[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_141":-5,"_142":-5,"_143":144,"_145":146,"_147":148},"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/3336/let-rejection-make-you-better-not-bitter","id",3336,"title","Let rejection make you better, not bitter","subtitle","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.800\nand there've been a few times where, you know,\n\n2\n00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:03.800\nwe've all been there where you think you're the one\n\n3\n00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:05.040\nand then you don't get the job.\n\n4\n00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:08.600\nAnd I think that there, I've said this a few times,\n\n5\n00:00:08.600 --> 00:00:10.440\nI think that there's two ways you could go.\n\n6\n00:00:10.440 --> 00:00:13.600\nYou can either be better or you can be better.\n\n7\n00:00:13.600 --> 00:00:17.040\nAnd I've always chosen the path to be like,\n\n8\n00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:19.320\nokay, maybe it stings right now,\n\n9\n00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:21.040\nbut I'm gonna take a step back.\n\n10\n00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:24.160\nAnd what is it that I can do to get myself ready\n\n11\n00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:27.520\nfor that job that's gonna make me even better for it?\n\n12\n00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:30.120\nAnd that's every single time\n\n13\n00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.280\nwhere I have not gotten the position.\n\n14\n00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.960\nIt's happened the way that it's supposed to, you know?\n\n15\n00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:38.400\nAnd energy is a big thing to me.\n\n16\n00:00:38.400 --> 00:00:39.960\nAnd I talk about this with my team.\n\n17\n00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:43.720\nIt's like, how you spend your energy, what you spend it on,\n\n18\n00:00:43.720 --> 00:00:46.160\nspend it on things that are gonna propel you\n\n19\n00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:47.200\nin the right direction.\n\n20\n00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:48.760\nAnd, you know, I see so many people\n\n21\n00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:50.840\nthey don't get something to get angry, they get upset,\n\n22\n00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.520\nthey, you know, that's wasted energy.\n\n23\n00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:56.480\nSo maybe it's like, I'm gonna spend it on, okay,\n\n24\n00:00:56.480 --> 00:00:58.440\nI'm gonna take this opportunity to be really ready\n\n25\n00:00:58.440 --> 00:00:59.840\nthan when my time comes.\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",1972389,"end_time",2032029,"keywords","Career, career path, promotion, rejection, bitter, energy, anger, self improvement","slug","let-rejection-make-you-better-not-bitter","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","8f2L0100Eu8DR3grg3IE15t00PgZZK8jTcOjFsLvOFxkNI","mux_asset_id","IWd8eNFBM9ZNqCRC029DjBYnEdZtSUxyrlQ00tmgjH01GM","leader_id",279,"episode_id",430,"updated_at","2026-05-21T17:14:22.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/3336/let-rejection-make-you-better-not-bitter","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":36,"_105":106,"_107":108,"_109":110,"_25":111,"_112":113,"_62":114,"_58":114,"_115":116,"_70":117,"_39":118,"_119":-5,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_120":121,"_93":122,"_44":123,"_124":125,"_126":127,"_46":-5,"_128":129,"_130":131,"_97":132,"_51":-5},"episode",{"_13":38,"_15":52,"_27":53,"_17":54,"_55":56,"_18":57,"_20":-5,"_58":59,"_60":61,"_62":63,"_64":-5,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":-5,"_70":-5,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":76,"_35":36,"_39":77,"_41":-5,"_42":78,"_43":-5,"_79":80,"_81":82,"_83":84,"_85":86,"_87":-5,"_88":-5,"_89":90,"_91":92,"_93":-5,"_46":-5,"_94":95,"_96":-5,"_97":-5,"_51":-5},"og_image_media","Progress over perfection","progress-over-perfection","Don't wait until you have 100% of the plan to move forward. If you're clear on almost everything, take action. You can figure out the last 20% as you go. Momentum matters more than having all the answers.","summary","

At age 20, Kecia Steelman was a single mom, living in government housing, making $8 an hour at Target.

Today, she is the CEO of Ulta Beauty, leading over 1500 stores worldwide, striking partnerships with Chanel and Beyonce, and creating record growth since she took over in early 2025.

That kind of career momentum doesn’t happen by accident. And in this conversation, you’ll see the “progress over perfection” mentality that’s helped Kecia do it – all while building a strong team culture that’s laser focused on serving customers.

If you’ve ever felt stuck overthinking a decision, here’s what it takes to beat analysis paralysis and keep pushing forward even when you don’t have all the answers.

You’ll also learn:

Kecia’s 80/20 rule for faster, bolder decisions
Why your company strategy might not be sticking (and what to do about it)
How to respond when you get passed over for a promotion
The advice she wants every other woman in leadership to hear

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.060\nHello friends and welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead with David Nov\n\n2\n00:00:04.060 --> 00:00:04.800\nak. Today we have\n\n3\n00:00:04.800 --> 00:00:09.320\nKiesha Steelman on the show and at age 20 Kiesha was a single mom living in\n\n4\n00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:10.720\ngovernment housing\n\n5\n00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:16.140\nmaking $8 an hour at Target. Today she's the CEO of Ulta Beauty leading over\n\n6\n00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:17.920\n1500 stores worldwide\n\n7\n00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:22.620\nand striking partnerships with brands like Chanel and icons like Beyonce and\n\n8\n00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:24.000\nShakira. Now that career\n\n9\n00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.900\nmomentum doesn't happen by accident and in today's conversation you'll see that\n\n10\n00:00:27.900 --> 00:00:28.720\nher mindset of\n\n11\n00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:33.780\nprogress over perfection is what's helped Kiesha become the type of leader she\n\n12\n00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:34.720\nis today. Enjoy\n\n13\n00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:38.000\nthis conversation with David and Kiesha and I'll see you at the deep reef.\n\n14\n00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:46.560\nYou know Kiesha I got to tell you I didn't know that we were going to wear the\n\n15\n00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:47.920\nsame color today.\n\n16\n00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.300\nI like it you're wearing Ulta Beauty colors too. Yeah it's a total accident you\n\n17\n00:00:52.300 --> 00:00:53.600\nknow but you look\n\n18\n00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:57.980\ngreat and I'm glad to have you on the show. You know you grow up in a small\n\n19\n00:00:57.980 --> 00:00:58.960\ntown in Iowa called\n\n20\n00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:06.560\nMediapolis a population of roughly 1500 people. Now you run a 1500 store\n\n21\n00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.480\ncompany. What would 16\n\n22\n00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:13.900\nyear old Kiesha say if you had as someone told you that you'd be running 1500\n\n23\n00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:15.120\nof anything one day?\n\n24\n00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:19.200\nI don't know that I would have believed it that's for sure. You know I was a\n\n25\n00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.240\nsmall town girl with\n\n26\n00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:25.990\nbig dreams I think from early on and I wouldn't change a thing coming from a\n\n27\n00:01:25.990 --> 00:01:27.040\nsmall town small\n\n28\n00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:30.640\ncommunity that was tight in it probably kept me out of a little bit of trouble\n\n29\n00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:32.640\nalong the way but\n\n30\n00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:39.360\nyou know having humble beginnings early on I think really has been really\n\n31\n00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:40.320\ngrounding for me\n\n32\n00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:45.740\nand a foundation of really truly who I am to the core. I'm very thankful for\n\n33\n00:01:45.740 --> 00:01:46.480\nthe opportunities I've\n\n34\n00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.860\nbeen given and where I am today and to have come from a small town like Medi\n\n35\n00:01:50.860 --> 00:01:51.920\napolis Iowa makes\n\n36\n00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:58.390\nme really proud. Awesome you know and I got to ask you you know what's one of\n\n37\n00:01:58.390 --> 00:02:00.000\none beauty product\n\n38\n00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.080\nthat you just swear by that you wish more people knew about? We have we have an\n\n39\n00:02:06.080 --> 00:02:07.440\nUlta Beauty lip oil\n\n40\n00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:11.100\nwhere it's a very it's clean so all of our Ulta Beauty products are clean\n\n41\n00:02:11.100 --> 00:02:12.800\nproducts which means that\n\n42\n00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:17.520\nthey're not chemically derived so they're safe for all skin types and one of\n\n43\n00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:17.920\nthe things that's\n\n44\n00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:21.400\nreally special to me is I have a two-year-old granddaughter and believe it or\n\n45\n00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:22.400\nnot she's already\n\n46\n00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:27.400\nin the makeup and whenever she sees grandma putting her lipstick on she's like\n\n47\n00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:28.880\nlipstick and I can\n\n48\n00:02:28.880 --> 00:02:32.420\ngive it to her and know that she can put something on her lips that's safe for\n\n49\n00:02:32.420 --> 00:02:33.600\nher to be able to use\n\n50\n00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:37.980\nso it's one of my little go-to products that I always carry around my purse and\n\n51\n00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:38.640\nshe knows I'm\n\n52\n00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:43.610\nteaching her at an early age of two that you know she wants to be a glam girl\n\n53\n00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:44.160\nin the future\n\n54\n00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:50.080\nfantastic you know you took over a sea of Ulta in January of last year\n\n55\n00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:55.830\ngive us a snapshot of the business today and what makes Ulta unique? Yeah well\n\n56\n00:02:55.830 --> 00:02:56.880\nwe operate as you\n\n57\n00:02:56.880 --> 00:03:02.290\nmentioned in 1500 over 1500 stores in the United States we are now in six\n\n58\n00:03:02.290 --> 00:03:04.880\ncountries when I joined\n\n59\n00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:09.260\nit we're jumped into the role as CEO we were a US based only we made an\n\n60\n00:03:09.260 --> 00:03:11.120\nacquisition in the UK\n\n61\n00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:16.190\nwe expanded through a partnership in Mexico and we have a licensed partnership\n\n62\n00:03:16.190 --> 00:03:17.600\nwith Al Shaya in\n\n63\n00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:23.200\nthe Middle East so you know it was time to pivot from the first 35 years of\n\n64\n00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:25.360\nbeing only in the US to\n\n65\n00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:30.960\ntaking our brand more globally we sell everything in our stores from entry\n\n66\n00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.640\nlevel mass cosmetics\n\n67\n00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:38.800\nall the way through luxury we do everything that's around beauty and wellness\n\n68\n00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.080\nin all of our stores\n\n69\n00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:44.530\nand we have a services component so we're really the only one that does\n\n70\n00:03:44.530 --> 00:03:46.480\neverything from end to end\n\n71\n00:03:46.480 --> 00:03:51.700\nthe way that we do it in the United States and really abroad so it's a special\n\n72\n00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:53.280\nplace to be I\n\n73\n00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.950\ntalk a lot about that everyone can sell products but it's the DNA of our\n\n74\n00:03:57.950 --> 00:03:59.760\nassociates and our company\n\n75\n00:03:59.760 --> 00:04:05.600\nof being you know excessive and very inclusive that make Ulta Beauty a place\n\n76\n00:04:05.600 --> 00:04:07.200\nthat's for everyone\n\n77\n00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:12.170\nregardless of your age your gender your ethnicity I want to be the place where\n\n78\n00:04:12.170 --> 00:04:13.440\neverybody can come\n\n79\n00:04:13.440 --> 00:04:18.410\nand try to be the best versions of themselves and I think that's what Ulta\n\n80\n00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:18.960\nBeauty is about\n\n81\n00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:23.340\nis making the world feel like a more beautiful place well you're you're\n\n82\n00:04:23.340 --> 00:04:24.320\ncertainly doing a\n\n83\n00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:29.440\nhell of a job at that you know your Ulta loyalty program has over 46 billion\n\n84\n00:04:29.440 --> 00:04:30.640\nmembers and accounts\n\n85\n00:04:30.640 --> 00:04:35.640\nfor the vast vast majority of your sales how do you go about identifying how\n\n86\n00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:36.880\ncustomers are changing\n\n87\n00:04:36.880 --> 00:04:41.260\nand giving them what they want like this yeah well we have tremendous data and\n\n88\n00:04:41.260 --> 00:04:42.000\ninsights around\n\n89\n00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:47.410\nour consumer you mentioned we have 46.7 million loyalty members in our database\n\n90\n00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:49.520\n95 percent of\n\n91\n00:04:49.520 --> 00:04:54.720\nour sales that come through our registers and shop online our loyalty members\n\n92\n00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:55.440\nso we have a\n\n93\n00:04:55.440 --> 00:04:59.130\ntremendous amount of information and insights about the people that are\n\n94\n00:04:59.130 --> 00:05:00.880\nshopping in beauty and\n\n95\n00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:06.480\nyou know we we know everything from like I said that mass product to luxury\n\n96\n00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:07.040\nwhat they're putting\n\n97\n00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:12.010\nin their beauty bag we have a community also online a very active community\n\n98\n00:05:12.010 --> 00:05:12.880\nwhere we'll send\n\n99\n00:05:12.880 --> 00:05:17.310\nout surveys and questions and I would say that we're on the leading edge of\n\n100\n00:05:17.310 --> 00:05:18.800\nunderstanding trends\n\n101\n00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.480\neven more than our brands are so we oftentimes get what do what we call getting\n\n102\n00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:25.040\nin the kitchen\n\n103\n00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:29.520\nwith our brands where we're telling them there's a white space opportunity\n\n104\n00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:30.640\nthere's this opportunity\n\n105\n00:05:30.640 --> 00:05:35.020\nto bring something new to market we're hearing about it from our guest and that\n\n106\n00:05:35.020 --> 00:05:36.000\n's a role that\n\n107\n00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.380\nUlta Beauty has been playing now even more so as we've gotten even bigger and\n\n108\n00:05:40.380 --> 00:05:40.960\nyou throw the\n\n109\n00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:45.340\ninternational component in with us now and I think that's going to make us even\n\n110\n00:05:45.340 --> 00:05:46.080\nstronger here\n\n111\n00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:50.460\nin the future but you know the role that we play it's not just about following\n\n112\n00:05:50.460 --> 00:05:51.120\ntrends it's also\n\n113\n00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:55.500\nabout setting trends which is a very exciting place to be as a retailer you're\n\n114\n00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:56.400\nnot just following\n\n115\n00:05:56.400 --> 00:06:00.480\nbut you're also leading and creating what's the biggest trend that you you've\n\n116\n00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:01.360\nyou've uncovered that\n\n117\n00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.760\nyou're most excited about right now you know the one thing that I'm excited\n\n118\n00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:05.840\nabout right now is\n\n119\n00:06:05.840 --> 00:06:10.220\neverything's kind of cyclical it seems like at times and there for a while was\n\n120\n00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:11.120\nthis no makeup\n\n121\n00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:14.680\nmakeup look which actually does take quite a bit of makeup to look like your\n\n122\n00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:15.280\nfresh weight\n\n123\n00:06:16.080 --> 00:06:21.500\nfresh-based and flawless but you know have your makeup usage is coming back you\n\n124\n00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:22.640\n've got series tv\n\n125\n00:06:22.640 --> 00:06:27.220\nseries like euphoria in some of these you know new trends that are coming out\n\n126\n00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:28.480\non the runway we just\n\n127\n00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.010\nfinished the mat yesterday and you saw a lot of really big glam looks have your\n\n128\n00:06:33.010 --> 00:06:34.240\neye makeup so going\n\n129\n00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:39.740\nback to the late 90s is coming back again and that's really great for our\n\n130\n00:06:39.740 --> 00:06:41.200\nindustry the other thing\n\n131\n00:06:41.200 --> 00:06:46.620\nis that skin is really important you know your your skin health and how you\n\n132\n00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:48.000\nfeel on the inside\n\n133\n00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:53.420\nreflects how the makeup application really works on the outside so for me that\n\n134\n00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:54.480\n's great because it's\n\n135\n00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:59.450\nan add-on sale like if you're purchasing products to improve your skin quality\n\n136\n00:06:59.450 --> 00:07:00.160\nor you're taking\n\n137\n00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:04.040\nwellness products that improve your overall health it doesn't mean that you're\n\n138\n00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:05.040\ntrading you're not\n\n139\n00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:08.710\nbuying makeup that you're putting on it just means that you're building your\n\n140\n00:07:08.710 --> 00:07:09.760\nbasket so for me that's\n\n141\n00:07:09.760 --> 00:07:14.480\nreally exciting in this category and you've been able to develop some really\n\n142\n00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:15.520\nexciting partnerships\n\n143\n00:07:15.520 --> 00:07:21.000\nfor a successful partnerships with the Beyonce you know Selena Gomez they're\n\n144\n00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:22.960\nall choosing alter what's\n\n145\n00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:28.000\nthe leadership behavior that wins those partnerships because you know everybody\n\n146\n00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:29.680\nwants them i would say\n\n147\n00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:34.500\nnumber one first and foremost is that the reach that we have at Alta Beauty\n\n148\n00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:35.600\nagain to be able to\n\n149\n00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:40.350\nconvert somebody into your brand if they're an entry-level consumer or if you\n\n150\n00:07:40.350 --> 00:07:41.360\n're maybe in that\n\n151\n00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.870\nmid-range price bringing a consumer that's more in that luxury end into your\n\n152\n00:07:45.870 --> 00:07:47.600\nbrand because we cover\n\n153\n00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:53.460\nthe entire gamut i think it makes us a very accessible place for you to launch\n\n154\n00:07:53.460 --> 00:07:54.400\nyour brand\n\n155\n00:07:54.400 --> 00:07:59.220\nauthenticity is really important to me and you know when we bring in a new\n\n156\n00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:00.320\nbrand and especially\n\n157\n00:08:00.320 --> 00:08:04.070\nlike a celebrity brand you mentioned up a few we want to make sure that it's\n\n158\n00:08:04.070 --> 00:08:04.960\nnot a brand that the\n\n159\n00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:09.760\ncelebrities just put their name on but but that there's really great product\n\n160\n00:08:09.760 --> 00:08:11.200\nbehind the brand and\n\n161\n00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:15.140\nthe ones that you've mentioned i would also call it Isama with Shakira who\n\n162\n00:08:15.140 --> 00:08:16.640\ncreated a hair care line\n\n163\n00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:22.390\nthese celebrities are in the kitchen with their you know the as a founder\n\n164\n00:08:22.390 --> 00:08:24.160\nreally working on the\n\n165\n00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:28.940\nformulations and they're trying and they're testing it i don't want to be a\n\n166\n00:08:28.940 --> 00:08:30.480\ncompany that launches a\n\n167\n00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.680\ncelebrity brand just because it's got a celebrity on it but the quality of the\n\n168\n00:08:33.680 --> 00:08:34.640\nproduct is not good\n\n169\n00:08:34.640 --> 00:08:39.280\nbecause ultimately we want to serve our guests with having the best in beauty\n\n170\n00:08:39.280 --> 00:08:39.760\nand that's what our\n\n171\n00:08:39.760 --> 00:08:44.730\nbuyers really do a great job of is making sure that they are putting the best\n\n172\n00:08:44.730 --> 00:08:46.080\nof the assortment\n\n173\n00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:50.460\non our shelves and online for our guests to be able to purchase so i think when\n\n174\n00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:51.520\nthese founders see\n\n175\n00:08:51.520 --> 00:08:56.010\nhow invested we are in really understanding the authenticity of the brand how\n\n176\n00:08:56.010 --> 00:08:57.440\nwe can really build\n\n177\n00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:02.450\ntheir brand in a true authentic way and that we want to be true partners with\n\n178\n00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:03.840\nthem on the journey\n\n179\n00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:08.220\nit helps them select us at the end of the day which makes me you know really\n\n180\n00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:08.880\nproud and excited\n\n181\n00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:12.490\nto be able to launch and scale with them and grow do you get in with these\n\n182\n00:09:12.490 --> 00:09:13.920\nfounders yourself in the\n\n183\n00:09:13.920 --> 00:09:18.780\nin this in the in quotes kitchen and come up with ideas together and what was\n\n184\n00:09:18.780 --> 00:09:19.600\nthe most fun\n\n185\n00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:23.640\nstory you have about one of those experiences well i would say one of the most\n\n186\n00:09:23.640 --> 00:09:24.480\nfun ones is most\n\n187\n00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.480\nmost recently i was on a zoom call with Shakira and we were talking about how\n\n188\n00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:30.480\ndo we really\n\n189\n00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:35.450\ncontinue to bring the brand to life and i actually had a conversation with her\n\n190\n00:09:35.450 --> 00:09:36.560\nat our annual meeting\n\n191\n00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:40.100\ntoo so not only was it a conference call but then she followed it up and she's\n\n192\n00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:41.120\nlike i told you i\n\n193\n00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:45.500\nwas gonna make your annual store managers meaning get the associates excited\n\n194\n00:09:45.500 --> 00:09:46.320\nand she followed through\n\n195\n00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.400\non that commitment which was great she and i were talking on stage about like\n\n196\n00:09:50.400 --> 00:09:51.600\nshe is using her\n\n197\n00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.350\nproducts she's trying her products she's using a competitor product with her\n\n198\n00:09:55.350 --> 00:09:57.040\nown um at the same\n\n199\n00:09:57.040 --> 00:10:02.040\ntime to just show you know the authenticity of the brand and we we got in the\n\n200\n00:10:02.040 --> 00:10:03.120\nkitchen we were like\n\n201\n00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.910\nwe've got to figure out this hero brand what's the hero brand especially when\n\n202\n00:10:05.910 --> 00:10:06.640\nyou're launching\n\n203\n00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:11.380\nthrough a really uh full market especially in here it's a tough category to\n\n204\n00:10:11.380 --> 00:10:12.160\nbreak into\n\n205\n00:10:12.160 --> 00:10:17.290\nso she was listening to us of like our feedback and what we're hearing from the\n\n206\n00:10:17.290 --> 00:10:19.120\ncustomer segmentation\n\n207\n00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.170\nand you know that was pretty cool to actually have Shakira sitting at her\n\n208\n00:10:23.170 --> 00:10:24.240\nkitchen table and\n\n209\n00:10:24.800 --> 00:10:27.890\ntalking through like here's how we can really drive the brand and here's what\n\n210\n00:10:27.890 --> 00:10:28.640\nwe can do and\n\n211\n00:10:28.640 --> 00:10:32.720\nthen to see it really start to come to life you know is is pretty fulfilling\n\n212\n00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:34.080\nyou know you as i\n\n213\n00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:38.460\nunderstand when you became ceo you'd been in the company for over a decade and\n\n214\n00:10:38.460 --> 00:10:40.320\nuh but you immediately\n\n215\n00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.980\nwent to work and started rebuilding your executive team and brought in some new\n\n216\n00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:46.160\npeople uh tell us\n\n217\n00:10:46.160 --> 00:10:50.110\nthe story behind that and and what did you think the company needed that it\n\n218\n00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:52.080\ndidn't have yeah you know\n\n219\n00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:57.050\ni will say early on in my career i figured out it's always best to surround\n\n220\n00:10:57.050 --> 00:10:58.000\nyourself with\n\n221\n00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:02.000\ntalent that in some ways is even better than you that's how i've gotten to be\n\n222\n00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:02.880\nwhere i am today\n\n223\n00:11:02.880 --> 00:11:05.970\nit's not always the people that i've worked for it's the people that have\n\n224\n00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:07.360\nworked either for me or\n\n225\n00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:12.460\nwith me that made me into the leader that i am today and having a front row\n\n226\n00:11:12.460 --> 00:11:14.400\nseat to see alta for\n\n227\n00:11:14.400 --> 00:11:18.780\nit was almost 10 and a half years before i stepped into the ceo role you know\n\n228\n00:11:18.780 --> 00:11:19.760\nwhat got us to where we\n\n229\n00:11:19.760 --> 00:11:24.490\nwere for the first 35 years of our company i knew wasn't going to be the same\n\n230\n00:11:24.490 --> 00:11:25.760\nskill sets we needed\n\n231\n00:11:25.760 --> 00:11:30.270\nfor the next generation of growth and i had the advantage of kind of having a\n\n232\n00:11:30.270 --> 00:11:31.360\nfront row seat to\n\n233\n00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:37.140\nthat and i knew what we needed to and we had great leaders on the team i i don\n\n234\n00:11:37.140 --> 00:11:38.400\n't want to be disparaging\n\n235\n00:11:38.400 --> 00:11:42.100\nto any of the people that were in the roles before but it was time to pivot\n\n236\n00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:45.280\ninto a new style different\n\n237\n00:11:45.280 --> 00:11:50.000\nskill sets um the world is changing quicker today than it's ever before\n\n238\n00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.400\nespecially in this space and\n\n239\n00:11:52.400 --> 00:11:56.360\nyou know there's really three things that i look for i look for functional\n\n240\n00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.160\nexpertise people who are\n\n241\n00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:01.950\nthe best at their craft highly collaborative in nature where they play well\n\n242\n00:12:01.950 --> 00:12:02.800\nwith others because\n\n243\n00:12:02.800 --> 00:12:05.500\ni've been on teams before where they were great leaders but they didn't\n\n244\n00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:06.640\nnecessarily always play\n\n245\n00:12:06.640 --> 00:12:11.080\nwell as a team and those that put enterprise first it's not just about your\n\n246\n00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:12.640\narea of responsibility\n\n247\n00:12:12.640 --> 00:12:17.020\nit's about what's the greater good for the enterprise and that's the leadership\n\n248\n00:12:17.020 --> 00:12:18.000\nteam that i've built\n\n249\n00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:23.400\nand i feel we are very well positioned for the next phase of growth here at Ult\n\n250\n00:12:23.400 --> 00:12:24.080\na Beauty it's\n\n251\n00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.380\nit's fun these are tough jobs for those of us that have been in retail you know\n\n252\n00:12:28.380 --> 00:12:29.040\nwe'll understand\n\n253\n00:12:29.040 --> 00:12:32.740\nyou put in a lot of hours and a lot of time but when you enjoy who you do it\n\n254\n00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:33.760\nwith and you know\n\n255\n00:12:33.760 --> 00:12:38.730\neveryone's aligned and you're in a tough retail environment man i've got the\n\n256\n00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:39.920\nright team around me\n\n257\n00:12:39.920 --> 00:12:43.400\nto be able to take this company to the next chapter of growth and that to me is\n\n258\n00:12:43.400 --> 00:12:44.000\nreally exciting and\n\n259\n00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.820\ni think that's one of the roles that i play as a CEO it because it trickles\n\n260\n00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:49.120\ndown you know you hire\n\n261\n00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:53.630\ngreat leaders they also hire great people and it filters through the entire\n\n262\n00:12:53.630 --> 00:12:55.120\norganization and\n\n263\n00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:59.520\nit's just fun to to watch it play out i couldn't be more proud of the team i've\n\n264\n00:12:59.520 --> 00:13:00.240\ngot around me right\n\n265\n00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:04.010\nnow today what do you think is more important the personal ambition or\n\n266\n00:13:04.010 --> 00:13:05.600\norganizational ambition i\n\n267\n00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:10.240\nthink you gotta have a balance of both um overuse of a personal ambition\n\n268\n00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:11.680\nwithout having the enterprise\n\n269\n00:13:11.680 --> 00:13:16.460\nfirst will not be good i've i look at sports teams um and some teams out there\n\n270\n00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:17.360\nthey have had\n\n271\n00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:21.910\nstar players but if you don't the star player doesn't share the ball you know\n\n272\n00:13:21.910 --> 00:13:22.800\nthe team is not\n\n273\n00:13:22.800 --> 00:13:27.420\ngoing to win i look at that within my own team too is i want to have people who\n\n274\n00:13:27.420 --> 00:13:28.640\nhave personal drive\n\n275\n00:13:28.640 --> 00:13:34.000\nand personal growth and want more but not at the sacrifice of the enterprise\n\n276\n00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:34.560\nand the team they've\n\n277\n00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:39.560\ngot to be balanced in both and you know i've always said i can teach anybody\n\n278\n00:13:39.560 --> 00:13:40.320\nany skill i'd\n\n279\n00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:44.850\nusually truly believe that if you're you're driven you can learn any skill but\n\n280\n00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:46.080\ni can't teach you how\n\n281\n00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:50.820\nto be a good team player you kind of either have that or you don't um so i\n\n282\n00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:52.000\nthink you had to have a\n\n283\n00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:55.830\nbalance of both you gotta have something that wants that drive but not at the\n\n284\n00:13:55.830 --> 00:13:56.800\nexpense of the\n\n285\n00:13:56.800 --> 00:14:00.470\norganization first well you've made a lot of big moves in the company to get to\n\n286\n00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:01.520\nwhere you're at\n\n287\n00:14:01.520 --> 00:14:04.890\nobviously and you know one of the things years ago i know that you were the one\n\n288\n00:14:04.890 --> 00:14:06.240\nthat the impetus to\n\n289\n00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:10.120\nyou know put ulta into into target you know what was your thinking at that\n\n290\n00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:10.960\npoint in time\n\n291\n00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:15.440\nyeah i mean i was um you know i was one of the players that was under mary d\n\n292\n00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.720\nylan and dave\n\n293\n00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:22.710\nand myself were part of that decision uh to to go into target you know it was\n\n294\n00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:23.840\nbeing a disruptor\n\n295\n00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:28.480\nand i think you've got to be a disruptor in order to continue to look at how do\n\n296\n00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:29.520\nyou continue to drive\n\n297\n00:14:29.520 --> 00:14:33.410\ngrowth and share and we felt like let's try this and let's just see what\n\n298\n00:14:33.410 --> 00:14:34.720\nhappens could we get our\n\n299\n00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:39.280\nbrand in front of you know the millions of guests that are walking into target\n\n300\n00:14:39.280 --> 00:14:40.560\nwe've subsequently\n\n301\n00:14:40.560 --> 00:14:44.600\ndecided both target and v that you know that the relationships kind of played\n\n302\n00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:45.280\nits way out\n\n303\n00:14:45.280 --> 00:14:50.480\ntargets really focused on their own um beauty part of the business and i really\n\n304\n00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:51.680\nfeel like when i look\n\n305\n00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:56.060\nat what our strategy is and where i want to take our business in the future i\n\n306\n00:14:56.060 --> 00:14:56.640\ncame up with uh\n\n307\n00:14:56.640 --> 00:15:01.610\nulti beauty unleash plan and i'm going to be moving my resources really towards\n\n308\n00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:02.160\nmore of\n\n309\n00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:06.830\nwhat it is that we can do to grow but you know retail's cyclical and recalls re\n\n310\n00:15:06.830 --> 00:15:07.680\ntells and cycles\n\n311\n00:15:07.680 --> 00:15:13.100\nand i think you know part of a good leader what they do is you try things you\n\n312\n00:15:13.100 --> 00:15:13.840\nsee them out and then\n\n313\n00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.910\nwhen it's time to pivot you make those pivots as you need to and in august we\n\n314\n00:15:17.910 --> 00:15:18.960\n'll be ending that\n\n315\n00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:22.210\npartnership with target but i'm really glad we did it we learned a lot along\n\n316\n00:15:22.210 --> 00:15:22.880\nthe way i feel\n\n317\n00:15:22.880 --> 00:15:27.680\ntarget did also and i think we're both going to be better often in the future\n\n318\n00:15:27.680 --> 00:15:28.400\nwith working on our\n\n319\n00:15:28.400 --> 00:15:32.780\nnew strategic plans independently yeah you know target is obviously a huge\n\n320\n00:15:32.780 --> 00:15:33.360\npartner but\n\n321\n00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:38.360\nwhat is it and you as a leader that you had to muster up to make a big call\n\n322\n00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:38.960\nlike that because i\n\n323\n00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:43.500\nwould imagine that was a big call i will say that if you ask people about me\n\n324\n00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:45.440\nand my leadership um\n\n325\n00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.820\nthere's a couple of things that come up is that i i am pretty bold um i'm a big\n\n326\n00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:51.120\nbeliever in like\n\n327\n00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:57.370\nmoving forward in in making decisions is a better move than spinning and\n\n328\n00:15:57.370 --> 00:15:58.080\ngetting stuck\n\n329\n00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:03.500\num i think that if you move forward and let's just say that you do make a the\n\n330\n00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:04.960\nwrong call you could\n\n331\n00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:09.730\nalways pivot but you're at least moving forward in a direction versus over\n\n332\n00:16:09.730 --> 00:16:11.440\nanalyzing overthinking\n\n333\n00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:16.980\nthings and getting yourself stuck and i i think that um to me those decisions\n\n334\n00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:18.320\nthat aren't necessarily\n\n335\n00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:22.700\ntough decisions and you know i at the same time i'm pretty well thought out\n\n336\n00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:23.840\nwhen i make a decision\n\n337\n00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:30.670\ni've really done my research my discovery um taking good partners but then when\n\n338\n00:16:30.670 --> 00:16:31.520\ni'm ready to go\n\n339\n00:16:31.520 --> 00:16:36.940\nwe move uh so to me i don't know that that necessarily was a tough decision to\n\n340\n00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:37.920\nmake it was\n\n341\n00:16:37.920 --> 00:16:42.890\nlike let's do it um we knew that the marketplace was going to be you know there\n\n342\n00:16:42.890 --> 00:16:43.680\nwas this partnership\n\n343\n00:16:43.680 --> 00:16:47.600\nthat we had a feeling that that uh one of our competitors was gonna have out\n\n344\n00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:48.400\nthere and it was\n\n345\n00:16:48.400 --> 00:16:53.370\nlike let's go try this let's go do it and i'm a big believer and many times you\n\n346\n00:16:53.370 --> 00:16:54.320\nlearn from these\n\n347\n00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:58.000\nexperiences and it makes us even stronger on the other end so i don't think\n\n348\n00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.280\nthat it was necessarily\n\n349\n00:16:59.280 --> 00:17:03.660\na tough decision to make so you're the chief operating officer before you got\n\n350\n00:17:03.660 --> 00:17:04.480\npromoted and you\n\n351\n00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:09.480\nobviously do all aspects of the business the the the nitty gritty you know a\n\n352\n00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:10.720\nlot of CEOs get the\n\n353\n00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.690\nstereotype of not being strategic you know how have you been able to overcome\n\n354\n00:17:15.690 --> 00:17:16.640\nthat or do you think\n\n355\n00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:22.650\nit's bs to begin with now i mean i i think you know if truth be told i grew up\n\n356\n00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:24.320\nin operations for\n\n357\n00:17:24.320 --> 00:17:29.500\nthe majority of my career but i've always had this intellectual curiosity of\n\n358\n00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:31.200\npushing the boundaries\n\n359\n00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:35.790\nand i'm okay with being uncomfortable and i'm okay with not having a hundred\n\n360\n00:17:35.790 --> 00:17:37.040\npercent of the answer\n\n361\n00:17:37.040 --> 00:17:42.080\nin fact i share often with my teams i'm 80 20 like if we've got 80 percent of\n\n362\n00:17:42.080 --> 00:17:44.320\nthe plan let's let's move\n\n363\n00:17:44.320 --> 00:17:48.700\nlet's move and we can finalize that last 20 percent it might be a little\n\n364\n00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:49.920\ndifferent than a lot of\n\n365\n00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.070\ntraditional operators are because they like to have everything kind of buttoned\n\n366\n00:17:53.070 --> 00:17:53.760\nup before they\n\n367\n00:17:53.760 --> 00:18:01.910\ngo so for me i like to like move in a positive forward direction and i love\n\n368\n00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:03.680\nretail i love the\n\n369\n00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:08.060\nconsumer and i love our associates and i think when you have a mindset of\n\n370\n00:18:08.060 --> 00:18:09.680\nkeeping the consumer\n\n371\n00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:13.520\nand your associates at the center of all the decisions you're making and you're\n\n372\n00:18:13.520 --> 00:18:14.080\npushing that\n\n373\n00:18:14.080 --> 00:18:18.460\nboundary of what's not out there and what's next i think naturally that's\n\n374\n00:18:18.460 --> 00:18:19.840\npushed me to be a little\n\n375\n00:18:19.840 --> 00:18:23.560\nbit more strategic in my mindset in my thought process tell us a story about\n\n376\n00:18:23.560 --> 00:18:24.480\nwhen you use that\n\n377\n00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:30.160\n80 20 mindset and it really paid off for you yeah all a recent one is tiktok so\n\n378\n00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:30.880\nyou know we made a\n\n379\n00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.840\ndecision that we wanted to be on the tiktok shop not only participate in\n\n380\n00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:36.240\nmarketing on tiktok but\n\n381\n00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.090\nwe wanted to do live selling on tiktok and you know they're like we want to do\n\n382\n00:18:41.090 --> 00:18:42.000\nthis and i said well\n\n383\n00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:46.380\nwe need to do this fast and i said initially like how long you think is it a\n\n384\n00:18:46.380 --> 00:18:47.120\ntake and you know the\n\n385\n00:18:47.120 --> 00:18:52.380\ntraditional ways of working would have taken us probably a year you know a year\n\n386\n00:18:52.380 --> 00:18:53.360\nto get it done and\n\n387\n00:18:53.360 --> 00:18:57.020\ni'm like listen we've got our altibuty world is coming up which is our big\n\n388\n00:18:57.020 --> 00:18:58.960\nconsumer event following\n\n389\n00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:03.330\nour annual meeting why would we not want to take advantage of that and do tikt\n\n390\n00:19:03.330 --> 00:19:03.760\nok live\n\n391\n00:19:03.760 --> 00:19:07.430\nand they're like well we we've never really thought that we could baby do that\n\n392\n00:19:07.430 --> 00:19:08.800\nthat way and i'm like\n\n393\n00:19:08.800 --> 00:19:12.580\nlisten it doesn't have to be perfect but let's let's get out there and let's\n\n394\n00:19:12.580 --> 00:19:13.840\ntake advantage of this\n\n395\n00:19:13.840 --> 00:19:19.680\none milestone that's a meaningful milestone and maybe let's do it in a non-\n\n396\n00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:20.560\ntraditional way\n\n397\n00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:29.350\nwell it was it was fun not only did we hit that timeline the team was ecstatic\n\n398\n00:19:29.350 --> 00:19:31.120\nand i said if you\n\n399\n00:19:31.120 --> 00:19:36.540\ndo this i will go on tiktok live and i'll do live selling myself so i stuck\n\n400\n00:19:36.540 --> 00:19:38.240\nwith my commitment and\n\n401\n00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:43.260\ni was out there like a qvc or hsn person myself selling my kesha's favorite\n\n402\n00:19:43.260 --> 00:19:44.960\nbundles which sold out\n\n403\n00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:49.170\nby the way you might have just worked your way into a full-time job i said hey\n\n404\n00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:50.000\nloots and whatever it\n\n405\n00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.970\ntakes as a ceo anymore to drive business and retail i'm all for it but you know\n\n406\n00:19:54.970 --> 00:19:55.360\njust just\n\n407\n00:19:55.360 --> 00:19:58.150\nput a challenge out there and and tell the team like figure out the non-\n\n408\n00:19:58.150 --> 00:19:59.280\ntraditional way to get\n\n409\n00:19:59.280 --> 00:20:03.550\nthings done and if it's not perfect that's okay we'll learn but let's move let\n\n410\n00:20:03.550 --> 00:20:04.640\n's move quickly and\n\n411\n00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:09.870\ni think that it was a really good lesson for our team that you know you don't\n\n412\n00:20:09.870 --> 00:20:11.440\nhave to be perfect\n\n413\n00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:16.560\nyou have to have progress so progress over perfection is really the way to go\n\n414\n00:20:16.560 --> 00:20:18.240\nand you know we've used\n\n415\n00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.640\nthat example already many times internally which has been great it's great to\n\n416\n00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:23.920\nhave those you know\n\n417\n00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:28.320\nyou know uh amazon's not you know is a competitor you know that's going after\n\n418\n00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:29.440\nevery retailer right\n\n419\n00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:33.180\nnow what's the one thing you've done as a leader to to make sure that they don\n\n420\n00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:34.240\n't take your customers\n\n421\n00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.330\ni mean how do you how do you insulate your business i guess somebody like them\n\n422\n00:20:37.330 --> 00:20:38.720\nyeah i'd say that there\n\n423\n00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:44.140\nare a few things number one um we we have this human aspect and element to this\n\n424\n00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:45.600\ncategory specifically\n\n425\n00:20:45.600 --> 00:20:50.380\nwhere the guest does like to touch and feel in trial products newness and\n\n426\n00:20:50.380 --> 00:20:51.440\ninnovation is really\n\n427\n00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.060\nimportant in beauty and i look i'm always looking at the newness and innovation\n\n428\n00:20:56.060 --> 00:20:57.360\nand the pipeline\n\n429\n00:20:57.360 --> 00:21:00.690\nand i feel really good about that uh with our brand partners that's part of\n\n430\n00:21:00.690 --> 00:21:01.600\nthat i've mentioned\n\n431\n00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:05.980\nearlier getting in the kitchen with our big brands and we've got a lot of indie\n\n432\n00:21:05.980 --> 00:21:06.480\nbrands that\n\n433\n00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:10.860\nhave launched with us so you know that's a really important part of our\n\n434\n00:21:10.860 --> 00:21:12.640\necosystem i'd also say our\n\n435\n00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:18.880\nservices component um our hair makeup services you know you can't get that just\n\n436\n00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:19.520\nfrom an online\n\n437\n00:21:19.520 --> 00:21:24.490\nonly retailer and then one thing that we've really leaned into in the last year\n\n438\n00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:25.600\nand i like what i've\n\n439\n00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:28.810\ni've seen and we're going to continue to lean into it is this experiential\n\n440\n00:21:28.810 --> 00:21:29.600\nshopping so\n\n441\n00:21:29.600 --> 00:21:35.860\neventing is very important to us we had over 110 000 events in our stores so\n\n442\n00:21:35.860 --> 00:21:36.960\nthink about a brand\n\n443\n00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:42.950\ncoming in bringing in their educators teaching people how to use new tricks and\n\n444\n00:21:42.950 --> 00:21:44.480\ntips for makeup\n\n445\n00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:49.180\nusage i mean even though i'm a big makeup i think i'm a makeup guru i'm always\n\n446\n00:21:49.180 --> 00:21:50.640\nlearning new things\n\n447\n00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:55.610\nand the more that you can create those kind of experiences in store i think\n\n448\n00:21:55.610 --> 00:21:57.440\ncontinue to you know\n\n449\n00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:01.820\nstrengthen that mode for us as a as a beauty retailer against online only\n\n450\n00:22:01.820 --> 00:22:02.880\nplayers the other\n\n451\n00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:07.970\nthing i would say is that um you know i'm very close to the consumer we ship\n\n452\n00:22:07.970 --> 00:22:08.800\nfrom store\n\n453\n00:22:08.800 --> 00:22:13.770\nfrom our stores so speed of delivery which used to be one of our you know\n\n454\n00:22:13.770 --> 00:22:14.240\ncompetitive\n\n455\n00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:19.210\ndisadvantages now i've kind of shrunk that timing we have same day delivery now\n\n456\n00:22:19.210 --> 00:22:19.680\nthrough our third\n\n457\n00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:25.100\nparty marketplaces so the places where we were at a competitive disadvantage we\n\n458\n00:22:25.100 --> 00:22:26.800\n've you know minimized\n\n459\n00:22:26.800 --> 00:22:30.330\nthose and um we've continued to lean in those things that make us special and\n\n460\n00:22:30.330 --> 00:22:31.040\nwhy you would\n\n461\n00:22:31.040 --> 00:22:34.410\nwant to come in and shop our our stores and then the just the last thing is\n\n462\n00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:35.360\nthis loyalty program\n\n463\n00:22:35.360 --> 00:22:38.610\nthat i talked about earlier is like you earn your points you get dollars back\n\n464\n00:22:38.610 --> 00:22:39.520\nfor your points so\n\n465\n00:22:39.520 --> 00:22:43.900\nif you're going to make a decision to buy an item a people who are in our\n\n466\n00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:45.120\necosystem which again is\n\n467\n00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:49.630\n95 percent of our guest base they understand the value of that loyalty program\n\n468\n00:22:49.630 --> 00:22:50.480\nand they will want\n\n469\n00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:54.960\nto spend their dollars with us versus having it diluted someplace else so you\n\n470\n00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:56.720\n're you're a makeup\n\n471\n00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:01.100\nguru okay you you obviously know your category you're and you're proud of it\n\n472\n00:23:01.100 --> 00:23:02.560\nyou know how do you\n\n473\n00:23:02.560 --> 00:23:05.930\nhow do you stay on top of your game i mean how do you keep getting better so\n\n474\n00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:06.880\nyou you talked about\n\n475\n00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:13.780\nlearning you know what do you do to to to to become even a super guru well what\n\n476\n00:23:13.780 --> 00:23:14.560\ni will say is i\n\n477\n00:23:14.560 --> 00:23:18.480\nspend as a CEO i spend a lot of time with the brands um i i think it's\n\n478\n00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:19.840\nimportant to be really\n\n479\n00:23:19.840 --> 00:23:25.030\nconnected to the brands i also go out to stores a lot and i'm i'm talking to\n\n480\n00:23:25.030 --> 00:23:26.480\nconsumers myself\n\n481\n00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:31.360\nand to our associates our associates on the front line are some of the best\n\n482\n00:23:31.360 --> 00:23:33.120\npiece of feedback\n\n483\n00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:36.880\ni can get as a CEO because they're the ones that are engaging and they\n\n484\n00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:38.560\nrepresent our brand every\n\n485\n00:23:38.560 --> 00:23:43.750\nsingle day so i think not staying in my office and just reading literature but\n\n486\n00:23:43.750 --> 00:23:44.720\nbeing out there\n\n487\n00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:49.100\nbeing out there with the brands being out there in the community with our\n\n488\n00:23:49.100 --> 00:23:50.960\nstores customers and the\n\n489\n00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:56.730\nassociates i think you know helps me continue to learn and grow myself what's\n\n490\n00:23:56.730 --> 00:23:57.760\nthe best idea\n\n491\n00:23:57.760 --> 00:24:04.590\noccasion that you you picked up from a of a retail associate or store associate\n\n492\n00:24:04.590 --> 00:24:06.720\nbest idea is\n\n493\n00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:12.610\nthat um that we needed to have like a quick tutorial on what's less than a 10\n\n494\n00:24:12.610 --> 00:24:13.600\nminute i\n\n495\n00:24:13.600 --> 00:24:18.260\napplication speed is really important you know not everybody has hours to get\n\n496\n00:24:18.260 --> 00:24:19.280\nready you know in\n\n497\n00:24:19.280 --> 00:24:25.880\nmorning so to you know come up with a regimen that we could do like less than\n\n498\n00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:27.200\n10 minute i\n\n499\n00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:32.200\nhere's three steps so simplification simplification simplification uh was\n\n500\n00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:32.880\nsomething that i'd heard\n\n501\n00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.840\nfrom that our associates that i actually took to some of our brands to say the\n\n502\n00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:38.320\nmore you can simplify\n\n503\n00:24:38.320 --> 00:24:42.980\nand make it easier for an everyday consumer to get a real glamorous look or the\n\n504\n00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:44.480\nlook that they want\n\n505\n00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:47.410\ni think when you can close that gap that's going to help us continue to drive\n\n506\n00:24:47.410 --> 00:24:47.920\nbusiness\n\n507\n00:24:48.560 --> 00:24:52.400\nnow this is so much fun i i want to keep diving into how you're leading this\n\n508\n00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:53.280\ngreat company years\n\n509\n00:24:53.280 --> 00:24:57.280\nbut i want to take you back for a minute what's the story from your childhood\n\n510\n00:24:57.280 --> 00:24:57.920\nthat shaped the kind\n\n511\n00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:01.290\nof leader you are today i you know we talked about your small town roots but\n\n512\n00:25:01.290 --> 00:25:02.880\nyou know what was the\n\n513\n00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:07.290\nlike for you growing up you know i will say i came from very humble beginnings\n\n514\n00:25:07.290 --> 00:25:09.360\nand um my parents got\n\n515\n00:25:09.360 --> 00:25:15.130\ndivorced when i was in high school and i actually had to go to work um pretty\n\n516\n00:25:15.130 --> 00:25:16.880\nmuch full-time in high\n\n517\n00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:23.350\nschool to help my mom pay the bills and you know to really learn the value of a\n\n518\n00:25:23.350 --> 00:25:24.000\ndollar\n\n519\n00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:32.500\nand uh appreciate um how hard my my mom really worked to reinvent herself later\n\n520\n00:25:32.500 --> 00:25:33.440\non in life\n\n521\n00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:40.040\nthat stuck with me forever um that the drive that that instilled in me to be\n\n522\n00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:41.120\nfinancially independent\n\n523\n00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:47.220\nmyself and to also continue to push myself to learn more day in and day out i\n\n524\n00:25:47.220 --> 00:25:48.000\ndidn't want\n\n525\n00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.480\nto stay in a small town in Iowa not that there's anything wrong with that when\n\n526\n00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:52.400\ni go back home i'm\n\n527\n00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:57.050\nso appreciative of that but i had big plans for what i wanted to do did i ever\n\n528\n00:25:57.050 --> 00:25:58.480\nthink i was going to be\n\n529\n00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:04.140\na CEO one day no but i just wanted to continue to learn and grow and challenge\n\n530\n00:26:04.140 --> 00:26:05.520\nand get myself out\n\n531\n00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:08.640\nof my comfort zone and for that i'll be always thankful you know i i do think\n\n532\n00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:09.360\nthat those are\n\n533\n00:26:09.360 --> 00:26:14.780\ncharacter building moments that form us into who we are today so your mom is\n\n534\n00:26:14.780 --> 00:26:16.160\nyour your biggest\n\n535\n00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:19.740\nbiggest inspiration you know what do you think she taught you that you just\n\n536\n00:26:19.740 --> 00:26:20.640\ncouldn't learn\n\n537\n00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:27.280\nanywhere else resiliency and grit um the two and you know she subsequently went\n\n538\n00:26:27.280 --> 00:26:28.080\nand started her own\n\n539\n00:26:28.080 --> 00:26:32.640\nbusiness uh on her own and my younger sister ended up going to work with her\n\n540\n00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:33.520\nand she just retired\n\n541\n00:26:33.520 --> 00:26:38.520\nnot that long ago so she was working into her 70s and that to me you know just\n\n542\n00:26:38.520 --> 00:26:39.280\nseeing her\n\n543\n00:26:39.280 --> 00:26:46.440\nin person just push herself to to do more and to provide for her family just\n\n544\n00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:47.440\nmeant everything to me\n\n545\n00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:52.410\nhello friends i hope you're loving this conversation be sure to stay tuned to\n\n546\n00:26:52.410 --> 00:26:53.200\nthe very end of the\n\n547\n00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:57.040\nepisode as always david and i are going to debrief some of the concepts that he\n\n548\n00:26:57.040 --> 00:26:57.840\ntalks about\n\n549\n00:26:57.840 --> 00:27:02.320\nwith this week's guests so stay tuned to the very end and i will see you soon\n\n550\n00:27:02.320 --> 00:27:04.320\nyou know you had your\n\n551\n00:27:04.320 --> 00:27:09.170\nfirst child as i understand it when you were 20 as a single mother living in\n\n552\n00:27:09.170 --> 00:27:10.800\ngovernment housing\n\n553\n00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:14.800\nhow did that period of life impact your leadership yeah well i would say you\n\n554\n00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:15.840\nknow again these are\n\n555\n00:27:15.840 --> 00:27:20.350\nthe stories that create us and make us who we are today and i think give us\n\n556\n00:27:20.350 --> 00:27:21.520\ngive us the character\n\n557\n00:27:21.520 --> 00:27:27.550\nthat we have as leaders and i would say you know just that the power of belief\n\n558\n00:27:27.550 --> 00:27:29.680\nin oneself i often\n\n559\n00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.890\ntalk about this story and i it's it's just so clear in my brain of i was in the\n\n560\n00:27:34.890 --> 00:27:35.760\nprojects and\n\n561\n00:27:35.760 --> 00:27:40.310\nmy daughter was in the little walker walking around and i'm in this little half\n\n562\n00:27:40.310 --> 00:27:41.360\nbathroom looking in\n\n563\n00:27:41.360 --> 00:27:46.010\nthe mirror and i'm like this is not where i want to be in life and i thought to\n\n564\n00:27:46.010 --> 00:27:47.440\nmyself the only person\n\n565\n00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:50.560\nthat can get you out of the situation is looking right back at you so what are\n\n566\n00:27:50.560 --> 00:27:51.360\nyou going to do about\n\n567\n00:27:51.360 --> 00:27:55.740\nit and i just was like i prayed that night i just needed somebody to give me an\n\n568\n00:27:55.740 --> 00:27:56.560\nopportunity\n\n569\n00:27:56.560 --> 00:28:00.940\nto be able to learn and grow and i was going to work as hard as i could and\n\n570\n00:28:00.940 --> 00:28:02.000\nshow\n\n571\n00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:06.970\nwhatever company was going to give me a chance what i could do and that's when\n\n572\n00:28:06.970 --> 00:28:07.680\ni went to work for\n\n573\n00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:13.710\ntarget and so thankful for that opportunity so you as i understand it in that\n\n574\n00:28:13.710 --> 00:28:15.120\nsituation you started\n\n575\n00:28:15.120 --> 00:28:20.960\nout making eight dollars an hour what was the biggest lesson that you learned\n\n576\n00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.000\nin your 12 years\n\n577\n00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:26.580\nworking there if you had to just pick one yeah i mentioned this earlier it was\n\n578\n00:28:26.580 --> 00:28:27.600\nabout surrounding\n\n579\n00:28:27.600 --> 00:28:31.980\nyourself with people that were even better than you were and you know i didn't\n\n580\n00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:33.360\nhave the opportunity\n\n581\n00:28:33.360 --> 00:28:37.740\nto get the college education that many of the people who actually ended up\n\n582\n00:28:37.740 --> 00:28:39.200\nworking for me had\n\n583\n00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:46.360\nand so i through osmosis was able to learn from them i also know what i'm good\n\n584\n00:28:46.360 --> 00:28:48.000\nat and where i needed\n\n585\n00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.530\nto learn and grow and i think sometimes leaders are intimidated by hiring\n\n586\n00:28:52.530 --> 00:28:53.600\npeople that are better\n\n587\n00:28:53.600 --> 00:28:57.500\nthan themselves that maybe where their weaknesses are and i just wasn't i was\n\n588\n00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:58.880\nlike hey listen i feel\n\n589\n00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:03.260\nblessed to be in this job and in these roles i want to hire the very best\n\n590\n00:29:03.260 --> 00:29:04.720\npeople that can actually make\n\n591\n00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:09.580\nme better as a leader myself and learn from them and i think just having that\n\n592\n00:29:09.580 --> 00:29:10.880\nlevel of humility to\n\n593\n00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.170\neven say to people that were on my team hey quite frankly you're better at this\n\n594\n00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:14.640\nthan i am\n\n595\n00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:19.890\nit creates this it kind of breaks down this barrier this wall between boss and\n\n596\n00:29:19.890 --> 00:29:21.040\nemployee where\n\n597\n00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:26.620\nit becomes more of a team and i've carried that with me really through every\n\n598\n00:29:26.620 --> 00:29:28.080\nposition i've been on\n\n599\n00:29:28.080 --> 00:29:33.500\neven into the ceo role today it's like you're not successful on your own this\n\n600\n00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:34.640\nis well i have\n\n601\n00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:39.010\na title it's not just a one-person job you're only as good as those people that\n\n602\n00:29:39.010 --> 00:29:39.360\nyou surround\n\n603\n00:29:39.360 --> 00:29:43.200\nyourself with and when you can create an atmosphere where people can really\n\n604\n00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:44.880\nauthentically be themselves\n\n605\n00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:50.300\nand be honest and direct and you can have those candid conversations because i\n\n606\n00:29:50.300 --> 00:29:51.520\n'm still very humble\n\n607\n00:29:51.520 --> 00:29:55.000\nand blessed and i'm still learning there's no finish line just because you got\n\n608\n00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:55.680\nthe job doesn't\n\n609\n00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:00.240\nmean you know everything and you were a store manager right yeah i mean you you\n\n610\n00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:01.280\nyou know i mean\n\n611\n00:30:01.280 --> 00:30:07.840\nhow many ceos really have that that that that background of really knowing how\n\n612\n00:30:07.840 --> 00:30:08.560\nit happens at\n\n613\n00:30:08.560 --> 00:30:12.940\nthe front line yeah well i mean i i started as an hourly employee to a store\n\n614\n00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:13.920\nmanager to a district\n\n615\n00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:19.340\nmanager or regional then an emergency like so i i think really understanding\n\n616\n00:30:19.340 --> 00:30:20.400\nand walking in some\n\n617\n00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:25.820\nshoes of others especially in retail i've been at this over 30 years that gives\n\n618\n00:30:25.820 --> 00:30:26.320\nme a very\n\n619\n00:30:26.320 --> 00:30:30.100\ndifferent perspective and a unique perspective that i think uh you know keeps\n\n620\n00:30:30.100 --> 00:30:31.600\nme very very grounded\n\n621\n00:30:31.600 --> 00:30:37.200\nin fact when i go into stores i will always make sure i talk to the cashiers\n\n622\n00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:38.080\nand people are like\n\n623\n00:30:38.080 --> 00:30:42.730\nthat's that might be viewed as a little odd well the cashier is the last person\n\n624\n00:30:42.730 --> 00:30:43.920\nanybody purchasing\n\n625\n00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:48.270\nsomething in my store sees they can have a great shopping experience but if\n\n626\n00:30:48.270 --> 00:30:49.360\nthey have a bad experience\n\n627\n00:30:49.360 --> 00:30:53.440\nwith that cashier it tarnishes the entire experience so i always go in and talk\n\n628\n00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:54.320\nto the cashier about\n\n629\n00:30:54.320 --> 00:30:58.700\nhow much i appreciate them how important they are that they represent the brand\n\n630\n00:30:58.700 --> 00:30:59.680\nof our store and\n\n631\n00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.540\nour company even more than i do because they're the ones that the guest is is\n\n632\n00:31:03.540 --> 00:31:04.880\ninteracting with and i\n\n633\n00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:08.710\nthink having that perspective from growing up in retail maybe gives me a little\n\n634\n00:31:08.710 --> 00:31:09.840\ndifferent viewpoint\n\n635\n00:31:09.840 --> 00:31:14.280\nthan maybe others and you you went on to go to Home Depot you know it's it's\n\n636\n00:31:14.280 --> 00:31:15.360\ngreat this background\n\n637\n00:31:15.360 --> 00:31:18.450\nthat you have it's leading you into the beauty industry you know you go to Home\n\n638\n00:31:18.450 --> 00:31:19.120\nDepot where i\n\n639\n00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:24.090\nunderstand Carol Tomay who i've had on this show uh was she was a CFO at the\n\n640\n00:31:24.090 --> 00:31:25.360\ntime she had a huge\n\n641\n00:31:25.360 --> 00:31:29.200\ninfluence on you can you talk about that yeah absolutely in fact i just saw\n\n642\n00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:30.240\nCarol not too long\n\n643\n00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:35.210\nago and i just shared with her you know i often have used her as an example of\n\n644\n00:31:35.210 --> 00:31:37.360\na female that i\n\n645\n00:31:37.360 --> 00:31:42.780\ngreatly greatly admire she was tough and you know i learned the importance of\n\n646\n00:31:42.780 --> 00:31:43.360\nlike if you're going\n\n647\n00:31:43.360 --> 00:31:46.840\nto go in and ask for dollars you better make sure that you're asking with a\n\n648\n00:31:46.840 --> 00:31:48.160\nreally good game plan\n\n649\n00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:52.540\nbecause she was going to follow up on did that investment pay out and i often\n\n650\n00:31:52.540 --> 00:31:53.520\nthink about that\n\n651\n00:31:53.520 --> 00:31:58.110\ntoday when you know we're making choices of investment in capx or opx dollars\n\n652\n00:31:58.110 --> 00:32:00.320\nand alta beauty it comes\n\n653\n00:32:00.320 --> 00:32:04.040\nback in my mind of like okay well you're going to need to come back and show me\n\n654\n00:32:04.040 --> 00:32:05.040\nwhat that ROI is\n\n655\n00:32:05.040 --> 00:32:08.890\nbecause if you don't have the ROI it's not going to be easy to get the money\n\n656\n00:32:08.890 --> 00:32:10.240\nthe next time so you\n\n657\n00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:14.860\nyou better be asking with a really good plan behind it and for that i'm always\n\n658\n00:32:14.860 --> 00:32:15.920\nvery appreciative and\n\n659\n00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:19.010\nyou know when i was at home depot there were not a lot of female leaders that\n\n660\n00:32:19.010 --> 00:32:19.840\nwere in the officer\n\n661\n00:32:19.840 --> 00:32:25.520\nranks at the time and she just was really someone that was approachable tough\n\n662\n00:32:25.520 --> 00:32:27.600\nfair and i was an\n\n663\n00:32:27.600 --> 00:32:31.980\nadvocate for other women and for that i'm always grateful and very thankful and\n\n664\n00:32:31.980 --> 00:32:32.960\nyou know to see her\n\n665\n00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:37.390\nbe successful as a CEO at UPS i'm i'm cheering her along so it's it's great she\n\n666\n00:32:37.390 --> 00:32:38.640\n's done a great job you\n\n667\n00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:45.470\nknow and and you joined alta in 2014 and you know you you were doing a great\n\n668\n00:32:45.470 --> 00:32:46.160\njob but\n\n669\n00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:50.520\nas i understand it you were passed over for promotion at one point in time how\n\n670\n00:32:50.520 --> 00:32:51.280\ndid you handle that\n\n671\n00:32:51.280 --> 00:32:54.650\nyeah you know listen there've been a few times where you know we've all been\n\n672\n00:32:54.650 --> 00:32:55.440\nthere where you think\n\n673\n00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:59.950\nyou're the one and then you don't get the job and i think that there i've said\n\n674\n00:32:59.950 --> 00:33:00.960\nthis a few times i\n\n675\n00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:04.880\nthink that there's two ways you can go you can either be better or you can be\n\n676\n00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:07.280\nbetter and i've always\n\n677\n00:33:07.280 --> 00:33:12.080\nchosen the path to be like okay maybe it stings right now but i'm going to take\n\n678\n00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:12.800\na step back\n\n679\n00:33:12.800 --> 00:33:17.980\nand what is it that i can do to get myself ready for that job that's going to\n\n680\n00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:18.960\nmake me even better\n\n681\n00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:24.880\nfor it and that's every single time where i have not gotten the position it's\n\n682\n00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:26.400\nhappened the way that\n\n683\n00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:31.400\nit's supposed to you know and energy is a big thing to me and i talk about this\n\n684\n00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:33.040\nwith my team it's like\n\n685\n00:33:33.040 --> 00:33:37.370\nyou how you spend your energy what you spend it on spend it on on things that\n\n686\n00:33:37.370 --> 00:33:37.760\nare going to\n\n687\n00:33:37.760 --> 00:33:41.180\npropel you in the right direction and you know i see so many people they don't\n\n688\n00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:41.760\nget something\n\n689\n00:33:41.760 --> 00:33:46.140\nthey get angry they get upset they they they you know that's wasted energy to\n\n690\n00:33:46.140 --> 00:33:46.960\nme it's like\n\n691\n00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:50.370\ni'm going to spend it on okay i'm going to take this opportunity to be really\n\n692\n00:33:50.370 --> 00:33:51.280\nready then when my\n\n693\n00:33:51.280 --> 00:33:56.950\ntime comes and again uh couldn't be more proud of where that's taking me into\n\n694\n00:33:56.950 --> 00:33:58.400\nthis role that you\n\n695\n00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:02.180\nknow as a little girl growing up in rural Iowa i would never have believed i\n\n696\n00:34:02.180 --> 00:34:03.440\nwould be the CEO of\n\n697\n00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:07.430\nthe largest specialty beauty retailer it's the job that most girls i think\n\n698\n00:34:07.430 --> 00:34:08.080\nwould envy\n\n699\n00:34:08.080 --> 00:34:12.460\nto have so it's worked out well for me i've shared that with others many times\n\n700\n00:34:12.460 --> 00:34:12.960\nit's like things\n\n701\n00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:17.360\nhappen when they're supposed to just keep moving forward and what can you do to\n\n702\n00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:18.240\ntake this opportunity\n\n703\n00:34:18.240 --> 00:34:21.500\nto be even better when the time is right for you yeah and you started out as\n\n704\n00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:22.320\nhourly you worked\n\n705\n00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.550\nyour way up in operations and now here you are the CEO and one of the big\n\n706\n00:34:25.550 --> 00:34:27.680\nresponsibilities the CEO has\n\n707\n00:34:27.680 --> 00:34:31.050\nis to really develop a great culture and to scale that and to make sure that\n\n708\n00:34:31.050 --> 00:34:31.440\neverybody\n\n709\n00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:35.170\nunderstands you know you know how you how you move ahead and how you work\n\n710\n00:34:35.170 --> 00:34:36.160\ntogether how are you\n\n711\n00:34:36.160 --> 00:34:41.580\ngoing about that kisha i believe in simplification you know even our strategy\n\n712\n00:34:41.580 --> 00:34:42.880\nit's the alta beauty\n\n713\n00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:47.260\nand lee's strategy we've got three cores to the core parts to the strategy i\n\n714\n00:34:47.260 --> 00:34:48.480\nwant to make sure that\n\n715\n00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:53.970\nwe're using language and a clear understanding that everyone from the back room\n\n716\n00:34:53.970 --> 00:34:56.080\nof the store to our\n\n717\n00:34:56.080 --> 00:35:00.720\nboardroom clearly understands what it is that we're trying to do and the role\n\n718\n00:35:00.720 --> 00:35:02.080\nthat they play in that\n\n719\n00:35:02.080 --> 00:35:06.460\nand i think that's some simple language sometimes i like i've been part of\n\n720\n00:35:06.460 --> 00:35:07.280\norganizations great\n\n721\n00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:11.660\norganizations that is like i don't know what it is that we're trying to do i'm\n\n722\n00:35:11.660 --> 00:35:12.000\njust you're\n\n723\n00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:17.480\ntrying to move forward but i do feel like our teams really understand and they\n\n724\n00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:18.160\n're inspired and\n\n725\n00:35:18.160 --> 00:35:22.190\nthey're motivated and they understand the why i think that's also really\n\n726\n00:35:22.190 --> 00:35:23.600\nimportant and that goes\n\n727\n00:35:23.600 --> 00:35:27.680\nback to like when i was working in stores like i would be doing things i'm like\n\n728\n00:35:27.680 --> 00:35:28.320\ni don't understand\n\n729\n00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:32.870\nwhy i'm doing this i'm doing it but i don't understand why when we can give the\n\n730\n00:35:32.870 --> 00:35:33.680\nassociates\n\n731\n00:35:33.680 --> 00:35:38.110\nthe answers to the why they feel a little bit more invested in it so i think\n\n732\n00:35:38.110 --> 00:35:38.960\nthat's a role that i\n\n733\n00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:44.370\nplay as a CEO is clarity of vision and mission clear strategy that everyone\n\n734\n00:35:44.370 --> 00:35:45.760\nunderstands what their\n\n735\n00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:50.140\nrole is to execute the strategy and then deliver it and when you keep doing\n\n736\n00:35:50.140 --> 00:35:51.200\nthat and you keep putting\n\n737\n00:35:51.200 --> 00:35:55.580\nthe wins up the momentum does change within the organization and i've seen that\n\n738\n00:35:55.580 --> 00:35:56.080\nhappen this last\n\n739\n00:35:56.080 --> 00:36:00.840\nyear how do you know if the team is really aligned how do you know that you're\n\n740\n00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:01.760\nreally getting your\n\n741\n00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:07.380\nmessage implanted yeah well i think we we do a lot of around culture culture\n\n742\n00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:08.800\nsurveys i do skip\n\n743\n00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:14.920\nlevel meetings with with various levels within the organization i also think\n\n744\n00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:16.400\nthat you know every\n\n745\n00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:21.200\nonce in a while you've got a phone a friend and be like hey i need you to tell\n\n746\n00:36:21.200 --> 00:36:22.400\nme the truth like\n\n747\n00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:25.500\nsometimes when you get to these levels people tell you what they think you want\n\n748\n00:36:25.500 --> 00:36:26.320\nto hear i don't\n\n749\n00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:30.940\nthat's not what i want i want tell me the truth because the only way that we\n\n750\n00:36:30.940 --> 00:36:32.000\ncan keep moving this\n\n751\n00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.430\ncompany forward and be you know getting the teams along is everyone if everyone\n\n752\n00:36:36.430 --> 00:36:37.440\n's really clearly\n\n753\n00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:41.820\naligned and that to me is really important spending time with associates\n\n754\n00:36:41.820 --> 00:36:43.120\nlistening being out there\n\n755\n00:36:43.120 --> 00:36:46.640\nbeing engaging in creating an environment where people can tell you that they\n\n756\n00:36:46.640 --> 00:36:47.600\ndon't agree\n\n757\n00:36:47.600 --> 00:36:51.890\nand that's very very important to me that's just as important as people that\n\n758\n00:36:51.890 --> 00:36:52.720\nare like yeah i'm all\n\n759\n00:36:52.720 --> 00:36:59.020\nteam on i'm bored great if you're not i value and respect that just as much but\n\n760\n00:36:59.020 --> 00:37:00.080\ni want to hear why\n\n761\n00:37:00.080 --> 00:37:05.500\nlike tell me why and maybe there's something i need to change what behavior do\n\n762\n00:37:05.500 --> 00:37:06.480\nyou love rewarding\n\n763\n00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:13.020\nthe most at altar um people who are problem solvers i love rewarding i've\n\n764\n00:37:13.020 --> 00:37:14.640\nidentified a problem\n\n765\n00:37:14.640 --> 00:37:20.240\nand they come in and they say this is the problem and here's what i think some\n\n766\n00:37:20.240 --> 00:37:21.280\nof the solutions could\n\n767\n00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:26.900\nbe i think that's a mindset that i really value and appreciate not just\n\n768\n00:37:26.900 --> 00:37:28.400\nbringing problems and\n\n769\n00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:32.640\nhaving a victim mentality or like this is being done to me it's like no this is\n\n770\n00:37:32.640 --> 00:37:33.520\na problem this is\n\n771\n00:37:33.520 --> 00:37:37.520\nwhat i think we could do or even having multiple versions of different plans\n\n772\n00:37:37.520 --> 00:37:38.240\nthat they've thought\n\n773\n00:37:38.240 --> 00:37:42.700\nthrough it um that means a lot to me i love the simplicity of just phone a\n\n774\n00:37:42.700 --> 00:37:43.760\nfriend to really get\n\n775\n00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:48.480\nsome great feedback you know speaking of feedback what's the toughest feedback\n\n776\n00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:49.440\nyou've received as a\n\n777\n00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:54.870\nCEO i wouldn't say that it's tough it's hard for me to i have a really hard\n\n778\n00:37:54.870 --> 00:37:57.520\ntime saying no and\n\n779\n00:37:57.520 --> 00:38:01.190\nsometimes you can get stretched and because i want to i want to be everything\n\n780\n00:38:01.190 --> 00:38:03.440\nto everybody and you\n\n781\n00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:08.970\nknow to to be told like i i think you need to probably start to say no a bit\n\n782\n00:38:08.970 --> 00:38:10.880\nmore and that's hard\n\n783\n00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:14.830\nthat's personally very hard for me especially when i felt like we had some\n\n784\n00:38:14.830 --> 00:38:15.840\nmomentum that we\n\n785\n00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:19.120\nneeded to course correct i felt like i needed to be out there i needed to be\n\n786\n00:38:19.120 --> 00:38:20.560\nthere for my team and\n\n787\n00:38:20.560 --> 00:38:26.160\nto keep up the pace that was doing my first year probably was not sustainable\n\n788\n00:38:26.160 --> 00:38:27.920\nbut it was necessary\n\n789\n00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:33.760\nand to learn to have to say no because i i have a phone i have the sphere of\n\n790\n00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:35.360\nmissing out sometimes\n\n791\n00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:40.880\nbut i'm working on it i would say i'm in recovery of this saying no but to\n\n792\n00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:42.400\nwatch out for fomo it'll\n\n793\n00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:47.180\nget you in trouble exactly exactly you know well 91 percent of your your\n\n794\n00:38:47.180 --> 00:38:48.640\nassociates are women\n\n795\n00:38:48.640 --> 00:38:53.360\nwhat's something you've learned about leading women that most male CEOs get\n\n796\n00:38:53.360 --> 00:38:54.960\nwrong um i think that\n\n797\n00:38:54.960 --> 00:38:59.340\nthat we have to be very flexible and you know i'm going to take this from\n\n798\n00:38:59.340 --> 00:39:00.960\nmyself personally when i\n\n799\n00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:05.340\nwas coming up through retail i did feel the pressure of like i had to be the\n\n800\n00:39:05.340 --> 00:39:06.560\nfirst in the office and i\n\n801\n00:39:06.560 --> 00:39:09.710\nhad to be the last to leave to show that i was committed to the company because\n\n802\n00:39:09.710 --> 00:39:10.720\ni did have a family\n\n803\n00:39:10.720 --> 00:39:16.360\nand i didn't necessarily always have the support behind the scenes on raising\n\n804\n00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:17.520\nthe family and\n\n805\n00:39:18.640 --> 00:39:25.520\nso for me i'm very big and i talk very openly like do not miss the soccer games\n\n806\n00:39:25.520 --> 00:39:26.080\ndon't miss the\n\n807\n00:39:26.080 --> 00:39:30.850\nchoir concerts don't miss the parent teacher conferences i trust you that you\n\n808\n00:39:30.850 --> 00:39:31.840\n'll get the job\n\n809\n00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:35.440\ndone and you'll maybe do it in your own authentic way maybe it's a different in\n\n810\n00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:36.160\ntime maybe it's\n\n811\n00:39:36.160 --> 00:39:42.470\nworking after the kids go to bed i think i am a lot more adaptable than maybe\n\n812\n00:39:42.470 --> 00:39:44.240\nsome other leaders\n\n813\n00:39:44.240 --> 00:39:49.660\ncan be and it's because i've been in those shoes before and i i do think that\n\n814\n00:39:49.660 --> 00:39:50.720\ncreating an environment\n\n815\n00:39:50.720 --> 00:39:55.310\nwhere you give that flexibility and you allow that trust there you get people\n\n816\n00:39:55.310 --> 00:39:56.160\nthat want to work\n\n817\n00:39:56.160 --> 00:40:00.640\neven harder for you you know you've talked about identifying women and leaders\n\n818\n00:40:00.640 --> 00:40:01.520\nthat have the\n\n819\n00:40:01.520 --> 00:40:06.110\nit factor before they even see it in themselves you know walk me through what\n\n820\n00:40:06.110 --> 00:40:07.680\nthat looks like a\n\n821\n00:40:07.680 --> 00:40:13.350\nspecific moment a story maybe when you spotted someone and and how it played\n\n822\n00:40:13.350 --> 00:40:14.240\nout well it was\n\n823\n00:40:14.240 --> 00:40:17.440\ninteresting i just happened to have a skip level conversation and so it's not\n\n824\n00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:18.400\njust women it's also\n\n825\n00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:23.670\nmen uh a skip level with one of my my male leaders today he's a regional vice\n\n826\n00:40:23.670 --> 00:40:25.040\npresident and i shared\n\n827\n00:40:25.040 --> 00:40:28.960\nwith them you know i saw it in you before you saw it in yourself he's like i\n\n828\n00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:30.160\nknow you did and he said\n\n829\n00:40:30.160 --> 00:40:33.830\nthat's what makes me want to work even harder for you is because you believed\n\n830\n00:40:33.830 --> 00:40:35.040\nin me before i believed\n\n831\n00:40:35.040 --> 00:40:40.460\nin myself and i think part of it is when you've led large teams and you've um\n\n832\n00:40:40.460 --> 00:40:41.680\nseen people on how they\n\n833\n00:40:41.680 --> 00:40:46.190\nreact and how they engage with people i can kind of see when somebody has that\n\n834\n00:40:46.190 --> 00:40:47.200\nspecial something\n\n835\n00:40:47.200 --> 00:40:53.480\nand i i verbalize it and the reason that i take the time to verbalize it is\n\n836\n00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:55.200\nbecause maybe somebody\n\n837\n00:40:55.200 --> 00:40:59.720\nhas never done that for them in the past and just even a little like something\n\n838\n00:40:59.720 --> 00:41:00.400\nlike i see\n\n839\n00:41:00.400 --> 00:41:04.780\nsomething in you i see something greater in you than maybe what you see right\n\n840\n00:41:04.780 --> 00:41:05.840\nnow you can do more\n\n841\n00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:10.400\nyou've you can do more push yourself out of your comfort zone somebody did that\n\n842\n00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:10.960\nfor me\n\n843\n00:41:10.960 --> 00:41:14.960\nearly on in my career and it stuck with me that i can make a difference\n\n844\n00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:16.400\nespecially in this role\n\n845\n00:41:16.400 --> 00:41:23.230\nwith the thousands of people that i run into and if i can play that seed where\n\n846\n00:41:23.230 --> 00:41:23.920\nthey believe that\n\n847\n00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:28.300\nthey can do even more and push themselves for a little bit more it could change\n\n848\n00:41:28.300 --> 00:41:29.120\nthe trajectory\n\n849\n00:41:29.120 --> 00:41:33.840\nof their career and that to me is the most rewarding part of my job what's\n\n850\n00:41:33.840 --> 00:41:34.480\nsomething that\n\n851\n00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:41.040\nyou're you're doing at altar with ai uh that other leaders might be able to\n\n852\n00:41:41.040 --> 00:41:41.680\napply to their own\n\n853\n00:41:41.680 --> 00:41:46.730\nbusinesses well i mean right now we're definitely leveraging ai on our loyalty\n\n854\n00:41:46.730 --> 00:41:48.400\nplatform so really\n\n855\n00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:53.830\nunderstanding how the guest is shopping um what how are they engaging in\n\n856\n00:41:53.830 --> 00:41:55.440\npurchase patterns and\n\n857\n00:41:55.440 --> 00:42:00.410\nbehavior and you know some guests like a gift with purchase someone a discount\n\n858\n00:42:00.410 --> 00:42:01.600\nlike how we're really\n\n859\n00:42:01.600 --> 00:42:05.980\nleveraging our marketing dollars and investing them very wisely we are\n\n860\n00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:07.840\nfortunate to have such a rich\n\n861\n00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:13.440\nfirst party data loyalty platform some of the things that we're doing with ai\n\n862\n00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:14.240\nis you know even\n\n863\n00:42:14.240 --> 00:42:19.330\naround our content creation and how we're putting content in front of the\n\n864\n00:42:19.330 --> 00:42:21.360\nconsumer you know it's\n\n865\n00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:25.740\ncontent is really important you have to have a lot of content so how you\n\n866\n00:42:25.740 --> 00:42:26.560\nleverage ai\n\n867\n00:42:26.560 --> 00:42:30.310\nto help you in creating some of the content but then putting the personal\n\n868\n00:42:30.310 --> 00:42:31.040\napproach to it so it\n\n869\n00:42:31.040 --> 00:42:34.840\ncan give you the framework of what you need to do i think one of the things\n\n870\n00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:36.000\nthat we've everybody's\n\n871\n00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:41.530\ngot to be careful of is if it gets too augmented and it's too much ai and it\n\n872\n00:42:41.530 --> 00:42:42.960\ndoesn't come across\n\n873\n00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:47.820\nas authentic you're gonna turn people off and you're gonna lose that guest so i\n\n874\n00:42:47.820 --> 00:42:48.480\n'd say that's\n\n875\n00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:51.640\nanother place that we're really leaning into and then all around customer\n\n876\n00:42:51.640 --> 00:42:52.880\nservice the more you can\n\n877\n00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:57.700\nimprove your customer service um whether if it's a call in on a return etc how\n\n878\n00:42:57.700 --> 00:42:59.280\nyou can speed those\n\n879\n00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:04.390\ninteractions up i think and do it in a way that really works leveraging ai for\n\n880\n00:43:04.390 --> 00:43:05.440\nthe good i think\n\n881\n00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:10.570\nthat's gonna be uh an unlock for us also in the future how are you personally\n\n882\n00:43:10.570 --> 00:43:12.320\nusing ai to to level\n\n883\n00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:17.290\nup your leadership yeah you know i i was just sharing earlier today like i'm\n\n884\n00:43:17.290 --> 00:43:18.480\nleveraging ai\n\n885\n00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:24.330\nevery single day it's kind of one of my ceo challenges of like i've got it i\n\n886\n00:43:24.330 --> 00:43:25.840\nwant to be using ai\n\n887\n00:43:25.840 --> 00:43:32.340\nin some way shape or form so you know uh was looking at some documents and\n\n888\n00:43:32.340 --> 00:43:33.440\nreading through\n\n889\n00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:37.470\nthem and um rather than like reading through and then sitting down and then\n\n890\n00:43:37.470 --> 00:43:38.400\ntyping um\n\n891\n00:43:39.120 --> 00:43:45.660\nmy feedback uh i use clod and just talked into my microphone of like what my\n\n892\n00:43:45.660 --> 00:43:47.040\nthoughts were and\n\n893\n00:43:47.040 --> 00:43:51.840\nwhy it sounded like it was a random just thinking from myself i asked clod then\n\n894\n00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:54.080\nto um make it concise\n\n895\n00:43:54.080 --> 00:43:58.560\nand provide feedback on the strengths and opportunities that i had shared in my\n\n896\n00:43:58.560 --> 00:43:59.440\nfeedback that i had put\n\n897\n00:43:59.440 --> 00:44:03.820\nin my phone and it came up and i had to make a few tweaks but it was like well\n\n898\n00:44:03.820 --> 00:44:04.800\nthis is pretty darn\n\n899\n00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:09.840\ngood i was saying who saved me a tremendous amount of time uh that would have\n\n900\n00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:10.480\ntaken me a\n\n901\n00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:15.900\nlot more time to have to have done it in the traditional way so time is my most\n\n902\n00:44:15.900 --> 00:44:16.720\nimportant\n\n903\n00:44:16.720 --> 00:44:22.720\nasset so the more i can find ways to leverage ai to make my time more efficient\n\n904\n00:44:22.720 --> 00:44:23.840\ni think that's\n\n905\n00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:29.090\ngonna be a huge win for me what's something kisha that you've had to unlearn a\n\n906\n00:44:29.090 --> 00:44:30.480\nco that you used to\n\n907\n00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:37.310\nbelieve that i had to have all the answers um you know when uh growing up\n\n908\n00:44:37.310 --> 00:44:38.320\nespecially when you're a\n\n909\n00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:43.430\nfunctional expert more like singular functional expert uh and you got some more\n\n910\n00:44:43.430 --> 00:44:44.720\nsenior leadership\n\n911\n00:44:44.720 --> 00:44:48.800\npositions there was a lot of reliance on that you you would have all the\n\n912\n00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:51.840\nanswers and when you oh i\n\n913\n00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:57.290\ni think i i kind of learned this more is the c o o as your areas broaden you\n\n914\n00:44:57.290 --> 00:44:58.560\nknow i was in charge\n\n915\n00:44:58.560 --> 00:45:04.240\nof it supply chain stores strategy to be an expert in all those is impossible\n\n916\n00:45:04.240 --> 00:45:06.160\nand to not have the\n\n917\n00:45:06.160 --> 00:45:11.580\nanswers but to know how to to get the answer and to give yourself the grace of\n\n918\n00:45:11.580 --> 00:45:12.800\nsome time i had to\n\n919\n00:45:12.800 --> 00:45:17.950\nunlearn that because again growing up in a pretty male dominant retail industry\n\n920\n00:45:17.950 --> 00:45:19.120\nlike i had to be\n\n921\n00:45:19.120 --> 00:45:23.500\nwell i felt like the best and i had to have all the answers and to relearn that\n\n922\n00:45:23.500 --> 00:45:25.120\nand to to take that\n\n923\n00:45:25.120 --> 00:45:29.680\nburden off myself um i learned before i stepped into this role but i'm glad i\n\n924\n00:45:29.680 --> 00:45:30.720\ndid because it's\n\n925\n00:45:30.720 --> 00:45:34.120\nimpossible to know everything and to have all the answers and it's it's almost\n\n926\n00:45:34.120 --> 00:45:35.520\na danger to feel\n\n927\n00:45:35.520 --> 00:45:39.240\nas a ceo that you have to have all the answers because that's a possible you\n\n928\n00:45:39.240 --> 00:45:40.480\nknow kisha this has\n\n929\n00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:43.330\nbeen so much fun and i want to have some more with my lightning round of\n\n930\n00:45:43.330 --> 00:45:44.400\nquestions so are you ready\n\n931\n00:45:44.400 --> 00:45:50.000\nfor this i am the three words that best describe you decisive bold gritty if\n\n932\n00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:51.600\nyou could be one person\n\n933\n00:45:51.600 --> 00:45:57.180\nfor a day beside yourself who would it be Beyonce your biggest pet peeve laz\n\n934\n00:45:57.180 --> 00:45:58.480\niness who would play you\n\n935\n00:45:58.480 --> 00:46:02.200\nin a movie i'm just saying i think this person is beautiful so i'd like her to\n\n936\n00:46:02.200 --> 00:46:03.200\nplay me but she looks\n\n937\n00:46:03.200 --> 00:46:08.210\nbetter than me Jennifer Lopez a beauty trend you secretly hope never comes back\n\n938\n00:46:08.210 --> 00:46:09.200\nblue eyeliner\n\n939\n00:46:09.200 --> 00:46:15.200\nan Ulta product you couldn't live without i was my mentioned earlier that the\n\n940\n00:46:15.200 --> 00:46:16.560\nUlta Beauty lip oil\n\n941\n00:46:16.560 --> 00:46:20.240\nwhere were you when you found out you'd been named one of times women of the\n\n942\n00:46:20.240 --> 00:46:20.480\nyear\n\n943\n00:46:21.120 --> 00:46:26.090\ni was actually i just landed in indonesia what's something you've been curious\n\n944\n00:46:26.090 --> 00:46:26.880\nabout lately that\n\n945\n00:46:26.880 --> 00:46:31.360\nhas absolutely nothing to do with work i'm really interested in getting into\n\n946\n00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:33.120\nmore of the world cup\n\n947\n00:46:33.120 --> 00:46:37.580\nso the world cup i i want to understand a little bit more of the dynamics\n\n948\n00:46:37.580 --> 00:46:39.360\naround the world cup now i\n\n949\n00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:42.670\ncould tell you're becoming a true international that and an international\n\n950\n00:46:42.670 --> 00:46:43.680\nanswer is a bad answer\n\n951\n00:46:43.680 --> 00:46:48.650\nthe one thing you do just for you this is sounds may sound crazy but i'm i'm\n\n952\n00:46:48.650 --> 00:46:50.720\nadamant about my sleep\n\n953\n00:46:50.720 --> 00:46:55.690\nlike i prioritize my sleep besides your family and friends what's your most\n\n954\n00:46:55.690 --> 00:46:56.480\nprized possession\n\n955\n00:46:56.480 --> 00:47:03.020\ni'd say my my my dog if i turned on the radio in your car what would i hear oh\n\n956\n00:47:03.020 --> 00:47:04.800\ni listened to a\n\n957\n00:47:04.800 --> 00:47:09.770\nwide range of music but i'd say i do really like EDM house music what's\n\n958\n00:47:09.770 --> 00:47:11.760\nsomething about you few people\n\n959\n00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:16.610\nwould know uh that i'm a speed reader and what's one of your daily rituals\n\n960\n00:47:16.610 --> 00:47:18.080\nsomething that you never\n\n961\n00:47:18.080 --> 00:47:23.040\nmiss i read the newspapers in the morning first thing all right we're out of\n\n962\n00:47:23.040 --> 00:47:23.040\nthe\n\n963\n00:47:23.040 --> 00:47:26.880\nlightning round good job there ready to go all right just a few more questions\n\n964\n00:47:26.880 --> 00:47:27.840\nand i'll let you go here\n\n965\n00:47:27.840 --> 00:47:32.810\nyou and your husband great you know you have a blended family of five kids and\n\n966\n00:47:32.810 --> 00:47:33.840\na few grandkids\n\n967\n00:47:33.840 --> 00:47:40.160\nhow do you think about leaving at home kisha i i really am very present at home\n\n968\n00:47:40.160 --> 00:47:41.200\nand it's one of\n\n969\n00:47:41.200 --> 00:47:46.000\nthe things that i think at being a young mom myself i was really busy and i was\n\n970\n00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:47.040\nprobably distracted a\n\n971\n00:47:47.040 --> 00:47:52.550\nlot and now i have three grandchildren who i just absolutely adore and when i\n\n972\n00:47:52.550 --> 00:47:54.000\nget time with my kids\n\n973\n00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:59.830\nand their spouses i am very very present when i'm home and that i'm really\n\n974\n00:47:59.830 --> 00:48:01.360\nproud of that when they\n\n975\n00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:05.740\nhave me even though it might not be a lot of time the time that i have is very\n\n976\n00:48:05.740 --> 00:48:06.640\npresent how do you\n\n977\n00:48:06.640 --> 00:48:11.020\nmake that happen i treat my personal calendar as important as i do my work\n\n978\n00:48:11.020 --> 00:48:12.240\ncalendar if i have\n\n979\n00:48:12.240 --> 00:48:15.760\nsomething that i've committed to my family i would never ever think about\n\n980\n00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:16.640\nmissing a board\n\n981\n00:48:16.640 --> 00:48:21.290\nmeeting or an important meeting with a brand i need to treat my family the same\n\n982\n00:48:21.290 --> 00:48:21.760\nway because\n\n983\n00:48:21.760 --> 00:48:26.320\nthey're very important to me too you've said balance is important but striving\n\n984\n00:48:26.320 --> 00:48:27.360\nfor perfect\n\n985\n00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:32.570\nbalance will set you up for failure talk more about that well i think that you\n\n986\n00:48:32.570 --> 00:48:33.440\nknow these are\n\n987\n00:48:33.440 --> 00:48:37.820\ndemanding jobs and you have to lean in and do what it takes to get the job done\n\n988\n00:48:37.820 --> 00:48:39.680\num you know i have a\n\n989\n00:48:39.680 --> 00:48:44.190\nlot of people that are relying on me to make great business decisions for the\n\n990\n00:48:44.190 --> 00:48:45.280\ncompany whether it's\n\n991\n00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:49.680\nthe stakeholders or it's the associates that are counting on having a job here\n\n992\n00:48:49.680 --> 00:48:51.600\nso you know i'm all\n\n993\n00:48:51.600 --> 00:48:56.230\nin on doing what i need to do to help this company be very very successful but\n\n994\n00:48:56.230 --> 00:48:57.440\nthen i also know when\n\n995\n00:48:57.440 --> 00:49:02.010\ni need to take a break and i take a little bit of time to myself and not get\n\n996\n00:49:02.010 --> 00:49:03.760\noverly burn out so\n\n997\n00:49:03.760 --> 00:49:07.240\nyou know if you look at trying to have perfect balance you're going to set\n\n998\n00:49:07.240 --> 00:49:09.040\nyourself up for failure\n\n999\n00:49:09.040 --> 00:49:12.520\num but i know myself well enough to know when i need to take a break and do a\n\n1000\n00:49:12.520 --> 00:49:13.520\nrecharge and i have\n\n1001\n00:49:13.520 --> 00:49:17.900\na great team around me now that i can be able to do that so but it's just not a\n\n1002\n00:49:17.900 --> 00:49:18.320\nperfect balance\n\n1003\n00:49:18.320 --> 00:49:22.700\nof 50/50 it just doesn't work that way what do you see is your unfinished\n\n1004\n00:49:22.700 --> 00:49:23.840\nbusiness both for\n\n1005\n00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:28.660\nALTA and you personally yeah i i think the unfinished business for me is just\n\n1006\n00:49:28.660 --> 00:49:30.480\nto continue to widen\n\n1007\n00:49:30.480 --> 00:49:35.900\nthat moat that separates us from others i think to continue to be a disrupter\n\n1008\n00:49:35.900 --> 00:49:37.040\nin beauty we were\n\n1009\n00:49:37.040 --> 00:49:43.120\none of the original disrupters when altibuty came to life you know 36 years ago\n\n1010\n00:49:43.120 --> 00:49:45.120\nof doing beauty a\n\n1011\n00:49:45.120 --> 00:49:49.530\ndifferent way than what was ever done before i still think there's still the\n\n1012\n00:49:49.530 --> 00:49:50.480\nnext chapter of\n\n1013\n00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:55.700\nwhat that looks like here for us at altibuty what's that next generation look\n\n1014\n00:49:55.700 --> 00:49:56.960\nlike i believe even\n\n1015\n00:49:56.960 --> 00:50:02.710\nleveraging technology and the tools to continue to improve this human\n\n1016\n00:50:02.710 --> 00:50:04.480\ninteraction we should be on\n\n1017\n00:50:04.480 --> 00:50:08.170\nthe leading edge of that and this is a great category that we shouldn't be\n\n1018\n00:50:08.170 --> 00:50:09.280\nfollowing trends we\n\n1019\n00:50:09.280 --> 00:50:13.130\nshould be setting the trends and we are the beauty authority and the more that\n\n1020\n00:50:13.130 --> 00:50:14.080\nwe can just continue\n\n1021\n00:50:14.080 --> 00:50:18.440\nto lean into that with our brands i think we'll continue to set us up for the\n\n1022\n00:50:18.440 --> 00:50:19.360\nnext chapter of what\n\n1023\n00:50:19.360 --> 00:50:24.990\naltibuty looks like not just from a u.s. beauty retailer but from a global\n\n1024\n00:50:24.990 --> 00:50:26.480\nbeauty retailer how\n\n1025\n00:50:26.480 --> 00:50:29.810\nhard has it been for you to get an international mindset now that you start to\n\n1026\n00:50:29.810 --> 00:50:31.280\ngo around the world\n\n1027\n00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:35.520\nthat i wouldn't say it's not been overly difficult um i love to travel and i'm\n\n1028\n00:50:35.520 --> 00:50:36.560\na big believer in like\n\n1029\n00:50:36.560 --> 00:50:42.720\ni i like to walk the country and and be foot on feet on feet on the ground\n\n1030\n00:50:42.720 --> 00:50:43.840\nnothing replaces you've\n\n1031\n00:50:43.840 --> 00:50:47.510\ngot to see it you've got to understand the retail environment you've got to im\n\n1032\n00:50:47.510 --> 00:50:49.120\nmerse yourself into it\n\n1033\n00:50:49.120 --> 00:50:56.120\nand understand how that consumer is shopping and be authentic to our brand but\n\n1034\n00:50:56.120 --> 00:50:57.600\nyou're authentic to\n\n1035\n00:50:57.600 --> 00:51:01.980\nthe consumer of the country i've seen too many u.s based countries companies\n\n1036\n00:51:01.980 --> 00:51:02.720\nthat take exactly\n\n1037\n00:51:02.720 --> 00:51:05.970\nwhat they do and put in another country and expect it to be to successful just\n\n1038\n00:51:05.970 --> 00:51:06.960\nin the way it is i\n\n1039\n00:51:06.960 --> 00:51:10.140\nwant you to be able to walk into an altibuty store and know it's an altibuty\n\n1040\n00:51:10.140 --> 00:51:11.440\nstore with some tweaks\n\n1041\n00:51:11.440 --> 00:51:17.720\nwith some tweaks that are about the culture of the area that we're in and that\n\n1042\n00:51:17.720 --> 00:51:18.720\nto me has just\n\n1043\n00:51:18.720 --> 00:51:22.200\nbeen really important and i've traveled a lot i've traveled literally around\n\n1044\n00:51:22.200 --> 00:51:22.640\nthe world\n\n1045\n00:51:23.200 --> 00:51:28.160\nthis last year but feet on the ground nothing replicates that and then also\n\n1046\n00:51:28.160 --> 00:51:28.960\nreally listening\n\n1047\n00:51:28.960 --> 00:51:33.600\nto our partners and not being the big u.s company that thinks that we know all\n\n1048\n00:51:33.600 --> 00:51:35.200\nthe answers but being\n\n1049\n00:51:35.200 --> 00:51:40.620\nreally open and listening and truly valuing where we are going i think will\n\n1050\n00:51:40.620 --> 00:51:42.240\ncontinue to set us up for\n\n1051\n00:51:42.240 --> 00:51:47.360\nsuccess you know you mentioned earlier you know as as a female leader you know\n\n1052\n00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:48.320\nyou you felt a lot of\n\n1053\n00:51:48.320 --> 00:51:53.520\npressure to to know everything you know work harder beat and be there longer\n\n1054\n00:51:53.520 --> 00:51:56.000\nyou know stepping back\n\n1055\n00:51:56.000 --> 00:52:01.480\nnow with the wisdom that you've gained as you you've become the CEO what advice\n\n1056\n00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:02.640\nwould you give to\n\n1057\n00:52:02.640 --> 00:52:09.360\nwomen specifically on on how they can move up and and what what the real key is\n\n1058\n00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:11.280\nyeah i would say\n\n1059\n00:52:11.280 --> 00:52:15.660\nthat you have to get out of your own way i think sometimes as women we put so\n\n1060\n00:52:15.660 --> 00:52:16.160\nmuch pressure on\n\n1061\n00:52:16.160 --> 00:52:19.360\nourselves that we need to have everything mastered before we can go to the next\n\n1062\n00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:19.680\nlevel\n\n1063\n00:52:19.680 --> 00:52:25.100\ni would say that 80/20 rule applies for you in leadership too when you feel\n\n1064\n00:52:25.100 --> 00:52:25.600\nlike you're getting\n\n1065\n00:52:25.600 --> 00:52:30.780\ntoo comfortable and the job is getting easier that's time for you to ask for\n\n1066\n00:52:30.780 --> 00:52:32.720\nmore or to share\n\n1067\n00:52:32.720 --> 00:52:37.100\nthat you want to do something different and don't wait to master the position\n\n1068\n00:52:37.100 --> 00:52:38.000\nthat you're in before\n\n1069\n00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:42.350\nyou give yourself permission to go on to what's next push yourself to continue\n\n1070\n00:52:42.350 --> 00:52:43.120\nto stay out of your\n\n1071\n00:52:43.120 --> 00:52:48.380\ncomfort zone and share exactly what it is that you're you're wanting and i\n\n1072\n00:52:48.380 --> 00:52:50.240\nthink too often we sit back\n\n1073\n00:52:50.240 --> 00:52:53.330\nand we wait for somebody to say you're doing a great job i'm going to tap you\n\n1074\n00:52:53.330 --> 00:52:54.080\non the shoulder\n\n1075\n00:52:54.080 --> 00:52:57.290\nyou've mastered it it's time to go to the next job i don't think you should do\n\n1076\n00:52:57.290 --> 00:52:58.080\nthat i think you\n\n1077\n00:52:58.080 --> 00:53:02.130\nshould share exactly what it is that you want don't wait till you master it and\n\n1078\n00:53:02.130 --> 00:53:02.960\ncontinue to push and\n\n1079\n00:53:02.960 --> 00:53:07.770\nadvocate for yourself for more if you don't ask you won't get okay last\n\n1080\n00:53:07.770 --> 00:53:10.080\nquestion here what's one\n\n1081\n00:53:10.080 --> 00:53:14.160\npiece of advice you'd want to give to anyone who wants to be a better leader\n\n1082\n00:53:14.160 --> 00:53:15.280\nthat there's\n\n1083\n00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:20.040\nno finish line and that you can learn from absolutely everyone don't minimize\n\n1084\n00:53:20.040 --> 00:53:21.440\nthe impact that\n\n1085\n00:53:21.440 --> 00:53:26.160\nyou have by listening uh my dad told me god gave you two years and one mouth\n\n1086\n00:53:26.160 --> 00:53:26.720\nfor a reason\n\n1087\n00:53:26.720 --> 00:53:33.760\nlisten twice as much as you talk and you know really look to learn from every\n\n1088\n00:53:33.760 --> 00:53:34.560\ninteraction that\n\n1089\n00:53:34.560 --> 00:53:40.880\nyou have ask questions and really listen to what those answers are and i think\n\n1090\n00:53:40.880 --> 00:53:41.760\nthat that can help\n\n1091\n00:53:41.760 --> 00:53:45.680\nyou be an even better stronger leader in the future because you can learn from\n\n1092\n00:53:45.680 --> 00:53:46.240\neveryone no\n\n1093\n00:53:46.240 --> 00:53:50.620\nmatter what level they're at location i've learned a lot just listening to you\n\n1094\n00:53:50.620 --> 00:53:51.680\nand i really appreciate\n\n1095\n00:53:51.680 --> 00:53:55.630\nyou being on the show and congratulations on the success and i can tell you\n\n1096\n00:53:55.630 --> 00:53:57.920\nthat uh those associates\n\n1097\n00:53:57.920 --> 00:54:01.790\nare very lucky to have a leader like you who knows the business so well and so\n\n1098\n00:54:01.790 --> 00:54:03.440\ncaring and uh knows\n\n1099\n00:54:03.440 --> 00:54:06.720\nit's the importance of staying ahead of competition and being on top of the\n\n1100\n00:54:06.720 --> 00:54:07.120\ntrends\n\n1101\n00:54:07.120 --> 00:54:10.160\nthank you so much david it was fun to have this conversation\n\n1102\n00:54:10.160 --> 00:54:19.650\ndavid i'm on cloud nine after listening to the conversation that you just had\n\n1103\n00:54:19.650 --> 00:54:20.240\nwith kisha\n\n1104\n00:54:20.240 --> 00:54:23.850\ni've been vying for her to get on our show for a long time and i am thrilled\n\n1105\n00:54:23.850 --> 00:54:24.720\nthat it finally\n\n1106\n00:54:24.720 --> 00:54:29.230\nhappened and you wouldn't know this but before we dive into the debrief i do\n\n1107\n00:54:29.230 --> 00:54:30.480\nwant to point out to\n\n1108\n00:54:30.480 --> 00:54:34.880\nall of my millennial women listening to this podcast kisha talks about how late\n\n1109\n00:54:34.880 --> 00:54:35.520\n90s makeup\n\n1110\n00:54:35.520 --> 00:54:38.820\ntrends are coming back and just for this interview david you wouldn't know what\n\n1111\n00:54:38.820 --> 00:54:39.600\ni'm talking about\n\n1112\n00:54:39.600 --> 00:54:44.830\nbut i promise you the women know i did line my waterline with eyeliner which is\n\n1113\n00:54:44.830 --> 00:54:45.280\npart of the\n\n1114\n00:54:45.280 --> 00:54:49.660\n90s makeup trend that's coming back so shout out kisha for being super close to\n\n1115\n00:54:49.660 --> 00:54:50.400\nthe trends and\n\n1116\n00:54:50.400 --> 00:54:55.440\nshout out all the girls who want to bring waterline eyeliner back to the party\n\n1117\n00:54:55.440 --> 00:54:56.160\nby the way it looks\n\n1118\n00:54:56.160 --> 00:55:00.600\nlike you have more makeup on than i've ever seen you make and have on and i\n\n1119\n00:55:00.600 --> 00:55:02.160\nthink that's also coming\n\n1120\n00:55:02.160 --> 00:55:08.190\nback if i'm that's she mentioned that as well as as a self-professed makeup\n\n1121\n00:55:08.190 --> 00:55:09.520\nguru and she really\n\n1122\n00:55:09.520 --> 00:55:14.570\nknows her business well uh she loves her business she loves us loves uh all the\n\n1123\n00:55:14.570 --> 00:55:15.600\ndetails of it and\n\n1124\n00:55:15.600 --> 00:55:19.980\ni was very impressed by that i was too david i'm excited to get your take on\n\n1125\n00:55:19.980 --> 00:55:20.800\nsome of the concepts\n\n1126\n00:55:20.800 --> 00:55:24.760\nof the two of you just talked about the first one is this idea of progress over\n\n1127\n00:55:24.760 --> 00:55:25.760\nperfection and\n\n1128\n00:55:26.240 --> 00:55:30.820\nit's it's clear that kisha is the type of leader who knows a big idea and is\n\n1129\n00:55:30.820 --> 00:55:32.240\nready to run with it\n\n1130\n00:55:32.240 --> 00:55:37.070\nbefore it gets to 100 and she really runs on this 80/20 rule you know she tells\n\n1131\n00:55:37.070 --> 00:55:38.320\nher team if you've got\n\n1132\n00:55:38.320 --> 00:55:42.050\n80 percent of the plan go ahead and move forward and we're figure and we'll\n\n1133\n00:55:42.050 --> 00:55:43.280\nfigure out the rest as\n\n1134\n00:55:43.280 --> 00:55:47.640\nwe go and so david i'm curious from your perspective like when you hear that\n\n1135\n00:55:47.640 --> 00:55:49.040\nhow do you know when you're\n\n1136\n00:55:49.040 --> 00:55:52.780\ncrossing the line from being bold and just getting your team to go versus being\n\n1137\n00:55:52.780 --> 00:55:53.680\nreckless with an\n\n1138\n00:55:53.680 --> 00:55:58.360\nidea that's half-baked 80% means you think you're pretty confident that you you\n\n1139\n00:55:58.360 --> 00:55:59.840\n're you're confident\n\n1140\n00:55:59.840 --> 00:56:04.220\nthat idea i mean you're 80% confident it's gonna work and yeah there's some\n\n1141\n00:56:04.220 --> 00:56:05.120\nthings you got to work\n\n1142\n00:56:05.120 --> 00:56:10.380\nout but you're confident enough as well that that 20% that needs to they needs\n\n1143\n00:56:10.380 --> 00:56:11.920\nto get to 100 you'll\n\n1144\n00:56:11.920 --> 00:56:16.920\nfigure it out only after you get in to get and get customer reactions and uh\n\n1145\n00:56:16.920 --> 00:56:18.320\nyou know supply and\n\n1146\n00:56:18.320 --> 00:56:20.900\nchain issues whatever they might be you'll figure those out and you're\n\n1147\n00:56:20.900 --> 00:56:22.080\nconfident enough of yourself\n\n1148\n00:56:22.080 --> 00:56:25.390\nand your team that you're going to be able to figure it out so i i've seen\n\n1149\n00:56:25.390 --> 00:56:26.560\norganizations get\n\n1150\n00:56:26.560 --> 00:56:31.330\nso paralyzed by the perfect leader you know oh they just keep sending you back\n\n1151\n00:56:31.330 --> 00:56:32.400\nsending you back\n\n1152\n00:56:32.400 --> 00:56:35.600\nsending you back you know with one more thing you got to look at one more thing\n\n1153\n00:56:35.600 --> 00:56:36.240\nthat's got to be\n\n1154\n00:56:36.240 --> 00:56:39.730\nbuttoned up and you know sooner or later you got to what do they say proverbial\n\n1155\n00:56:39.730 --> 00:56:40.880\nget off the pot\n\n1156\n00:56:40.880 --> 00:56:46.530\nokay and you got to act and i think 80/20 is a great great way to think about\n\n1157\n00:56:46.530 --> 00:56:47.600\nit it's so interesting\n\n1158\n00:56:47.600 --> 00:56:51.080\ntoo to hear about the success they've had from using that philosophy i mean she\n\n1159\n00:56:51.080 --> 00:56:51.920\ntalks about them\n\n1160\n00:56:51.920 --> 00:56:55.860\ngoing live on the tiktok shop and that was a huge decision for her but instead\n\n1161\n00:56:55.860 --> 00:56:56.800\nof waiting for it to\n\n1162\n00:56:56.800 --> 00:57:01.770\nget to 100% she just got it to 80% and they figured out the rest along the way\n\n1163\n00:57:01.770 --> 00:57:03.200\nincluding her going\n\n1164\n00:57:03.200 --> 00:57:07.950\nlive herself on tiktok and talking about all of her favorite products from the\n\n1165\n00:57:07.950 --> 00:57:09.360\nulta beauty world\n\n1166\n00:57:09.360 --> 00:57:15.030\nand she was quite a star on tiktok she almost worked herself into a full-time\n\n1167\n00:57:15.030 --> 00:57:15.360\njob\n\n1168\n00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:21.920\ni love it. David the next thing i want to talk about is this concept of getting\n\n1169\n00:57:21.920 --> 00:57:22.960\nbetter not\n\n1170\n00:57:22.960 --> 00:57:27.340\nbitter in the episode kisha talks about you know getting passed up for\n\n1171\n00:57:27.340 --> 00:57:28.560\npromotions as she was coming\n\n1172\n00:57:28.560 --> 00:57:33.040\nup in her career and instead of getting bitter she wanted those situations to\n\n1173\n00:57:33.040 --> 00:57:34.400\nmake her better\n\n1174\n00:57:34.400 --> 00:57:39.400\nand i just love that line better not bitter and i'm sure david that you've seen\n\n1175\n00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:40.480\npeople respond\n\n1176\n00:57:40.480 --> 00:57:45.900\nboth ways when they get passed up for a promotion so what in your perspective\n\n1177\n00:57:45.900 --> 00:57:46.800\nwhat in your opinion\n\n1178\n00:57:46.800 --> 00:57:52.220\nseparates the ones who get better versus those who get bitter i think the first\n\n1179\n00:57:52.220 --> 00:57:53.920\nthing they do is\n\n1180\n00:57:53.920 --> 00:57:57.520\nthey crush it where they're at they know that they've got to do their job\n\n1181\n00:57:57.520 --> 00:57:58.480\nextremely well before\n\n1182\n00:57:58.480 --> 00:58:04.230\nthey can get the next job okay if they get passed over they are very reflective\n\n1183\n00:58:04.230 --> 00:58:05.920\nthey're self-reflective\n\n1184\n00:58:05.920 --> 00:58:09.600\nthey have high self-awareness and and they learned what it was that they missed\n\n1185\n00:58:09.600 --> 00:58:10.800\nmissed out on having\n\n1186\n00:58:10.800 --> 00:58:17.160\nor demonstrating to get that next job and then they they go after it so let's\n\n1187\n00:58:17.160 --> 00:58:17.920\nsay you know\n\n1188\n00:58:17.920 --> 00:58:23.870\npeople didn't think i have enough financial background to to to get the next\n\n1189\n00:58:23.870 --> 00:58:24.720\njob they go get\n\n1190\n00:58:24.720 --> 00:58:29.020\nthe financial background they do enough to make sure that that's not going to\n\n1191\n00:58:29.020 --> 00:58:29.840\nbe something that's\n\n1192\n00:58:29.840 --> 00:58:34.220\ngoing to derail them and it's something that can propel them because they will\n\n1193\n00:58:34.220 --> 00:58:35.280\nat least check the\n\n1194\n00:58:35.280 --> 00:58:41.270\nbox so i think self-awareness is really the key but it's also attitude better\n\n1195\n00:58:41.270 --> 00:58:42.240\nnot bitter as that's\n\n1196\n00:58:42.240 --> 00:58:46.620\nan attitudinal thing now the other thing is it's really great here is that she\n\n1197\n00:58:46.620 --> 00:58:47.520\nloves her company\n\n1198\n00:58:47.520 --> 00:58:50.830\nshe didn't want to go anywhere else she loved the company she loved the\n\n1199\n00:58:50.830 --> 00:58:52.000\ncultures they were treating\n\n1200\n00:58:52.000 --> 00:58:55.200\nher well she just didn't get the job so she didn't get bitter she said i'm\n\n1201\n00:58:55.200 --> 00:58:56.880\ngoing to get better and\n\n1202\n00:58:56.880 --> 00:59:01.850\nyou know i think she'd still be there if she wasn't the CEO but she'd still be\n\n1203\n00:59:01.850 --> 00:59:02.960\nworking on what it would\n\n1204\n00:59:02.960 --> 00:59:06.620\ntake to become the CEO but she's been there for almost a decade and she's had\n\n1205\n00:59:06.620 --> 00:59:07.920\ntremendous results so\n\n1206\n00:59:07.920 --> 00:59:14.000\nshe certainly is well qualified to to get it done that reminds me of one of the\n\n1207\n00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:14.960\ninsights that i\n\n1208\n00:59:14.960 --> 00:59:18.250\nhave taken with me from our episode with Scott Hamilton when he talks about\n\n1209\n00:59:18.250 --> 00:59:19.680\nfailure being 100\n\n1210\n00:59:19.680 --> 00:59:24.060\ninformation and not that not getting a promotion is failure but if you even\n\n1211\n00:59:24.060 --> 00:59:25.120\nframe those situations\n\n1212\n00:59:25.120 --> 00:59:28.640\nwhere you get passed up on a promotion or something like that as 100\n\n1213\n00:59:28.640 --> 00:59:30.560\ninformation it does force you\n\n1214\n00:59:30.560 --> 00:59:34.480\nto tune your attention inward and really use that as a reflective moment versus\n\n1215\n00:59:34.480 --> 00:59:35.360\njust blaming other\n\n1216\n00:59:35.360 --> 00:59:39.740\npeople and take that opportunity great point cool it could take that\n\n1217\n00:59:39.740 --> 00:59:40.880\nopportunity to get the\n\n1218\n00:59:40.880 --> 00:59:45.540\ninformation to get the feedback that you need to grow forward you know so i\n\n1219\n00:59:45.540 --> 00:59:48.560\nremember i had something\n\n1220\n00:59:48.560 --> 00:59:51.780\nsimilar like that when i was a pepzico when calaway the chairman of pepzico\n\n1221\n00:59:51.780 --> 00:59:52.880\nthought i was a really good\n\n1222\n00:59:52.880 --> 00:59:56.270\nmarketing guy he told me that i was a really good marketing guy but he didn't\n\n1223\n00:59:56.270 --> 00:59:56.960\nsee me as a\n\n1224\n00:59:56.960 --> 01:00:00.190\ndivision president and i realized that what i had to do with him was to\n\n1225\n01:00:00.190 --> 01:00:01.360\ndemonstrate that i could\n\n1226\n01:00:01.360 --> 01:00:05.420\nreally get into the operations the nitty gritty the processes that take you\n\n1227\n01:00:05.420 --> 01:00:06.640\nknow the p&l how to make\n\n1228\n01:00:06.640 --> 01:00:10.980\nmoney and that's exactly what i did and then i got promoted to be president but\n\n1229\n01:00:10.980 --> 01:00:11.680\ni used being\n\n1230\n01:00:11.680 --> 01:00:17.270\npassed over okay as information i remember when somebody got a division\n\n1231\n01:00:17.270 --> 01:00:19.120\npresident job i had so\n\n1232\n01:00:19.120 --> 01:00:22.490\nmany people call me and say how do you feel how do what do you think about that\n\n1233\n01:00:22.490 --> 01:00:23.040\nand that's when i\n\n1234\n01:00:23.040 --> 01:00:25.770\nknew i was going to become president because at least people were starting to\n\n1235\n01:00:25.770 --> 01:00:26.880\nsee me that way\n\n1236\n01:00:26.880 --> 01:00:31.880\nbut i i did need to demonstrate that i could really do operations as well as as\n\n1237\n01:00:31.880 --> 01:00:33.440\nmarketing to to become\n\n1238\n01:00:33.440 --> 01:00:37.730\na division president and i knew it because i got that information and i'll tell\n\n1239\n01:00:37.730 --> 01:00:38.480\nyou what kisha\n\n1240\n01:00:38.480 --> 01:00:41.740\nkisha was very good at that as well it comes through clear as day during your\n\n1241\n01:00:41.740 --> 01:00:42.960\nconversation that she\n\n1242\n01:00:43.600 --> 01:00:49.680\nlooks at any sort of setback as 100% information reflects deeply enough to\n\n1243\n01:00:49.680 --> 01:00:50.480\nfigure out how to\n\n1244\n01:00:50.480 --> 01:00:54.860\ncourse correct and get to where she wants to be which david brings me to the\n\n1245\n01:00:54.860 --> 01:00:56.080\nfinal concept that i\n\n1246\n01:00:56.080 --> 01:00:59.750\njust really really loved it was very moving for me to hear her talk about it\n\n1247\n01:00:59.750 --> 01:01:00.800\nand it's this kind of\n\n1248\n01:01:00.800 --> 01:01:05.350\nseminal moment in her life and it's when you know she's 20 years old she's a\n\n1249\n01:01:05.350 --> 01:01:06.400\nsingle mom and she's\n\n1250\n01:01:06.400 --> 01:01:10.300\nliving in government housing and she talks in the conversation about a moment\n\n1251\n01:01:10.300 --> 01:01:11.200\nwhere she's looking\n\n1252\n01:01:11.200 --> 01:01:14.680\nin the mirror and she kind of just has this come to jesus moment and realizes\n\n1253\n01:01:14.680 --> 01:01:16.240\nthat the only person\n\n1254\n01:01:16.240 --> 01:01:19.900\nthat's going to change her situation is the person that she's looking at in the\n\n1255\n01:01:19.900 --> 01:01:22.160\nmirror and from then on\n\n1256\n01:01:22.160 --> 01:01:28.260\nher life really changed and i want david you to break that down when you kind\n\n1257\n01:01:28.260 --> 01:01:29.280\nof see where kisha\n\n1258\n01:01:29.280 --> 01:01:32.970\nis now and know that that's where she comes from what do you pinpoint as the\n\n1259\n01:01:32.970 --> 01:01:34.560\nreal defining characteristic\n\n1260\n01:01:34.560 --> 01:01:39.220\nthat that led her to where she is she is a strong believer although she didn't\n\n1261\n01:01:39.220 --> 01:01:40.640\nnecessarily espouse\n\n1262\n01:01:40.640 --> 01:01:45.280\nit in in this podcast but it seems to me she really believes a lot in free will\n\n1263\n01:01:45.280 --> 01:01:51.360\nand then said she she has the free will to choose you know how she's going to\n\n1264\n01:01:51.360 --> 01:01:52.640\nreact to something and\n\n1265\n01:01:52.640 --> 01:01:56.720\nshe she decided that she wasn't going to be a victim you know the worst thing\n\n1266\n01:01:56.720 --> 01:01:58.000\nthat i see many\n\n1267\n01:01:58.000 --> 01:02:02.380\ntimes with leaders and people who are in disadvantaged situations is they they\n\n1268\n01:02:02.380 --> 01:02:03.760\ndevelop a severe case\n\n1269\n01:02:03.760 --> 01:02:08.140\nof victimitis they come over all the reasons why they can't do this they're\n\n1270\n01:02:08.140 --> 01:02:09.120\nalmost they almost in\n\n1271\n01:02:09.120 --> 01:02:14.180\ntheir own life they become eores okay and yeah this thing you know make no\n\n1272\n01:02:14.180 --> 01:02:16.000\nmistake some people do have\n\n1273\n01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:19.740\ntougher backgrounds and it is a lot harder for a lot of people so i'm not\n\n1274\n01:02:19.740 --> 01:02:21.680\nminimizing that but what\n\n1275\n01:02:21.680 --> 01:02:26.030\nyou really have to admire and there are so many stories there's so many people\n\n1276\n01:02:26.030 --> 01:02:26.960\nwho've done it is\n\n1277\n01:02:26.960 --> 01:02:30.780\nthey have that mirror moment where they look in the mirror and they take\n\n1278\n01:02:30.780 --> 01:02:32.160\naccountability for\n\n1279\n01:02:32.160 --> 01:02:35.830\nforgetting out of the situation than they're in because they know that no one\n\n1280\n01:02:35.830 --> 01:02:36.720\nelse can do it but\n\n1281\n01:02:36.720 --> 01:02:43.220\nthem and that's what she did and the other thing is is she never ever forgot\n\n1282\n01:02:43.220 --> 01:02:45.120\nwhere she came from\n\n1283\n01:02:45.120 --> 01:02:49.500\nokay and she learned from her upbringing i think that's why she has such an\n\n1284\n01:02:49.500 --> 01:02:50.640\nempathy for the front\n\n1285\n01:02:50.640 --> 01:02:57.320\nline she started out as an hourly worker and you know and she remembered what\n\n1286\n01:02:57.320 --> 01:02:58.480\nit was like to be\n\n1287\n01:02:58.480 --> 01:03:02.400\nat the beginning you know and making eight dollars an hour she's never\n\n1288\n01:03:02.400 --> 01:03:03.920\nforgotten that and\n\n1289\n01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:07.010\nshe's the first one to tell you how much she learns from by going out and\n\n1290\n01:03:07.010 --> 01:03:08.000\ntalking the front line\n\n1291\n01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:13.560\nand because she she was to the cashier you know she was a she was a store\n\n1292\n01:03:13.560 --> 01:03:15.280\nmanager she was you know\n\n1293\n01:03:15.280 --> 01:03:19.310\nshe she knows the power of being closest to the customer and learning from\n\n1294\n01:03:19.310 --> 01:03:20.560\npeople who are closest\n\n1295\n01:03:20.560 --> 01:03:23.680\nto the customers but she's just a really good leader and i just loved her\n\n1296\n01:03:23.680 --> 01:03:24.960\npassion for her\n\n1297\n01:03:24.960 --> 01:03:31.600\nfor her company and i loved her passion for her her industry and you know i'm\n\n1298\n01:03:31.600 --> 01:03:32.640\ngonna make sure that\n\n1299\n01:03:32.640 --> 01:03:37.020\nuh you know i buy some of that lip gloss and give it to give it to some women i\n\n1300\n01:03:37.020 --> 01:03:38.400\nknow who might really\n\n1301\n01:03:38.400 --> 01:03:44.430\nenjoy it it's always wonderful when your man has a backup set of lip gloss or\n\n1302\n01:03:44.430 --> 01:03:46.400\nchapstick i know i\n\n1303\n01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:51.400\ni'm trying to remember that and i don't always have it well david for our\n\n1304\n01:03:51.400 --> 01:03:53.200\nlisteners as we wrap up\n\n1305\n01:03:53.200 --> 01:03:56.950\nthis debrief what's the one thing that you really want listeners to take away\n\n1306\n01:03:56.950 --> 01:03:57.200\nfrom this\n\n1307\n01:03:57.200 --> 01:04:01.750\nconversation and apply to their life three things in particular that we hit on\n\n1308\n01:04:01.750 --> 01:04:02.960\nhere progress over\n\n1309\n01:04:02.960 --> 01:04:09.850\nperfection be better not not bitter and you know take advantage of those those\n\n1310\n01:04:09.850 --> 01:04:10.880\nmirror moments and\n\n1311\n01:04:10.880 --> 01:04:15.920\nturn yourself into something better very very powerful i love it well david\n\n1312\n01:04:15.920 --> 01:04:17.040\nthank you so much for\n\n1313\n01:04:17.040 --> 01:04:20.800\nanother excellent episode of how leaders lead and thank you to kesha steelman\n\n1314\n01:04:20.800 --> 01:04:21.760\nfor joining us\n\n1315\n01:04:21.760 --> 01:04:27.180\non this podcast and of course thank you to our listeners stay tuned for another\n\n1316\n01:04:27.180 --> 01:04:27.600\nepisode of\n\n1317\n01:04:27.600 --> 01:04:30.240\nhow leaders lead and we will see you next thursday\n","is_pinned",true,"pinned_at","2026-07-28T18:01:32.000000Z","is_featured",false,"featured_at","mix_url","https://chtbl.com/track/DCB44F/traffic.megaphone.fm/DVL1082797501.mp3","dx_media_id",3719,"video_media_id","thumbnail_image_media_id","published_date","2026-05-21","itunes_episode_id",292,"youtube_id","B1R51jMFyRo","2026-08-19T21:40:19.000000Z","Listen to this leadership podcast with Kecia Steelman, CEO of Ulta Beauty, and discover how to push forward and make progress, even if you don’t have all the 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