Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.
Angela Ahrendts
I know it might sound weird, but empathy is one of the greatest creators of energy. It's counterintuitive because it's selfless.
Ask questions; don't make assumptions.
Intuition is the wisdom formed by feeling and instinct - a gift of knowing without reasoning... Belief is ignited by hope and supported by facts and evidence - it builds alignment and creates confidence. Belief is what sets energy in motion and creates the success that breeds more success.
I grew up in a physical world, and I speak English. The next generation is growing up in a digital world, and they speak social.
I am not in favour of quotas. Just put the best person into the job. It is not about gender; it is about experience, leadership and vision.
I have always admired the innovation and impact Apple products and services have on people's lives and hope in some small way I can help contribute to the company's continued success and leadership in changing the world.
The basis for all human relationships and where we derive our greatest strength and power, trust is single-handedly the most powerful source of positive energy and, once in place, unlocks a freedom and peace to explore.
Everyone in the world should have a trench coat, and there should be a trench coat for everyone in the world. It does not matter your age; it doesn't matter your gender.
I don't think malls are going to go away. People still need somewhere to go, but they do have to evolve.
Think of energy almost like emotional electricity. It has a powerful way of uniting ordinary people, their connected spirit, to do extraordinary things.
Unless I can come in in the morning and smile, walk in the lobby and say, 'Good morning!' - if I am stressed - I am not going to do a good job. Everybody is watching us. They are feeding off of our energy.
I have learned to listen and to hone my instincts to be perceptive and be receptive to change, to constantly live in ambiguity.
The more technologically advanced our society becomes, the more we need to go back to the basic fundamentals of human communication.
Just because you're a luxury brand doesn't mean you have to have an attitude.
It is not about gender, it is about experience, leadership, and vision.
To any CEO who's skeptical at all, you have to create a social enterprise today; you have to be totally connected with everyone who touches your brand.
I work through teams. It's the only way I know how to work.
Great brands and great businesses have to be great storytellers, too. We have to tell stories - emotive, compelling stories - and even more so because we're nonfiction.
Store windows are like landing pages on the website.
You have to create a consistent brand experience however and wherever a customer touches your brand, online or offline. The lines are forever blurred.
I have learned to feel my way through life, personally and professionally.
I was raised in a small town in Indiana and educated at Ball State University.
I hadn't grown up always aspiring to be a CEO.
All I have are my instincts. They've never failed me.
Remember - the universal language is not texted, emailed, or spoken. It is felt.
From the store windows, the store touch-points, the website, social media, or a magazine, it has to be one pure customer experience, not just to gain market share but to gain mind share.
We're building a lifelong relationship with people, and every great relationship has to be built on trust.
I don't care how advanced technology gets. I don't think that there's anything that can replace looking someone in the eyes, touching their hand, you know?
At some point in your career, maybe you, too, have made the life-altering decision to start anew. If so, you know first-hand how exciting, challenging, and sometimes disorienting the first 30, 60, 90 days can be.
Don't stop. Don't slow down. Keep focused.
At Apple, we believe that people with passion can change the world.
I don't want to be a great chief executive without being a great mum and a great wife.
It is one of the most important parts of my job, showing that you can't do it all.
We always said if we were going to target a millennial consumer, then we had to do it in their mother tongue, which is digital.
There's seven billion people on the planet. It's not about you.
I always say that my job is not to think about today. My job is to look around the corner and feel and see what's coming, and then warn everybody else.
'Balance' is a really big word for me.
In China, you've got six people buying for one child. But the thing is, you've got the largest rising upper-middle class in the world.
You have to realise that I am the third out of six children, and I am raised with very strong core values and a very strong upbringing. I always put myself in other people's shoes.
Forget luxury; as a great company you have to keep evolving.
The thing is, I don't want to be sold to when I walk into a store. I want to be welcomed.
I'm nearly always at home at the weekends; that's important for every working woman today, not just me. I don't encourage people to come in at the weekend and work; I encourage people to go home and create great families.
I think if I'm guilty of anything, I'm guilty of always being incredibly focused on the task at hand. So wherever I've worked, I've just always tried to do my best, achieve my best, build a great team around me.
You're going to see relationships with technology across anything that's brand. I don't care if that's in home or what you wear. I just think it's a new fact of life.
You know, I think that anything you do at Apple... you feel a tremendous onus. You want to carry on the legacy of what it meant.
The main objective - our soul is our people. And our job is to enrich their lives, change the world. And so I think that's the bigger pressure you put on yourself.
I think when you're empathetic, you're putting yourself in somebody else's shoes, right? It's not about you.
Trust your instincts and emotions.
People love to talk about themselves.