How To Build A Brand That Lasts: with Lew Frankfort (Chairman + Former CEO of Coach)

29:24And that made me feel really proud and good. So the number that keeps coming up in all of these interviews is the$5 billion number. You did an interview with Gary Vee and he was like, say it again, repeat it. So$6 million to $5 billion through your time with the brand. It's roughly an 833x growth in revenue. And just for reference, I had to look it up. Basically, only Starbucks, Amazon, Lululemon, and Ralph Lauren have had growth at that level at some point. What were the hidden costs of growth of that kind? Well, as I said, when I spoke with Gary, it didn't occur overnight. So it took 35 years.

30:09And whenever we reached a milestone, because I always was motivated by a drive for excellence and a concurrent fear of failure, I could never get complacent. And so when we reached a plateau, I remember when we reached$75 million, I think that was around 1987, 86, we gave everyone a turkey for Thanksgiving. Every factory worker, every office worker. We had small celebrations as we went forward. But when we talk about hidden costs, to really build a brand that is beloved, which requires innovation, relevance, continual adaptation, it's 24-7. So it took a toll on my body. It took a toll on my mind.

31:10It forced me to make difficult choices in terms of working versus being with family. And I learned as early as the 1980s that I really needed to listen to my body, meaning if I had backaches or I was feeling like I was an imposter one day just sitting there. do I really know enough to do this? Or losing my mojo or being in a situation where I had little control and it meant a lot to me. These fears and worries, lack of sleep, manifest physically. And when they manifest physically, you need to pause and pay attention. And I started to develop A variety of techniques that I use through today to help me navigate away from depressive episodes and not allow myself to go into a bad place.

32:10And of course, there's pattern recognition. But I do strongly believe that you need balance and exercise is one. You need releases. meditation is is a wonderful way to give your mind a break and put it on pause whether it's for 10 or 20 minutes I massage therapy there's from the right therapists who really understand how energy flows in your body it can really make a difference I'm a strong believer in executive coaching therapy and the use of meds when necessary and i encourage people of all ages to really be honest with themselves

33:04why is it always chaos when we link up because nobody plans anything bro good thing the rogue's ready like that for real rain dirt whatever available all-wheel drive five modes we still outside and they got some kick too that turbo torque is crazy the most in its class it moves moves rogue doesn't mess around and peep the space merch on merch gear mics all the fits load up we out 2026 nissan rogue built for all of it auto pacific segmentation 2026 rogue versus latest in-market competitors in the ex-SUV mainstream mid-sites class, excluding electrical vehicles based on manufacturer websites. Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to$600 a year.

33:48I've been scouting these big carriers for a minute now, and I've seen them pull the same play a thousand times. They promise you the world, then hit you with a price hike right when the game gets tight. But Boost Mobile, their$25 a month unlimited wireless plan is the most consistent player on the floor. No contracts, no price hikes. Unlock the savings today at BoostMobile.com slash unlock. Based on average annual single line payment of AT &T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit BoostMobile.com.

34:15When it comes to advancing your education, you have more options than you think. At Rasmussen University, we find ways to remove barriers, not build them. Like a new laptop if you're eligible and enroll in select online or on-campus programs. That means flexible and engaging online courses and resources, tuition savings options if you qualify, exceptional student support, and much more. Online nationally or check out their 20 campuses across six states. Start when you're ready and get the support you need. Visit rasmussen.edu.

34:47Hello, hello. This is Malcolm Glabal from Smart Talks with IBM. Today we're diving into a fascinating conversation with Stefano Pallard, head of fan development for Scuderia Ferrari HP. Your pronunciation is strongly American. It's more Scuderia Ferrari. I'm still working on rolling my R's. But what I was able to learn from Stefano was the importance of engaging the Tifosi, the Ferrari superfans in the digital age. Ferrari fans and superfans want to be part of something, want to belong to something. So they want to be part of a community and ultimately they want to be part of a winning team. You've got Ferrari, which has a long history, design history.

35:31And now you're interacting in a kind of digital space. I'm curious how you balance those two traditions. When it comes to fan engagement, it's really digital technology and digital channels are being able to create a deeper connection with our fans. To learn more about how Ferrari and IBM are using technology to build deeper connections with fans, Visit ibm.com slash Ferrari.

36:22Here you go, guys. Thanks. Look, Donald, now you can get the fastest 5G home internet with same-day delivery powered by DoorDash. And it's easy to set up. See? Nothing to be afraid of. We're saved! It's scary how easy it is. Get T-Mobile 5G home internet delivered the same day, powered by DoorDash. Just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line. Plus taxes and fees. Same-day delivery for most internet-eligible customers. See if it's an option during checkout. Fastest according to UCLA Speed Test, based on speed test intelligence data, second half 2025. All rights reserved.

37:04You mentioned that your fear of failure. You said you were driven by excellence and failure. I still am, I will say. Really? To this day? I still have failure dreams now. They take different forms than they did 20 and 40 years ago. So just so everybody who hasn't read the book knows, you have these failure dreams that are recurring in your life. Can you explain what they are? These are dreams where I wake up remembering snippets. And they generally, like most failure dreams that people have from what they tell me, there are similar themes. and in my case it's everything from not being prepared for an exam in college, never attending the class, going in and winging it.

37:58When I was at coach, one of the recurring failure dreams I had was not being really prepared. So preparation is really key and one particular dream which I discuss in my memoir is and it doesn't this particular dream doesn't occur any longer but the dream has me walking down Madison Avenue I'm walking down Madison Avenue in my uniform and at the time it was a three-piece suit this is the year 2000 and coach is now liberated from Sarah Lee which was a holding company that I helped the founder identify, which became my employer for 15 years. And we were finally on our own. I'm walking down the street.

38:51It's 8 a.m. I'm about to go into a meeting with prospective investors. And I look down at my feet and I'm not wearing any shoes. And I have blue woolly socks and people are walking past me. No one's looking at my feet, but I'm saying, oh my God, how am I going to convince anyone to invest in a company where I'm CEO, where I don't even have shoes and I'm not even wearing the right color socks. So I stop at a store. There was a shoe store on 44th and Madison. I see someone inside, someone who's cleaning, and I knock on the window and he goes like this. I lift my foot and he just shrugs. And what do I do?

39:36I say, well, I got to go forward. So I walked into the building. It has one of these turnstile, not turnstile, it has one of these revolving doors. And I wake up and I'm soaked. My clothes, my whatever I'm sleeping is soaked. My pillowcase, like no different than most people who have failure dreams. You wake up nervous, you wake up on sweating. And I still have those dreams, but they, of course, have different forms. So, I mean, you've done years of therapy. Have you figured out the root of where these come from? It's a great question. I haven't really worked extensively with a Freudian therapist, although I've read some.

40:25And it goes back to my early childhood, I'm told, to my speech impediment to what you were saying about your brother, that I needed to overcome adversity. And I lived in constant fear. And when I overcame it, I was no longer conscious of it, but it was in my DNA. When you started finding big financial success, public success with Coach. Did you feel weird about people treating you differently? Because there's a quality in your book that is so obvious, which is great humility. Many people that I worked with when Coach was a division of Sarah Lee, who were CEOs and sometimes founders of their own public companies, had little interest in Lou Frankfurt.

41:24When Coach became more successful in a public company, suddenly they had more interest in me. I did not have any interest in them. And I've been asked actually by Gary about my values and I had not reflected on the exact question he asked me until that Sunday evening, which was, how have you changed? I feel I'm fundamentally the same person I was 40 or 50 years ago. I still believe in the American dream. I'm thankful for everything I have. I'm terribly worried about our country and what it's going through and what it means for my children, my grandchildren, and their children. I want to ask you about that.

42:13There's a few people who blurbed your book. Scott Galloway is one of them. And I was listening to his podcast recently, and it was right after Jimmy Kimmel had been pulled off air unexpectedly. And he said, Bob Iger, I'm paraphrasing, but he said, Bob Iger is going to have to make a hard choice. Is he going to do what's right by his shareholders or is he going to do what's right by America? And I look at so many business leaders in America, and I think they have a very similar hard choice to make. our values are more intertwined in politics now than ever. Absolutely. What do you think of things like that?

42:51And what does someone like me, who's not in business in that way, not understand about making those choices? First, it's not easy. If you're in a Bob Iger type of situation, you have multiple constituencies. You have your shareholders, you have your customers, you have your employees, You have your community and you need to really weigh on a relative and absolute basis where you place your values most. And I do believe there's been way too much compromise, subordination of values in a way that doesn't reflect well on many people or on the many large companies, many of the companies that are backbones of America.

43:45It seems to me like it's decisions made for short-term gain. Because when I think about people like Bob, like legacy must come into play for him. That's why I think part of the reason he went back to Disney. And if you don't make a value-driven decision, how can you think about legacy? I think most people who don't make a value-based decision rationalize it very well. And generally they have their posses around them that reinforce it. Well said. And I generally believe that one of the things that successful leaders do, and certainly Bob Iger is on top of many lists, is they're able to hold antithetical views in their mind at the same time and make choices between them.

44:38And in looking at different choices, values do come into play. When you're a public company, sometimes it's very hard not to look at the short term because you get a report card every three months or every day when you make an announcement. And do you think you were able to obfuscate that because Coach was on its, well, you had Sarah Lee at one point. Well, when Sarah Lee was my employer and they wanted me to make decisions that I felt were not in the interest of the Coach brand or company, I declined to do it. So when they wanted me to sell JCPenney's in order to get another brand, Hanes Hosiery, into a much more dominant place, I said, our customer doesn't go there.

45:39It's going to take away from the imagery of our brand. And I declined to do it. And, of course, they had the option of letting me go, but they were just angry. So you mentioned dark periods earlier and how you navigated depressive episodes. Do you think success comes because of those lows or in spite of them? I think if you can avoid the lows, if you're constituted in a different way, if you can see warning signals, you're much better off than going into a low place and having to lift up because that takes time, effort, modification of a lot of things you do. And I don't think you need to have depressive episodes to be successful.

46:30I will say that my fear of failure and drive for excellence always motivated me. And typically, when I went into a dark place, it was because I felt I was failing or I felt I wasn't. I didn't have enough control over something that was important to me. And I don't do well in situations where I feel that I'm watching something occur and I'm not able to influence or control the outcome, and it's important to me. I think that's a human condition that many people have. I thought it was really cool in the book how you didn't just share how you did something, how you accomplish something you shared how it felt to do it and I think that's rare in a business memoir memoir is one of my favorite genres of books and I read a lot of them and I think in the 90s and even early 2000s there was this business memoir that was very intense it felt like punctuated and tough and and gritty and here's how you push through and get it done and I think We're in this new phase of business memoirs that I've seen where people are talking about the personal impact of running such a huge business.

47:53Why was it important for you to share the personal part of the professional? I wanted to tell an authentic, true story. Earnest. Yes, earnest. I wanted to really tell a story that I felt would resonate with readers. And I also thought telling a story about building a great brand in and of itself is a very good story. But to add what it took and how I felt would resonate particularly with coach employees. Many of them are Gen Z and most of the rest are millennials. It would resonate with coach fans. It might even resonate with people not connected to Coach. And my children actually urged me to tell a real story because they lived through my ups and downs.

48:53And while I shared them with a handful of other people, I was not public about it. And since I've retired from coach, I've been working with founders and senior teams in early stage businesses. And I'm very focused on their total self, and that does include mental health. And I coach, and excuse me, no pun intended, but I coach people to really look for balance. And if I see people going into a place where they may be losing their confidence or feeling uncertain, I would stop and one-on-one I would probe them what's going on. And most people, particularly younger people, are very honest about their ambivalence about things.

49:52And I tell them, you're not alone. Life is not a bowl of cherries, even if you make it to what appears to be the top. Was there a moment at work over the last 35 years that you think crystallized your values or showcased who Lou Frankfurt was? In the first part of the year 2000, when we were going public and we were going to have actual coach shares, I pushed Sarah Lee to allow me to give stock awards to every single employee in the company, including factory employees. And part of my motivation has to do with what I really believe is in America, which is I have an egalitarian view. I believe in a meritocracy.

50:51I believe everyone should participate. And Coach was, as I'm told, the first American brand to provide also annual stock awards all the way down to store managers and below. And that continues through today and giving ownership, real ownership to people who actually operate a store who are. And I think of a store in the old fashioned world. You go into a store, they're shopkeepers. And yes, they may be part of a national brand. And yes, there may be guidelines for visual merchandising. But they run an ecosystem, and we wanted them to participate in whatever wealth accumulation would occur. And I'll just go one step further.

51:43One of my favorite treats is when I, as a CEO, when I would travel around the world and I would meet store managers and sales associates and others who would tell me how Coach changed their lives. They were able to buy a house, get rid of a mortgage, go through a rough economic period, send a child to a private school or camp. And that meant as much to me as anything else. Yeah. It's pretty amazing when a company or a culture that you create, like the gifts are so far reaching. There seems to be this, I guess one of the things I'm struck by is your love of the brand. Because you just don't see people nowadays align themselves with their companies, with their work the way that maybe in the 50s I would read about.

52:43I think young people, I mean, at least me, I get to work for Hello Sunshine, which is Reese Witherspoon's media company, and it's a value-driven company. And I'm like, I drank the Kool-Aid. Like, I feel lit up. But I think that's a rare experience today. Unfortunately, I think that you're right. At the same time, you and other young people are really looking for purpose. And I will say Coach has a workforce of Gen Z and millennials who really believe in the brand and love the product. And one of the joys for me, coincidental with the release of my book, is that Coach in its eighth decade is reaching new heights in sales and in a number of customers.

53:36And the love for the brand is real. And it is part of the American landscape. Well, you guys had this resurgence a few years ago, I would say, with Gen Z. There were some new brand ambassadors. What was the strategy behind that? I will say that this was a strategy that Todd, the CEO, and Stuart, on the chief creative officer, developed to really focus on strengthening coaches' relevance for the new population coming of age. And the reality is that there are 25 million girls turning 18 every year in the countries where coach has significant business. And that excludes Africa and India. So in the world where Coach is a market leader, 25 million people are becoming 18.

54:38And if you can capture their heart and their mind at 18, there's a good likelihood if you continue to listen to them, anticipate where they're traveling and be there When they get there, they will be loyal for 20 and 30 and 40 years. And while they only represent 15 % of accessories spent today, that's Gen Z, they will represent 40 % in 10 and 15 years. And we all know that parents and older siblings and grandparents of Gen Z are influenced by their tastes. And Gen Z, they're really focused on values and culture. Yeah. Would you consider entrepreneurship a spiritual experience? Absolutely. When I think of that really goes into my magic bucket, you need to have belief.

55:40And belief is abstract because you're looking at the future and you're looking at possibilities. And they don't exist in real products or services today. But you have a notion that if you build the right product or create the right service and it's in tune with the values and interests of the consumers you're attracting, men and women, you can create something special. And I think entrepreneurs really need to have belief. And being old school, I do believe at the heart of a great brand is a great product. And that product has images and associations. And that's how you, one, build a great brand, to bring those images and associations to life and storytelling.

56:47why is it always chaos when we link up because nobody plans anything bro good thing the rug's ready like that for real rain dirt whatever available all-wheel drive five modes we still outside and they got some kick too that turbo torque is crazy the most in its class it moves moves rogue doesn't mess around and peep the space merch on merch gear mics all the fits load up we out 2026 nissan rogue built for all of it auto pacific segmentation 2026 rogue versus latest in-market competitors in the x suv mainstream midsides class excluding electrical vehicles based on manufacturer websites unlock the savings at boost mobile and save up to 600 a year i've been scouting these big carriers for a minute now and i've seen them pull the same play a thousand times they promise you the world then hit you with a price hike right when the game gets tight.

57:39But Boost Mobile, their$25 a month unlimited wireless plan is the most consistent player on the floor. No contracts, no price hikes. Unlock the savings today at BoostMobile.com slash unlock. Based on average annual single line payment of AT &T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile unlimited wireless plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit BoostMobile.com. When it comes to advancing your education, you have more options than you think. At Rasmussen University, we find ways to remove barriers, not build them. Like a new laptop if you're eligible and enroll in select online or on-campus programs.

58:10That means flexible and engaging online courses and resources, tuition savings options if you qualify, exceptional student support, and much more. Online nationally or check out their 20 campuses across six states. Start when you're ready and get the support you need. Visit rasmussen.edu.

58:30Hello, hello. This is Malcolm Glabal from Smart Talks with IBM. Today we're diving into a fascinating conversation with Stefano Pallard, head of fan development for Scuderia Ferrari HP. Your pronunciation is strongly American. It's more Scuderia Ferrari. I'm still working on rolling my R's. But what I was able to learn from Stefano was the importance of engaging the Tifosi, the Ferrari superfans in the digital age. Ferrari fans and superfans want to be part of something, want to belong to something. So they want to be part of a community and ultimately they want to be part of a winning team. You've got Ferrari, which has a long history, design history.

59:14And now you're interacting in a kind of digital space. I'm curious how you balance those two traditions. When it comes to fan engagement, it's really digital technology and digital channels are being able to create a deeper connection with our fans. To learn more about how Ferrari and IBM are using technology to build deeper connections with fans, visit ibm.com slash Ferrari.

59:45Zach, nice vacation spot, but without T-Mobile 5G home internet, I feel so cut off. It's scary. Relax, just breathe in the woodsy woodsy-ness. Zach! Don't open it. It's a monster. I just know it. Buddy, it's just our DoorDash driver delivering our T-Mobile 5G home internet. Here you go, guys. Thanks. Look, Donald, now you can get the fastest 5G home internet with same-day delivery powered by DoorDash. And it's easy to set up. See? Nothing to be afraid of. We're saved! It's scary how easy it is. Get T-Mobile 5G home internet delivered the same day, powered by DoorDash. Just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line.

1:00:29Plus taxes and fees. Same-day delivery for most internet-eligible customers. See if it's an option during checkout. Fastest according to Ookla Speedtest, based on Speedtest intelligence data, second half 2025. All rights reserved.

1:00:46What have you learned about collaboration that you think other leaders get wrong? I consider collaboration really on the logic side and not on the magic side. And the reason I say that is because you need to have a mindset that it takes a village to build something and that you can get the best out of people if you create a learning environment where they will share their thinking. and as a community with thinking of antithetical ways to approach things, align on a path and take that path. And extreme collaboration is a way of life at Coach. You talk about it more than most people. That's why I was curious.

1:01:42Well, I do believe in collaboration in the same way I believe in separation of powers. and like checks and balances. You get the best out of people who are connected to the business, whether they're part of the supply chain, they're doing customer service, working in stores, designers, and so forth, and getting a team aligned and finding the right way for people to express themselves and giving them the right opportunities to grow can best occur through a collaborative environment. Now everything, fortunately, is automated in the digital age and there's software that shows the entire world within a company what's going on, and that's very helpful in connecting the dots.

1:02:38I had an interesting conversation the other day. there was a businessman who died and people were saying, wow, look at what he created and look at the success. And I'd known his family personally. And I said, I don't know if I think that was a successful life. His daughter is struggling because I think he wasn't around and didn't instill a lot of confidence in her. I don't know that he spoke to people kindly. We were having a debate on what success is because I guess in some ways maybe I was being judgmental because success to me looked different than what it did to these people. I'm curious about what success is for you.

1:03:23How do you look at it? When I think of success, I think of life's journey. I don't think of the end point. I think of purpose and relationships. And when I say purpose, it's being motivated to do something that you have belief in. And belief is very important purpose. And when I think of relationships, I think of authenticity and I think of genuineness. And I do believe in life's journey, those of us who are able to live above a Maslow's hierarchy, above the place where we pay, just pay our bills. My parents worked so that I could live the American dream. They worked really hard to pay the rent and to put food on the table, like so many of our grandparents and great-grandparents.

1:04:22And those of us who have the opportunity to go to college and to dream and to actually live a more purposeful life beyond just shelter and food and clothing need to really be thinking about moments in life. So I do believe special moments are important. And I think the more special moments one has, the more memories and the more growth we have. When you say special moments, do you mean weddings, celebrations, or do you mean creating special moments every week or every day? When I think of special moments, it's something that is out of the ordinary that you will remember for a long period of time.

1:05:11It could, for me, be a visit to the San Juan store and coach where I saw four generations in the store at the same time. It was my only specific situation. There was a great-grandparent, a grandparent, a parent, and a 17-year-old great-granddaughter. They were all carrying coach, and they were buying coach. And that was a moment for me. Now, that was a work moment. Personal moments are at least as important, and you need to navigate your life so that you can enjoy both simultaneously. In hindsight, I wish I had more. I smelled the roses more on the way up, and people have asked me, what would you do differently?

1:05:59And I'm not sure that I would have been able to do too much differently because it was so demanding 24-7. When you're building something that has heart, it's hard to let go. I think about that because most highly successful people I interview, their reflection is, I should have stopped and smelled the roses along the way, but I'm not sure it's possible. well see for me i tended to compartmentalize to smell the roses on weekends on scheduled vacations but even on the weekends yeah scheduled vacations so many of us not just ceos but leaders at all levels were preoccupied with the problems that we left on friday and and I encourage people to really do a good job compartmentalizing.

1:06:59And I talk about compartmentalization a lot in my book. These are things I learned over the decades. Did your kids understand? Did your wife understand the demands or was that tenuous? Was that tenuous? There were moments where it was tenuous in the sense that I would be away longer than on perhaps I should have been because I would be traveling and it was a lot more efficient if I was traveling to the other side of the world to stay there and not come back for a Saturday or Sunday. But my family did understand and were very supportive and continue to be. You dedicate the book actually to your parents who you say always believed in you.

1:07:48there's I quote this in the podcast a lot but there's a book I love this woman interviewed successful people and the one common denominator was that they had a parent usually a mother who believed in them yes and my mother certainly believed in me and I will I tell a story in my in bag man that I remember like it was yesterday and in fact when we were celebrating my mother's life after her passing, I shared this story with family and friends. And it occurred when I was in the ninth grade. I went to a junior high school in the Bronx, boys and girls, public school. And I had a guidance counselor by the name of Mr.

1:08:33Schmutter. And I remember - What a name. Yes. S-C-H-M-U-T-T-E-R. I remember exactly what he was wearing the day I went into his little office with my mother, and he was sitting behind his desk. He had two chairs, and he had some paper, and he looked at me and my mother, and he said that he thought I should go to a vocational high school. And he went on to say he thought I should go to New York High School of Printing, because printing was becoming a very major industry. And my mother looked at him and said, my son's going to college and stood up and said, Lewis, we're out of here. And I sat there a little bit bewildered because he was authority.

1:09:21And my mother stood up and I sheepishly left afterwards, but I knew when I left the room, I was going to college. That's a beautiful story. And my mother, I will say when I, no one understood me, she painstakingly, when I was five and six and for, she painstakingly worked with me to help me pronounce more letters correctly or to compensate by finding synonyms that wouldn't have this sticky combination of letters that would come out like garbage when I would say it. When you think about that belief, because it must have been really important for you to say that in the dedication. Yes. My parents, like so many of our parents, were very filial oriented.

1:10:15They lived their lives so that their children could have a better life. And while my parents were not immigrants, their parents came to the U.S. just a handful of years before they were born. So English was not spoken regularly in the home when they were growing up. And I do believe the best of America is our diversity, is the notion that we are a motivated group of people that come from anywhere in the world. And I will also say whenever I travel to other parts of the world, whether it was in the 80s or the aughts, regardless of whether who was president and whether the country leadership was popular, everyone knew someone who was living the American dream.

1:11:11And they all talk proudly of New York City and the energy and the grit, going back to a word. And I do think that the best of us, best of America is because we are a melting pot. You have, over the course of your career, met with and know closely some really great leaders. In your experience, what makes a great leader? What are the key mix of ingredients? Interestingly, as you asked the question, I gravitate to political leaders, not business leaders. And I think of Winston Churchill, one of my favorites, because he was a person of real belief and purpose. And he knew that England would not fall to Nazism.

1:12:07And that unswerving belief and that courage resonated with the British people. And it was miraculous how they held their line. I also think of great presidents like Obama and Clinton who cared about people. I think having empathy is a key requirement for a great leader. There can be leaders who are autocrats and there are leaders who can conquer the world. But if they don't care for people, it's hard for me to consider them great. You said you coach people, pun intended, this time. What do you see young leaders struggling with? Many different things. I think one is how to make sense of their place in the world and how they define success.

1:13:04and ambivalence towards putting in the amount of effort that's required and leading a more balanced life. And I think that's a struggle that they need to be conscious of because we're only here one time. So when I talk about enjoying life's journey, I encourage people to search within themselves what really gives them fulfillment, what really drives them. And to the extent they're value-driven, and I've not seen a generation more value-driven than Gen Z other than my generation, the 60s. They are driven by a feeling of purpose. They are concerned with the climate. They are concerned with sustainability, war and peace, diversity and I think that they're carrying a lot on their shoulders in a in a highly fluid world it's moving so quickly at warp speed so much struggling with priorities where to spend their time when I came of age and when people went to work and when they were 30 years old eight years out of college say they generally had one job or 1.5 jobs on average.

1:14:32Now it's six or seven jobs. It's remarkable when I look at a resume of a 35 or 40 year old and they had 12 gigs. And when I probe, why haven't you stayed around longer? One, fortunately, they were able to find other things. So they were living at a higher level than just focusing on shelter and clothing. But also because they weren't feeling fulfilled. Fulfillment is a holistic sense. And today, young people are looking for that in disproportionate ways to their parents and grandparents. What's something you wish young people knew about building something that lasts? That when we say building something that lasts, it's really first belief in what you're doing.

1:15:30Second is building a team of like-minded people and creating an environment where they can thrive and feel purpose and be rewarded appropriately along the journey. Well said. I have some rapid fire questions for you. Okay. Is there something that you think is a common threat between successful people? Relentlessness. What's one trait you see in every great leader you've met? Empathy. Who did you think of when I asked that question? I actually thought of Bill Clinton and I thought of Obama. Yeah. What's the smartest decision you've ever made? A joining coach. One thing that everybody should try once.

1:16:22recreational drugs

1:16:27what's a book you've read that changed your life something that everybody should read stranger in a strange land by rob robit heineland written in 1961 and what's something that you wish people could see about you that they don't see at first glance there isn't anything that comes to mind I believe that I am who I am and I project that from the first moments that I'm there earnestness yes Lou thank you for your time I've enjoyed this thoroughly thank you I appreciate that me too

1:17:07okay you know what time it is today's a good day to have a good day I'll see you next week

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