Photo: Apple
Angela Ahrendts talks about lessons learned at Apple
In an interview on LinkedIn’s “Hello Monday” podcast, Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberry and then head of Apple’s retail business, discussed her career journey from her roots in Indiana and the role that intuition has played in her decision-making in business.
Ms. Ahrendts, who was credited with repositioning a struggling Burberry brand with a digital focus on younger consumers before joining Apple, talked about three lessons she learned while at the tech giant.
“One,” she told Jessi Hempel, host of the podcast, “never forget where you came from. And what I mean by that is no different than at Burberry. We looked back, because that’s your foundation, right? That’s who founded the business, etc. When I came into Apple, I’d go out in the field and they’d talk about, ‘Steve [Jobs] said our job was to enrich lives’ and ‘Steve said this,’ right? I could have thrown all that out, but I thought no, let’s codify that. Let’s protect that.”
Ms. Ahrendt’s second lesson was “move faster than you could ever fathom.” She talked about Apple’s workforce (and consumers) who are “living” on Instagram, YouTube, getting rides from Uber and staying at Airbnb locations. “I told leaders early on to move fast. And then the team is begging for it.”
The third lesson Ms. Ahrendt’s learned at Apple “was never forget you have a greater responsibility.” She said Apple’s business was more than just operating stores and selling iPhones. She pointed to Mr. Job’s “enriching lives” philosophy. “Maybe that’s what Steve meant when he talked about … liberal arts and technology and the impact it could have on humanity.”
Having a positive impact on the community is central to Apple’s corporate and retail philosophy.
“That’s what the Today at Apple experience, which is free of charge, teaches,” said Ms. Ahrendts. “It’s not a coincidence that it’s only teaching liberal arts: how to make you a better videographer or photographer or app developer or musician. Because I do believe that that’s what you’re going to need in the future.”
Harking on the “never forget where you came from” theme, Ms. Ahrendts described her role as a “steward” of Apple’s retail business while at the company.
“I’ve never asked for a title. I’ve never asked for a raise. I’ve never asked for anything,” said Ms. Ahrendts. “All I’ve done is always try to do what’s best for the company at that point in time and everything else just falls into place.”
She advised younger people in the workforce to “be selfless and you will make an incredible impact.”
- Hello Monday – Apple Podcasts
- Is the success of Ahrendts’ Apple store more fiction than fact? – RetailWire
- What will Angela Ahrendts’ departure mean for Apple’s retail business? – RetailWire
- Apple’s new retail chief ready to get to work – RetailWire
- Apple’s New Retail Chief Knows Something About Style – RetailWire
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think are the most valuable insights shared by Angela Ahrendts by her experience at Apple? Do these insights apply to all retail and brand businesses or are they unique to Apple?
Poll
BrainTrust
Shelley E. Kohan
Associate Professor, Fashion Institute of Technology
David Weinand
Chief Customer Officer, Incisiv
Personal favorite: “never forget you have a greater responsibility.” It is too easy to get lost in the flotsam and jetsam of the day-to-day activities. Too many people become careerists, only concerned about their own ability to move up. This however is a humbling and grounding philosophy to hold. Remember we are here to help others succeed — and that is how we should measure our own success (whether that is customers served or colleagues helped).
Yes – these are resounding lessons – that apply to any retail location. Frankly, these are important lessons for any company – regardless of vertical.
Ahrendts disbanded the Genius Bar, one of the things Apple was founded on. Now you have to wait like a waif on a leather mushroom stool and hope someone “finds you.” Big miss. You can’t have 500 stores as brand ambassadors – you need to over-deliver and sell the merchandise – something Apple stores seem unable to do as a life-long Apple user.
Answers vary depending on the condition of the company for which one comes to work. Some companies enjoy profitability and brand recognition. These companies should tweaks their model a bit at a time. Other companies are not profitable and the brand is languishing. These companies may need a look back to look forward and a shot in the arm as well. A third group may be in dire straits, in which case some drastic measures are required. In these companies one has to ask, is the original reason for its being still valid? In the case of Apple, Angela Ahrendts may have found that she was trying to change too much when only some tweaking was necessary.
Being a steward of the brand is important, as well as believing in the overriding ethos of the brand. Employees at every level should recognize that every interaction they have with a customer is as a brand ambassador, and this applies to decisions made within the company as well.
What a great person. Quite simply, her quote, “be selfless and you will make an incredible impact” exhibits a perspective that is becoming increasingly rare. Keep working for the best for your organization, and the company, your colleagues and you will all prosper.
First, for the record, I am a dedicated Apple user and have been forever. Now to the questions. As aspirational cliches go, any one of Ahrendts’ observations is as good as another. Speaking in soundbites is rarely a problem, executing on them often is. Let’s take “Never forget where you cam from.” Apple came from a place of continuous innovation, relentless dedication to style, and almost tribal community building. It was the scrappy, hipster underdog to staid, authoritarian tech giants. It wasn’t a company based on incremental improvement; or one where positives like the Genius Bar were taken away; or one teetering dangerously close to insult pricing. Or how about, “Never forget you have a greater responsibility.” Does this extend all the way down the supply chain? If it does what about sourcing, labor practices, pricing, and over packaging? Ditto with, “Move faster than you could ever fathom.” A good claim for the company that brought so much innovation to the market, whether the market was ready for it or not, but not so much for a company getting outflanked on almost all sides by more agile competitors. Cliches apply to every company, more or less. Success belongs to those companies whose actions consistently reinforce their rhetoric.
So true. In addition, I was surprised that nothing was said about supporting employees to also be stewards of the brand. In retail at Apple there is lack of support and commitment toward retail careers with reduced training and no career pathing. This is the point at which consumers meet the brand. These employees need to be incorporated as important stewards.
I like the idea of having a greater purpose. True, it is Apple’s job to make and sell great technology. However, they also ask themselves what the purpose of that technology is and how it makes a difference in people’s lives. How many other retailers do that? How many ask what role they play in the lives of their customers, or how their products influence people’s lives? Not nearly enough, in my view.
What I find interesting about this piece is that the key tenets Angela operated under were about “larger purpose” and “brand ethos” – things that are harder to measure. I only point that out is because as we are increasingly in a metrics driven environment, we see that there are highly successful people that still operate on intuition and speed of execution. Apple is a highly unique environment and as Bob Amster pointed out, not every retailer can operate under these guidelines but for the right environment where high touch, high service is a must – these are tenets to live by.
“Never forget you have a greater responsibility” applies to both top-down and bottom-up management. A mantra that if practiced regularly within corporate America emotionally connects each contributor to act daily for the greater good of both company and community. Hence the “feeling” felt by customers in an Apple store.
I don’t think what she’s saying is unique to Apple – certainly not when you look at the brands that are seeing success today. Knowing where you come from (and what you stand for), moving quickly so you’re not left behind and having a greater responsibility are all important elements if you want to make an impact. The important thing is to make this work for you and your brand on an individual basis.
As a business leader the greatest responsibility is to set the strategy and then enable your team to execute.
Ms. Ahrendts’ three lessons are each commendable, but certainly not original. Remembering where you came from is a tried and true concept as is keeping an eye on the bigger picture of social responsibility.
That doesn’t lessen the warm feeling you get from listening to the interview and there’s no doubt that Ms. Ahrendts is an effective executive as demonstrated during her time at Burberry. At the same time, Apple did not thrive, innovate, or regain any of its past glory with consumers during her tenure.
Being a steward can have dual implications. I usually identify the word first with the fiduciary responsibility that comes with being in charge. An alternate definition refers to someone who is a caretaker and just wants to keep things stable while closely managing risk.
Saying “All I’ve done is always try to do what’s best for the company at that point in time and everything else just falls into place” sounds a bit like a pleasantry that glosses over the actual performance of Apple during her tenure.
Wouldn’t we all like to see a truly candid interview with her that talked about what did and did not work? Apple is in need of some revitalization and it will be interesting to see who will effectively lead them into the future.
I don’t find much valuable insight here — perhaps because my observation as an Apple customer is that the stores suffered coming out of her predecessor and through her tenure.
From these comments, I’m not clear why. These are all nicely said truisms. But during her tenure store associates started becoming pushier, offered too many upsells, and became less helpful overall. As well, the Genius Bar has decayed.
It does sound like she unfortunately never worked with Steve Jobs. So her idealism is that of history — not his reality.