You always look different because you're the first woman of the first brown person, the first Asian, the first Indian, the first person of color to global luxury brand. You're always the first. You're always underestimated. People don't know exactly what to expect.
Lena Nair is in charge of one of the most exclusive luxury brands in the world, Chanel, the French fashion house known for its iconic designs and fragrances, made the avant garde move to appoint her in the top job. Previously a human resources veteran, she spent three decades at Unilever before switching from the world of fast moving consumer goods to oude couture and beauty. The firm's history is a legendary, from its founder Gabrielle or Cucko to its fans,
including Marilyn Monroe. For Lena Naire, it's a chance to make history.
Now. Want to change the world, but look good while doing it.
On this episode of leaders with Laqua, I speak to Lena Nair about her professional and personal job, how it defines her leadership style, and her unique approach at the top of luxury. Ina Area, thank you so much for joining us here. On Bloomberg delighted to be here. What's it like being a Chanel chief executive? It is the best job in the world. It's creative, it's energetic. It's why Brunt the sector is doing well. It's a great place to be in. So what kind of difference do
you want to make a Chanel? Is it on the business? Is it longevity? Is it what it stands for? Is it sustainability?
You know, I want to lead Chanel into the future along with my team, and lead Chanell into the future by protecting what's core to us, by protecting our differentiation, protecting what's unique about us, and by evolving as a scaled, iconic business and brand. You know, it's always important to understand the context we operate in. The context we have externally is very very dynamic to political uncertainties, macroeconomic challenges, inflation,
complete fragmentation, media channels, ecosystems. I mean, winning hearts and minds of people is so difficult in today's day and age. So we see all of that externally AI. I mean there's not a week you don't hear about AI. So all of this is happening externally and internally. It's been a phase of rapid growth. In the last ten years,
we have more than doubled our revenue. We've more than double the number of people who work for us, We've more than doubled a distribution presence, We've more than doubled the number of countries we have presencing. So that's a lot of growth. So my role, along with my leadership team, is to ensure that we make coherent these changes, that we make sense of these changes, and we are constantly shaping what's next.
As far as I can remember, Chanelle was this beautiful, high end luxury everybody wanted the products, but it was always quite secretive. And then there's been an opening in the last couple of years through culture events podcasts. Why is that?
Like?
Is there? You know, can a high end luxury company no longer be secretive in twenty twenty four?
You know, for me, never having been in the world of luxury or sophistication or refinement, didn't know what to expect when I came to Chanel two and a half years ago. But it's a very humble company. People are truly humble, and you've met many of my teammates and it comes from a sense of we don't say things unless we've really done them so high integrity, so we'd
rather do things before we speak about them. So some of the shyness has been to do with that, And I think the part of the opening up is also as we've grown larger, and I explained some of the internal context. We've been through rapid growth, being in so many markets, having so many people work for us, it becomes important to be clearer and more open about who we are, what we stand for. It's one hundred year
role company. It's important to say what we do to have been a bagon of inspiration all this year is and continue to be a bagon of inspiration for the next hundred years.
Is that because we're buying a luxury differently so that clients and customers now want more of a story than they maybe did ten fifteen years ago.
You know, I think there's no typical client and there's no one reason to engage in luxury. Truly, we see all kinds of clients. People who are longtime fans of Chanel, people who are dedicated buyers of Qutuo, people who are first time buyers. In fact, first time buyers are thirty percent of our clients, which is a lot. We see a lot of gen Z and Alpha. Thirty five percent of luxury consumers by twenty thirty are going to be gen Z and Alpha. It's a hard number to believe,
but it's the vibrance. See, the vitality is huge because each of those clients has a different set of reasons for why they engage with us. So for gen Z and Alpha, they buy because they want to buy less and buy better. They want to buy because they see it's a financially wise investment, but everybody buys for a different reason. For me, it's part of continuing to build our brand, our reputation, come company and telling our story in engaging ways to all sorts of clients.
But do you have to speak differently to the younger generation, No.
Not really. Our story of so Affare, our story of craftsmanship, our story of how how many hours goes into making this jacket, like a hundred hours, all handmade, is still the core of our story, our craftsmanship, our so Affare. It is still how people engage with luxury, the quality of it, the beauty of it, a thing of beauty
gives us all joy. So that is still a very very big reason how people look at luxury, the quality the sub wire being part of that, and the story of Gabriel Chanel and the story of her DNA and what she means for us, a spirit of constantly inno waiting and radical ways. Because when she designed clothes, it was about the freedom of movement. It was about anticipate the needs of the modern woman. It was about creating trousers, crossbody bags so that women could ride bikes, ride horses.
So it was about supporting women to be and become whoever they wanted to be and become. It was about being on this journey of self discovery with women, and that core part of our story doesn't change. It is the story of being supporting women to be and become the best versions of themselves, to discover themselves. And that story still engages no matter what age you are, And the core of our story really doesn't change. How we say it might change. They're more channels than you and
I can count today. There's all sorts of things, Instagram, tiktop, everything that's coming. So the media channels might change through the ecosystem, and how we engage might change, but the core of our story is still very much who we are as you know.
Get my action was like a pioneer, and I feel like when you talk about her, it's also maybe telling a little bit about your story. I mean, you have a unique story. You grow up in a town in India where not many females were educated to a higher level. So what was what was that journey like?
It was a long journey, it was. I grew up in a small town in the southwest of India, col Kolhapur, and the world of luxury, refinement, sophistication was very far away from where I grew up. It was a small town like any other. Most of my memories of me running barefoot in the town or having my little bike and running around women. Being ambitious was not the norm. In fact, I remember my mother constantly telling me, who'll marry you? You're so ambitious and do you really know
what you're going to do with your life? And so very limited access to role models, to opportunities. I did engineering after sort of convincing everybody in my family that engineering was good for girls, which was great. It was electronics and telecommunications, and I quite enjoyed again being in the minority, but learning a lot more about the world of technology, which we're all in now part of. Then did my management studies. Worked all over the country as
part of Kindestani and Aliva. I worked. I had an all round experience, a hands on experience. Worked in the shop floor, worked in frontline sales, rode the trucks in the morning, going to the trade selling tea. So it was a fun experience, it was an adventure. It meant being constantly underestimated. It meant that you always looked different because you were the first woman of the first brown person, the first Asian, the first Indian, the first person of
color to leader global luxury brand. You're always the first. You're always underestimated. People don't know exactly what to expect, they're suspicions of what your agenda might be. And along with it comes the responsibility of making it easier for
those who come after you. So I feel a tremendous privilege, tremendous sense of responsibility to make it easier, which means questioning norms, being a role model, mentoring as many people as I can, trying to make it easier for others, constantly championing a more equal bird.
You like a challenge. Is there ever challenge that you actually shine away from.
You know, every single thing I've done, it's almost as if somebody had said it can't be done. I mean, I remember I was in a fashion factory and I said, I want to go in the night shift, and they said, no, we don't put women in the night shift. I said, how will I be a successful production manager or personal manager of a factory if I never went into a night shift and knew how a third of my people worked. So in some ways it has fueled some of my determination.
It's fueled some of my Okay, I'm going to show this is possible, a sense of I'm going to go get on and do it. It also gives me courage because I feel sometimes I'm not just doing it for me, I'm doing it for everyone else who comes after me. So it gives me courage too. So it fuels my determination, fuels my courage. But it is I don't shy me
from challenges. And I always tell women who ask me for advice, saying, put your hand up for the most difficult job, put your hand up for things that are challenging, you know, go in there and lean into things that are difficult, that are challenging, because that's what gives you the greatest credibility, respect reputation as you built your career.
Coming up, Chanelle's lenonaire on the long term outlook for luxury and the changing role of what it means to be a chief executive. Chanelle is behind some of the most recognizable designs and fragrances in modern fashion. The French luxury house is still privately held by the billionaire family Vartheimer, involved with the company over the past century. I continue my rare interview with the firm's chief executive Lemannair. Do you see that again, you know, the high end luxury?
Does that even go higher end luxury that actually there's a lot of players in the fashion world right now, in luxury world, and it's really the ones that are very high that will do well. And does that also justify some of the price increases that we've seen at Channel.
Our prices are related to our cost prices. We use exquisite raw materials and our production, as you know, is very rigorous, laborious, handmade, so we raise our prices according to the inflation that we see, so they're really linked to the cost price. We've also made a commitment to price harmonization across the world, which means our client should not experience excessive price, different shills, price different shills, no matter where they buy.
And secondhand the market is also something that we're saying more and more in the last like four to five years. What does that mean for a company like shanew.
You know, we've famously not been on e commerce. We've always said we want our clients to buy from our beautiful stores because we believe that clients must enjoy the immersive experience, immersive physical experience where they build a relationship with the fashion advice or the beauty advice or the boutique assistant, which is so magical and so core to the Chanell story.
And how do you see the China market right now compared to the US market, because it's not that volatile. Actually, you kind of have like a base set stage for quite some time.
China is a very central market for the luxury ecosystem because of the fast adoption of luxury, because of the appreciation of refinement and sophistication. So it's a very important central market for US. I came back recently from China and I was really happy to see the energy and vibrancy in the market, so we continue to run our business for the long term and continue to invest in China for the long term. Similarly, US, I see US
as a long term market for luxury. It always has been, and all markets see a bit of ebbs and flows, but if you keep a long term perspective, we continue to invest. I mean, we just opened our beautiful Watches and Fine to Restore on the fifth Avenue. It is absolutely breathtaking, designed by Peter Marino, with everything that you'd expect a nationally boutique, great personalization, intimacy, beauty, things that uplift you. So we we believe in both these markets and they important to us.
So it's probably tough for being a chief executive in twenty twenty four than it was for the last twenty years because of the constant change, and we don't really know what AI brings either.
Yes, it is. It is definitely more challenging, and one of my principles as a leader is about tapping into collective intelligence because I truly believe the days of the superhero leader are well and truly behind us. World is so complex. There are crisis on multiple levels that you imagine one individual, no matter how bright they are, how experience they are, can have answers to all the questions. No chance. That's why I believe in collective intelligence, diverse perspectives.
Go around the room, listen to every voice. It's very important to me that I'm not just listening to the dominant voices in my room, in my meeting room, but listening to all voices around the table.
So is that what you also lead by empathy? I mean I'm always you always say you know you lead and lived, which is not always easy.
I remember in my early days in my career and unilvel, when I was going to a place in a factory and I felt if it was not safe for women, I would go back and fight the battle to make sure it was made safe for women who came after me. It was always questioning the norms, challenging what was happening so I could make it easier for others who come
after me. It's beautiful in chanel Vius, seventy six percent women, sixty percent of my management team are women, so it's it's easier to set into place everything to support the development and career of all these standard women and create a more equal world.
Would you ever go into menswear with Chanelle?
If we're going to menswear, it's a rare time in our history where we have a female founder, a female CEO, female creative director of fashion. So it's a rare time. And I think we support women everyone such a beautiful you know, we do make things for men. Blur is one of the largest selling perfume for men, and I hope it stays that way. We really buy women for women, support women and were here to empower and support women on the journey of becoming.
Yeah, and you're right the perfume. I forgot the perfumes. Yeah, talk to me a little bit. I mean there's things that people don't understand about Chanel or we talked about the foundation because actually for so long it was all kept you know, in house. But you also have other brands, like how do you see all of these companies working together?
Yes, you know, we are the world leader in many categories. There is all a fashion which is well known. We are in fragrances and beauty and skincare. And one of the things is we as with my leadership team, which we started working on what we call a beacon of inspiration for the next hundred years, or we call the one hundred year of plan, you know, constantly thinking ahead. We started putting some building blocks of fit, which is
having a positive impact in the world. And there was sustainability in my middle, social sustainability and the whole area of women's empowerment and girls. So we are one of the largest philanthropic organization dedicated to women empowerment and girls.
It's amazing because not many people know that.
One hundred and twenty five million this year, so one hundred million as soon as they came in and now we've increased that two hundred and twenty five million, so we are truly one of the largest organizations in the world. We work with two hundred and thirty seven partners in fifty fifty cluss countries on beautiful programs that support women to be free to shape their destiny.
Coming up, Lena Nair on how Chanel is trying to change luxury and how her background in HR is helping to shape her mindset. As a chief executive, Lena Naire is used to breaking convention and changing norms in the workplace. Her transition for Unilever and Human Resources to becoming the chief executive of one of the most prestigious names in luxury. She tells me how Chanelle is positioning for the future of fashion and what it means for her legacy at
the iconic firm. How difficult is it for a big luxury company to be sustainable? I mean, you have very ambitious goals.
I'd like us to set the bar for luxury. I would like other luxury players to be inspired by what Chanelle does every day. We are one of the few luxury players that has now publicly set a goal of net zero twenty forty. So we want to really reduce our corbon emissions. So, for example, we are in cobon emissions.
We are reducing our logistics, transport and corbon footprint to do with digital Chanelle dot Com saw an increase in traffic of thirty percent but a sixteen percent reduction in carbon footprint.
How much of this comes from I guess the heart, you know, try to to do good. And how much does this also play with consumers because in five ten years will be even more focused on this.
Yes, you know for insane. I think clients believe luxury is sustainable because they know we make few things and we make them beautifully, and we make them with hand, and that genuine desire by clients to see us continue to sustainable is only going to go up. And I mentioned about more gen Z and Alpha buying, and they buy because they want to buy less and buy better, which is the right mindset to engage with luxury. So it is going to be increasingly important in sustainability.
You need to be a risk taker, like the idea that as a chief executive, I guess you need to be careful, But do you need to Is there anything coming where you, you know, will challenge I guess you're.
Risk taking, you know. I think for all of us it's the world today is so complex and moving fast that you're constantly adjusting being a child taking. For me, we are a courageous brand because we walk in the footsteps of a courageous woman. Gabriel Chanel lived the life she wanted courageously passionately, made the choices she wanted courageously passionately. And one of our values is audacity. So for me, audacity so important. Lean do you call it restaking, I call it audacity.
I like, I actually prefer audacity. It has a certain cachet that I'm sure Gabrielle Chanell would have loved. What have you learned about yourself? As chief executive? So you were in charge of HR for Uniliver, and this is a massive company, it's one hundred thousands of employees. I mean, is it different actually being in charge of a company than being in charge of of HR.
When when I was moving to Chanel, a mentor told me you're doing a quadruple jump. So what do I mean? So it's changed on so many dimensions. It's public to private. It's FMCG to LUG. It is from Anglo Dutch to French heritage. I have weekly French classes. It's HR to CEO. So it's been changed on all dimensions. It's not just one dimension, It's been all dimensions. And luxury is very different from fmcs. You know, the preciousness, the rarity, it's
not available everywhere every time. It's the balance between timeless quest for new it's all of that. It's different to me. The principles of business and the principles of leadership are transferable across sectors. How to run a business across multiple countries, multiple product categories, multiple geographies, multiple cultures. How to galvanize and inspire teams across again, multiple cultures, multiple kinds. There are principles that hold you in good step because people
are people. At the end of the day, they have motivations, dreams, aspirations. They won't to engage in a particular way. I must say being in Chanel has taught me to be more patient, more long term. The treadmill of quarterly results, etc. Is a different world. So it's taught me to be more patient. It's taught me to appreciate a lot more. And you know, I want to change the world but look good while doing it.
I love that. Do you think about your legacy?
Yes? I do. For me, I hope people say that I'm a purpose led visionary leader, which means you spend a lot of time thinking about what are you doing, what are you giving back? What will be the difference
you make? I think for me, the biggest thing is if a hundred years from now people look back and say that we at Channel did stuff today that inspires them, that helped them question norms about what they're doing, Audacious things that have redefined the norms, supported women everywhere to feel like they can be the best version of themselves. I think that would be something that I would feel
good about it. If I've made a few women in the world dream a little bit more about what they could achieve in their lives, I would feel very fulfilled in my life and career.
Do you think you're ipoceanal Oh no.
And IPA is not on the table. We love the privilege of being an independent company, being able to make long term decisions. Twenty thirty hundred years old.
I being a best piece of advice and worst piece of advice you've ever been given.
Best piece of advice I'm actually going to do too. One is fall in love with the life a job you have. Don't wait for the perfect job. Fall in love with the job you have and make it the most perfect job in the world. And the other is which my husband also tells me a lot, enjoy the journey as much as you enjoy the destination. We're always in a hurry to get somewhere, and you get promoted, you and given the next promotion. No, no, no, just enjoy breathe a bit and enjoy the journey as much
as the destination. Worst piece of advice. I think most often when you get a worst piece of advice you just ignore it and forget about it. But you know, I've received advice like you know, when I was in many rooms the only woman in the room, the only woman in the room. So many times in my career, I've received advice like you know, stay quiet for as long as you can, and try and blend in, and you know you're already standing out because you looked at
from from the rest. And I think that's terrible advice. I think it's really important you feel safe to be who you are, and it takes courage to be who you are, and you're changed by being who you are.
I mean, no, no, thank you so much for joining yesterday.