nAnd it's kind of the thesis for the book.\n\n87\n00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:47.400\nAnd I would suggest everybody read it.\n\n88\n00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:48.720\nIt doesn't take very long to read.\n\n89\n00:03:48.720 --> 00:03:49.920\nIt's a short little book.\n\n90\n00:03:49.920 --> 00:03:50.440\nThere's not as many--\n\n91\n00:03:50.440 --> 00:03:51.760\nI wrote a short book.\n\n92\n00:03:51.760 --> 00:03:53.960\nI read it after you told me about it.\n\n93\n00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:54.760\nSo it's great.\n\n94\n00:03:54.760 --> 00:03:55.320\nBut go ahead.\n\n95\n00:03:55.320 --> 00:03:57.360\nThere's not as many pictures in it as most of the books I\n\n96\n00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:57.920\nlike to read.\n\n97\n00:03:57.920 --> 00:04:00.520\nBut this one worked out great.\n\n98\n00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:03.760\nBut the thesis of it really is it's a guy going to business\n\n99\n00:04:03.760 --> 00:04:07.760\nschool, ironically, in my hometown here of Austin, Texas,\n\n100\n00:04:07.760 --> 00:04:08.600\nat UT.\n\n101\n00:04:08.600 --> 00:04:11.240\nAnd he's studying how to be a leader in business school\n\n102\n00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:12.240\nand becomes business school.\n\n103\n00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.880\nAnd he has this great professor.\n\n104\n00:04:13.880 --> 00:04:17.440\nAnd the professor has agreed to give him kind of on the side\n\n105\n00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:18.880\ncoaching and leadership advice.\n\n106\n00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:19.960\nAnd he's so excited about it.\n\n107\n00:04:19.960 --> 00:04:20.640\nHe gets already.\n\n108\n00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:22.680\nAnd he puts on his best penny loafers.\n\n109\n00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.600\nProfessor says he's going to come pick him up on the weekend.\n\n110\n00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:25.200\nAnd he shows up.\n\n111\n00:04:25.200 --> 00:04:28.200\nAnd the professor is wearing basically cowboy clothes.\n\n112\n00:04:28.200 --> 00:04:31.560\nAnd he doesn't take him to get a business symposium.\n\n113\n00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:33.600\nIn fact, he takes him out to his ranch.\n\n114\n00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.280\nAnd he helps him herd sheep because the guy was a shepherd.\n\n115\n00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:39.640\nSo it goes through all of this to really understand,\n\n116\n00:04:39.640 --> 00:04:42.680\nto be a great shepherd, you got to understand\n\n117\n00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:44.880\nthat the shape of your flock, each one of your sheep\n\n118\n00:04:44.880 --> 00:04:45.440\nindividually.\n\n119\n00:04:45.440 --> 00:04:46.960\nAnd it's all about servant leadership.\n\n120\n00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:50.280\nAnd the shepherd's crook, which we all know,\n\n121\n00:04:50.280 --> 00:04:51.320\nis a symbol of that.\n\n122\n00:04:51.320 --> 00:04:54.720\nAnd sometimes the shepherd's crook is used to wrap a sheep\n\n123\n00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:56.600\non the head when it's doing something stupid.\n\n124\n00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:59.240\nSometimes it's used to save a sheep if it's fallen in a hole.\n\n125\n00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:02.280\nOther times it's used to protect it from a coyote or something.\n\n126\n00:05:02.280 --> 00:05:05.200\nSo I've told a lot of people about this book.\n\n127\n00:05:05.200 --> 00:05:07.200\nI've given out a lot of copies of it over the years.\n\n128\n00:05:07.200 --> 00:05:11.520\nSo as a wonderful recognition for me,\n\n129\n00:05:11.520 --> 00:05:14.400\nI've gotten beautiful shepherds' crooks over the years\n\n130\n00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:15.800\nfrom different people.\n\n131\n00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:16.960\nMy very favorite one.\n\n132\n00:05:16.960 --> 00:05:18.800\nSo we had a problem at--\n\n133\n00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:19.800\nI can't just get--\n\n134\n00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:22.000\nnot a problem, it was an opportunity, I guess--\n\n135\n00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.800\nwhere I felt like we had this great business performance.\n\n136\n00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:26.680\nBut I don't think we were recognizing people\n\n137\n00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:27.880\nas much as we could have.\n\n138\n00:05:27.880 --> 00:05:30.200\nAnd listening to what you talked about,\n\n139\n00:05:30.200 --> 00:05:33.640\nyou had to give something that meant something to you\n\n140\n00:05:33.640 --> 00:05:34.960\nand not expect anything back.\n\n141\n00:05:34.960 --> 00:05:38.360\nSo we created a recognition vehicle.\n\n142\n00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.640\nI took the absolute favorite shepherd's crook I've ever\n\n143\n00:05:41.640 --> 00:05:41.960\ngotten.\n\n144\n00:05:41.960 --> 00:05:45.440\nIt's about a 250-year-old shepherd's crook from Ireland.\n\n145\n00:05:45.440 --> 00:05:46.880\nAnd I brought it into our office.\n\n146\n00:05:46.880 --> 00:05:48.280\nAnd I basically said, look, this is\n\n147\n00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:49.720\ngoing to be a recognition vehicle that we\n\n148\n00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:51.400\nuse in our organization.\n\n149\n00:05:51.400 --> 00:05:53.040\nAnd there's a couple of things that need to happen.\n\n150\n00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:55.520\nThe first thing is I'm going to identify it\n\n151\n00:05:55.520 --> 00:05:56.640\nto give it to somebody.\n\n152\n00:05:56.640 --> 00:05:58.800\nAnd it's going to be somebody that exemplifies\n\n153\n00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.400\nservant leadership and how we like to operate here\n\n154\n00:06:01.400 --> 00:06:02.760\nas an organization.\n\n155\n00:06:02.760 --> 00:06:04.880\nAnd your job, once you have it, is\n\n156\n00:06:04.880 --> 00:06:06.560\nto identify who's going to get it next\n\n157\n00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.080\nand then leave your mark on it yourself.\n\n158\n00:06:09.080 --> 00:06:12.600\nSo the first time I gave this out to somebody,\n\n159\n00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:15.200\nit was an individual in our IT department.\n\n160\n00:06:15.200 --> 00:06:17.920\nAnd he was a quiet guy, but he really\n\n161\n00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:22.120\nexemplified everything that he was not looking for anything\n\n162\n00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:22.640\nspecifically.\n\n163\n00:06:22.640 --> 00:06:23.960\nHe was always working for everybody else.\n\n164\n00:06:23.960 --> 00:06:26.240\nHe was a great team member, part of the family.\n\n165\n00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:27.640\nAnd so I give it to him.\n\n166\n00:06:27.640 --> 00:06:31.880\nAnd what happened next time he got up there\n\n167\n00:06:31.880 --> 00:06:33.800\nto give it to somebody, it was amazing.\n\n168\n00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:35.800\nI mean, I didn't think this guy would\n\n169\n00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:37.720\nbe a great public speaker from being honest.\n\n170\n00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:41.480\nSo he gets up and this is my favorite item that I own.\n\n171\n00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:41.840\nOK?\n\n172\n00:06:41.840 --> 00:06:43.640\nLike, that's an important part of the story.\n\n173\n00:06:43.640 --> 00:06:47.680\nMy very favorite 250-year-old priceless artifact to me.\n\n174\n00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:49.040\nKind of nervous about what somebody's\n\n175\n00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:51.040\ngoing to do to leave their mark on it.\n\n176\n00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:51.960\nSo he gets up there.\n\n177\n00:06:51.960 --> 00:06:52.440\nHis name is Shawn.\n\n178\n00:06:52.440 --> 00:06:53.960\nHe gets up there.\n\n179\n00:06:53.960 --> 00:06:58.600\nAnd I notice he's drilled a hole into the shepherd's crook\n\n180\n00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:00.680\nand wrapped something around it.\n\n181\n00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:04.680\nAnd he gets up there and he starts talking about what it was.\n\n182\n00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:06.000\nI'm like, oh man, is my favorite thing.\n\n183\n00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:07.520\nHe's just destroyed it.\n\n184\n00:07:07.520 --> 00:07:10.120\nAnd Shawn is a road cyclist.\n\n185\n00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:11.520\nAnd he's really passionate about it.\n\n186\n00:07:11.520 --> 00:07:14.360\nThat's what he's into, the way that we're into golf.\n\n187\n00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.840\nAnd he took a spoke at one of the wheels.\n\n188\n00:07:17.840 --> 00:07:21.360\nAnd he said the wheel that he had taken the spoke out of\n\n189\n00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:24.400\nrode 50,000 miles.\n\n190\n00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:28.520\nBut the identifier was the spoke on its own was useless.\n\n191\n00:07:28.520 --> 00:07:29.720\nIt can't do anything on its own.\n\n192\n00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:31.520\nBut as a part of a wheel, it was eight cable\n\n193\n00:07:31.520 --> 00:07:33.600\narriving 50,000 miles.\n\n194\n00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:35.600\nAnd I'll tell you, I didn't think this guy could public speak.\n\n195\n00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:36.400\nHe was crying.\n\n196\n00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:37.520\nI was crying.\n\n197\n00:07:37.520 --> 00:07:39.280\nThe entire department was crying.\n\n198\n00:07:39.280 --> 00:07:44.000\nI mean, now it's turned into several years later, David.\n\n199\n00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.760\nThe thing I look forward to, we do what we call a family\n\n200\n00:07:46.760 --> 00:07:49.520\nmeeting, which is basically a company meeting every month\n\n201\n00:07:49.520 --> 00:07:50.480\nat Kendra Scott.\n\n202\n00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:52.920\nAnd every month for the last several years,\n\n203\n00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:54.400\nwe have identified somebody.\n\n204\n00:07:54.400 --> 00:07:55.440\nSomebody reads the book.\n\n205\n00:07:55.440 --> 00:07:59.320\nAnd they're recognized for it very publicly in the organization.\n\n206\n00:07:59.320 --> 00:08:02.080\nAnd I'll send you a picture of it, an updated picture of it.\n\n207\n00:08:02.080 --> 00:08:03.160\nNow it looks ridiculous.\n\n208\n00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:07.080\nThere's like unicorn hanging off of it and a lot of weird stuff.\n\n209\n00:08:07.080 --> 00:08:09.800\nBut it's become a great sense of pride and recognition\n\n210\n00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:10.600\nin our organization.\n\n211\n00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:11.800\nIt really matters to people.\n\n212\n00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.760\nAnd I feel like you paid it forward to me.\n\n213\n00:08:15.760 --> 00:08:16.720\nAnd I'm paying it forward.\n\n214\n00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:19.040\nI feel like to many others in the company,\n\n215\n00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:20.280\nand it's been awesome.\n\n216\n00:08:20.280 --> 00:08:21.520\nThat's great.\n\n217\n00:08:21.520 --> 00:08:23.480\nMy late wife, Wendy, used to jokes.\n\n218\n00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.120\nShe used to say, hey, David, the reason why you love\n\n219\n00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.800\nrecognition so much is that you love getting it.\n\n220\n00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.000\n[LAUGHTER]\n\n221\n00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.880\nYeah, there's truth to that.\n\n222\n00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:34.240\nAnd there's a lot of truth that--\n\n223\n00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.080\nwell, what would be the most powerful recognition\n\n224\n00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:38.760\nyou think you've ever received?\n\n225\n00:08:38.760 --> 00:08:41.440\nI would say as a father, who my kids--\n\n226\n00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.400\nanybody recognizing me being a good dad is probably\n\n227\n00:08:45.400 --> 00:08:47.200\nwhat I recognize the most.\n\n228\n00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:48.680\nMy kids saying thank you for things\n\n229\n00:08:48.680 --> 00:08:50.520\nand how much they appreciate it.\n\n230\n00:08:50.520 --> 00:08:52.680\nThat's been the best recognition from a professional\n\n231\n00:08:52.680 --> 00:08:53.240\nperspective.\n\n232\n00:08:53.240 --> 00:09:00.080\nWhenever somebody says, we've done a good job.\n\n233\n00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:05.960\nAnd recently, we just looked at the numbers of our business.\n\n234\n00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.840\nAnd for the last-- at the last 44 months in a row,\n\n235\n00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:14.920\nwe've had meaningful growth, mostly double-digit growth\n\n236\n00:09:14.920 --> 00:09:16.640\nin our business.\n\n237\n00:09:16.640 --> 00:09:19.360\nAnd I've been the CEO for 45 of those months.\n\n238\n00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:23.800\nAnd I think when I heard that somebody recognized me for that,\n\n239\n00:09:23.800 --> 00:09:25.320\nit was really powerful.\n\n240\n00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:27.000\nYou know how it is running a business.\n\n241\n00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:29.200\nYou're so caught up in it.\n\n242\n00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.000\nAnd you're living and dying by every day.\n\n243\n00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.600\nIt's hard to pick your head up sometimes and really think\n\n244\n00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:36.080\nabout, well, we're accomplishing a lot.\n\n245\n00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.160\nAnd that was a moment for me where\n\n246\n00:09:38.160 --> 00:09:41.280\nfelt like, boy, we put a great team together.\n\n247\n00:09:41.280 --> 00:09:43.000\nWe've accomplished a lot together as a team.\n\n248\n00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:44.680\nAnd I'm 44 months in a row.\n\n249\n00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:48.480\nAnd in this economic and geopolitical environment\n\n250\n00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.880\nthat we're living in right now, I was really proud of.\n\n251\n00:09:50.880 --> 00:09:53.320\nYeah, well, the first principle in recognition\n\n252\n00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:55.360\nis that it needs to be well-earned.\n\n253\n00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.560\nAnd that kind of performance is--\n\n254\n00:09:57.560 --> 00:10:00.880\nthat deserves some recognition, which is fantastic.\n\n255\n00:10:00.880 --> 00:10:02.640\nSo you love recognition.\n\n256\n00:10:02.640 --> 00:10:03.640\nI know that.\n\n257\n00:10:03.640 --> 00:10:04.640\nAnd you're really good at it.\n\n258\n00:10:04.640 --> 00:10:07.000\nAnd the organization does a lot of it.\n\n259\n00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.680\nAnd I want to get now a little bit more into how you lead.\n\n260\n00:10:09.680 --> 00:10:12.600\nBut first, I want to take you back a little bit.\n\n261\n00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.080\nTell me a story about your upbringing\n\n262\n00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:18.800\nand how that impacted the way you lead today.\n\n263\n00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:20.160\nYeah.\n\n264\n00:10:20.160 --> 00:10:23.560\nI was just telling the story yesterday to a group of kids\n\n265\n00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:27.800\nat UT through the Kendra Scott Entrepreneurial Institute.\n\n266\n00:10:27.800 --> 00:10:29.480\nI think how you brought up the shapes\n\n267\n00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:31.160\nwho you are as an individual.\n\n268\n00:10:31.160 --> 00:10:33.880\nAnd I had a tough upbringing.\n\n269\n00:10:33.880 --> 00:10:37.240\nI'm the only person in my family to graduate high school.\n\n270\n00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:41.960\nI had some real challenges growing up and kind of where\n\n271\n00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:45.080\nI grew up and how I grew up.\n\n272\n00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.840\nAnd I learned at an early age from my parents.\n\n273\n00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:48.880\nMy dad was an electrician.\n\n274\n00:10:48.880 --> 00:10:50.120\nHe worked for the Long Island Railroad.\n\n275\n00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:53.200\nAnd my mom turns out she was the entrepreneur in the family.\n\n276\n00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:54.800\nShe had a hot dog truck when I was a kid.\n\n277\n00:10:54.800 --> 00:10:56.680\nShe had a good humor ice cream around.\n\n278\n00:10:56.680 --> 00:10:59.560\nAt one point, she was selling GEDs.\n\n279\n00:10:59.560 --> 00:11:01.000\nAnd I was like, \"David, I don't even\n\n280\n00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.240\nthink that's legal to sell GEDs.\"\n\n281\n00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:04.240\nBut she was doing it.\n\n282\n00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:05.680\nAnd I was helping her sell it.\n\n283\n00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:09.480\nSo I think growing up, I saw hard work come to life.\n\n284\n00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:14.160\nAnd my parents worked really hard to provide for our family.\n\n285\n00:11:14.160 --> 00:11:14.840\nSo I witnessed that.\n\n286\n00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:16.520\nAnd sports was an outlet for me.\n\n287\n00:11:16.520 --> 00:11:18.440\nI wasn't a great student, if I'm being honest.\n\n288\n00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:21.000\nBut I was a decent athlete.\n\n289\n00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:22.640\nAnd if I couldn't throw a baseball,\n\n290\n00:11:22.640 --> 00:11:23.680\nwhen I was in high school, I probably\n\n291\n00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:24.520\nwould have gone to college.\n\n292\n00:11:24.520 --> 00:11:25.680\nAnd I'd be an electrician like my dad.\n\n293\n00:11:25.680 --> 00:11:28.000\nAnd everything I've ever done has really\n\n294\n00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.440\nbeen with hard work and dedication and perseverance\n\n295\n00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:33.400\nand just being relentless.\n\n296\n00:11:33.400 --> 00:11:35.040\nAnd it's paid a high dividend for me.\n\n297\n00:11:35.040 --> 00:11:37.160\nI also, I would say, had some--\n\n298\n00:11:37.160 --> 00:11:38.440\nI know you had lost recently.\n\n299\n00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:40.480\nAnd I lost my sister.\n\n300\n00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:42.240\nMy only sibling had a brain aneurysm.\n\n301\n00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:46.280\nShe passed away in 2009, kind of suddenly.\n\n302\n00:11:46.280 --> 00:11:49.920\nAnd I think when you grow up and things are challenging\n\n303\n00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:51.600\nand you've been through some really hard stuff,\n\n304\n00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:54.720\nI think it makes you stronger for those who survive it.\n\n305\n00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:59.200\nIn a working environment, things don't affect you as much.\n\n306\n00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:01.080\nLike if you lived through really hard things\n\n307\n00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:03.080\nand you've persevered and you've come out\n\n308\n00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:07.160\non the other side of it stronger, things don't scare you\n\n309\n00:12:07.160 --> 00:12:07.920\nin business.\n\n310\n00:12:07.920 --> 00:12:14.760\nA tough macroeconomic climate or a bad month or a bad earnings\n\n311\n00:12:14.760 --> 00:12:17.120\ncall, whatever, it's not going to affect you the same way it\n\n312\n00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:17.920\ndoes.\n\n313\n00:12:17.920 --> 00:12:21.560\nI think folks that kind of had it a little bit easier growing up.\n\n314\n00:12:21.560 --> 00:12:24.040\nSo I wouldn't change how it was.\n\n315\n00:12:24.040 --> 00:12:25.240\nIt was not easy.\n\n316\n00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:28.000\nAnd I put a chip on my shoulder for me in my life.\n\n317\n00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.520\nI wanted to prove people wrong that didn't think I could\n\n318\n00:12:31.520 --> 00:12:32.360\naccomplish things.\n\n319\n00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:38.200\nAnd hopefully, I'm doing that for people in my family.\n\n320\n00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:39.440\nFantastic.\n\n321\n00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:42.120\nAnd I've got to ask you, how do you--\n\n322\n00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:46.640\nthis big athlete, great golfer, obviously good baseball\n\n323\n00:12:46.640 --> 00:12:50.480\nplayer, how do you find your way to Kendra Scott,\n\n324\n00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.400\na jewelry company?\n\n325\n00:12:52.400 --> 00:12:54.960\nIt wasn't for my passion for women's jewelry today,\n\n326\n00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.400\nbut that's for sure.\n\n327\n00:12:56.400 --> 00:12:58.240\nIt's a funny story.\n\n328\n00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.600\nI started my career in the publishing industry.\n\n329\n00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.800\nAnd I worked at Zip Davis and then ultimately Conde Nast.\n\n330\n00:13:03.800 --> 00:13:05.920\nI was a publisher at Golf World Magazine.\n\n331\n00:13:05.920 --> 00:13:07.240\nThen I went up going to Ralph Lauren\n\n332\n00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:09.480\nwhere I ran their golf and tennis business, which was great.\n\n333\n00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:10.400\nAnd I kind of had an itch.\n\n334\n00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:12.480\nI wanted to scratch to be an entrepreneur.\n\n335\n00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.840\nAnd I started a holding company called Prospect Brands.\n\n336\n00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:16.680\nAnd we owned a couple of different apparel companies.\n\n337\n00:13:16.680 --> 00:13:19.600\nAnd while I was there, I got a phone call\n\n338\n00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.760\nfrom a private equity firm called Norwest Venture Partners\n\n339\n00:13:22.760 --> 00:13:25.040\nhad just made an investment in a jewelry company in Austin,\n\n340\n00:13:25.040 --> 00:13:28.440\nTexas called Kendra Scott that I had never heard of before.\n\n341\n00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.120\nAnd I don't know how they found my name.\n\n342\n00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:31.120\nI don't know why they called me.\n\n343\n00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:32.640\nI'd never served on a board before.\n\n344\n00:13:32.640 --> 00:13:35.760\nI had never worked in a jewelry business before.\n\n345\n00:13:35.760 --> 00:13:37.440\nBut man, am I glad that they did.\n\n346\n00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:38.920\nAnd they called me and I went on their board.\n\n347\n00:13:38.920 --> 00:13:40.040\nAnd the company at the time, I think,\n\n348\n00:13:40.040 --> 00:13:41.880\nwas doing about $25 million in sales\n\n349\n00:13:41.880 --> 00:13:45.080\nand headed enterprise value around $100 million.\n\n350\n00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:47.880\nAnd then three years later, I joined the board.\n\n351\n00:13:47.880 --> 00:13:49.120\nAnd I was just really curious.\n\n352\n00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:50.160\nI asked a lot of questions.\n\n353\n00:13:50.160 --> 00:13:52.240\nAnd I feel like one thing in my career,\n\n354\n00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:55.080\nI've always done things I didn't know anything about.\n\n355\n00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:56.920\nAnd I don't know how that happened or why,\n\n356\n00:13:56.920 --> 00:14:00.240\nbut it served me well because I was never a know-it-all.\n\n357\n00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:01.720\nI just kind of asked a lot of questions\n\n358\n00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:02.560\nbecause I had to.\n\n359\n00:14:02.560 --> 00:14:04.080\nI didn't know things.\n\n360\n00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.760\nBut three years after we did that deal,\n\n361\n00:14:06.760 --> 00:14:09.240\nKendra did a deal with Berkshire Partners\n\n362\n00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:10.800\nthat put an enterprise value on the business\n\n363\n00:14:10.800 --> 00:14:12.280\nin north of a billion.\n\n364\n00:14:12.280 --> 00:14:14.520\nAnd at that point, she asked me to join the organization.\n\n365\n00:14:14.520 --> 00:14:17.520\nSo it was an interesting story in that I was living\n\n366\n00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:20.680\nin Greensboro, North Carolina, running this holding company.\n\n367\n00:14:20.680 --> 00:14:21.520\nAnd I really loved it there.\n\n368\n00:14:21.520 --> 00:14:24.280\nI went to Chapel Hill to get my business degree.\n\n369\n00:14:24.280 --> 00:14:27.720\nAnd I was not, she was like after we did the deal,\n\n370\n00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:29.480\nshe was like, I'd love for you to come work at the company.\n\n371\n00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:34.160\nAnd David, being from the East Coast, moving to Texas,\n\n372\n00:14:34.160 --> 00:14:37.040\nsome of you might as well have asked me to move to outer space.\n\n373\n00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:38.720\nLike I had not spent a lot of time there.\n\n374\n00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.160\nI was not interested.\n\n375\n00:14:40.160 --> 00:14:41.480\nAnd I was like, hard now.\n\n376\n00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:42.880\nI do not want to go to Texas.\n\n377\n00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:43.800\nI love what you're doing.\n\n378\n00:14:43.800 --> 00:14:46.040\nI'd love to stay on the board if you'd have me.\n\n379\n00:14:46.040 --> 00:14:49.080\nAnd Kendra, you've had her here.\n\n380\n00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:50.680\nAnd I know you know her as well.\n\n381\n00:14:50.680 --> 00:14:51.440\nI mean, she is.\n\n382\n00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:53.520\nTalk about being a tenacious and relentless man.\n\n383\n00:14:53.520 --> 00:14:54.960\nShe is something.\n\n384\n00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:57.160\nAnd I knew she wouldn't stop asking me.\n\n385\n00:14:57.160 --> 00:15:00.880\nSo she said, we're doing a Kendra CARES event in New York\n\n386\n00:15:00.880 --> 00:15:01.400\nCity.\n\n387\n00:15:01.400 --> 00:15:02.800\nI was up there for a board meeting for another company\n\n388\n00:15:02.800 --> 00:15:03.640\nI served on the board of.\n\n389\n00:15:03.640 --> 00:15:06.480\nAnd I was like, fine, I'll go to this thing.\n\n390\n00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.680\nIt'll make her stop asking me like fine.\n\n391\n00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:11.240\nAnd I'm a very emotional person.\n\n392\n00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:12.480\nI'm a savvy person.\n\n393\n00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:13.440\nI cry in the movies.\n\n394\n00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:17.320\nI cry at set, at commercials.\n\n395\n00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.200\nAnd this Kendra CARES event, which\n\n396\n00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:20.840\nis where we take our color bar, which\n\n397\n00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:23.520\nis a mobile, create your own jewelry kit,\n\n398\n00:15:23.520 --> 00:15:26.400\nwe bring it to hospitals and schools and businesses.\n\n399\n00:15:26.400 --> 00:15:28.720\nThis specific one was at Sloan Kettering's\n\n400\n00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:31.040\nPediatric Oncology Award.\n\n401\n00:15:31.040 --> 00:15:33.000\nAnd I mentioned that I'm a emotional guy.\n\n402\n00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:34.440\nI have four kids.\n\n403\n00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:36.920\nI had no interest in going to a Pediatric Oncology Award,\n\n404\n00:15:36.920 --> 00:15:38.520\nnot because I didn't want to help people,\n\n405\n00:15:38.520 --> 00:15:40.240\nbecause I didn't want to embarrass anybody.\n\n406\n00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:41.920\nAnd I didn't want to embarrass myself.\n\n407\n00:15:41.920 --> 00:15:44.640\nSo I very begrudgingly go into this Kendra CARES event.\n\n408\n00:15:44.640 --> 00:15:45.960\nAnd I get into the elevator.\n\n409\n00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:48.720\nAnd I go up to the floor where the Pediatric Oncology\n\n410\n00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:50.200\nAward was.\n\n411\n00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:50.920\nAnd I'm dreading it.\n\n412\n00:15:50.920 --> 00:15:53.080\nI'm very nervous and anxious about it.\n\n413\n00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:54.720\nAnd before the doors open, I could\n\n414\n00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:57.640\nhear like base on the other side of the doors\n\n415\n00:15:57.640 --> 00:15:59.880\nlike you're going into a nightclub or something.\n\n416\n00:15:59.880 --> 00:16:02.560\nAnd I don't know what it was, but the doors open.\n\n417\n00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:04.000\nAnd we had a DJ set up there.\n\n418\n00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:05.640\nWe had clowns and balloons.\n\n419\n00:16:05.640 --> 00:16:09.880\nAnd we turned a Pediatric Oncology Award,\n\n420\n00:16:09.880 --> 00:16:11.560\nwhich is a very unhappy place, usually,\n\n421\n00:16:11.560 --> 00:16:13.360\ninto the happiest place in New York City.\n\n422\n00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.640\nAnd I made jewelry for sick kids and their parents\n\n423\n00:16:16.640 --> 00:16:18.640\nand their grandparents and siblings for the next three\n\n424\n00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:19.120\nhours.\n\n425\n00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:21.640\nAnd time flew by like this.\n\n426\n00:16:21.640 --> 00:16:23.280\nAnd it warmed my heart.\n\n427\n00:16:23.280 --> 00:16:24.400\nAnd I held it together.\n\n428\n00:16:24.400 --> 00:16:25.080\nIt did not cry.\n\n429\n00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:26.240\nIt did not embarrass anybody.\n\n430\n00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.160\nI get in the elevator.\n\n431\n00:16:27.160 --> 00:16:28.760\nI go downstairs, went across the street,\n\n432\n00:16:28.760 --> 00:16:30.920\ncompletely lost it, called home.\n\n433\n00:16:30.920 --> 00:16:32.560\nAnd I said, we were moving to Texas.\n\n434\n00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:34.600\nLike, I'm never going to get to work at a company where\n\n435\n00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.400\nI didn't help people like this.\n\n436\n00:16:36.400 --> 00:16:37.800\nAnd we did.\n\n437\n00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:39.080\nAnd that was eight years ago.\n\n438\n00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:41.040\nAnd it's been a heck of a ride.\n\n439\n00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:42.800\nAnd we've helped a lot of people along the way.\n\n440\n00:16:42.800 --> 00:16:45.000\nThe company's giving back almost $70 million\n\n441\n00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:47.240\nto help women's and children's charities.\n\n442\n00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:50.520\nAnd my family and I volunteer a lot to help those in need.\n\n443\n00:16:50.520 --> 00:16:53.680\nAnd it's really outside of the business success\n\n444\n00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:55.520\nand recognize our employees.\n\n445\n00:16:55.520 --> 00:16:57.600\nIt's been the greatest gift next to me\n\n446\n00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.040\nand having my family that I've had in my life.\n\n447\n00:17:01.040 --> 00:17:03.040\nWe'll be back with the rest of my conversation\n\n448\n00:17:03.040 --> 00:17:05.280\nwith Tom Nolan in just a moment.\n\n449\n00:17:05.280 --> 00:17:08.760\nBut first, let's hop into the How Leaders Lead Time\n\n450\n00:17:08.760 --> 00:17:13.920\nMachine and go all the way back to my first ever episode\n\n451\n00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.760\nwith none other than Kendra Scott herself.\n\n452\n00:17:17.760 --> 00:17:21.280\nShe actually talks about how they launched their first stores\n\n453\n00:17:21.280 --> 00:17:25.520\nand what they did to focus on connecting with customers.\n\n454\n00:17:25.520 --> 00:17:29.080\nFrom day one, I believed that the most important thing we\n\n455\n00:17:29.080 --> 00:17:33.760\ncould do is create a connection with our customer,\n\n456\n00:17:33.760 --> 00:17:35.880\nthat the transaction will follow.\n\n457\n00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:39.280\nAnd the goal of the store was let's connect.\n\n458\n00:17:39.280 --> 00:17:40.920\nLet's learn from our customer.\n\n459\n00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:43.560\nLet's find out what she loves, what she hates,\n\n460\n00:17:43.560 --> 00:17:44.960\nwhat she wants more of.\n\n461\n00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.440\nAnd then let's utilize that to build the best collections\n\n462\n00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:48.400\nwe can.\n\n463\n00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.680\nWhat happened was that experience was so magical\n\n464\n00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:54.720\nthat we would have lines down the block to get in.\n\n465\n00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.800\nIt was like they were releasing a new iPhone or something.\n\n466\n00:17:57.800 --> 00:17:59.480\nI mean, it was unbelievable.\n\n467\n00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:02.640\nPeople could not wait to get into our stores.\n\n468\n00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.760\nAnd that's when we knew, OK, maybe this isn't\n\n469\n00:18:05.760 --> 00:18:07.800\njust a one store situation.\n\n470\n00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:11.520\nMaybe we could bring this to other places.\n\n471\n00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:14.680\nGo back and listen to my entire conversation with Kendra.\n\n472\n00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:18.200\nEpisode one here on How Leaders Lead.\n\n473\n00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:20.440\nSo you knew you could really make a difference in the world\n\n474\n00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:21.400\nwhen you took that job.\n\n475\n00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:24.840\nBut you really didn't have a passion for jewelry at the time.\n\n476\n00:18:24.840 --> 00:18:25.640\nI'm sure.\n\n477\n00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:29.280\nSo in your view, the leaders need to have a passion\n\n478\n00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:31.400\nfor their product to be successful.\n\n479\n00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:33.760\nCertainly, it makes it easier sometimes when you do.\n\n480\n00:18:33.760 --> 00:18:35.400\nBecause previous to this job, I was\n\n481\n00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.160\nsuper passionate about working at Ralph Lauren.\n\n482\n00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:39.720\nI loved working in the publishing industry\n\n483\n00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:42.360\nfor my favorite magazine.\n\n484\n00:18:42.360 --> 00:18:43.480\nBut I think the answer is no.\n\n485\n00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:44.600\nI'm proof of that.\n\n486\n00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:46.760\nI am not passionate about women's jewelry.\n\n487\n00:18:46.760 --> 00:18:48.680\nI'm passionate about our customer.\n\n488\n00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:50.680\nI'm passionate about our employees.\n\n489\n00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:53.840\nAnd I think it's made me a better leader because I'm not\n\n490\n00:18:53.840 --> 00:18:54.320\npassionate.\n\n491\n00:18:54.320 --> 00:18:55.640\nYou know, when you're passionate about something,\n\n492\n00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:57.880\nyou feel like you're an expert and you act like an expert.\n\n493\n00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:01.120\nI don't ever feel like an expert in our business.\n\n494\n00:19:01.120 --> 00:19:04.640\nAnd I always-- similar to you, I have a servant mentality.\n\n495\n00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:06.200\nI always feel like I'm serving our employees.\n\n496\n00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:07.440\nI don't feel like anybody works for me.\n\n497\n00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.080\nAnd I think that is additive to that when you're not passionate\n\n498\n00:19:11.080 --> 00:19:11.720\nabout something.\n\n499\n00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:12.880\nBecause you have to be curious.\n\n500\n00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:14.160\nYou have to ask a lot of questions.\n\n501\n00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:18.200\nYou've got to seek guidance and counsel from others.\n\n502\n00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.960\nAnd I've had great people like you in my life that have helped\n\n503\n00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:24.800\nme along the way and given me advice and pulled me along.\n\n504\n00:19:24.800 --> 00:19:27.640\nAnd that's made a huge difference for me.\n\n505\n00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:30.440\nAnd I'd say in addition to that, the biggest difference\n\n506\n00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:33.080\nfor me coming here outside of just being a jewelry business\n\n507\n00:19:33.080 --> 00:19:37.400\nwas when I started, our company was 99% female.\n\n508\n00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:39.160\nMy email address is Tom at Kendra Scott.\n\n509\n00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:41.440\nNot because I'm special, just because I was the only guy\n\n510\n00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:43.600\nnamed Tom, which is like the most boring guy's name\n\n511\n00:19:43.600 --> 00:19:45.840\nin the world at Kendra Scott when I joined.\n\n512\n00:19:45.840 --> 00:19:47.640\nToday, we're 95% female.\n\n513\n00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:51.800\nBut that turned the world on its head for me.\n\n514\n00:19:51.800 --> 00:19:53.120\nI was not used to that environment.\n\n515\n00:19:53.120 --> 00:19:55.440\nIt was very different.\n\n516\n00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.320\nAnd I didn't expect-- I would have never guessed.\n\n517\n00:19:58.320 --> 00:20:01.840\nI'd wind up in an organization with that group of constituents.\n\n518\n00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:02.720\nAnd I would have never guessed.\n\n519\n00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.960\nI'd wind up in an industry that I had no knowledge of.\n\n520\n00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.600\nBut I'm there, and I love it, and I wouldn't change anything.\n\n521\n00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:10.600\nAnd I love the group of people that we work with.\n\n522\n00:20:10.600 --> 00:20:13.120\nAnd it's worked out very nicely.\n\n523\n00:20:13.120 --> 00:20:17.160\nSo 95% of Kendra Scott is female.\n\n524\n00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:21.040\nAnd you're running it as the CEO.\n\n525\n00:20:21.040 --> 00:20:24.320\nWhat has that taught you, Tom, about being a minority?\n\n526\n00:20:24.320 --> 00:20:28.720\nYeah, honestly, David, it's opened my eyes in a lot of ways.\n\n527\n00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:31.800\nIn that specific regard, I mean, number one,\n\n528\n00:20:31.800 --> 00:20:36.800\nit's taught me, you know, I have to be empathetic.\n\n529\n00:20:36.800 --> 00:20:40.840\nAnd I think having high EQ, EQ always wins on IQ,\n\n530\n00:20:40.840 --> 00:20:42.800\nI've always read about that.\n\n531\n00:20:42.800 --> 00:20:43.840\nAnd I always believed it.\n\n532\n00:20:43.840 --> 00:20:45.720\nBut I never saw it come to life the way I've\n\n533\n00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:46.840\nseen it come to life here.\n\n534\n00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:50.000\nSo that's proven itself to be really true here.\n\n535\n00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.880\nBut yeah, I think it's also opened my eyes\n\n536\n00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:55.000\nto like, I'm not like anybody.\n\n537\n00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:57.440\nI mean, I'm not like most people in the organization.\n\n538\n00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:03.280\nAnd it's made me more empathetic to being a minority\n\n539\n00:21:03.280 --> 00:21:07.160\nin different parts of life and work in the world.\n\n540\n00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:08.560\nYou know, obviously, I don't know what it's like\n\n541\n00:21:08.560 --> 00:21:09.640\nto be anybody but me.\n\n542\n00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:12.160\nBut I understand, I think, a little bit greater\n\n543\n00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.160\nthan I did, you know, 10 years ago.\n\n544\n00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.600\nWhat advice could you give a male leader on this front?\n\n545\n00:21:18.600 --> 00:21:22.360\nI mean, how do you work with the female leaders\n\n546\n00:21:22.360 --> 00:21:24.440\nand female employees, frontline employees?\n\n547\n00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:26.320\nAnd what's the key?\n\n548\n00:21:26.320 --> 00:21:29.480\nWell, I think I used this example yesterday\n\n549\n00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:32.320\nbecause somebody asked me a similar question.\n\n550\n00:21:32.320 --> 00:21:33.880\nWhat I had been used to in the past,\n\n551\n00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:36.240\nworking in mostly male dominated businesses,\n\n552\n00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:39.760\nwas you and I working together, you know, we're teammates\n\n553\n00:21:39.760 --> 00:21:42.000\nor I work for you or we're peers.\n\n554\n00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.160\nAnd I do something you don't like,\n\n555\n00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:45.760\nyou do something I don't like, you just tell me\n\n556\n00:21:45.760 --> 00:21:47.400\nand I deal with it, right?\n\n557\n00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:50.000\nAnd, you know, and you're direct and that's okay\n\n558\n00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:51.160\nbecause that's what I'm used to.\n\n559\n00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:53.080\nAnd we go on and march about our days\n\n560\n00:21:53.080 --> 00:21:54.560\nand we don't think about it.\n\n561\n00:21:54.560 --> 00:21:56.880\nThat was what I was used to,\n\n562\n00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:00.400\nwas how I let in the past that it is not how it works here.\n\n563\n00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.560\nAnd I don't think that's best practice, if I'm being honest.\n\n564\n00:22:03.560 --> 00:22:07.880\nHow you make people feel was never a quotient\n\n565\n00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.800\nthat I had to think about really in the past.\n\n566\n00:22:10.800 --> 00:22:12.480\nIt was all about results, right?\n\n567\n00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:14.640\nIt was like, you put points on the board,\n\n568\n00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.480\nif I hurt your feelings to that, right?\n\n569\n00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:17.760\nBecause I'm putting points on the board\n\n570\n00:22:17.760 --> 00:22:20.520\nand that's what matters and that's what people care about.\n\n571\n00:22:20.520 --> 00:22:23.000\nAt the end of the day, when you're in a for-profit business,\n\n572\n00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:24.320\nthat is what matters, right?\n\n573\n00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:26.480\nJust to be clear, full stop.\n\n574\n00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.960\nHowever, how you make people feel along the way\n\n575\n00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:33.600\nis much more important if you want long-lasting results.\n\n576\n00:22:33.600 --> 00:22:35.120\nIt's also much more important, I think,\n\n577\n00:22:35.120 --> 00:22:37.120\nif you wanna be a good person and do the right thing\n\n578\n00:22:37.120 --> 00:22:38.960\nand lead the right way.\n\n579\n00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:41.080\nAnd I could get away with it before\n\n580\n00:22:41.080 --> 00:22:42.880\n'cause I was a performer, right?\n\n581\n00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:46.000\nAnd this highlighted the fact that I couldn't get away\n\n582\n00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:46.840\nwith just doing that.\n\n583\n00:22:46.840 --> 00:22:49.240\nI really had to think about things\n\n584\n00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:50.600\na little bit more holistically.\n\n585\n00:22:50.600 --> 00:22:52.840\nAnd it's so taught me, like,\n\n586\n00:22:52.840 --> 00:22:55.840\nwhen I read the way of the shepherd once a month now,\n\n587\n00:22:55.840 --> 00:22:59.200\nI have for the last, you know, going on just about 20 years.\n\n588\n00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:00.240\nWhen I read that book now,\n\n589\n00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:02.000\nI have a different perspective on it,\n\n590\n00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.000\nlike the shape of people, how you make people feel\n\n591\n00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.040\nunderstanding who they are as a parent, as a mother,\n\n592\n00:23:09.040 --> 00:23:12.600\nas a daughter, as a sister, as a son, as a father.\n\n593\n00:23:12.600 --> 00:23:14.640\nThat matters a lot.\n\n594\n00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:15.920\nA lot more than I ever realized,\n\n595\n00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:17.240\nit matters a lot in our organization.\n\n596\n00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:18.400\nWe treat people the right way.\n\n597\n00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:20.760\nWe have a lot of flexibility for working parents\n\n598\n00:23:20.760 --> 00:23:25.320\nand it's in our culture's awesome as a result of it.\n\n599\n00:23:25.320 --> 00:23:27.080\nI thought I had some great cultures in the past,\n\n600\n00:23:27.080 --> 00:23:32.080\nbut we have an incredible culture of people\n\n601\n00:23:32.080 --> 00:23:36.600\nthat need to win, like nobody needs to win more than I do.\n\n602\n00:23:36.600 --> 00:23:39.160\nLike I am a tenacious competitor.\n\n603\n00:23:39.160 --> 00:23:40.120\nI wanna win at everything.\n\n604\n00:23:40.120 --> 00:23:41.640\nI wanna win driving to work.\n\n605\n00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:44.040\nI wanna win walking in New York City.\n\n606\n00:23:44.040 --> 00:23:45.560\nI just wanna win at everything.\n\n607\n00:23:45.560 --> 00:23:48.080\nAnd sometimes in a working environment,\n\n608\n00:23:48.080 --> 00:23:49.760\nthat's not always the best.\n\n609\n00:23:49.760 --> 00:23:51.120\nIt doesn't always make people feel the best.\n\n610\n00:23:51.120 --> 00:23:52.880\nWe do that here really successfully,\n\n611\n00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:54.640\nbut we do with kindness and compassion.\n\n612\n00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.240\nAnd I think that has paid some really high dividends\n\n613\n00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:58.400\nalong the way.\n\n614\n00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.440\n- You know, as you mentioned, Tom,\n\n615\n00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:04.680\nI did do a podcast basically when I was very early on\n\n616\n00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:09.120\nin my podcast career, okay, with Kendra Scott.\n\n617\n00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:12.240\nAnd you're right, she is a dynamic leader.\n\n618\n00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.800\nAnd she's a founder.\n\n619\n00:24:13.800 --> 00:24:16.040\nI mean, she is passionate.\n\n620\n00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:18.280\nI mean, she built this business from scratch\n\n621\n00:24:18.280 --> 00:24:20.760\nand she has strong opinions.\n\n622\n00:24:20.760 --> 00:24:23.280\nYou've obviously had a great relationship with her.\n\n623\n00:24:23.280 --> 00:24:24.840\nWhat advice can you give to others\n\n624\n00:24:24.840 --> 00:24:27.000\non how to successfully work with a founder?\n\n625\n00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:30.880\n- So I've only worked for founders and I've been a founder.\n\n626\n00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:32.960\nStarting at Ziff Davis with Bill Ziff,\n\n627\n00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:35.040\ngoing to Kanye Nast with Signo House,\n\n628\n00:24:35.040 --> 00:24:37.760\nthen at Ralph, then I was a founder of my business.\n\n629\n00:24:37.760 --> 00:24:39.400\nAll the companies, I'm on the board of everything\n\n630\n00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:40.880\nI invest in, it's all founders.\n\n631\n00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.080\nThe thing that I've seen across the board,\n\n632\n00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:45.840\nno matter how big or small the company is,\n\n633\n00:24:45.840 --> 00:24:48.160\nbig public company to a small startup,\n\n634\n00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:52.280\nfounders look at the business as if it was their child.\n\n635\n00:24:52.280 --> 00:24:57.280\nAnd as a parent, right, we know that you or Papa Bear\n\n636\n00:24:57.280 --> 00:25:00.200\nor Mama Bear is it relates to anything hurting your child,\n\n637\n00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:01.040\nright?\n\n638\n00:25:01.040 --> 00:25:03.000\nAnd the idea, and this is why one of the reasons\n\n639\n00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:04.520\nwhen I first came to Kendra Scott,\n\n640\n00:25:04.520 --> 00:25:06.960\nwhen I became president and I thought that was it,\n\n641\n00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.920\nI never thought that Kendra would give me the title of CEO,\n\n642\n00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:11.000\nwhich I'm very thankful that she did,\n\n643\n00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.760\n'cause it's like giving custody of your child to somebody.\n\n644\n00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:16.360\nAnd I think you have to be empathetic and understand\n\n645\n00:25:16.360 --> 00:25:20.080\nthat founders care about everything more than anybody else,\n\n646\n00:25:20.080 --> 00:25:22.560\nbecause it's their kid.\n\n647\n00:25:22.560 --> 00:25:24.880\nAnd when you compound that with a founder,\n\n648\n00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:26.600\nhis name's on the building and I've worked for two of them,\n\n649\n00:25:26.600 --> 00:25:28.560\nbetween, actually three of them, between Ziff Davis,\n\n650\n00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:32.520\nBill Ziff, Ralph Lauren and Kendra Scott,\n\n651\n00:25:32.520 --> 00:25:33.960\nthey care even more, right?\n\n652\n00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:36.440\n'Cause everything that happens is a reflection on them\n\n653\n00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:38.160\nand it affects their reputation\n\n654\n00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:39.520\nand ultimately affects their family.\n\n655\n00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:43.760\nSo being empathetic to that and understanding that\n\n656\n00:25:43.760 --> 00:25:47.480\nand listening, I think is a key, really key driver.\n\n657\n00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:49.760\nThere's a book called The Founders' mentality,\n\n658\n00:25:49.760 --> 00:25:52.520\nwhich I think explains this really well.\n\n659\n00:25:52.520 --> 00:25:54.320\nAnd for those who haven't worked with founders,\n\n660\n00:25:54.320 --> 00:25:57.040\nit articulates kind of some of these little nuances\n\n661\n00:25:57.040 --> 00:25:58.760\non a day-to-day basis.\n\n662\n00:25:58.760 --> 00:26:01.320\nBut I think it's hard, you know,\n\n663\n00:26:01.320 --> 00:26:06.320\nand I think when you have a combination of a founder dynamic\n\n664\n00:26:06.320 --> 00:26:08.000\nin addition to a financial sponsor,\n\n665\n00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:10.920\nwhich we have in a private equity partner,\n\n666\n00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:13.280\nit's even more challenging, right?\n\n667\n00:26:13.280 --> 00:26:16.200\n'Cause the financial sponsor expects operational excellence\n\n668\n00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.360\nand a founder expects that her, his child is taking care\n\n669\n00:26:19.360 --> 00:26:20.760\nof the right way and the brand's growing\n\n670\n00:26:20.760 --> 00:26:22.240\nand her vision is being executed.\n\n671\n00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:24.640\nSo like, I think managing those two dynamics\n\n672\n00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:27.160\nsometimes is challenging, but really rewarding\n\n673\n00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:28.960\nwhen you do it, because there's nothing better\n\n674\n00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.920\nthan cultivating and coaching and teaching.\n\n675\n00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:35.480\nAnd, you know, I relish it.\n\n676\n00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:37.000\nI think it's a lot of fun.\n\n677\n00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.600\nIt's hard, but it's more,\n\n678\n00:26:38.600 --> 00:26:41.080\nhard things are more fun than easy things.\n\n679\n00:26:41.080 --> 00:26:44.080\n- You know, you're obviously a passionate believer\n\n680\n00:26:44.080 --> 00:26:45.960\nin learning and building know-how.\n\n681\n00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:47.400\nYou've already mentioned three books,\n\n682\n00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:49.800\nand just, you know, we're just getting into this podcast.\n\n683\n00:26:49.800 --> 00:26:52.440\nWhat's your process to turn the knowledge\n\n684\n00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:54.840\nthat you pick up either from books\n\n685\n00:26:54.840 --> 00:26:58.760\nor talking to other leaders or visiting other companies?\n\n686\n00:26:58.760 --> 00:27:01.480\nYou know, how do you turn that learning into action\n\n687\n00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:04.400\nso that it really drives an impact in the business?\n\n688\n00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:08.400\n- Yeah, I think, I mean, I'm a voracious reader, right?\n\n689\n00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:10.560\nAnd, and seeker of knowledge.\n\n690\n00:27:10.560 --> 00:27:14.200\nI didn't have a dad that could teach me business, right?\n\n691\n00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:17.320\nSo I saw it out really early on.\n\n692\n00:27:17.320 --> 00:27:19.880\nAnd there's a lot of folks you've had on this podcast\n\n693\n00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:22.200\nare people I've, you know, you're one of them\n\n694\n00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:23.880\nthat I've reached out to over the years\n\n695\n00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:25.640\nto ask for help and advice and counsel.\n\n696\n00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:27.840\nAnd I think too many people,\n\n697\n00:27:27.840 --> 00:27:30.000\ntoo many times people are afraid to ask for help\n\n698\n00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:32.520\nand be campy.\n\n699\n00:27:32.520 --> 00:27:34.360\nSo I think that that number one is really important.\n\n700\n00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:36.200\nI think how you digest it,\n\n701\n00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:37.640\nyou gotta be authentic about it, right?\n\n702\n00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.240\nIt doesn't matter what book you read\n\n703\n00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:40.600\nor person you talk to, like,\n\n704\n00:27:40.600 --> 00:27:42.440\nI'm never gonna be David Novak.\n\n705\n00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:46.040\nNo matter what I could do everything you do,\n\n706\n00:27:46.040 --> 00:27:46.880\nI'm not gonna be you.\n\n707\n00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:48.920\nAnd I think there has to be an authenticity\n\n708\n00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:51.400\nof like taking bits and pieces of\n\n709\n00:27:51.400 --> 00:27:54.240\ngleanings along the way from different people\n\n710\n00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:57.080\nthat you admire and look up to\n\n711\n00:27:57.080 --> 00:27:59.400\nand trying to put them into play in your life\n\n712\n00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:00.280\nin any capacity.\n\n713\n00:28:00.280 --> 00:28:01.760\nAnd it starts really small.\n\n714\n00:28:01.760 --> 00:28:03.240\nSo whether I read a book or get advice\n\n715\n00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:05.040\nfrom somebody in my life,\n\n716\n00:28:05.040 --> 00:28:08.600\nI try to internalize it and think about,\n\n717\n00:28:08.600 --> 00:28:12.120\nokay, where does this apply to my life\n\n718\n00:28:12.120 --> 00:28:14.160\nin a way where it feels like\n\n719\n00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:16.840\nI'm not being a phony to do it that way, right?\n\n720\n00:28:16.840 --> 00:28:17.680\nI don't wanna be like,\n\n721\n00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:19.200\noh, he sounds just like so-and-so.\n\n722\n00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:22.200\nI can only sound like me 'cause I'm me.\n\n723\n00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:25.360\nSo I think it's about being honest\n\n724\n00:28:25.360 --> 00:28:27.840\nand aware of yourself, number one,\n\n725\n00:28:27.840 --> 00:28:29.680\nand then picking the places\n\n726\n00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:32.040\nand knowing where your weaknesses are\n\n727\n00:28:32.040 --> 00:28:33.680\nand then trying to exercise that muscle.\n\n728\n00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.240\nLike I knew my weakness was finance.\n\n729\n00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:38.640\nI just didn't understand to balance you\n\n730\n00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:41.080\nthe right way the first time I was a CEO.\n\n731\n00:28:41.080 --> 00:28:43.600\nSo when I was 34, I went back and got my MBA\n\n732\n00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:46.160\nbecause I thought that would make me better at finance\n\n733\n00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:47.320\nand it did, it made me sharper.\n\n734\n00:28:47.320 --> 00:28:49.320\nAnd I also feel like once you have an MBA,\n\n735\n00:28:49.320 --> 00:28:51.200\nyou're allowed to say things like basis points.\n\n736\n00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:54.120\nI felt like, you know, all these MBA's say basis points.\n\n737\n00:28:54.120 --> 00:28:55.560\nSo I could say basis points that-\n\n738\n00:28:55.560 --> 00:28:57.040\n- You're starting to scare me here.\n\n739\n00:28:57.040 --> 00:29:00.720\n- Yeah, but I think that that,\n\n740\n00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:02.120\nI think it's just like knowing yourself\n\n741\n00:29:02.120 --> 00:29:05.880\nand seeking out information and utilizing it\n\n742\n00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:07.800\nin a way that makes sense for you,\n\n743\n00:29:07.800 --> 00:29:10.680\nnot for whoever wrote the book or whoever told it to you.\n\n744\n00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:14.720\n- I've heard you say that you work for your team,\n\n745\n00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:16.840\nthey don't work for you.\n\n746\n00:29:16.840 --> 00:29:17.960\nTalk more about that.\n\n747\n00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:24.200\n- So when I was younger,\n\n748\n00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:30.320\nI have very distinct memories about how we had nothing\n\n749\n00:29:30.320 --> 00:29:31.880\nwhen I was a kid.\n\n750\n00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:34.680\nAnd I have very distinct memories going,\n\n751\n00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:36.880\nyou know, like the ground round was the nicest,\n\n752\n00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:38.280\nif anybody remembers the ground round,\n\n753\n00:29:38.280 --> 00:29:40.000\nlike that was the nicest restaurant I was gonna go to.\n\n754\n00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:41.360\nSo I remember going to places\n\n755\n00:29:41.360 --> 00:29:44.480\nand the way that like people treated my parents\n\n756\n00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:45.960\nhad a profound impact on me.\n\n757\n00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:50.840\nLike people looked down at them and spoke differently to them\n\n758\n00:29:50.840 --> 00:29:52.800\nthan they did to people that had means.\n\n759\n00:29:52.800 --> 00:29:55.440\nAnd so like that always stuck with me.\n\n760\n00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:59.960\nAnd I also distinctly remember when I was younger\n\n761\n00:29:59.960 --> 00:30:03.200\nin my career, I always like I said,\n\n762\n00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:04.560\nhad a little bit of a chip on my shoulders\n\n763\n00:30:04.560 --> 00:30:06.680\njust 'cause of how I grew up.\n\n764\n00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:09.520\nAnd I always had a voice, I always had something to say\n\n765\n00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:11.760\nand I always had an idea or things I wanted to talk about\n\n766\n00:30:11.760 --> 00:30:12.680\nor questions I wanted to ask.\n\n767\n00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:14.960\nAnd I felt like at lower levels,\n\n768\n00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:17.600\npeople were very dismissive of me.\n\n769\n00:30:17.600 --> 00:30:20.680\nAnd I just don't like the way that felt, right?\n\n770\n00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:22.560\nAnd I just, I always said, look,\n\n771\n00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:25.200\nif I ever, if I get into a position of authority\n\n772\n00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:27.760\nin any capacity in my life, you know,\n\n773\n00:30:27.760 --> 00:30:30.400\nI wanna treat people the right way.\n\n774\n00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:32.760\nAnd this idea of servant mentality.\n\n775\n00:30:32.760 --> 00:30:34.360\nAnd I grew up in a household, you know,\n\n776\n00:30:34.360 --> 00:30:36.200\na lot of my relatives are cops\n\n777\n00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:38.320\nand they've been in the military.\n\n778\n00:30:38.320 --> 00:30:40.280\nMy grandmother's brother was Bullhalsey.\n\n779\n00:30:40.280 --> 00:30:42.720\nSo like a big military where it's the infantry eats\n\n780\n00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:44.280\nbefore the generals.\n\n781\n00:30:44.280 --> 00:30:46.320\nAnd that's just how I grew up.\n\n782\n00:30:46.320 --> 00:30:49.280\nSo it's stuck with me.\n\n783\n00:30:49.280 --> 00:30:52.400\nAnd I've had great teachers and coaches in my life.\n\n784\n00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:54.920\nSeth Waz has been like a big brother to me, you know,\n\n785\n00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:57.920\nand I'm like one of the most impactful people in my life.\n\n786\n00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:01.800\nAnd, you know, 15, 20 years ago, we were talking about this.\n\n787\n00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:02.920\nAnd I was asking like, what does it take\n\n788\n00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:03.760\nto be a great leader?\n\n789\n00:31:03.760 --> 00:31:05.920\nAnd he's like, and his dad was a teacher.\n\n790\n00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:09.040\nHe's like, you know, great leaders and great CEOs\n\n791\n00:31:09.040 --> 00:31:10.400\nare just teachers and coaches.\n\n792\n00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:11.880\nAnd like it's stuck with me.\n\n793\n00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:13.800\nAnd I say it all the time and he's right.\n\n794\n00:31:13.800 --> 00:31:18.360\nLike, you know, and I'm just a part of a team here.\n\n795\n00:31:18.360 --> 00:31:20.360\nI'm not the most important part of the team.\n\n796\n00:31:20.360 --> 00:31:23.480\nI'm, I'm to my mind, I'm no more important than anybody else.\n\n797\n00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:25.880\nAnd I think people know that I feel that way.\n\n798\n00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:26.520\nAnd it's authentic.\n\n799\n00:31:26.520 --> 00:31:28.320\nI don't just say it because I feel like I have to\n\n800\n00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:29.680\nor I read a book.\n\n801\n00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:31.000\nI genuinely feel that way.\n\n802\n00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:33.000\nLike I want to serve.\n\n803\n00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:34.280\nI like serving others.\n\n804\n00:31:34.280 --> 00:31:36.320\nI like, I like teaching and coaching.\n\n805\n00:31:36.320 --> 00:31:38.120\nI like making people better.\n\n806\n00:31:38.120 --> 00:31:39.600\nI like making myself better.\n\n807\n00:31:39.600 --> 00:31:42.840\nI, you know, I think about like my wife and kids.\n\n808\n00:31:42.840 --> 00:31:44.880\nAnd, you know, I just, I live for that.\n\n809\n00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:47.160\nI live, and they're my team here at home.\n\n810\n00:31:47.160 --> 00:31:50.120\nAnd the 3,000 people that work at Kendra Scott,\n\n811\n00:31:50.120 --> 00:31:52.320\nlike they're my family and my team at work.\n\n812\n00:31:52.320 --> 00:31:54.520\nAnd I'm just a part of the team.\n\n813\n00:31:54.520 --> 00:31:57.520\nAnd, and I hope I'm, I'm serving them well.\n\n814\n00:31:57.520 --> 00:32:00.720\nAnd if I am, you know, I feel like it'll help lead\n\n815\n00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:01.560\nto great results.\n\n816\n00:32:01.560 --> 00:32:02.960\nAnd, but we've got a great team.\n\n817\n00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.360\nAnd I'm just lucky to be a part of it.\n\n818\n00:32:05.360 --> 00:32:07.920\n- You know, there are a lot of leaders who, who believe\n\n819\n00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:10.640\nthat they need to create some emotional distance\n\n820\n00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:14.360\nfrom their team members to, in order to make the tough call.\n\n821\n00:32:14.360 --> 00:32:18.360\nYou know, when those tough calls, they, they have to be made.\n\n822\n00:32:18.360 --> 00:32:20.680\nAnd obviously they do have to be made.\n\n823\n00:32:20.680 --> 00:32:21.520\n- Yeah.\n\n824\n00:32:21.520 --> 00:32:25.440\n- And take on emotional distance with your team members.\n\n825\n00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:26.920\nIt's, how do you look at it?\n\n826\n00:32:26.920 --> 00:32:29.840\n- I don't think you can have, I don't think you can lead\n\n827\n00:32:29.840 --> 00:32:31.880\npeople the right way without having an emotional connection\n\n828\n00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:32.720\nto them.\n\n829\n00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:34.920\nLike, I love the people I work with.\n\n830\n00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:36.320\nThey are a part of my family.\n\n831\n00:32:36.320 --> 00:32:39.640\nAnd it's like, it's like being a parent day.\n\n832\n00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:41.600\nI think the best, you know, outside of being a teacher\n\n833\n00:32:41.600 --> 00:32:44.040\nand a coach, the closest analogy I can think of\n\n834\n00:32:44.040 --> 00:32:46.720\nfor leading people is like being a parent.\n\n835\n00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:49.840\nLike, I love my children more than anything on earth.\n\n836\n00:32:49.840 --> 00:32:51.200\nAnd I discipline them.\n\n837\n00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:53.200\nI remember when my parents just tell me this when I was a kid\n\n838\n00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:54.920\nwhen I was getting smacked for doing some stuff.\n\n839\n00:32:54.920 --> 00:32:57.120\nLike, we're, we're disciplining you because I love you.\n\n840\n00:32:57.120 --> 00:32:59.040\nI'm like, that doesn't make any sense.\n\n841\n00:32:59.040 --> 00:33:01.560\nBut as a dad, it does.\n\n842\n00:33:01.560 --> 00:33:04.600\nLike, I discipline my kids because I care about them.\n\n843\n00:33:04.600 --> 00:33:05.680\nAnd I want to make them better.\n\n844\n00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:06.960\nAnd if I don't discipline, they're going to grow up\n\n845\n00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:08.560\nto be bad adults.\n\n846\n00:33:08.560 --> 00:33:12.160\nAnd I think, I think leading is very similar in that, like,\n\n847\n00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:15.680\nyou know, if you really genuinely care about somebody\n\n848\n00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:18.040\nand you know who they are and what they're made of,\n\n849\n00:33:18.040 --> 00:33:20.240\nyou know, there's forces for courses.\n\n850\n00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:22.760\nAnd sometimes you got to make hard decisions.\n\n851\n00:33:22.760 --> 00:33:25.080\nAnd ultimately, David, I, you've probably seen this\n\n852\n00:33:25.080 --> 00:33:26.920\nin your career too, right?\n\n853\n00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:28.720\nYou know, anytime you had to make a tough decision,\n\n854\n00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:32.520\nit ultimately winds up being the best thing for everybody, right?\n\n855\n00:33:32.520 --> 00:33:34.960\nAnd if you know that person, you're emotionally connected\n\n856\n00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:36.680\nto them and you know what drives them and you know\n\n857\n00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:38.720\nwhere they're going to land on their feet the right way,\n\n858\n00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:42.040\nyou know, I can't, most people that I've had to displace\n\n859\n00:33:42.040 --> 00:33:45.400\nover the years, I've helped find other jobs, you know?\n\n860\n00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:47.680\nAnd, you know, just because they're not right for our company,\n\n861\n00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:49.280\nit doesn't mean they're not right for another company.\n\n862\n00:33:49.280 --> 00:33:51.720\nI mean, sometimes that's not the case because somebody's,\n\n863\n00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:53.600\nyou know, doing something they shouldn't be doing.\n\n864\n00:33:53.600 --> 00:33:56.120\nBut in most cases, I feel like you have to be emotionally\n\n865\n00:33:56.120 --> 00:33:58.000\nconnected to people to understand if you're making\n\n866\n00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:59.240\nthe right decision or not.\n\n867\n00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:02.520\n- You've obviously taken that into your business as well,\n\n868\n00:34:02.520 --> 00:34:05.720\nthat mindset because, you know, in retail,\n\n869\n00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:08.720\na lot of companies are always talking about transactions.\n\n870\n00:34:08.720 --> 00:34:13.280\nAnd, you know, you guys, you focus on connection.\n\n871\n00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:14.440\n- That's right. - Yeah.\n\n872\n00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:16.160\n- Say more about that.\n\n873\n00:34:16.160 --> 00:34:18.920\n- Yeah, so, I mean, we've got, we've got a,\n\n874\n00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:21.720\n140 retail stores across the country now.\n\n875\n00:34:21.720 --> 00:34:23.960\nLike I alluded to earlier, the business has been really\n\n876\n00:34:23.960 --> 00:34:24.800\nsuccessful.\n\n877\n00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:29.760\nOur retail team is led by an extraordinary individual\n\n878\n00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:31.040\nwho's done a great job of the team,\n\n879\n00:34:31.040 --> 00:34:31.880\nand I'm so proud of her.\n\n880\n00:34:31.880 --> 00:34:35.040\nBut everything that we've ever done has always been\n\n881\n00:34:35.040 --> 00:34:37.480\nexperiential, it's always been about connection.\n\n882\n00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:40.400\nLike, you have all these metrics in retail of, you know,\n\n883\n00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:42.280\nthere's foot traffic, and then there's conversion,\n\n884\n00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:45.120\nand there's SPT, and UPT, and all these acronyms of like,\n\n885\n00:34:45.120 --> 00:34:47.560\nhow are you gonna determine what the KPIs are?\n\n886\n00:34:47.560 --> 00:34:48.720\nThey're gonna make a business successful.\n\n887\n00:34:48.720 --> 00:34:50.840\nAnd, you know, nobody needs jewelry, right?\n\n888\n00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:53.480\nLike, it's not sustaining life, they don't need it to.\n\n889\n00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:55.880\nSo it has to be an experience.\n\n890\n00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:58.480\nSo we train our people on WoW service,\n\n891\n00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:00.560\nwe train our people on experience.\n\n892\n00:35:00.560 --> 00:35:01.960\nColleen, who leads our retail team,\n\n893\n00:35:01.960 --> 00:35:06.400\nhas done an amazing job of all about making connection, right?\n\n894\n00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:10.600\nAnd what we see is a byproduct of caring about our customer.\n\n895\n00:35:10.600 --> 00:35:12.520\nLike, our customers are boss, right?\n\n896\n00:35:12.520 --> 00:35:15.200\nShe signs our paychecks, full stop.\n\n897\n00:35:15.200 --> 00:35:16.800\nLike, if we don't treat her the right way,\n\n898\n00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:18.680\nif we don't make decisions based on that person,\n\n899\n00:35:18.680 --> 00:35:20.640\nthe right way, then we lose.\n\n900\n00:35:20.640 --> 00:35:23.880\nAnd with that mentality, it's how we approach everything.\n\n901\n00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:25.600\nSo retail, things about it that way.\n\n902\n00:35:25.600 --> 00:35:29.600\nAnd as a result of that, we have about as high a conversion rate\n\n903\n00:35:29.600 --> 00:35:31.800\nas you can have in the consumer retail world.\n\n904\n00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:33.360\nI mean, our conversion rates on our best stores\n\n905\n00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:34.840\nare north of 40%.\n\n906\n00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:37.200\nAnd that's unheard of, and it's because we don't focus on it.\n\n907\n00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:40.360\nLike, you know, the irony is we focus on making connection\n\n908\n00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:42.320\nwith somebody, and it works.\n\n909\n00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.200\nAnd in addition to that,\n\n910\n00:35:44.200 --> 00:35:47.000\nthe team's done a great job of building events.\n\n911\n00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:51.880\nWe'll do, 140 stores will do close to 30,000 events this year.\n\n912\n00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:54.240\nAnd the large majority of those events, David,\n\n913\n00:35:54.240 --> 00:35:56.000\nare philanthropic in nature.\n\n914\n00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:57.920\nLike, we're helping people in a local community.\n\n915\n00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:01.240\nSo when you combine the fact that we're a fabric\n\n916\n00:36:01.240 --> 00:36:04.560\nof a local community, we know who our customers,\n\n917\n00:36:04.560 --> 00:36:05.560\nwe treat them the right way.\n\n918\n00:36:05.560 --> 00:36:06.720\nAt least we're great connection.\n\n919\n00:36:06.720 --> 00:36:08.200\nAnd just 'cause somebody's not walking out\n\n920\n00:36:08.200 --> 00:36:09.800\nwith the yellow bag the first time,\n\n921\n00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:12.840\nI'm betting when they come back,\n\n922\n00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:14.680\nthey will because we treated them the right way.\n\n923\n00:36:14.680 --> 00:36:16.120\nYou know that old adage of like, you know,\n\n924\n00:36:16.120 --> 00:36:17.320\nyou never remember what people said,\n\n925\n00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:19.640\nyou remember how they made your feel.\n\n926\n00:36:19.640 --> 00:36:21.640\nIt's true in life, you know.\n\n927\n00:36:21.640 --> 00:36:24.400\nSo I think that that really matters.\n\n928\n00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:27.360\n- It's true, but very few businesses really act that way.\n\n929\n00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:29.640\nAnd that's maybe why you've had such great success\n\n930\n00:36:29.640 --> 00:36:30.920\nthe past couple of years.\n\n931\n00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:35.240\nYou know, innovation is really a key part of any business.\n\n932\n00:36:35.240 --> 00:36:37.480\nAnd particularly in retail\n\n933\n00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.920\nwhere you've got to continually surprise your customers.\n\n934\n00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:44.920\nHow are you driving innovation with your team\n\n935\n00:36:44.920 --> 00:36:49.480\nto come up with the next big disruptor in your industry?\n\n936\n00:36:49.480 --> 00:36:52.640\n- Yeah, I mean, look, there's some table stake innovation\n\n937\n00:36:52.640 --> 00:36:55.520\nthings that we're utilizing the same way everybody else does.\n\n938\n00:36:55.520 --> 00:36:58.840\nYou know, AI is prevalent as it relates to the consumer space\n\n939\n00:36:58.840 --> 00:37:00.200\nright now and customer service\n\n940\n00:37:00.200 --> 00:37:02.040\nand how to get sharper and better.\n\n941\n00:37:02.040 --> 00:37:07.120\nBut, you know, I don't, and I think there's innovation\n\n942\n00:37:07.120 --> 00:37:08.280\nat point of sale, right?\n\n943\n00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:10.960\nYou know, getting people, making their experience better\n\n944\n00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:13.840\nat the store, there's innovation on our website\n\n945\n00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:17.960\nwith, you know, dimension is important in jewelry, right?\n\n946\n00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:19.240\nSo if you're going to buy a pair of earrings,\n\n947\n00:37:19.240 --> 00:37:20.400\nyou want to see what they look like\n\n948\n00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:21.480\nand how they look on an outfit.\n\n949\n00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:23.440\nSo we've done a lot of virtual try on type stuff.\n\n950\n00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:26.280\nSo there's some like basic table stake innovation\n\n951\n00:37:26.280 --> 00:37:27.120\nthat relates to that.\n\n952\n00:37:27.120 --> 00:37:29.680\nBut the thing that I'm trying to constantly innovate on\n\n953\n00:37:29.680 --> 00:37:33.080\nis how can we be better to our customer?\n\n954\n00:37:33.080 --> 00:37:35.480\nYou know, how can I innovate to be a better leader\n\n955\n00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:36.480\nto our people?\n\n956\n00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:40.000\nHow can we be more effective with communicating\n\n957\n00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:40.840\nwith one another?\n\n958\n00:37:40.840 --> 00:37:43.480\nHow can we eliminate PowerPoint presentations\n\n959\n00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:45.360\nand meetings with a bunch of people in there\n\n960\n00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:46.920\nand like really be thoughtful?\n\n961\n00:37:46.920 --> 00:37:50.880\nSo it's, I'd say it's less about utilizing technology\n\n962\n00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:54.280\nand more about just leveraging relationships\n\n963\n00:37:54.280 --> 00:37:55.880\nand trying to do the right thing\n\n964\n00:37:55.880 --> 00:37:59.120\nand continue to be outliers in a space\n\n965\n00:37:59.120 --> 00:38:01.160\nthat has not performed very well.\n\n966\n00:38:01.160 --> 00:38:04.640\nAnd I think it's just, it's because\n\n967\n00:38:04.640 --> 00:38:07.000\nwhen everybody else is focusing on some of these hot button\n\n968\n00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:09.480\nthings, like we're just focusing on like tried and true\n\n969\n00:38:09.480 --> 00:38:10.320\nkind of basics.\n\n970\n00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:14.320\nIt's like, you know, practicing the six foot putts\n\n971\n00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:16.280\ninstead of, you know, working on your driver,\n\n972\n00:38:16.280 --> 00:38:17.440\nyou hit a lot more six foot putts\n\n973\n00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:19.720\nthan you know, than you hit drivers and around.\n\n974\n00:38:19.720 --> 00:38:21.720\n- Yeah, it totally makes a lot of sense.\n\n975\n00:38:21.720 --> 00:38:24.520\nAnd when you think about your industry,\n\n976\n00:38:24.520 --> 00:38:27.280\nyou're outperforming everybody in it\n\n977\n00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:30.080\nbecause of the approach that you're taking.\n\n978\n00:38:30.080 --> 00:38:31.800\nIs there anybody out there you think\n\n979\n00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:34.680\nthat could disrupt your business?\n\n980\n00:38:34.680 --> 00:38:37.400\n- You know, I think the greatest competitor\n\n981\n00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:41.080\nwe have is ourselves, you know, and potential complacency\n\n982\n00:38:41.080 --> 00:38:42.160\nbecause of success.\n\n983\n00:38:42.160 --> 00:38:44.960\nI mean, you talk to, you know,\n\n984\n00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:47.320\nI'm even though I'm not a great athlete\n\n985\n00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:48.520\nanymore, I like to pretend that I am,\n\n986\n00:38:48.520 --> 00:38:51.400\nbut I admire what great athletes do.\n\n987\n00:38:51.400 --> 00:38:53.880\nAnd I think there's a lot of analogies to,\n\n988\n00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:55.480\nyou know, sports dynasties, whether, you know,\n\n989\n00:38:55.480 --> 00:38:57.800\nTom Brady's been on here talking about,\n\n990\n00:38:57.800 --> 00:38:59.480\nyou know, how he led the team.\n\n991\n00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:01.800\nAnd, but it's, it is,\n\n992\n00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:05.600\nwe hold ourselves really highly accountable\n\n993\n00:39:05.600 --> 00:39:07.160\nto continue to put points on the board.\n\n994\n00:39:07.160 --> 00:39:10.000\nSo I don't worry about what anybody else is doing.\n\n995\n00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.600\nI just worry about, you know, us not getting complacent\n\n996\n00:39:12.600 --> 00:39:14.520\nafter having a lot of victories\n\n997\n00:39:14.520 --> 00:39:16.520\nand continuing to show up, you know,\n\n998\n00:39:16.520 --> 00:39:18.400\nafter the, after we went, you know,\n\n999\n00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.680\nwe look at, we would look at the fourth quarter\n\n1000\n00:39:20.680 --> 00:39:23.400\nas our Super Bowl, you know, coming into the holidays.\n\n1001\n00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:26.400\nAnd, you know, we always have these sports analogies\n\n1002\n00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:29.840\nin the business and, you know, we talked about last year\n\n1003\n00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:32.040\nabout finishing up championship mindset\n\n1004\n00:39:32.040 --> 00:39:33.880\nwas our theme for the year of this year.\n\n1005\n00:39:33.880 --> 00:39:35.240\nAnd we talked about like great teams,\n\n1006\n00:39:35.240 --> 00:39:37.120\nlike what makes championship mindset?\n\n1007\n00:39:37.120 --> 00:39:38.200\nIt's kind of everything you do.\n\n1008\n00:39:38.200 --> 00:39:39.720\nYou have to think about as a champion.\n\n1009\n00:39:39.720 --> 00:39:42.680\nIt's like, you know, the only difference is after,\n\n1010\n00:39:42.680 --> 00:39:45.640\nyou know, after Tommy won the Super Bowl,\n\n1011\n00:39:45.640 --> 00:39:47.720\nlike he has an off season, like we just got to get right back\n\n1012\n00:39:47.720 --> 00:39:48.560\nat it the next day.\n\n1013\n00:39:48.560 --> 00:39:52.000\nSo it's, it's, it's just a constant reminder\n\n1014\n00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:53.800\nof like challenging yourself and continuing\n\n1015\n00:39:53.800 --> 00:39:55.120\nto try to be better and better.\n\n1016\n00:39:55.120 --> 00:39:58.480\nAnd so I, you know, there's a lot of cool companies\n\n1017\n00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:01.160\nout there that I look at that I think are doing\n\n1018\n00:40:01.160 --> 00:40:03.640\ninteresting things in our, in our space specifically,\n\n1019\n00:40:03.640 --> 00:40:07.640\nI mean, Tiffany's would be the icon of excellence,\n\n1020\n00:40:07.640 --> 00:40:09.880\nI think in how they operate and how they bring retail\n\n1021\n00:40:09.880 --> 00:40:12.040\nto life and the flagship they put up in New York City\n\n1022\n00:40:12.040 --> 00:40:15.240\nis just absolutely spectacular in the cafe\n\n1023\n00:40:15.240 --> 00:40:16.800\nthat they built in there and the artwork\n\n1024\n00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:18.160\nthat they have in the store is amazing.\n\n1025\n00:40:18.160 --> 00:40:21.040\nAnd there's a lot of great smaller brands\n\n1026\n00:40:21.040 --> 00:40:23.640\nthat I admire what they're doing that had great founders\n\n1027\n00:40:23.640 --> 00:40:26.240\nbehind it, whether it's Goryana or a majority.\n\n1028\n00:40:26.240 --> 00:40:28.760\nYou know, there's, it's a, there's a low barrier\n\n1029\n00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:30.400\nto entry in our space.\n\n1030\n00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:32.080\nSo we got to be aware of people out there,\n\n1031\n00:40:32.080 --> 00:40:35.400\nbut you know, the only thing that I'd want our team\n\n1032\n00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:38.680\nreally focusing on is, is ourselves and our customer.\n\n1033\n00:40:38.680 --> 00:40:39.840\n- Hey everyone, it's Kula.\n\n1034\n00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:42.000\nWe'll get back to the interview in just a second.\n\n1035\n00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:45.120\nBefore we do though, have a question for you.\n\n1036\n00:40:45.120 --> 00:40:47.560\nHave you downloaded the How Leaders Lead app\n\n1037\n00:40:47.560 --> 00:40:48.960\non your iPhone?\n\n1038\n00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:51.440\nIf you haven't, take 20 seconds right now,\n\n1039\n00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:54.120\ngo to the App Store, search for How Leaders Lead\n\n1040\n00:40:54.120 --> 00:40:56.680\nand download the How Leaders Lead app.\n\n1041\n00:40:56.680 --> 00:40:59.440\nIn the app every day, you'll get a two minute video\n\n1042\n00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:00.960\nthat'll give you a leadership insight\n\n1043\n00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:03.080\nfrom one of our amazing guests from our podcast\n\n1044\n00:41:03.080 --> 00:41:05.360\nto inspire you and to really get your mind\n\n1045\n00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:07.800\nin the right place before you start your work day.\n\n1046\n00:41:07.800 --> 00:41:10.320\nSo go to the App Store, start How Leaders Lead,\n\n1047\n00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:13.560\ndownload the How Leaders Lead app and start your day\n\n1048\n00:41:13.560 --> 00:41:16.280\nevery day with two minutes of leadership wisdom.\n\n1049\n00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:18.400\nIt'll take 20 seconds, go to the App Store,\n\n1050\n00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:21.680\ndownload the app and you'll be able to watch every day,\n\n1051\n00:41:21.680 --> 00:41:25.560\njust like me, the leadership insight from How Leaders Lead.\n\n1052\n00:41:25.560 --> 00:41:28.240\n- You know, I know you take a lot of pride\n\n1053\n00:41:28.240 --> 00:41:30.680\nand you've built this billion dollar brand\n\n1054\n00:41:30.680 --> 00:41:33.640\nand that was, I know a big goal for your company,\n\n1055\n00:41:33.640 --> 00:41:35.560\ncertainly from where you guys started.\n\n1056\n00:41:35.560 --> 00:41:38.560\nAnd now that you're there,\n\n1057\n00:41:38.560 --> 00:41:43.560\nhow do you set the next big goal for your company?\n\n1058\n00:41:43.560 --> 00:41:47.840\nI mean, what do you say and hey, okay team,\n\n1059\n00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:49.760\nthis is what we wanna do next.\n\n1060\n00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:52.440\nHow have the goal posts moved?\n\n1061\n00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:54.080\n- Yeah, so it's funny, David,\n\n1062\n00:41:54.080 --> 00:41:55.320\nthere's so much white space for us\n\n1063\n00:41:55.320 --> 00:41:57.040\nthat people will be talking to people\n\n1064\n00:41:57.040 --> 00:41:59.680\nwho will see the enterprise value that we've had\n\n1065\n00:41:59.680 --> 00:42:02.240\nand it's like man, the planes really up\n\n1066\n00:42:02.240 --> 00:42:03.320\nand you guys are really cruising.\n\n1067\n00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:06.040\nI'm like, we haven't even left the gate yet.\n\n1068\n00:42:06.040 --> 00:42:08.040\nLike we're still like boarding.\n\n1069\n00:42:08.040 --> 00:42:09.600\nOur company, even though we're, you know,\n\n1070\n00:42:09.600 --> 00:42:11.880\nseveral hundred million dollars in revenue at this point,\n\n1071\n00:42:11.880 --> 00:42:14.660\nwe have less than a 10% national brand awareness.\n\n1072\n00:42:14.660 --> 00:42:19.360\nAnd so there is a ton of white space out there\n\n1073\n00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:21.640\namongst people that don't know who Kendra Scott is.\n\n1074\n00:42:21.640 --> 00:42:23.600\nAnd I think one of the things that I love\n\n1075\n00:42:23.600 --> 00:42:25.200\nmost about our businesses, you know,\n\n1076\n00:42:25.200 --> 00:42:27.480\nwe're not just about, you know, selling a product,\n\n1077\n00:42:27.480 --> 00:42:30.600\nwe're about helping people and doing something special.\n\n1078\n00:42:30.600 --> 00:42:32.760\nSo I think, you know, for us, it's always about how many more,\n\n1079\n00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:34.720\nthe bigger the business gets more people that we can help\n\n1080\n00:42:34.720 --> 00:42:38.640\nby we've got a real appetite for expansion here\n\n1081\n00:42:38.640 --> 00:42:39.480\nin the United States.\n\n1082\n00:42:39.480 --> 00:42:42.640\nWe have a real appetite for expansion internationally.\n\n1083\n00:42:42.640 --> 00:42:45.160\nWe launched a brand called Yellow Rose last year,\n\n1084\n00:42:45.160 --> 00:42:49.120\nwhich very similar to what Ralph did with double RL.\n\n1085\n00:42:49.120 --> 00:42:50.920\nKendra has a ranch called the Yellow Rose Ranch.\n\n1086\n00:42:50.920 --> 00:42:54.080\nSo a lot of Western where we were opening our first store\n\n1087\n00:42:54.080 --> 00:42:56.440\nactually next month here in Austin.\n\n1088\n00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:02.440\nSo Kendra's vision for this company from really the go\n\n1089\n00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:04.840\nwas to have a global lifestyle brand.\n\n1090\n00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:06.800\nAnd I have worked at the quintessential American\n\n1091\n00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:07.800\nglobal lifestyle brand.\n\n1092\n00:43:07.800 --> 00:43:11.040\nAnd that's our, you know, big hairy,\n\n1093\n00:43:11.040 --> 00:43:13.160\na dacious goal for what we want to be, you know,\n\n1094\n00:43:13.160 --> 00:43:14.280\nwhen we grew up, so to speak.\n\n1095\n00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:15.960\nBut in the short term, we've got,\n\n1096\n00:43:15.960 --> 00:43:18.880\nwe've got a lot of room to cover to just preach the gospel\n\n1097\n00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:21.200\non who Kendra Scott is to people here.\n\n1098\n00:43:21.200 --> 00:43:23.200\n- You know, you've had so much success, Tom.\n\n1099\n00:43:23.200 --> 00:43:25.400\nAs a leader with your business, you know,\n\n1100\n00:43:25.400 --> 00:43:27.000\nyou've got a great family.\n\n1101\n00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:29.480\nWhen you look, you know, and you look back on your career\n\n1102\n00:43:29.480 --> 00:43:32.800\nand it doesn't necessarily have to be at Pekindra Scott.\n\n1103\n00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:36.960\nYou've had to have a failure somewhere along the line.\n\n1104\n00:43:36.960 --> 00:43:38.520\nYou know, what's one of yours\n\n1105\n00:43:38.520 --> 00:43:40.480\nand the biggest lesson that it taught you?\n\n1106\n00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:43.520\n- So when I had my holding company, I would say,\n\n1107\n00:43:43.520 --> 00:43:45.040\nyou know, it wasn't a colossal failure,\n\n1108\n00:43:45.040 --> 00:43:46.400\nbut it was a failure.\n\n1109\n00:43:46.400 --> 00:43:51.400\nAnd I think I was just probably too big for my britches.\n\n1110\n00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:54.440\nYou know, I really, you know, when I was younger,\n\n1111\n00:43:54.440 --> 00:43:55.720\nI've always been a goal person.\n\n1112\n00:43:55.720 --> 00:43:57.320\nDavid and I've written down goals\n\n1113\n00:43:57.320 --> 00:43:59.400\nand I'm very disciplined about it.\n\n1114\n00:43:59.400 --> 00:44:01.680\nOne of my goals and I was younger was the B.C.E.O.\n\n1115\n00:44:01.680 --> 00:44:06.680\nand I wanted that so bad that I did it prematurely.\n\n1116\n00:44:06.680 --> 00:44:10.880\nI wasn't ready to be a CEO and I became a CEO of this company\n\n1117\n00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:12.440\nand I didn't lead it the right way.\n\n1118\n00:44:12.440 --> 00:44:15.000\nAnd like I said, I wasn't sharp enough.\n\n1119\n00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.440\nI couldn't understand a balance sheet\n\n1120\n00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:17.600\nthe way I needed to.\n\n1121\n00:44:17.600 --> 00:44:22.600\nI was so determined to prove people wrong\n\n1122\n00:44:23.480 --> 00:44:27.200\nand be successful and be a great CEO\n\n1123\n00:44:27.200 --> 00:44:29.360\nthat I wasn't being honest with myself.\n\n1124\n00:44:29.360 --> 00:44:30.440\nAnd it was a failure.\n\n1125\n00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:31.840\nWe wound up, you know, we didn't take,\n\n1126\n00:44:31.840 --> 00:44:34.200\nwe had a heated out of our brand called Gerbing.\n\n1127\n00:44:34.200 --> 00:44:37.960\nUltimately became the called guide\n\n1128\n00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:41.120\nand probably should have flushed it through bankruptcy\n\n1129\n00:44:41.120 --> 00:44:45.920\nand we didn't because I was too, you know, thick-headed.\n\n1130\n00:44:45.920 --> 00:44:50.920\nAnd I think that was, and I was afraid, I was embarrassed.\n\n1131\n00:44:50.920 --> 00:44:52.120\nLike, I was embarrassed about it.\n\n1132\n00:44:52.120 --> 00:44:53.320\nSo I didn't reach out to people.\n\n1133\n00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:55.360\nI knew that cared about me,\n\n1134\n00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:57.080\nthat could have given me sound advice.\n\n1135\n00:44:57.080 --> 00:44:59.640\nAnd I was too embarrassed and I just wanted,\n\n1136\n00:44:59.640 --> 00:45:01.680\nI didn't want to disappoint anybody.\n\n1137\n00:45:01.680 --> 00:45:05.280\nAnd I think that was probably the one,\n\n1138\n00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:06.480\nand I learned a lot from it, right?\n\n1139\n00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:07.600\nI mean, you learn from your failures,\n\n1140\n00:45:07.600 --> 00:45:08.800\nnot from your successes.\n\n1141\n00:45:08.800 --> 00:45:11.240\nAnd it taught me a lot of humility.\n\n1142\n00:45:11.240 --> 00:45:14.240\nAnd, you know, hopefully I don't make those mistakes again\n\n1143\n00:45:14.240 --> 00:45:15.640\nin the future.\n\n1144\n00:45:15.640 --> 00:45:19.280\n- What do you think was the seminal moment in your career\n\n1145\n00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:21.080\nwhere you realized, you know,\n\n1146\n00:45:21.080 --> 00:45:22.960\nyou had this chip on your shoulder,\n\n1147\n00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:25.320\nyou're driving for excellence,\n\n1148\n00:45:25.320 --> 00:45:27.480\ntrying to move up the ladder.\n\n1149\n00:45:27.480 --> 00:45:29.920\nWhen did you have that seminal moment that said,\n\n1150\n00:45:29.920 --> 00:45:32.920\n\"Hey, no, I might actually be able to do this.\"\n\n1151\n00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:37.400\nI mean, you know, or was there some point where you said,\n\n1152\n00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:38.640\n\"You know what?\n\n1153\n00:45:38.640 --> 00:45:40.320\nI got it in me.\"\n\n1154\n00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:43.480\n- I would say that I've always had a high degree of confidence.\n\n1155\n00:45:43.480 --> 00:45:44.760\nI mean, you have to have confidence\n\n1156\n00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:46.800\nin self-belief, I think, to do anything.\n\n1157\n00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:47.960\nAs an athlete, is it?\n\n1158\n00:45:50.160 --> 00:45:55.160\n- I will tell you, I said this last night to the kids at UT,\n\n1159\n00:45:55.160 --> 00:45:58.440\nI always struggle with imposter syndrome, right?\n\n1160\n00:45:58.440 --> 00:46:00.040\nI mean, I don't know if I'm there yet.\n\n1161\n00:46:00.040 --> 00:46:03.440\nLike, I feel like I have confidence.\n\n1162\n00:46:03.440 --> 00:46:04.360\nI know I'm capable.\n\n1163\n00:46:04.360 --> 00:46:06.320\nI mean, we've put some great points on the board\n\n1164\n00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:09.680\nand I know that I've been a good leader\n\n1165\n00:46:09.680 --> 00:46:13.280\nand I've created cultures and helped create cultures\n\n1166\n00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:17.320\nof winning because I've got people that are run through a wall\n\n1167\n00:46:17.320 --> 00:46:19.760\nfor me because they know I would run through a wall for them.\n\n1168\n00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:21.680\nBut I struggle with that.\n\n1169\n00:46:21.680 --> 00:46:26.680\nBut I think getting through COVID\n\n1170\n00:46:26.680 --> 00:46:30.920\nand doing what we did here was a seminal moment for me\n\n1171\n00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:32.040\nand that like, holy cow,\n\n1172\n00:46:32.040 --> 00:46:33.600\nI just led through about the hardest thing\n\n1173\n00:46:33.600 --> 00:46:35.840\nthat I'm ever gonna have to lead through.\n\n1174\n00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:38.480\nAnd we did it pretty good.\n\n1175\n00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:40.000\nYou know, we got a great team around us\n\n1176\n00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:41.680\nand I think one of the other lessons I learned\n\n1177\n00:46:41.680 --> 00:46:44.680\nin my holding company was I didn't trust people enough\n\n1178\n00:46:44.680 --> 00:46:47.560\nand I just have a great team that I put a lot of trust in\n\n1179\n00:46:47.560 --> 00:46:49.800\nand I believe in them and they know I believe in them.\n\n1180\n00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:52.560\nAnd I think that's given me greater confidence\n\n1181\n00:46:52.560 --> 00:46:55.000\nto be a leader that I could be.\n\n1182\n00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:57.400\nAnd I think, you know, I mentioned earlier\n\n1183\n00:46:57.400 --> 00:46:58.960\nwhat my sister passing away and stuff,\n\n1184\n00:46:58.960 --> 00:47:00.720\nit's like, you know, when you go through really hard things,\n\n1185\n00:47:00.720 --> 00:47:04.000\nlike I think it just galvanizes teams\n\n1186\n00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:07.080\nand it makes you realize like what's important in life\n\n1187\n00:47:07.080 --> 00:47:10.440\nand I think that stuff's gonna help shape me over the years.\n\n1188\n00:47:10.440 --> 00:47:13.560\n- You obviously are a leader that has high self-awareness\n\n1189\n00:47:13.560 --> 00:47:16.560\nand you're trying to improve.\n\n1190\n00:47:16.560 --> 00:47:18.160\nI was impressed by the fact you said\n\n1191\n00:47:18.160 --> 00:47:20.040\nyou really couldn't read the balance sheet,\n\n1192\n00:47:20.040 --> 00:47:22.120\nyou wanted the way how you thought you should\n\n1193\n00:47:22.120 --> 00:47:24.560\nand you went back and got your MBA.\n\n1194\n00:47:24.560 --> 00:47:26.840\nYou know, what are you working on today, Tom?\n\n1195\n00:47:26.840 --> 00:47:28.520\nI mean, how are you sharpening your acts?\n\n1196\n00:47:28.520 --> 00:47:32.480\nWhat's gonna make you better in the next five years?\n\n1197\n00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:35.360\n- Yeah, I mean, I'm like constantly trying to improve\n\n1198\n00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:36.200\non everything.\n\n1199\n00:47:36.200 --> 00:47:37.640\nI mean, I wanna always show up.\n\n1200\n00:47:37.640 --> 00:47:41.120\nI mean, truthfully, David, you know,\n\n1201\n00:47:41.120 --> 00:47:44.560\nthis may have, you may have lived through this too with,\n\n1202\n00:47:44.560 --> 00:47:47.240\nbut I probably wasn't.\n\n1203\n00:47:47.240 --> 00:47:49.320\nI didn't show up for my family the way that I needed to\n\n1204\n00:47:49.320 --> 00:47:50.240\nearlier in my career.\n\n1205\n00:47:50.240 --> 00:47:53.720\nI was so busy building and accomplishing\n\n1206\n00:47:53.720 --> 00:47:58.720\nand I'd say that the most important thing for me right now\n\n1207\n00:47:58.720 --> 00:48:01.440\nin this moment is showing up for my wife and kids\n\n1208\n00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:04.640\nand the way that they need me to show up for them for.\n\n1209\n00:48:04.640 --> 00:48:08.680\nAnd, you know, for our people,\n\n1210\n00:48:08.680 --> 00:48:10.800\nI'm just constantly trying to show up for them better.\n\n1211\n00:48:10.800 --> 00:48:12.200\nAnd what I'm working on today,\n\n1212\n00:48:12.200 --> 00:48:14.800\nlike finance is always gonna be a weakness of mine,\n\n1213\n00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:17.440\nI feel like, and I'm always trying to get better\n\n1214\n00:48:17.440 --> 00:48:21.040\nand learn the nuances in business and study\n\n1215\n00:48:21.040 --> 00:48:22.680\nwhere businesses have had success\n\n1216\n00:48:22.680 --> 00:48:23.800\nand how they haven't had success\n\n1217\n00:48:23.800 --> 00:48:26.560\nand try to dissect a balance sheet in the P&L\n\n1218\n00:48:26.560 --> 00:48:31.200\nin a thoughtful way as to avoid pitfalls in the future.\n\n1219\n00:48:31.200 --> 00:48:34.400\nAnd I'd say the other thing is, you know,\n\n1220\n00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:37.320\ntrying to get our company to constantly move faster,\n\n1221\n00:48:37.320 --> 00:48:39.560\nto make sure we're staying ahead of things.\n\n1222\n00:48:39.560 --> 00:48:42.360\nThose are the things that I'm probably working on right now.\n\n1223\n00:48:42.360 --> 00:48:43.200\n- That's great.\n\n1224\n00:48:43.200 --> 00:48:44.680\nYou know, Tom, this has been so much fun\n\n1225\n00:48:44.680 --> 00:48:45.880\ncatching up with you.\n\n1226\n00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:48.000\nAnd I'd like to have a little bit more fun\n\n1227\n00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:50.160\nwith my lightning round of questions.\n\n1228\n00:48:50.160 --> 00:48:51.200\nSo are you ready for this?\n\n1229\n00:48:51.200 --> 00:48:52.360\n- Let's do it.\n\n1230\n00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:53.440\n- All right.\n\n1231\n00:48:53.440 --> 00:48:56.560\nWhat are three words people would use to best describe you?\n\n1232\n00:48:56.560 --> 00:49:01.280\n- Stubborn, hardworking, and passionate.\n\n1233\n00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:04.440\n- That's four, but I'll let you get away with it.\n\n1234\n00:49:04.440 --> 00:49:05.840\n- All right, four words, that's right.\n\n1235\n00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:07.240\n- Sorry.\n\n1236\n00:49:07.240 --> 00:49:09.280\n- If you could be one person for a day\n\n1237\n00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:11.000\nbeside yourself, who would it be?\n\n1238\n00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:14.000\n- If I could be one person beside myself,\n\n1239\n00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:16.880\nI'd be hard not to want to be Tom Brady.\n\n1240\n00:49:16.880 --> 00:49:18.440\n- What's your biggest pet peeve?\n\n1241\n00:49:18.440 --> 00:49:19.320\n- Laziness.\n\n1242\n00:49:19.320 --> 00:49:22.320\n- Who would play you in a movie?\n\n1243\n00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:23.240\n- Not cheese.\n\n1244\n00:49:23.240 --> 00:49:27.880\nI want, I've been athletic.\n\n1245\n00:49:27.880 --> 00:49:30.880\n- I see a little bit of that.\n\n1246\n00:49:30.880 --> 00:49:31.920\nThat's a good one.\n\n1247\n00:49:31.920 --> 00:49:34.800\nYour favorite golf hole in the world.\n\n1248\n00:49:37.520 --> 00:49:40.200\n- I'd say number 12 at Augusta National.\n\n1249\n00:49:40.200 --> 00:49:43.760\n- You get two front row tickets to anything you want.\n\n1250\n00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:44.760\nWhere would you go?\n\n1251\n00:49:44.760 --> 00:49:52.040\n- I would go to Final Four, North Carolina,\n\n1252\n00:49:52.040 --> 00:49:55.520\nbeing in the final game, Championship Game.\n\n1253\n00:49:55.520 --> 00:49:56.960\n- That's a great one.\n\n1254\n00:49:56.960 --> 00:50:01.560\nThe most fun thing about living in Austin, Texas.\n\n1255\n00:50:01.560 --> 00:50:05.960\n- Knowing of Texas.\n\n1256\n00:50:06.800 --> 00:50:08.600\n(laughing)\n\n1257\n00:50:08.600 --> 00:50:10.160\n- Hey, you're pretty good at finance.\n\n1258\n00:50:10.160 --> 00:50:11.360\nDon't sell yourself short.\n\n1259\n00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:14.680\nWhat is that street in Austin?\n\n1260\n00:50:14.680 --> 00:50:15.880\nSeventh Street or?\n\n1261\n00:50:15.880 --> 00:50:18.040\n- Sixth Street in Rainy Street.\n\n1262\n00:50:18.040 --> 00:50:19.920\nRainy Street in Sixth Street in the two of the two of the.\n\n1263\n00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:21.880\n- I thought you might say the Longhorn.\n\n1264\n00:50:21.880 --> 00:50:22.720\n- No.\n\n1265\n00:50:22.720 --> 00:50:24.640\n- Are you a Longhorn fan?\n\n1266\n00:50:24.640 --> 00:50:27.000\n- I'm an adopted Longhorn fan, yeah.\n\n1267\n00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:32.120\n- The feeling you get when you see the color yellow.\n\n1268\n00:50:32.120 --> 00:50:34.280\n- Happy.\n\n1269\n00:50:34.280 --> 00:50:35.840\n- What's one of your daily rituals,\n\n1270\n00:50:35.840 --> 00:50:37.480\nsomething that you never miss?\n\n1271\n00:50:37.480 --> 00:50:38.840\n- Waking up early.\n\n1272\n00:50:38.840 --> 00:50:41.440\n- What's something about you few people would know?\n\n1273\n00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:45.080\n- I'm a big softie.\n\n1274\n00:50:45.080 --> 00:50:47.320\n(laughing)\n\n1275\n00:50:47.320 --> 00:50:48.160\n- It's like.\n\n1276\n00:50:48.160 --> 00:50:49.960\n- That's great.\n\n1277\n00:50:49.960 --> 00:50:52.400\nAll right, that's a great job on the lighting round.\n\n1278\n00:50:52.400 --> 00:50:53.560\nGood job.\n\n1279\n00:50:53.560 --> 00:50:55.400\nJust a couple more questions for you.\n\n1280\n00:50:55.400 --> 00:50:56.240\n- Yeah.\n\n1281\n00:50:56.240 --> 00:51:00.720\n- You know, I love your company's focus on philanthropy\n\n1282\n00:51:00.720 --> 00:51:02.480\nand giving back.\n\n1283\n00:51:02.480 --> 00:51:05.840\nAnd you've talked about these kinder care events.\n\n1284\n00:51:05.840 --> 00:51:09.640\nYou know, you've talked about how that really drove you\n\n1285\n00:51:09.640 --> 00:51:10.640\nto the company.\n\n1286\n00:51:10.640 --> 00:51:16.520\nHow do you think about taking that to the next level?\n\n1287\n00:51:16.520 --> 00:51:18.880\n- Yeah, I mean, it is, we have three pillars\n\n1288\n00:51:18.880 --> 00:51:22.200\nat the company, David's family fashion and philanthropy.\n\n1289\n00:51:22.200 --> 00:51:24.760\nAnd fashion's kind of, you know, a box we get a check\n\n1290\n00:51:24.760 --> 00:51:27.080\nif I'm being honest and we have to have that one.\n\n1291\n00:51:27.080 --> 00:51:29.080\nFamily, I alluded to it earlier,\n\n1292\n00:51:29.080 --> 00:51:30.840\nthe company feels like a family in a way\n\n1293\n00:51:30.840 --> 00:51:32.880\nlike I've never felt, but philanthropy\n\n1294\n00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:35.200\nis the most important thing that we do.\n\n1295\n00:51:35.200 --> 00:51:40.200\nAnd we don't do it in a big way,\n\n1296\n00:51:40.200 --> 00:51:41.840\nfrom, you know, writing big checks\n\n1297\n00:51:41.840 --> 00:51:44.080\nto large philanthropic organizations, usually,\n\n1298\n00:51:44.080 --> 00:51:45.560\nwe do it on a one to one way,\n\n1299\n00:51:45.560 --> 00:51:49.920\nwhere we're helping individuals that need help\n\n1300\n00:51:49.920 --> 00:51:51.600\nor a family that needs help.\n\n1301\n00:51:51.600 --> 00:51:56.000\nSo I think that, you know, the bigger the business gets,\n\n1302\n00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:57.640\nthe more people that we can hire\n\n1303\n00:51:57.640 --> 00:51:59.120\nin our philanthropic department\n\n1304\n00:51:59.120 --> 00:52:00.600\nis a great woman named Sheena Wilde\n\n1305\n00:52:00.600 --> 00:52:01.560\nwho leads that for us.\n\n1306\n00:52:01.560 --> 00:52:04.400\nAnd, you know, the more resources that we can give her,\n\n1307\n00:52:04.400 --> 00:52:07.080\nthe more times that Kendra's on Shark Tank,\n\n1308\n00:52:07.080 --> 00:52:09.320\nthe more people that know about Kendra Scott\n\n1309\n00:52:09.320 --> 00:52:11.360\nand learn about this, the better.\n\n1310\n00:52:11.360 --> 00:52:12.680\nAnd it might sound self-serving\n\n1311\n00:52:12.680 --> 00:52:13.920\nand I suppose it is to some degree\n\n1312\n00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:15.680\nbecause our business would get bigger as a result,\n\n1313\n00:52:15.680 --> 00:52:19.000\nbut this isn't authentic to who we are,\n\n1314\n00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:19.920\nI've been doing this for 20,\n\n1315\n00:52:19.920 --> 00:52:20.960\nthe business around for 22 years,\n\n1316\n00:52:20.960 --> 00:52:23.640\nfor 22 years, Kendra Scott has made the person\n\n1317\n00:52:23.640 --> 00:52:25.320\nand the business has made this, you know,\n\n1318\n00:52:25.320 --> 00:52:28.520\nthe number one priority for everything that we do.\n\n1319\n00:52:28.520 --> 00:52:29.560\nAnd that's never gonna change\n\n1320\n00:52:29.560 --> 00:52:30.600\nand I think it's really important.\n\n1321\n00:52:30.600 --> 00:52:33.960\nSo it's not about innovating necessarily,\n\n1322\n00:52:33.960 --> 00:52:36.960\nit's just, it's about more people knowing about it\n\n1323\n00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:40.880\nand coming to us and I would say maybe, you know,\n\n1324\n00:52:40.880 --> 00:52:43.960\ndoing a better job and marketing to let people know\n\n1325\n00:52:43.960 --> 00:52:45.600\nthat this is the driving force for us\n\n1326\n00:52:45.600 --> 00:52:46.800\nand we're not just selling jewelry,\n\n1327\n00:52:46.800 --> 00:52:48.880\nbut we're trying to help as many people as possible.\n\n1328\n00:52:48.880 --> 00:52:51.040\nSo it's something we try to prioritize\n\n1329\n00:52:51.040 --> 00:52:53.040\nand spend more time thinking about all the time.\n\n1330\n00:52:53.040 --> 00:52:55.480\n- You said that your customers are your boss.\n\n1331\n00:52:56.800 --> 00:53:01.280\nSo how do you, as a leader, stay in touch\n\n1332\n00:53:01.280 --> 00:53:02.120\nwith your customers?\n\n1333\n00:53:02.120 --> 00:53:03.240\nWhat do you specifically do?\n\n1334\n00:53:03.240 --> 00:53:05.920\nDo you do anything that's unique on that front or?\n\n1335\n00:53:05.920 --> 00:53:08.680\n- Yeah, yeah, you look, I would say every time,\n\n1336\n00:53:08.680 --> 00:53:11.040\nI'm gonna answer this a couple of ways.\n\n1337\n00:53:11.040 --> 00:53:13.400\nEvery single time I go to speak anywhere,\n\n1338\n00:53:13.400 --> 00:53:15.880\nI spoke to the kids at UT yesterday,\n\n1339\n00:53:15.880 --> 00:53:18.320\nI tell you a seminal moment for me in my life\n\n1340\n00:53:18.320 --> 00:53:20.120\nwhere I stood back and I was like,\n\n1341\n00:53:20.120 --> 00:53:21.400\nholy cow, I can't believe this is happening.\n\n1342\n00:53:21.400 --> 00:53:24.440\nI gave the commencement speech at Chapel Hill\n\n1343\n00:53:24.440 --> 00:53:26.520\nto the NBA class last year.\n\n1344\n00:53:26.520 --> 00:53:28.800\nLike you talk about somebody who's the only person\n\n1345\n00:53:28.800 --> 00:53:29.880\nin their family to graduate high school,\n\n1346\n00:53:29.880 --> 00:53:31.080\nstanding in the Dean Smith Center,\n\n1347\n00:53:31.080 --> 00:53:32.960\nlike talking to an MBA grad,\n\n1348\n00:53:32.960 --> 00:53:36.120\nI was like, holy cow, I can't believe that this is happening.\n\n1349\n00:53:36.120 --> 00:53:37.960\nI always give out my email to everybody.\n\n1350\n00:53:37.960 --> 00:53:40.840\nSo like, I want people to reach out to me\n\n1351\n00:53:40.840 --> 00:53:43.160\nand ask for help, I want customers to reach out to me.\n\n1352\n00:53:43.160 --> 00:53:46.720\nEvery single negative customer service email\n\n1353\n00:53:46.720 --> 00:53:50.040\nthat comes in, I see, and I respond to almost all of them.\n\n1354\n00:53:50.040 --> 00:53:53.800\nAnd we work, not just myself,\n\n1355\n00:53:53.800 --> 00:53:58.280\nbut like we conjure all of us, we work in the retail stores.\n\n1356\n00:53:58.280 --> 00:53:59.640\nMy wife works in the retail stores,\n\n1357\n00:53:59.640 --> 00:54:01.400\nand my kids worked in the retail stores.\n\n1358\n00:54:01.400 --> 00:54:03.680\nLike we sit there and we don't just like,\n\n1359\n00:54:03.680 --> 00:54:06.120\nI remember in other companies I've worked at,\n\n1360\n00:54:06.120 --> 00:54:08.680\nwe would go around and visit retail stores.\n\n1361\n00:54:08.680 --> 00:54:10.760\nLike we work in the retail stores.\n\n1362\n00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:12.920\nWe serve customers, I'm in the back room,\n\n1363\n00:54:12.920 --> 00:54:15.320\nrestocking things, I work in our distribution center,\n\n1364\n00:54:15.320 --> 00:54:16.880\nour team works in distribution centers.\n\n1365\n00:54:16.880 --> 00:54:21.920\nSo I feel very close to the customer.\n\n1366\n00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:24.080\nAnd I think that really matters.\n\n1367\n00:54:24.080 --> 00:54:27.000\nAnd we expect every employee to do the same thing,\n\n1368\n00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:28.320\nwhether you work in retail or not.\n\n1369\n00:54:28.320 --> 00:54:31.000\nLike that's, they're the tip of the spirit of what we do.\n\n1370\n00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:34.960\nSo that's how I do it.\n\n1371\n00:54:34.960 --> 00:54:36.360\nAnd that's our expectation.\n\n1372\n00:54:36.360 --> 00:54:39.040\nAnd it works because you know how it is\n\n1373\n00:54:39.040 --> 00:54:41.960\nwhen you're running a business or a business unit\n\n1374\n00:54:41.960 --> 00:54:43.440\nor a department or a division,\n\n1375\n00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:45.280\nlike you get caught up in the day to day\n\n1376\n00:54:45.280 --> 00:54:47.800\nand you're like, you get so far away from your customer.\n\n1377\n00:54:47.800 --> 00:54:50.360\nAnd like, that's the reason you have a job.\n\n1378\n00:54:50.360 --> 00:54:54.400\nAnd we try to stay as close as we can to our customer\n\n1379\n00:54:54.400 --> 00:54:57.080\nbecause, like I said, she signs her,\n\n1380\n00:54:57.080 --> 00:54:58.760\nshe and he's on our paychecks.\n\n1381\n00:54:58.760 --> 00:55:00.200\n- All right, last question here.\n\n1382\n00:55:00.200 --> 00:55:02.880\nWhat's the best piece of advice you can give to someone\n\n1383\n00:55:02.880 --> 00:55:04.480\nwho wants to be a better leader?\n\n1384\n00:55:04.480 --> 00:55:08.880\n- The best piece of advice I can give to somebody in life\n\n1385\n00:55:08.880 --> 00:55:12.440\nis pay attention at time.\n\n1386\n00:55:12.440 --> 00:55:16.520\nLike it's the only currency you can't make more of.\n\n1387\n00:55:16.520 --> 00:55:18.880\nYou can make more money, you can't make more time\n\n1388\n00:55:18.880 --> 00:55:21.960\nand use it really wisely.\n\n1389\n00:55:21.960 --> 00:55:25.680\nAnd invest in the people and the things that matter\n\n1390\n00:55:25.680 --> 00:55:28.800\nand divest of the things that don't.\n\n1391\n00:55:28.800 --> 00:55:31.960\nAnd when you do that, it frees you up\n\n1392\n00:55:31.960 --> 00:55:34.320\nto spend more time with your family.\n\n1393\n00:55:34.320 --> 00:55:36.080\nIt frees you up to focus on the things\n\n1394\n00:55:36.080 --> 00:55:38.760\nthat matter in your life and your business\n\n1395\n00:55:38.760 --> 00:55:42.120\nbecause as we both know, time is short\n\n1396\n00:55:42.120 --> 00:55:47.120\nand I think wasting it is a shame in business and life.\n\n1397\n00:55:47.960 --> 00:55:51.440\nAnd I think if you kind of, it serves me well in business,\n\n1398\n00:55:51.440 --> 00:55:54.960\nit's serving me well in life as well.\n\n1399\n00:55:54.960 --> 00:55:58.760\n- You know, Tom, it's always inspiring to me\n\n1400\n00:55:58.760 --> 00:56:03.760\nwhen I meet someone who focuses on doing the right things\n\n1401\n00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:05.720\nfor people or customers.\n\n1402\n00:56:05.720 --> 00:56:08.320\nAnd then the right things, strangely enough,\n\n1403\n00:56:08.320 --> 00:56:12.240\nthey just kind of come right back to you.\n\n1404\n00:56:12.240 --> 00:56:16.240\nIt's an incredible blessing when that happens.\n\n1405\n00:56:16.240 --> 00:56:20.440\nBut it's really great to talk to a leader like yourself.\n\n1406\n00:56:20.440 --> 00:56:22.840\nWho's authentic, you know who you are.\n\n1407\n00:56:22.840 --> 00:56:26.480\nYou're very focused on others and you're a happy guy.\n\n1408\n00:56:26.480 --> 00:56:30.280\nYou know, the other directed people are the happiest guys\n\n1409\n00:56:30.280 --> 00:56:33.080\nin the world and you got a big smile on your face right now.\n\n1410\n00:56:33.080 --> 00:56:36.200\nAnd I don't think it's 'cause of the 44 months of,\n\n1411\n00:56:36.200 --> 00:56:38.360\nyou know, great sales, which doesn't hurt by the way.\n\n1412\n00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:40.360\nLet's face it, we love that.\n\n1413\n00:56:40.360 --> 00:56:44.200\nBut you know, the other thing is what really makes you tick\n\n1414\n00:56:44.200 --> 00:56:46.280\nand I wanna thank you so much, Tom,\n\n1415\n00:56:46.280 --> 00:56:49.400\nfor taking the time to do this podcast.\n\n1416\n00:56:49.400 --> 00:56:50.400\nAppreciate it very much.\n\n1417\n00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:52.960\n- David, you get out of life when you put into it.\n\n1418\n00:56:52.960 --> 00:56:54.400\nYou know, I try to put a lot into it\n\n1419\n00:56:54.400 --> 00:56:56.720\nand I can't thank you enough.\n\n1420\n00:56:56.720 --> 00:56:59.520\nI mean, I don't know if, I've said this to you,\n\n1421\n00:56:59.520 --> 00:57:04.520\nkind of offline, but the impact you've had on my life,\n\n1422\n00:57:04.520 --> 00:57:06.160\nit hasn't been a lot of time together,\n\n1423\n00:57:06.160 --> 00:57:08.120\nbut the impact you've had on my life has been profound\n\n1424\n00:57:08.120 --> 00:57:11.000\nand I mean that very, very genuinely.\n\n1425\n00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:14.160\nAnd I am so fortunate to have had people like you in my life.\n\n1426\n00:57:14.160 --> 00:57:19.160\nYou've left the lasting mark, you know, forever.\n\n1427\n00:57:19.160 --> 00:57:23.400\nAnd I think the best thing about that is it's taught me\n\n1428\n00:57:23.400 --> 00:57:26.560\nhow powerful that is to do it for others.\n\n1429\n00:57:26.560 --> 00:57:28.040\nYou know, but you and Seth and Jim,\n\n1430\n00:57:28.040 --> 00:57:29.120\nI mean, there's people in my life\n\n1431\n00:57:29.120 --> 00:57:32.360\nthat have made an investment of just a little bit of time\n\n1432\n00:57:32.360 --> 00:57:35.280\nand it's really, you know, especially for some\n\n1433\n00:57:35.280 --> 00:57:38.160\nof they didn't have that in a dad, you know?\n\n1434\n00:57:38.160 --> 00:57:40.040\nLike it really is meant a lot to me.\n\n1435\n00:57:40.040 --> 00:57:40.840\nI can't thank you enough.\n\n1436\n00:57:40.840 --> 00:57:41.720\nI really appreciate it.\n\n1437\n00:57:41.720 --> 00:57:44.120\n- Well, I can tell you right now,\n\n1438\n00:57:44.120 --> 00:57:47.160\nyour kids are very, very happy to have you as their dad.\n\n1439\n00:57:47.160 --> 00:57:48.000\n- Right.\n\n1440\n00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:48.840\n- You're an amazing guy.\n\n1441\n00:57:48.840 --> 00:57:51.000\n- Thanks for having me. - Thank you very much, buddy.\n\n1442\n00:57:51.000 --> 00:57:57.280\n- You know, I like to say, when you do the right things,\n\n1443\n00:57:57.280 --> 00:58:00.440\nthe right things happen and the way Tom is leading\n\n1444\n00:58:00.440 --> 00:58:04.120\nat Kendra Scott really proves my point.\n\n1445\n00:58:04.120 --> 00:58:06.720\nYes, you've got to deliver results,\n\n1446\n00:58:06.720 --> 00:58:11.400\nbut how you treat people along the way really matters.\n\n1447\n00:58:11.400 --> 00:58:14.640\nAnd in fact, when you focus on serving your team\n\n1448\n00:58:14.640 --> 00:58:16.600\nand connecting with customers,\n\n1449\n00:58:16.600 --> 00:58:19.120\nyou build the kind of rapport that you need\n\n1450\n00:58:19.120 --> 00:58:21.280\nto get those hard results.\n\n1451\n00:58:21.280 --> 00:58:23.840\nIt all goes hand in hand.\n\n1452\n00:58:23.840 --> 00:58:27.680\nSo let me ask you, is there an area of your organization\n\n1453\n00:58:27.680 --> 00:58:30.840\nwhere the results are just not where you want them to be?\n\n1454\n00:58:30.840 --> 00:58:34.640\nWell, this week, sit down with a couple of your team members\n\n1455\n00:58:34.640 --> 00:58:37.240\nand brainstorm on what you can do\n\n1456\n00:58:37.240 --> 00:58:41.880\nto focus on making real connections with your customers.\n\n1457\n00:58:41.880 --> 00:58:43.960\nI bet you'll find some great ideas\n\n1458\n00:58:43.960 --> 00:58:46.400\nthat will help you move the needle.\n\n1459\n00:58:46.400 --> 00:58:48.560\nSo do you want to know how leaders lead?\n\n1460\n00:58:48.560 --> 00:58:51.680\nWhat we learned today is the great leaders know\n\n1461\n00:58:51.680 --> 00:58:54.840\nthat connection creates results.\n\n1462\n00:58:54.840 --> 00:58:57.040\nComing up next on how leaders lead,\n\n1463\n00:58:57.040 --> 00:58:59.760\nI've got Fawn Weaver, the founder and CEO\n\n1464\n00:58:59.760 --> 00:59:02.480\nof Uncle Naira's Premium Whiskey.\n\n1465\n00:59:02.480 --> 00:59:05.400\n- I move forward, I take those lessons with me\n\n1466\n00:59:05.400 --> 00:59:09.680\nand they inform how I move in the future,\n\n1467\n00:59:09.680 --> 00:59:12.480\nbut they do not take me back to my past.\n\n1468\n00:59:12.480 --> 00:59:14.320\n- So be sure to come back again next week\n\n1469\n00:59:14.320 --> 00:59:16.160\nto hear our entire conversation.\n\n1470\n00:59:16.160 --> 00:59:18.480\nThanks again for tuning in to another episode\n\n1471\n00:59:18.480 --> 00:59:20.600\nof How Leaders Lead, where every Thursday\n\n1472\n00:59:20.600 --> 00:59:22.920\nyou get to listen in while I interview some\n\n1473\n00:59:22.920 --> 00:59:24.920\nof the very best leaders in the world.\n\n1474\n00:59:24.920 --> 00:59:27.440\nI make it a point to give you something simple\n\n1475\n00:59:27.440 --> 00:59:30.800\non each and every episode that you can apply\n\n1476\n00:59:30.800 --> 00:59:33.480\nto your business so that you will become\n\n1477\n00:59:33.480 --> 00:59:34.960\nThe best leader you can be.\n\n1478\n00:59:34.960 --> 00:59:44.960\n[BLANK_AUDIO]\n","

Tom Nolan 0:00

What we see is a byproduct of caring about our customer, like our customers, our boss right like if we don't treat her the right way, if we don't make decisions based on that person the right way, then we lose. And with that mentality, it's how we approach everything. So retail thinks about it that way. And as a result of that, we have about as high a conversion rate as you can have in the consumer retail world. I mean, our conversion rates and our best stores are north of 40% and that's unheard of, and it's because we don't focus on it like you know. The irony is, we focus on making connection with somebody, and it works.

David Novak 0:39

Welcome to How leaders lead. I'm David Novak, and every week I have conversations with the best leaders in the world to help you become the best leader that you can be. Today, I'm sitting down with Tom Nolan, the CEO of Kendra Scott, a popular jewelry brand that's been crushing it lately, 44 months of nearly double digit growth. And guess what? Tom's been the CEO for 45 of those months. So yeah, this guy knows how to get results. But here's the thing, Tom's not the kind of leader who bulldozes his way to the top. For him, it's all about making real connections with his team and his customers, and when you focus on that, the results tend to take care of themselves. This episode might just be the mindset shift that you need to start building those connections and getting real results. So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours. Tom Nolan, you

you know, when we first met, we talked about our mutual belief in the power of recognition. That, when did you get sold on, on recognition, you know, as a real business driver, tell us a story. Well,

Tom Nolan 1:56

I mean, look, I would say just as a, as a, as a young person growing up in business, I always felt like I had a voice and wasn't always heard, right? So I when it was heard, it made me feel really good. I think it started probably before that, just playing sports as a kid, you know, everybody wants to get an attaboy, and they made me feel really good. And then, then I read it, read a great book called, oh, great one somebody wrote, and, you know, that one really solidified it for me, and I, I started making it I've always, I think, made it a fundamental part of kind of how I've parented my kids, how I've led in business. Then that book, and I'm not pandering you, but really, that book kind of changed how I thought about it internally at our company, Kendra Scott, and we incorporated recognition in a way where, you know, on a weekly basis now, I asked for getting who's who's doing a great job, that we could just give a high five. And because it's so important, people work really, really hard, as you know, David and a lot of the times, and most of the times, I think, for the right kind of people, what motivates them isn't money, it's knowing that they're doing a great job and the feedback of that. So I knew how important it was to me. I've seen how important it is as a dad to my kids, and it's, it's really proven and paid high dividends in our organization. You

David Novak 3:09

have one of the most original CEO personal recognition awards that I've ever seen. You know, tell us about it.

Tom Nolan 3:18

Yeah, I literally, it was, it was after I read your book, I and the jar. I mean, we so I read a book called The Way of the shepherd a long time ago, and it it really changed how I how I led. I mean, I consider myself a servant leader. And you know, when you first become a leader of people, it's scary. So somebody gave me this book when my first first real management role, and it really just talks about how to be a servant leader. And kind of the thesis for the book. And I would suggest everybody read it. It doesn't take very long to read. It's a short little book. There's not as many short

David Novak 3:51

books I read it after you told me, but go ahead, there's not

Tom Nolan 3:55

as many pictures in it as most of the books I like to read. But you know, this, this one worked out great. So it but the thesis of it really is, it's a guy going to business school, ironically, in my hometown, here, of Austin, Texas, at UT, and he's studying how to be a leader in business school, in McCombs business school. And he has this great professor, and the professor has agreed to give him kind of on the side, coaching and leadership advice. And he's so excited about he gets all ready, and he puts on his best penny loafers. The professor says he's gonna come pick him up on the weekend, and he shows up, and the professor's wearing basically cowboy clothes, and he doesn't take him to get a Business Symposium. In fact, he takes him out to his ranch and he helps him herd sheep, because the guy was a shepherd. So it goes through all of this to really understand like to be a great Shepherd, you know, you got to understand that the shape of your flock, each one of your sheep individually, and it's all about servant leadership, and the shepherd's crook, which we all know, is a symbol of that and it sometimes the shepherd's crook is used to wrap a sheep on the head when it's doing something stupid. Sometimes it's used to save a sheep if it's fallen in a hole. Other times, it's used. To protect it from a coyote or something. So I've told a lot of people about this book. I've given out a lot of copies of it over the years. So as a wonderful recognition for me, I've gotten beautiful shepherds crooks over the years from different people, my very favorite one. So we had a problem at Kendra Scott, not a problem. Was an opportunity, I guess, where I felt like we had this great business performance, but I don't think we were recognizing people as much as we could have, and listening to what you talked about, you had to give something that meant something to you and not expect anything back. So we created a recognition vehicle. I took my the absolute favorite shepherd's crook I've ever gotten. It's about a 250 year old shepherd's crook from Ireland, and I brought it into our office, and I basically said, Look, this is going to be a recognition vehicle that we use in our organization. And there's a couple things that need to happen. The first thing is, I'm going to identify it, to give it to somebody, and it's going to be somebody that exemplifies servant leadership and how we like to operate here as an organization, and your job, once you have it, is to identify who's going to get it next, and then leave your mark on it yourself. So the first time I gave this out to somebody, it was an individual in our IT department, and he was a quiet guy, but he really exemplified everything that, you know, he was not not looking for anything. Specifically, he was always working for everybody else. He was a great team member, part of the family. And so I give it to him, and what happened next? The time he got up there to give it to somebody, it was, was amazing. I mean, he, I didn't think this guy would be a great public speaker from being honest. So he, he gets up, and this is my favorite item that I own. Okay, like that's an important part of the story. My very favorite, 250, year old priceless artifact. To me, I'm kind of nervous about what somebody's going to do to leave their mark on it. So he gets up there. His name is Sean. He gets up there, and I noticed he's drilled a hole into the shepherd's crook and wrapped something around it and and he gets up there, and he starts talking about what it was. I'm like, oh, man, is my favorite thing. He's just destroyed it. And Sean is a is a road cyclist, and he's really passionate about it. That's what he's into, the way that, you know, we're into golf. And he took a spoke at a one of the wheels, and he said, the wheel that he had taken the spoke out of rode 50,000 miles, but he the identifier was the spoke on its own was useless. It can't do anything on its own, but as a part of a wheel, it was eight capable of running 50,000 miles. And I'll tell you, I didn't think this guy could public speak. He was crying. I was crying. The entire department was crying, I mean, and now it's turned into several years later, David, the thing I look forward to, we do what we call a family meeting, which is basically a company meeting every month at Kendra Scott and every month. And for the last several years, we've identified somebody, somebody reads the book and like they're recognized for it very publicly in the organization. And I'll send you a picture of it, an updated picture of it. Now it looks ridiculous. There's like, unicorns hanging off of it, and a lot of weird stuff. But it's become a great sense of pride and recognition in our organization. It really matters to people. And I feel like, you know, I'm you've paid it forward to me, and I'm paying it forward. I feel like to many others in the company, and it's been awesome.

David Novak 8:20

That's great. You know, my late wife, Wendy, used to joke. She used to say, Hey, David, the reason why you you love recognition so much is that you love getting it. There's a lot of truth that, yeah, what would be the most powerful recognition you think you've ever received? You

Tom Nolan 8:38

know, I would say, as a father, when my kids, you know, any, any anybody recognizing me being a good dad is, is probably what's, what, what I recognize the most. You know, my kids saying thank you for things and how much they appreciate it like that's been the best recognition from a professional perspective. You know, I think it's, you know, whenever somebody says, we're, we've, we've done a good job. And I recently, we, we just looked at the numbers of our business, and for the last, for 44 out of the last 40, let's say, for 44 months in a row, we've had meaningful growth, mostly double digit growth, in our business. And I've been the CEO for 45 of those months. And I think when I, when I heard that, and somebody kind of recognized me for that. It was, it was really powerful. You know, you know how it is running a business, you're kind of, you're so caught up in it, and, you know, you're living and dying by every day. It's, it's hard to pick your head up sometimes and really think about like, well, we're accomplishing a lot. And that was a moment for me where felt like, boy, we we put a great team together. We've accomplished a lot together as a team. And, you know, 44 months in a row in this, in this economic and geopolitical environment that we're living in right now, I was really proud of, yeah,

David Novak 9:51

well, you know, the first principle in recognition is that it needs to be well earned, you know. And that kind of performance is that deserves some recognition, which is fantastic. You know. So you love recognition. I know that, and you're really good at it, and the organization does a lot of it, you know. And I want to get now a little bit more into how you lead, but first I want to take you back a little bit. Tell me a story about your upbringing and and the how that impacted the way you lead today.

Tom Nolan 10:18

Yeah, I just, I was just telling the story yesterday to a group of kids at UT through the Kendra Scott entrepreneurial Institute. You know, I think how you brought up shapes who you are as an individual. And I had, I had a tough upbringing. I'm the only person in my family to graduate high school. I had, you know, some real challenges growing up, and kind of where I grew up and how I grew up and and I learned at an early age from my parents. You know, my dad was an electrician. He worked for the Long Island Railroad, and my mom was, turns out, she was the entrepreneur in the family. She had a hot dog truck when I was a kid. She had a good humor ice cream route. She, at one point, she was selling GEDs. David, I I don't even think that's legal to sell GEDs, but like she was doing, and I was helping her sell it. So I, you know, I think growing up, I had, I saw hard work come to life, and my my parents were worked really hard to provide for our family and, you know, so I witnessed that in sports was an outlet for me. I wasn't a great student, if I'm being honest, but I was, I was a decent athlete and and if I couldn't throw a baseball, you know, when I was in high school, I probably wouldn't have gone to college, and I'd be an electrician like my dad. And everything I've ever done has really been with kind of hard work and dedication and perseverance and just being relentless. And it's, it's paid a high dividend for me. I also, I would say, had some I know you had lost recently, and I lost my sister, my only sibling, had a brain aneurysm, and she passed away in 2009 kind of suddenly. And you know, I think, I think when you grow up and things are challenging and you've been through some really hard stuff, I think it makes you stronger. For those who survive it and in a working environment, you know, things don't affect you as much like if you if you live through really hard things, and you've persevered, and you've come out on the other side of it, stronger. Things don't scare you in business, you know, a tough, you know, macroeconomic climate, or, you know, bad a bad month or or bad earnings call, whatever. It's not gonna, it's not gonna affect you the same way it does where I think folks that kind of had it a little bit easier growing up, and so it's, I wouldn't change how it was. It was not easy, but, and I put a chip on my shoulder for me in my life, you know, I wanted to prove people wrong that didn't think I could accomplish things. And hopefully, you know, I've, hopefully I'm doing that for people in my family,

David Novak 12:38

fantastic. And I got to ask you, how'd you, you know you're this big athlete, you know, you're great golfer, obviously, good baseball player, you know? How'd you find your way to Kendra Scott, a jewelry company,

Tom Nolan 12:51

you know? Yeah, it wasn't for my passion for women's jewelry. David, that's, that's, that's for sure. It's, it's a funny story. I, I started my career in the publishing industry, and I worked at zip Davis, and then ultimately Conde Nast. There was a publisher of golf World Magazine. Then I went up going to Ralph Lauren, where I ran their golf and tennis business, which was great. And I kind of had an itch I wanted to scratch to be an entrepreneur. And I started a holding company called prospect brands, and we owned a couple of different apparel companies. And while I was there, I got a phone call from a private equity firm called Norwest venture partners had just made an investment in a jewelry company in Austin, Texas called Kendra Scott that I had never heard of before. And I don't know how they found my name. I don't know why they called me. I'd never served on a board before. I had never worked in a jewelry business before, but man, am I glad that they did, and they called me and I went on their board, and the company, at the time, I think, was doing about 25 million in sales and had an enterprise value around 100 million. And then three years later, so I joined the board, and I was just really curious. I asked a lot of questions. And I feel like one thing in my career, I've always done things I didn't know anything about, and I don't know how that happened or why, but it served me well, because, you know, I was never a know it all. I just kind of asked a lot of questions because I had to. I didn't, I didn't know things. But three years after we did that deal, Kendra did a deal with Berkshire partners that put an enterprise value on the business at north of a billion. And at that point, she asked me to join the organization. So it was an interesting story in that I was living in Greensboro, North Carolina, running this holding company, and I really loved it there. I went to Chapel Hill to Chapel Hill to get my business business degree. And I was not, she was like, after we did the deal, she's like, I'd love for you to come work at the company. And you know, David, being from the East Coast, moving to Texas, it might, somebody might well have asked me to move to outer space. Like I had not spent a lot of time there. I was not interested. And I was like, hard, no, I do not want to go to Texas. I love what you're doing. I'd love to stay on the board, if you'd have me and Kendra. You know you've had her, you've had her here. And you know, I know you know her as well. I mean, she is talking about being tenacious and relentless, man, she is something. And I knew she wouldn't stop asking me, so she said, we're doing a Kendra cares event. I. In New York City. I was up there for a board meeting for another company I serve on the Board of and I was like, fine. I'll go to this thing. It'll make her stop asking me, like, fine. And I'm a very emotional person. I'm a sappy person. I cry in the movies. I cried sad commercials. And this Kendra cares event, which is where we take our color bar, which is a mobile create your own jewelry kit. We bring it to hospitals and schools and businesses. This specific one was at Sloan kettering's pediatric oncology Ward, and I mentioned that I'm emotional guy. I have four kids. I had no interest in going to a pediatric oncology Ward, not because I didn't want to help people, but because I didn't want to embarrass anybody and I don't embarrass myself. So I very begrudgingly go into this Kendrick cares event, and I get into the elevator and I go up to the floor where the pediatric oncology Ward was, and, you know, and I'm dreading it. I'm very nervous and anxious about it. And before the doors open, I could hear like bass on the other side of the doors, like you're going into a nightclub or something. And I don't know what it was, but the doors open, and we had a DJ set up there. We had clowns and balloons, and we turned a pediatric oncology Ward, which is a very unhappy place, usually, into the happiest place in New York City. And I make I made jewelry for sick kids and their parents and their grandparents and siblings for the next three hours, and time flew by like this, and it warmed my heart, and I held it together as not cried, not embarrass anybody. I get in the elevator, I go downstairs, went across the street, completely lost it. Called home, and I said we were moving to Texas, like I'm never going to get to work at a company where I get and help people like this and and we did, and that was eight years ago, and it's been, it's been a heck of a ride, and we've helped a lot of people along the way. The company's giving back almost $70 million to help women's and children charities, and my family and I volunteer a lot to help those in need. And it's, it's really outside of the business success and recognize our employees. It's been, it's been the greatest gift next to being, you know, having my family that I've had in my life.

David Novak 17:00

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Tom Nolan in just a moment. But first, let's hop into the how leaders lead time machine and go all the way back to my first ever episode with none other than Kendra Scott herself. She actually talks about how they launched their first stores, and what they did to focus on connecting with customers.

Kendra Scott 17:24

From day one, I believed that the most important thing we could do is create a connection with our customer that the transaction will follow. And the goal of the store was, let's connect. Let's learn from our customer, let's find out what she loves, what she hates, what she wants more of, and then let's utilize that to build the best collections we can. What happened was that experience was so magical that we would have lines down the block to get in. It was like they were releasing a

Speaker 1 17:56

new iPhone or something. I mean, it was unbelievable. People

Kendra Scott 17:59

could not wait to get into our stores. And that's when we knew, Okay, maybe this isn't just a one store situation. Maybe we could bring this to other

David Novak 18:09

places. Go back and listen to my entire conversation with Kendra, episode one here on how leaders lead. So you knew you could really make a difference in the world when you took that job, but you really didn't have a passion for jewelry at the time. I'm sure you know. So in your view, did the leaders need to have a passion for their product to be successful?

Tom Nolan 18:31

Certainly, it makes it easier sometimes when you do because previous to this job, I was super passionate about working at Ralph Lauren. You know, I loved working in the publishing industry for my favorite magazine, but I think the answer is no. I mean, I'm proof of that. I am not passionate about women's jewelry. I'm passionate about our customer, I'm passionate about our employees, and I think it's made me a better leader, because I'm not passionate, you know, when you're passionate about something, you feel like you're an expert, and you act like an expert. I don't ever feel like an expert in our business. And I, you know, I always similar to you. I have a servant mentality. I always feel like I'm serving our employees. I don't feel like anybody works for me. And I think that is additive to that when you're not passionate about something, because you have to be curious, you have to ask a lot of questions. You got to seek guidance and counsel from others, you know. And I've had great people like you in my life that have helped me along the way and given me advice and pulled me along, and you know, that's that's made a huge difference for me. And I'd say, in addition to that, the biggest difference for me coming here, outside of just being in the jewelry business, was when I started our company was 99% female. My email address is Tom and Kendra Scott, not because I'm special, just because I was the only guy named Tom, which is, like, the most boring guy's name in the world at Kendra Scott, when I joined today, we're 95% female. But that was, you know, that turned the world, you know, the world, on its head. For me, I was not used to that environment. It was very different. And, you know, I didn't. I would have never guessed I'd work wind up in an organization. With that group of constituents, and I would have never guessed I wind up in an industry that I had no knowledge of, but I'm there, and I love it, and I wouldn't change anything, and I love the group of people that we work with. And it's, it's, it's worked out very nicely. So

David Novak 20:13

95% of Kendra Scott is female, yeah, and you're running it as the CEO, yeah. What has that taught you Tom about being a minority,

Tom Nolan 20:24

yeah, honestly, David, it's, it's, it's opened my eyes in a lot of ways in that specific regard. I mean, number one, it's, it's taught me, you know, I have to be empathetic. And, you know, I think having high EQ, EQ always wins an IQ. I've always read about that, and I always believed it, but I never saw it come to life the way I've seen it come to life here, so that that's proven itself to be really true here, but, but, yeah, I think it's it's also opened my eyes to like I don't I'm not like anybody. I mean, I'm not like most people in the organization, and it's made me more empathetic to being a minority in different parts of life and work and the world. You know, obviously, I don't know what it's like to be anybody but me, but I understand, I think, a little bit greater than I did, you know, 10 years ago.

David Novak 21:15

What advice could you give a male leader on this front? I mean, how do you how do you work with the, you know, female leaders and female employees, frontline employees, and what's, what's the key?

Tom Nolan 21:26

Well, I think I used this example yesterday because somebody asked me a similar question. What I had been used to in the past, working in mostly male dominated businesses, was you and I working together, you know, we're teammates, or I work for you, or we're peers, and I do something you don't like you do something I don't like you, just tell me, and I deal with it, right? And you know, and you're direct, and that's okay, because that's what I'm used to. And we go on and march about our days, and we don't think about it that that was what I was used to, is how I led in the past, that it is not how it works here. And I don't think that's best practice, if I'm being honest, how you make people feel was never a quotient that I had to think about really, in the past. It was all about results, right? It was like, put points on the board if I hurt your feelings, too bad, right? Because I'm putting points on the board, and that's what matters, and that's what people care about at the end of the day, when you're in a for profit business, that is what matters, right? Just to be clear, full stop, however, how you make people feel along the way is much more important. If you want long, lasting results, it's also much more important, I think, if you want to be a good person and do the right thing and lead the right way. And I could get away with it before, because I was a performer, right? And this highlighted the fact that I couldn't get away with just doing that. I really had to think about things a little bit more holistically and and it so taught me, like when I read, I read the way the shepherd once a month. Now I've always, I have, for the last, you know, going on just about 20 years, when I read that book. Now I have a different perspective on it, like the shape of people, how you make people feel, understanding who they are, as a parent, as a mother, as a daughter, as a sister, as a son, as a father, like that. That matters a lot, a lot more than I ever realized. It matters a lot in our organization, we treat people the right way. We have a lot of flexibility for working parents and and it's it in our culture's awesome as a result of it. I thought I had some great cultures in the past, but we have, we have an incredible culture of people that you know need to win. Like nobody needs to win more than I do. Like I am a tenacious competitor. I want to win at everything. I want to win driving to work. I want to win walking in New York City. I just, I want to win everything. And sometimes in a working environment that's not always the best, doesn't always make people feel the best. We do that here really successfully, but we do with kindness and compassion, and I think that is that has paid some really high dividends along along the way. You know,

David Novak 23:58

as you mentioned, Tom, I did do a podcast very, you know, basically when I was very early on in my podcast career, okay, with, with Kendra Scott, and she, you're right, she is a dynamic leader and, and she's the founder. I mean, you know, she is passionate. I mean, she built this business from scratch. And you know, she has strong opinions. You know, you've obviously had a great relationship with her. What advice can you give to others on how to successfully work with a founder?

Tom Nolan 24:28

So I've only worked for founders, and I've been a founder, starting at Sif Davis with Bill Ziff, going to Conde Nast with Psy Newhouse, then at Ralph. Then I was a founder of my business. All the companies I'm on the board of everything I invest in, it's all founders. The thing that's I've seen across the board, no matter how big or small the company is, big, public company to a small startup, founders look at the business as if it was their child and as a parent, right? We know that you you were Papa Bear, Mama Bear, as it relates to anything hurting your child. Right, and the idea, and this is why, one of the reasons, when I first came to Kendra Scott I when I became president, I thought that was it. I never thought that Kendra would give me the title of CEO, which I'm very thankful that she did, because it's like giving custody of your child to somebody. And I think you have to be empathetic and understand that founders care about everything more than anybody else, because it's it's their kid, and you, when you compound that with a founder whose names on the building, and I've worked with two of them between, actually three of them, between Ziff Davis, Bill, Ziff, Ralph, Lauren and Kendra Scott, they care even more, right? Because everything that happens is a reflection on them, and it affects their reputation, and ultimately affects their family. So being empathetic to that, and understanding that, and listening, I think, is a key, really key driver. There's a book called The Founders mentality, which I think explains this really well. And for those who haven't worked with founders, it articulates kind of some of these little nuances on a day to day basis. But I think it's hard, you know, and I think when you, when you when you have a combination of a founder dynamic in addition to a financial sponsor, which we have in a private equity partner, it, it, it's even more challenging, right? Because, because the financial sponsor expects operational excellence, and a founder expects that her, her his child, is taking care of the right way, and the brand's growing, and her vision is being executed. So like, I think managing that those two dynamics sometimes is challenging but really rewarding when you do it, because there's nothing better than cultivating a in coaching and teaching. And, you know, I I relish it. I think it's, I think it's a lot of fun. It's hard, but it's more hard. Things are more more fun than easy things.

David Novak 26:41

You know, you're obviously a passionate believer in learning and building. Know how you've already mentioned three books just, you know, we're just getting into this podcast. What's your process to turn the knowledge that you pick up, either from books or talking to other leaders or visiting other companies? You know? How do you turn that learning into action, so that really drives an impact in the business?

Tom Nolan 27:04

Yeah, I think, I mean, I'm a voracious you mentioned, I'm a voracious reader, right? And and seeker of knowledge. I didn't have a dad that could teach me business, right? So I sought it out really early on. And there's a lot of folks you've had on this podcast, or people I've you know, you're one of them that I've reached out to over the years to ask for help and advice and counsel. And I think too many people, too many times, people are afraid to ask for help, and you can't be so I think that that number one is really important. I think how you digest it, you got to be authentic about it, right? It doesn't matter what book you read or a person you talk to like, I'm never going to be David Novak, no matter. I could do everything you do, I'm not going to be you. And I think there has to be an authenticity of like taking bits and pieces of Gleanings along the way from different people that you you admire and look up to, and trying to put them into play in your life in any capacity. And it's, it starts really small. So whether I read a book or get advice from somebody in my life, I try to, I try to internalize it. Think about, okay, where does this? Where does this apply to my life in a way where it feels like I'm not being a phony, to do it that way, right? I don't want to be like, Oh, he sounds just like so and so I want to, I can only sound like me, because I'm me. So I think, I think it's about being honest and aware of yourself number one, and then picking the places and knowing, like where your weaknesses are, and then trying to exercise that muscle like I knew my weakness was finance. I just didn't understand a balance sheet the right way the first time I was a CEO. So when I was 34 I went back and got my MBA, because I thought that would make me better at finance. And it did. It made me sharper. And I also feel like, once you have an MBA, you're allowed to say things like basis points. I felt like, you know, all these MBAs say basis points. So I could say basis points,

David Novak 28:55

hard to scare me here,

Tom Nolan 28:57

but, but, but I think, I think that that I think it's just like knowing yourself and seeking out information and utilizing it in a way that makes sense for you, not for whoever wrote the book or whoever told it to you.

David Novak 29:10

I've heard you say that you work for your team. They don't work for you. Talk more about that. So

Tom Nolan 29:21

when I was, when I was, when I was younger, there's, I have very distinct memories about how we didn't had it. We had nothing when I was a kid. And I have very distinct memories going, you know, like the Ground Round was the nicest, if anybody remembers the Ground Round, like that was the nicest restaurant I was going to go to. So I remember going to places and the way that like people treated my parents had a profound impact on me, like people looked down at them and spoke differently to them than they did to people that had means and so like that always stuck with me. And I also distinctly remember when I was when I was younger, and. Career, I always, like I said, had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, just because of how I grew up. And I always had a voice. I always had something to say, and I always had an idea or things I wanted to talk about, or questions I wanted to ask, and I felt like, at lower levels, people were very dismissive of me, and I just didn't like the way that felt right I and I just, I always said that, look, if I ever, if I get into a position of authority in any capacity in my life, you know, I I want to treat people the right way, and this idea of servant mentality, you know, I grew up in a household, you know, a lot of my relatives are cops, and they've been in the military. My grandmother's brother was Bull Halsey, so, like a big military where it's the infantry eats before the generals, and that's just how I just how I grew up. So it's, it's stuck with me. And I, I've, you know, I've had great teachers and coaches in my life. Seth was been one of, like a big brother to me, you know, and like one of the most impactful people in my life. And, you know, 1520, years ago, we were talking about this, and I was asking, like, what does it take to be it take to be a great leader? And he's like, and his dad was a teacher. He's like, you know, great, great leaders and great CEOs are just teachers and coaches and, like, it stuck with me, and I say it all the time, and he's right, like, you know, and I'm just a part of a team here. I'm not the most important part of the team I'm to my mind, I'm no more important than anybody else, and I think people know that I feel that way, and it's authentic. I don't just say it because I feel like I have to or I read a book. I genuinely feel that way, like I want to serve. I like serving others. I like I like teaching and coaching. I like making people better. I like making myself better. I you know, I think about like, my my wife and kids, and, you know, I just, I live for them. I live and they're my team here at home, and the 3000 people that work at Kendra Scott like they're my family and my team at work, and I'm just a part of the team, and, and I hope I'm, I'm serving them well, and if I am, I feel like, you know, it'll help lead to great results and but we've got a great team, and I'm just lucky to be a part of it. You know, there are a lot

David Novak 32:05

of leaders who believe that they need to create some emotional distance from their team members to in order to make the tough call. You know, when those tough calls they they have to be made, and obviously they do have to be made, yeah, what's your take on emotional distance with your team members? How do you look at it? I

Tom Nolan 32:26

don't think you can have I don't think you can lead people the right way without having an emotional connection to them. Like, I love the people I work with. They are a part of my family. And it's like, it's like being a parent. I think the best you know, outside of being a teacher and a coach, that the closest analogy I can think of for leading people is like being a parent, like, I love my children more than anything on earth, and I discipline them. I remember when my parents used to tell me this when I was a kid, when I was getting smacked for doing something stupid, like, we're disciplining you because I love you. I'm like. That doesn't make any sense, but as a dad, it does, like, I discipline my kids because I care about them and I want to make them better, and if I don't discipline, they're going to grow up to be bad adults. And I think, I think leading is very similar in that, like, you know, if you really genuinely care about somebody, you know who they are and what they're made of, you know, there's forces for courses, and sometimes, sometimes you got to make hard decisions. And ultimately, David, I you've probably seen this in your career too. I you know anytime you had to make a tough decision, it ultimately winds up being the best thing for everybody, right? And if you know that person, you're emotionally connected to them, and you know what drives them, and you know where they're going to land on their feet the right way. You know most people that I've had to displace over the years, I've helped find other jobs, you know. And you know, just because they're not right for our company doesn't mean they're not right for another company. And sometimes that's not the case because somebody's, you know, doing something they shouldn't be doing. But in most cases, I feel like you have to be emotionally connected to people to understand if you're making the right decision or

David Novak 33:59

not. You've obviously taken that into your business as well, that that mindset. Because, you know, in retail, a lot of companies are always talking about transactions and yeah, you know, you guys, you focus on connection, connection. That's right. Yeah. Say more. Say more about that. Yeah.

Tom Nolan 34:16

So, I mean, we've got, we've got going, we've got 140 retail stores across the country now, like I alluded to earlier, the business has been really successful. Our retail team is led by an extraordinary individual who's done a great job of the team, and I'm so proud of her. But everything that we've ever done has always been experiential. It's always been about connection, like you have all these metrics in retail of you know, there's foot traffic, and then there's conversion, and there's SPT and upt and all these acronyms of like, how are you going to determine what the KPIs are? They're going to make a business successful? And, you know, nobody needs jewelry, right? Like, it's not sustaining life. They don't need it to so it has to be an experience. So we train our people on Wow, service. We train our people on. Experience. Colleen, who leads our retail team, has done an amazing job of all about making connection, right? And what we see is a byproduct of caring about our customer like our customers, our boss, right? She signs our paychecks full stop, like if we don't treat her the right way, if we don't make decisions based on that person the right way, then we lose. And with that mentality, it's how we approach everything. So retail thinks about it that way. And as a result of that, we have about as high a conversion rate as you can have in the consumer retail world. I mean, our conversion rates and our best stores are north of 40% and that's unheard of, and it's because we don't focus on it like you know? The irony is, we focus on making connection with somebody, and it works. And in addition to that, the team's done a great job of building events. We'll do 140 stores will do close to 30,000 events this year, and the large majority of those events, David, are philanthropic in nature, like we're helping people in a local community. So when you combine the fact that we're a fabric of the local community. We know who our customer is. We treat them the right way, at least for a great connection, and just because somebody's not walking out with the yellow bag the first time, I'm betting when they come back, they will, because we treated them the right way. You know, that old adage of like, you know, you never remember what people said. You remember how they made you feel. It's, it's true in life, you know. So I think, I think that that really matters. It's true,

David Novak 36:24

but very few businesses really act that ways, and that's maybe why you've had such great success the past couple years. You know, innovation is really a key part of any business, and particularly in retail, where you've got to continually surprise your your customers. How are you driving innovation with your team to come up with the next big disruptor in your your industry? Yeah, I

Tom Nolan 36:49

mean, look, there's there's some table stake innovation things that we're utilizing the same way everybody else does. You know, AI is prevalent as it relates to the consumer space right now, and customer service and how to get sharper and better. But, you know, I don't, and I think there's innovation at point of sale, right? You know, getting people making their experience better at the store. There's innovation on our website with, you know, dimension is important in jewelry, right? So if you're going to buy a pair of earrings, you want to see what they look like and how they look on an outfit. So we've done a lot of virtual try on type stuff. So there's, there's some like, basic table stake innovation that relates to that. But the thing that I'm trying to constantly innovate on is, how can we, how can we be better to our customer? You know, how can I innovate to be a better leader to our people? How can, how can we be more effective with communicating with one another. How can we eliminate PowerPoint presentations and meetings with a bunch of people on there and like, really be thoughtful? So it's, I'd say it's, it's less about utilizing technology and more about just just leveraging relationships and trying to do the right thing and continue to be outliers in a space that has not performed very well. And I think it's just, it's because when everybody else is focusing on some of these hot button things, like, we're just focusing on, like, tried and true kind of basics. It's like, you know, practicing the six foot putts. Instead of, you know, working on your driver. You hit a lot more six foot putts, and then, you know, then you hit drivers and around,

David Novak 38:19

yeah, that totally makes a lot of sense. And when you think about your industry, you're outperforming everybody in it because of the approach that you're taking. Is there anybody out there you think that could disrupt your your business?

Tom Nolan 38:34

You know? I think the greatest competitor we have is ourselves, you know, and and potential complacency because of success. I mean, you talk to, you know, I'm a even though I'm not a great athlete anymore, I like to pretend that I am, but and I admire, I admire what great athletes do. And I think there's a lot of analogies to, you know, sports dynasties, whether you know Tom Brady's been on here talking about, you know, how he led the team and but it's, it is we got our we hold ourselves really highly accountable to continue to put points on the board. So I, I don't worry about what anybody else is doing. I just worry about, you know, us not getting complacent after having a lot of victories and continuing to show up. You know, after the after we went, you know, we look at, we would look at the fourth quarter is our Super Bowl, you know, coming into the holidays. And, you know, we always have these sports analogies in the business. And, you know, we talked about last year, about finishing up championship mindset was our theme for the year this year. And we talked about, like, great teams. Like, what makes championship mindset? It's kind of everything you do you have to think about as a champion. It's like, you know, the only difference is after, you know, after Tommy won the Super Bowl League, he has an off season, like, we just got to get right back at it the next day. So it's, it's, it's just a constant reminder of, like, challenging yourself and continuing to try to be better and better. And so we, you know, there's a lot of cool companies out there that I look. Got that, I think, are doing interesting things in our in our space, specifically, I mean, Tiffany's would be the icon of excellence, I think, and how they operate, and how they bring retail to life. And the flagship they put up in New York City is just absolutely spectacular. And the cafe that they built in there, and the artwork that they have in the store is amazing. And there's a lot of great smaller brands that I admire, what they're doing, that had great founders behind it, whether it's goriana or Missouri, you know, there's, it's a, there's a low barrier to entry in our space. So we got to be aware of people out there. But, you know, the the only thing that I want our team really focusing on is is ourselves and our customer.

Koula Callahan 40:38

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David Novak 41:25

know you take a lot of pride, and you've built this billion dollar brand, and that was, I know, a big goal for your company, certainly from where you guys started, you know, and now that you're there, I mean, how do you set the the next big goal for your company. I mean, you know, what's, what do you what are you saying? Hey, okay, team, this is what we want to do next, you know, have the goal posts moved.

Tom Nolan 41:52

Yeah, you know. So it's funny, David, there's so much white space for us. The people will be talking to people who will see the, you know, enterprise value that we've had. And it's like, man, the plane's really up, and you guys are really cruising. I'm like, we're not even, we haven't even left the gate yet. Like, we're still, like, boarding our company, even though we're, you know, several 100 million dollars in revenue. At this point, we have less than a 10% national brand awareness. And so there is a ton of white space out there amongst people that don't know who Kendra Scott is. And I think one of the things that I love I love most about our businesses, you know, we're not just about, you know, selling a product. We're about helping people and doing something special. So I think, you know, for us, it's always about how many more the bigger the business gets, more people that we can help. I we've got a real appetite for expansion. Here in the United States, we have a real appetite for expansion internationally. We launched a brand called yellow rose last year, which very similar to what, what Ralph did it with double RL. Kendra has a ranch called the yellow rose Ranch, so a lot of Western where we're opening our first store, actually, next month, here in Austin. So Kendra's vision for this company from really the Go was to have a global lifestyle brand. And I have worked at the quintessential American global lifestyle brand, and that's our, you know, big, hairy, audacious goal for what we want to be, you know, when we grew up, so to speak. But in the short term, we've got, we've got a lot of room to cover, to just, just preach the gospel on who Kendra Scott is to people here,

David Novak 43:20

you know you've had so much success Tom as as a leader with your business, you know you had a great family. When you look you and you look back on your career doesn't necessarily have to be at Kendra Scott, you've had to have a failure somewhere along the line. You know, what's one of yours in the biggest lesson that it taught you?

Tom Nolan 43:40

So when I had my holding company, I would say, you know, wasn't a colossal failure, but it was a failure. And I think I was just probably too big for my britches, you know, I really, you know, when I was when I was younger, I've always been a goal person, David, and I've written down goals, and I'm very disciplined about it. And one of my goals when I was younger, was to be a CEO, and I wanted that so bad that I did it prematurely. I wasn't ready to be a CEO, and I became a CEO of this company, and I didn't lead it the right way. And like I said, I wasn't sharp enough. I couldn't understand a balance sheet the way I needed to. I was so determined to prove people wrong and be successful and be a great CEO that I wasn't being honest with myself, and it was a failure. We wound up, you know, we didn't take we had to heated out of our brand called gerbing, ultimately became the called guide, and probably should have flushed it through bankruptcy, and we didn't, because I was too, you know, thick headed, and I think that was and I was afraid I was embarrassed, like I was embarrassed about it, so I didn't reach out to people I knew that cared about me, that could have given me sound advice. And I was, I was too embarrassed, and I just wanted, I didn't want to. Disappoint anybody. And I think that was, that was probably the one on and I learned a lot from it, right? I mean, you learn from your failures, not from your successes, and it taught me a lot of humility. And, you know, hopefully I don't make those mistakes again in the future. What?

David Novak 45:15

What do you what do you think was the seminal moment in your career where you realized, you know, you had this chip on your shoulder. You're driving for excellence, trying to move up the ladder. When did you have that seminal moment with said, Hey, no, I might actually be able to do this. I mean, you know. Or was there some point where you said, You know what? I got it Emmy,

Tom Nolan 45:39

I would say that I've always had a high degree of confidence. I mean, you have to have confidence and, like, self belief. I think to do anything as an athlete, as a I will tell you, I said this last night to the kids at UT. I always struggle with imposter syndrome, right? I mean, I don't know if I'm there yet, like I feel like I have confidence, I know I'm capable. I mean, we've put some great points on the board, and I know that I've been a good leader, and I've created cultures and help help create cultures of winning, because I've got people that have run through a wall for me, because they know I would run through a wall for them. But I struggle with that, but I think, I think getting through covid and putting the doing what we did here, was a seminal moment for me in that, like, holy cow, I just led through about the hardest thing that I'm ever going to have to lead through. And we did it pretty good. You know, we got a great team around us. And I think only other lessons I learned in my holding company was I didn't, didn't trust people enough, and I just have great team that I put a lot of trust in, and I believe in them, and they know I believe in them, and I think that's given me greater confidence to be a leader, that that I could be. And I think, you know, I mentioned earlier what my sister passing away and stuff. It's like, you know, when you go through really hard things. Like, I think it just, it just galvanizes teams, and it makes you realize, like, what's important in life, and, and I think that stuff's going to help shape me over the years. You obviously

David Novak 47:10

are a leader that has high self awareness, and you're trying to improve. And I was impressed by the fact you said you really couldn't read the balance sheet you wanted the way, how you thought you should, and you went back and got your MBA, you know, what are you working on today? Tom I mean, how are you sharpening your ax? What's gonna make you better in the next five years? Yeah, I

Tom Nolan 47:32

mean, I'm, like, constantly trying to improve on everything. I mean, I want to always show up. I want to, I mean, truthfully, David, that, you know, this may you may have lived through this too with with but I, I probably wasn't. I didn't show up for my family the way that I needed to earlier in my career, I was so busy building and accomplishing, and I'd say that the the most important thing for me right now in this moment, is showing up for my wife and kids in the way that that they need me to show up for them, for and, you know, for our people, I'm just constantly trying to show up for them better. And what I'm what I'm working on today, like finance is always going to be a weakness of mine, I feel like, and I'm always trying to get better and learn the nuances in business and study where businesses have had success and how they haven't had success, and try to dissect a balance sheet and a PNL in a in a thoughtful way as to avoid pitfalls in the future. And I'd say the other thing is, you know, trying to get our company to constantly move faster, to make sure we're staying ahead, ahead of things like, those are the things that I'm probably working on right now that's

David Novak 48:42

great. You know, Tom This has been so much fun catching up with you and and I'd like to have a little bit more fun with my lightning round of questions. So are you ready for this?

Unknown Speaker 48:51

Let's do it

David Novak 48:51

all right. What are three words people would use to best describe you?

Tom Nolan 48:57

Stubborn, hardworking and passionate?

David Novak 49:01

That's four but I'll let you get away with it. Sorry. If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be

Tom Nolan 49:11

if I could be one person beside myself? I'd be hard not to, not to want to be. Tom Brady, what's

David Novak 49:16

your biggest pet peeve?

Unknown Speaker 49:18

Laziness?

David Novak 49:20

Who would play you in a movie?

Tom Nolan 49:22

Ah, jeez, I want to I Ben Affleck.

David Novak 49:29

I see a little bit of that. That's good. One your favorite golf hole in the world.

Tom Nolan 49:37

I'd say number 12, Augusta National.

David Novak 49:39

You get two front row tickets to anything you want. Where would you go?

Tom Nolan 49:47

I would go to Final Four, North Carolina, being in the final game, championship game.

David Novak 49:54

That's a good that's a great. One the most fun thing about. Living in Austin, Texas,

Tom Nolan 50:04

no income tax.

David Novak 50:08

Hey, you're pretty good at finance. Don't sell yourself short. What is that street in Austin? Seventh Street or

Tom Nolan 50:15

Sixth Street? And rain Street, rainy street and Sixth Street are the two? Yeah, I thought

David Novak 50:19

you might say the Longhorns. Longhorn fan,

Tom Nolan 50:24

I'm an adopted Longhorn fan, yeah,

David Novak 50:29

the feeling you get when you see the color yellow, happy. What's one of your daily rituals? Something that you never miss, waking up early. What's something about you? Few people would know

Unknown Speaker 50:43

I'm a big softy.

David Novak 50:49

That's great. All right, that's a great job on the lighting round. Good job. Just a couple more questions for you. Yeah, you know I love your company's focus on philanthropy and giving back. And you've talked about these kindred care events, you know, all the you know, you talked about how that really drove you, drove you to the company. You know. How do you think about taking that to the next level? Yeah,

Tom Nolan 51:16

I mean, it's, it is, we have three pillars of the company, David's, family, fashion of philanthropy and fashions kind of, you know, box we get a check, if I'm being honest, and we have, we have to have that one family. I alluded to it earlier, the company feels like a family in a way that I've never felt. But philanthropy is the most important thing that we do, and we don't, I we don't do it on a in a big way, from, you know, writing big checks to large philanthropic organizations. Usually we do it on a one to one way, where we're helping individuals that need help or a family that needs help. So I think that, you know, the bigger the business gets, the more people that we can hire in our philanthropic department. Is a great woman named Sheena Wilde who leads that for us, and the more resources that we can give her, the more times that Kendra's on Shark Tank, the more people that know about Kendra Scott and learn about this, the better. And it might sound self serving, and I suppose it is, to some degree, because our business would get bigger as a result. But this isn't authentic to who we are. Been doing this for 20 the business been around for 22 years. For 22 years. For 22 years, Kendra Scott has made the person, and then the business has made this, you know, the number one priority for everything that we do, and that's never going to change. And I think it's really important. So I it's not about innovating necessarily. It's just, it's about more people knowing about it and coming to us. And I would say maybe, you know, doing a better job in marketing to let people know that this is a driving force for us, and we're not just selling jewelry, but we're trying to help as many people as possible. So it's something we try to prioritize and spend more time thinking about all the time. You

David Novak 52:52

said that your customers are your boss. It. So how do you as a leader, stay in touch with your customers. What do you specifically do? Do you do anything that's unique on that front or

Tom Nolan 53:05

Yeah, look, I would say every time I'm going to answer this a couple ways. Every single time I go to speak anywhere, I spoke to kids at UT yesterday, I tell you a seminal moment for me in my life where I stood back and I was like, holy cow. I can't believe this happening. I gave the commencement speech for commencement speech for at Chapel Hill to the MBA class last year. And like, you talk about somebody who's the only person in their family to graduate high school standing in the Dean Smith Center. Like talking to MBA grab is like, holy cow. Like, I can't believe that this is happening. I always give out my email to everybody. So like, I want people to reach out to me and ask for help. I want customers to reach out to me, every customer, every single negative customer service email that comes in, I see and I respond to almost all of them. And we work, not just myself, but like we Kendra myself, all of us, we work in the retail stores. My wife works in the retail stores with me. My kids worked in the retail stores. Like, we sit there and we don't just like I remember, in other companies I've worked at, we would go around and visit retail stores, like we work in the retail stores we serve customers. I'm in the back room restocking things. I work in our distribution center. Our team works in distribution centers, so I feel very close to the customer, and I think that really matters. And we expect every employee to do the same thing, whether you work in retail or not, like that's they're the tip of the spear of what we do. So that's how I do it, and that's our expectation. And it works because you know how it is when you're running a business or a business unit or a department or a division, like, you get caught up in the day to day. You're like, you get so far away from your customer and like, that's the reason you have a job. And we try to stay as close as we can to our customer, because, like I said, she, she signs her, she and he sign our paychecks.

David Novak 54:58

All right, last question here. What's the best piece of advice you can give to someone who wants to be a better leader?

Tom Nolan 55:05

The best piece of advice I can give to somebody in life is pay attention to time like it's the only currency you can't make more of you can make more money. You can't make more time, and use it really wisely and invest, invest in the people and the things that matter, and divest of the things that don't. And when you do that, it frees you up to spend more time with your family. It frees you up to focus on the things that matter in your life and your business. Because you know, as we both know, time is short, and I think wasting it is a shame in business and life. And I think if you kind of it serves me well in business, it served me. It's serving me well in life as well.

David Novak 55:54

You know, Tom it's always inspiring to me when I meet someone who focuses on doing the right things for people, their customers, and then the right things, strangely enough, they just kind of come right back to you. You know, it's an incredible, you know, blessing when that happens. But you know, it's really great to talk to a leader like yourself, who's authentic, you know who you are. You're very focused on on others, and you're a happy guy, you know, the other directed people are the happiest guys in the world. And you got a big smile on your face, right? Yeah? And I don't think it's because of the 44 months of, you know, great sales, which doesn't hurt, by the way. Let's face it, we love that. But you know, the other thing is, what really makes you tick, and I want to thank you so much Tom for taking the time to

Tom Nolan 56:48

podcast. David, David, you get out of life when you put into it. You know, I try to put a lot into it, and I can't thank you enough. I mean, I don't know if I've said this to you, kind of offline, but the impact, the impact you've had on my life, it hasn't been a lot of time together, but the impact you've had on my life has been profound. And I mean that very, very genuinely, and I am so fortunate to have had people like you in my life. You've left the lasting mark, you know, forever, and it's and I think the best thing about that is it's taught me how powerful that is, to do it for others, you know, but you and Seth and Jim, I mean, there's people in my life that have made an investment of just a little bit of time, and it's, it's, it has really, you know, especially for someone that didn't have that in a dad, you know, like, it's, it really has meant a lot to me. I can't thank you enough. I really appreciate it. I

David Novak 57:42

could tell you right now, your kids are very, very happy to have you as their dad. Amazing guy. Thanks. Thank you very much, buddy.

You know I like to say, when you do the right things, the right things happen, and the way Tom is leading at Kendra Scott really proves my point. Yes, you've got to deliver results, but how you treat people along the way really matters. And in fact, when you focus on serving your team and connecting with customers, you build the kind of rapport that you need to get those hard results. It all goes hand in hand. So let me ask you, is there an area of your organization where the results are just not where you want them to be? Well this week, sit down with a couple of your team members and brainstorm on what you can do to focus on making real connections with your customers, I bet you'll find some great ideas that will help you move the needle. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders know that connection creates results. Coming up next on how leaders lead, I've got fawn Weaver, the founder and CEO of uncle, nearest premium whiskey.

Speaker 1 59:01

I move forward. I take those lessons with me, and they inform how I move in the future, but they do not take me back to my past, so be

David Novak 59:12

sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead, where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each and every episode that you can apply to your business, so that you will become the best leader you can be. You.

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