Karen has spent her career working with global brands across luxury, retail, fashion, hospitality, technology and innovation-driven companies.
Fashion is at the center of many important crossroads – on the one hand, from a pure investment and valuation perspective, private equity and venture capital have more recently been stepping away from the sector. This is partially due to the disruption of the valuation models that the tech sector created for digital first brands, as the premises upon which companies were being valued has totally shifted. Now, growing purely through customer acquisition without a focus on driving profitability is no longer acceptable as this model, which was a platform for growth for the past decade, encouraged many digital first companies to operate with what now feels like an outdated mindset. Additionally, the previous model has become incredibly expensive, and has forced founders and leaders to go more deeply into their brand DNA, to ensure they are telling an authentic brand story, and focus how that story would drive a more sustainable growth agenda for engagement and customer retention for the business. Further, through this digital first lens, while many brands have put digital marketing in the center, and of course social strategies have been equally important to driving engagement and community, there’s now such a plethora of brands that are not well-differentiated, but with similarities with how they engage, particularly through influencers. Strategically this must change, as customers are more interested in product and engaging with brands that meet them where they are, in whatever channel they happen to be in. This has challenged many DTC fashion brands, in that the lack of a meaningful brand platform has created a spin cycle from a digital, influencer, celebrity and social media marketing perspective.
This said, things are moving very quickly in the intersections of fashion and entertainment, particularly in the music sector. There are a lot of questions around the reliance on celebrity, however, and investors and the like are looking at other categories, while these kinds of DTC companies go back to the drawing board on brand and strategy - many will not make it. On a wider level, the sports and fashion sectors are going to be creating meaningful brands and businesses, and there seems to be a tremendous level of energy around these possibilities. Last but not least, there is the ever-present need for fashion to reinvent its entire ecosystem to become more sustainable in an authentic way. The process is extremely challenging however, and not something that large scale companies are able to move fast enough to address, but the eventual pressure that will come from the consumer and regulators will force change. As ever, the financial markets will be the last to recognize that more is not better for the fashion industry and the pressure on public company CEOs to drive growth will have to eventually shift, as regardless of the growth lens for shareholders, the industry will be more driven to make changes that will not reflect this model. Regulations that are very close to being put in place will require companies of any size to reset their go to market strategies, product creation, systems and approach, which will result in less waste. The various emerging models for circularity, including creating product with deadstock, or bringing vintage product to the center of a business, are still in some ways in their infancy, and will need to come closer to the center quickly, while brands race to catch up with what these eventual regulations will require for them to sustain their businesses globally.
In our world, we don’t think about being super connectors, per se. Instead, we think about the responsibility we have to be constantly staying at the center of the zeitgeist so that we are helping clients stay relevant and work with best in class talent. We are constantly learning from our extraordinary global community of brands and talents that are best-in-class business and creative leaders, operators and innovators - and believe it’s critically important to be applying a growth mindset and curiosity to discover what we don’t know, and to discover who is making the most impact from a variety of vantage points. So while we work in both Advisory Services and Executive Search with clients around the world, our required skill of being able to connect the best brands and talent is only achievable if we are out in the critical markets visiting cultural institutions, dining in the most unique restaurants and staying connected to all relevant culture, like music and film; both genres that partner with fashion, but that also inform culture.
In terms of AI, I feel mostly optimistic. However I believe that regulation will be critical. On one hand, I think that some of the work we do on a day to day basis, including administrative, research and identification of talent can be made more efficient through AI tools that would allow us to be more creative in helping brands Recalibrate through talent strategy. I believe that humanity, energy, and personal connection is where we must apply our unique thought processes, in order to ensure that we are pushing an agenda to bring creativity even more to the center of our work and that of our clients. Bringing people together for creative and strategic work will be critical, and in our sectors, this work is sometimes bogged down by the administrative aspects. Having said all of this, AI is rapidly expanding its abilities to copy creative ideas, which will continue to challenge this premise if not regulated. In the past decade, some of the digital transformation now feels dated and needs a refresh, and we will move to a place where perhaps technology needs to be more hidden and seamless, the work in brand differentiation will become paramount, and the need to bring highly human and connected leaders to the center of brands will become not just empirically important, but a must have for all companies. In our particular business, AI may be a tool that we eventually engage with, however only when we know that while using this technology, brand and candidate data can be protected to maintain their privacy.
I have always been driven by curiosity and my true desire to learn and be part of culture. Even if I can’t always participate as I did in the early years of my career, not a day goes by when I don’t have my ear to the ground, both on a personal level and by relying on my extraordinary team, where the oldest person is over 20 years younger than me. Our commitment as a company is to make sure that we are all staying connected to what’s happening, while I apply my natural predilection toward innovation, and the absence of fear in being a first mover in almost all circumstances.
There are many: Gloria Steinem, Michelle Obama, Jane Fonda, Beyonce, Serena Williams, Katherine Johnson, MacKenzie Scott, Angela Ahrendts, and Billie Jean King
My dog, Hope
At last, the recognition of female athletes and the possibilities they create in terms of inspiring cross-generational girls and women in using their extraordinary and sometimes super-human skill sets to change the conversation, and ultimately impact the outcome of society.
