So I thought about this. He would smile, and hed say, Are you doing a good job? or Tell me how business is. Pretty superficial stuff. How much of your business is creativity and how much is just hard work? So Im thinking that. In the other direction its just blue skies and sunshine. Although many allegations focused on the conduct of another officer of the company, Wexner also came in for his share of criticism for his handling of the issue. Can you be the best in the world?, If you can be best in the world, with globalization, you really can be best in the world, like Starbucks, like McDonalds. My wife had never played with guns, so we became clay target shooters. Leslie Wexner: Humans are pack animals. Leslie Wexner: Well, John Glenn is my friend and people are inviting me to be on the board of the Whitney Museum, the American Ballet Theatre. Leslie Wexner: Yes. Im not easily daunted. My dad said, Why dont you just hang around the store for a few months before you begin your life? And I said, Okay, what do you want? and he said, Well, if you hang around for a few months, youll learn how to open the store and close the store. It was a little neighborhood store. The company announced plans to sell a majority interest in Victorias Secret to private equity firm Sycamore Partners for a reported $525 million. Wexner Graduate Fellowship / Davidson Scholars Program, The Technical, the Emotional, and the Both, Spiritual Postcards: A Journey to Sinai, Session 7, Spiritual Postcards: A Journey to Sinai, Session 6, Spiritual Postcards: A Journey to Sinai, Session 5, From Sukkot to Hannukah Infusing our Fall with Joy and Light Session 5. But I want you to run for the Senate because Ohio is pretty well split, half Democrats, half Republicans. Wexner received unwelcome press attention in 2019 over his past financial ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide while awaiting trial on additional charges. Wexner serves on the Board of Trustees and, as the immediate past board chair, has helped to guide the $1 billion expansion of Ohio States Wexner Medical Center. Have you ever experienced failure? So youre willing to put yourself out publicly and privately and say, Im going to do this.. Les Wexner era comes to an end as L Brands founder steps down. Hed started it as a masters project, not unlike the way Fred Smith started Federal Express. Thats not a technical climb, but youre going from about 7,500 feet to 11-and-a-half thousand. I could open more stores and I could try them in different cities and it kept expanding. Stay up-to-date with the latest recordings and teachings from members of our dynamic staff, faculty and network. What is it about the retail game that you love? People talk about, not only do you have to have a moral compass and take it out of your pocket, it has to have a true north. The question is what the shopping environment will be like. I think we have interests that go beyond our self to friends, to family first, maybe to friends, maybe to community. Dir. This would really be tough. Founder and Executive Chairman, Amazon.com, Founder and Executive Chairman, Oracle Corporation. So I look for patterns of behavior and opportunities to change the business. Happily so. Will it be more like Disneyland? Nearly 600 outstanding Jewish professional leaders from a wide array of religious affiliations and professional groupings have participated in the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program. I thought about that for a couple of years and said, What people say about you when youre gone doesnt matter. Is there something particular that you like to have in your office? Heres some cash so you can pay your bills. Yeah. I like that. The goal of the fellowship is to provide Israels next generation of public leaders with advanced leadership and public management training. The foundation is the cake. And I said, Well, I could try it. Maybe I didnt see it was leverage, but it was a way to get to scale, but I recognized probably intuitively, couldnt articulate it we had a merchandise plan, we had a store design, we had a name of our store, we had a lot of things that were replicable. So I drove to town, parked my jeep, and just walked up the damn mountain. Whats sexy to them? One example of a simple commercial success would be we would send samples of things that were either produced for the stores, or lingerie we have in the stores, regularly to supermodels and tell them thank you. WebIn the early 1980s, Leslie Wexner founded two separate organizations to pursue his mission of creating strong leaders in Israel: The Wexner Heritage Foundation and the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Investopedia One night in Vail, John Glenn sat me down, and he said, You could retire. I was about 40 years old, and I said, Yeah, John. I said, Ill just bet that theyre really screwed up and if we put our practices on their business, good things will happen.. So I said okay. Its three in the morning. Im just competing with one merchant.. Id be terrible. Arabic as a Culture Bridge, a course designed to help break down barriers, is their latest project. But you have an enormously active risk calculator, and you think about things for a long time before they kind of pop out. So people will say, Oh, we just had this idea. She said, I might know that youve been thinking about it for several years., Leslie Wexner: Thats really interesting. We have our own selfish interests. In 1982, he acquired a struggling San Francisco lingerie store called Victorias Secret for $1 million and built it into the worlds leader in intimate apparel. Receiving the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines in Israel were Wexner Senior Leaders: Dr. Osnat Luxenburg (2015) Dep. Instead, Leslie Wexner set out to start a business of his own. For 35 years, The Wexner Foundation has never wavered from its focus upon Jewish leadership in the Jewish world and Israel. Leslie tried to share his findings with his father but was unable to persuade him to change the familys business model. Founded by Roy Raymond in 1977, Victorias Secret had grown to a handful of stores in the San Francisco Bay Area when Les Wexner first visited the chains San Francisco location. Les Wexner continues to hold the title of Chairman Emeritus of L Brands. They could actually get on a train and go to a big city. The idea of leverage is like, if I had one store and I opened two; if you have two stores, how you could get to four? As I began to inventory my good fortune, my skills and talent, I said, Youre creative, youre a problem solver. If you look at shopping I read something interesting. What does that mean to us?. As of 2017, Bath & Body operates 1,600 stores in the United States, Canada, Peru, Chile and Kuwait. Being an ally to ensure equity among all genders in the Jewish community requires action and strength. Did he have any parting words for you? Thank you for talking with us. But foundationally, just basically human nature, we like to be with other people. How did reading so deeply about George Washington influence you? Two separate organizations were created to carry out the mission of strengthening leadership for the Jewish people. 614 939-6060, COPYRIGHT 2023 THE WEXNER FOUNDATION - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. It pays to have a good education, but I cant make you study. Allowing our network of leaders in the Israeli public sector and in both the professional and volunteer ranks of Jewish life in North America to leverage one another, Wexner Summits empower and mobilize a cadre of change agents who work in teams over the course of a year to address major challenges facing the Jewish people and Israel. Perfect For: Its like McDonalds building more golden arches. Whats been the hardest thing about the journey from when you began to now, almost 80? Everybody does it their own way. Shopping, you went to a shop, an office, if you would. We talked about nothing, my trip, what I had done and how business was. Im back at my house in Columbus. Im curious about biography and history, and reading biography from a historical point of view, and reading history to understand how people behaved. We sent them some bralettes. I was single for most of my life. The limitless part is, How big can it be? You dont want to do a lot of things. The story was I get home, you know. 614 939-6060, COPYRIGHT 2023 THE WEXNER FOUNDATION - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The store was successful, and by the time I was 30 years old, I was several times a millionaire. And if you have two in the city, you could have three. Im really surprised that youre kind of blossoming in ways that are surprising to me. I want you to know that Ive lived the proverbial three score and ten, so Ive won. And we took up boating. And people would say, Gee, thats not very expensive, so the next lawn that was the same size Id say $5. He was going broke. Isnt that the kind of purpose? Theyre giving me adult questions and adult problems to solve, and Im a kid, so Ive got to grow up as fast as possible.. But if our skill is in women, and stores and everything that women buy or wear. You know? We didnt think they had very good practices, whether it was sourcing, how they ran stores, even how they collected cash from their stores, how they paid bills. For once hed know for sure that I really appreciated him. Leslie Wexner: Well, our online business, you know, we started with a Victorias Secret catalogue, which is very successful, and then catalogue mail order became catalogue phone order, then it became catalogue digital entry of order e-commerce. And its like and its like it didnt interest me. Leslie H. Wexner Met with Manufacturers Hanover Trust on a Saturday morning and arranged for a loan, bid on the company, and Monday night we owned it. Not everybody is going to be a great dancer or whatever. Wexner resolved to consolidate the sprawling family of Limited companies. If you can think about leading a purposeful life not just an accumulation but you actually make the world a better place then I think in the grand scheme of the universe, that that explains our existence. And she said, Ill give you the $5,000, but you have to put it in the bank and promise not to spend it. And a beer wont even cost a dollar. This program strengthens rabbinical/cantorial students and graduate students in Jewish education and Jewish professional leadership programs, as well as academic Jewish studies. Community Investment I didnt know what the margin was. Then I got a second lawnmower and hired one of my friends to push a lawnmower, and I did other things. WebFurther emphasizing his love for art, Wexner founded the Wexner Center for the Arts. And in a way, the more that were isolated, whether were living on farms and were only talking to our cell phone, the greater the need we have for group experience. Youre kind of like Lochinvar youre just optimistic and nave. I think he was right. The two separate Wexner organizations were unified as one entity encapsulating all three leadership initiatives: The Wexner Foundation, headquartered in New Albany, Ohio. How is it that this guy from Ohio was able to know what young women wanted to buy? I figured I could cut grass, because I had a lawnmower and I wanted a job. When he came back from their vacation, we sat down in a Woolworths coffee shop and I gave him the big ta-da, and he said, Its impossible. He said, We make money on the big-ticket items. I said, No. They even reinforced that, because my mom and dad would say, Your dads got a new job offer. I dont know if they thought they were changing the world or just changingtheirworld, but they did make the world a better place. But the place where you put purpose because if time is time and material resources theres all kinds of demands on time. Profit margins were small and the family could afford few luxuries. So I recognize if I had four stores, then Id probably have four assistant managers. What does success mean? I need a pound of coffee, and somebody goes in the back room and brings it out. I knew they loved me, and I loved my parents, but they werent providing direction. WFF Pilot and WGF/DS Alum Tilly Shemer (Class 28) and WGF/DS Rabbi Dan Ross (Class 27) along with many others, are leading the charge for equity as they invite others to Live the Pledge. I would look through the invoices to see, and I figured out that in what my dad called sportswear they were making substantial profits, and in the big ticket items then dresses and coats they were making no money. From 1990-2011, the Foundation began engaging in partnerships with communities and foundations that shared our commitment to invest in leaders for the Jewish world. Its not about material things. Department stores were locally owned. Nobody even knew that I went out into kind of the wilderness. Gen. for Infrastructure Planning and Dev. You have more ability than you think you have.. But I think the foundation of what makes really great leaders is they leadthemselves, and theyre conscious about knowing themselves and coaching and leading themselves in a very profound way. Perfect For: Ive thought about that question. Leslie Wexner: I was complimented. You have to realize that about yourself. Leslie Wexner: Well, I hope its more than that, but the notion of a specialist the challenge is, Can we be best in the world in a category? Then the question is, Do the customers want cake, or do they want cupcakes or donuts. Id have to be in multiple cities. So electricity and lighting and all the things that escalators, elevators that made a big change in retail. Leslie Wexner: We knew how to run stores and he had no experience. Leslie Wexner: Ten or 11 years old. I said, How would I do it? One of my acquaintances who really had a great influence in my life suggested that I sell the business and go to public life. In 1982, L Brands, then known as The Limited Inc., was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange. What made you think you could make a success out of this? In Biblical times, the great market cities in Europe or the United States, people want to be with other people. And he was going broke. It acknowledged our historical achievements and our promising future. The mobility. Youll meet some dead ends and blind alleys. Can I make the world a better place by selling underpants? It was an hour going and an hour coming. Its all from the ladys point of view. Before my father died, he gave me his grandfathers gold pocket watch. Leslie Wexner: I kind of backed into it. So I describe it as purpose. You have more ability than I thought you have. When you read it in partnership, with multiple voices, you are discovering the richness of the text, and it comes alive as a result. Read more from The Covenant Foundation. The Limited purchased Victorias Secret for $1 million. By the way, everyone connects what we do with Victorias Secret, which is pretty damn important, but half of our business is beauty products, Bath & Body and Victorias Secret beauty. Doctors that cure patients or cure diseases or make discoveries, theyre making the world a better place. And every yearId say, Okay, these are the areas. I think he wanted me to make sure that I understood my responsibilities to my mom. Leslie Maxwell, Wexner, Epstein, Mega Group and Leslie Wexner: Theres some times where I bet the ranch and I lost the bet, pretty lonely moments. A wonderful opportunity to take a step back and work on myself, create a better sense of my goals and aspirations and strengthen my leadership and management skills. I said, Were real bidders. And went to New York on a Friday afternoon, got a little bit of information about how many stores and how much business they had done, no financials. Large-ticket items, such as winter coats, that the elder Wexners believed were the most important, were actually yielding little profit, while lower-priced items that turned over quickly were the actual profit center of the business. In the 17thcentury somebody figured out that calicoes the kind of print in fabric which came from India were colorful, but if you couldnt see them, you wouldnt know about it. Les Wexner Leslie Wexner: It will be the same. Theres all kinds of committees and places, nationally and internationally. So hed say, Go get a job! Leslie Wexner:I think probably its the universal appeal of lingerie. I really love what I do and Im kind of racking up a financial score. And its kind of, but why? The Wexner Heritage Foundation, co-founded by Rabbi Herbert Friedman zl, was founded to strengthen volunteer leaders in the North American Jewish Community. If God just lets some person be very fortunate, lets say financially, its kind of a funny God. He said, Ive never asked you for anything, but I would trust you to open and close the store and take the money to the bank. You know, just do simple things. Id go back to the store and hed throw me out. When you eventually decided to branch out, you could have chosen any area, but you chose intimate apparel and bought the Victorias Secret stores. Its half the business. I think different societies, cultures, individuals, teams of people, make the world a better place. His father was born in Russia; his mother was the first member of her immigrant family to be born in the United States. Im going to do one thats right, and I invented one in my mind and began playing with it and making sketches of stores and fixtures and thinking about things that I might sell. So I bought the business, and we were a public company, so I called our board, and I said, I bought this business. And the response was, Well, everybody can have a toy. Why do people go to restaurants? He had no formal education, very frustrated. Why lingerie? Whats that like? The Wexner Heritage Foundation, co-founded by Rabbi Herbert Friedman zl, was founded to strengthen volunteer leaders in the North American Jewish Community. Its time and distance the same. I got a map, and I said, Its far away, but the characteristics of Milwaukee, Columbus, Dayton are similar. So you say, Wow, that does work. Leslie Wexner: It was very emotional, because its kind of a scene from a movie of a father and son walking on the beach, and the father saying, Im not going to be here, so this is what I want you to know. I think in real time I didnt really absorb what he was saying. I might be busy. It was like velvet sofas and it wasnt Victorian from England. Were very busy doing things. And he said, Well, if you want to buy it, you could buy it, but you have to come right away. And I said, Well, maybe Ill be out in a week or two. He said, No, the sheriffs going to shut me down tomorrow. He just took a couple of ideas and put them together, and no one else put those same ideas together as successfully as he did. Leslie Wexner: I dont know that it was confidence. I change things. I got bored, so I was curious to see what categories of merchandise my dad and mom made money in, and I could sort out the invoices, and they kept track of sales by category of merchandise, shirts and pants and skirts. Youre not an English officer. And he keeps his day job as a surveyor earning his living helping his brother run the farm. The remaining 25 percent of The Limited was sold to Sun Capital in 2010. So one of the ones Ive got now, a saying above my desk is I found its an Einstein quote: Im still learning. At that time when I was struggling with being successful in a financial way, people would say, You should be very happy. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes. I said, Well, I dont know anything about the shoe business. Leslie Wexner: Yeah. You own the Pittsburgh Pirates. How did you teach your own children? Les Wexner in 2014. So the question is how do you gauge that? It was just tons of fun. When people see that youve created this billion-dollar empire, that you basically cornered the market on lingerie in the world, are there any funny things that other guys say to you? If you had four, could you get to eight? How do you guard against being set in your ways? If Im capable, and Im a leader, and Im organized the nice things that people say about me then I should be efficient with my time, and I might be lucky, in that I can make more money, but no one can make more time., So the discussion I had with myself was, Youre working 70 or 80 hours a week. Leslie Wexner: I think hed laugh. In 1995, Wexner initiated an annual Victorias Secret fashion show, broadcast on primetime television. And Id say, but people didnt have stores in multiple cities. So at some point when youre full of ambition, you feel very guilty and your friends say, Well you just want to be successful.. Leslie Wexner: It was great advice.
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