When I became the CEO of Burberry in July 2006, luxury was one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world.
— Angela Ahrendts
In luxury, ubiquity will kill you - it means you're not really luxury anymore.
I have learned to feel my way through life, personally and professionally.
Think of energy almost like emotional electricity. It has a powerful way of uniting ordinary people, their connected spirit, to do extraordinary things.
If I look to any company as a model, it's Apple. They're a brilliant design company working to create a lifestyle.
In an era of social everything, we want to spark possibility and opportunity in the creative arts, in real life, person to person.
An influencer, to me, is someone who shares their journey - the ups and downs - and their approach to their craft or the spark that ignites a new interest allowing people to do more and go further.
People don't want to just make stuff. They want to make stuff with purpose.
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 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 sign of a great leader is knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know.
You have to create a consistent brand experience however and wherever a customer touches your brand, online or offline. The lines are forever blurred.
The more technologically advanced our society becomes, the more we need to go back to the basic fundamentals of human communication.
I know who I am. I know what I love.
I'm not shy, but I have a job to do. I don't need the notoriety.
Online, offline, it's gotta be the same.
What we have wanted to do is build an amazing brand experience and an amazing way that people can engage with the brand.
It's not unusual for a luxury company to be born from a single product and then diversify. Louis Vuitton began with luggage, and Gucci with leather goods.
I'm from a small farm town in Indiana!
If you can't control everything, you can't control anything, not really.
Computers and smart devices are among the greatest intellectual gifts ever created for man but, if not balanced with human contact, may offer little to develop one's heart.
Part of me is very entrepreneurial.
At Apple, we believe that people with passion can change the world.
Don't stop. Don't slow down. Keep focused.
Burberry was about building a relationship. But it was always about selling an amazing product that you would have forever. Apple is just a deeper relationship with a much broader constituency. Because it's everybody.
It is not about gender, it is about experience, leadership, and vision.
Ninety-five percent of the time, I put myself in somebody else's position - that's how I live.
I think that the larger and more complex the business gets, I have to listen twice as much as I speak.
It's no longer possible to think of the physical and digital as two different worlds.
The purer our message, the more compelling it is to consumers.
We all control our careers. Those choices that you make are so critical.
I don't believe that if you are going to build a long-term, sustainable brand that you can chop up every component part and expect everyone to have a perfect P&L.
Great design... you won't have a business today without great design.
Whether it's countries or companies, it's about putting the best person in the job who can unite people and create value.
I was raised in a small town in Indiana and educated at Ball State University.
I have learned to listen and to hone my instincts to be perceptive and be receptive to change, to constantly live in ambiguity.
Remember - the universal language is not texted, emailed, or spoken. It is felt.
Technology has given us access to the world and its sea of content, allowing us to never speak to another person if we don't want to.
Great design alone isn't going to yield the results investors are expecting.
At their core, an influencer creates an empowering human connection.
We value feeling over knowing, because you can't prove something that hasn't been done before.
My father smoked cigars his whole life, and my husband once in a while does. And when he does, it reminds me of my father. It's a heartwarming thing.
Just put the best person into the job.
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.
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.
The luxury customer is increasingly global and increasingly mobile. Their brand journey is not linear. They might browse online and purchase in store, or vice versa.
Work has never really been work for me. It's been a natural extension of my life.
I don't believe that you are ever done. Is life ever going to stop and stand still? We have to move as fast as the world is moving.
People talk about the age and positioning of a brand, but hell, it's not about that. The global language is digital, and we need to speak the language.
You have to do what's best for the brand.
