{"id":247176,"date":"2024-07-24T14:15:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T14:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/24\/kendra-scott-ceo-tom-nolan-doesnt-like-a-know-it-all-leader-find-out-why\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:14:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:14:04","slug":"kendra-scott-ceo-tom-nolan-doesnt-like-a-know-it-all-leader-find-out-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/24\/kendra-scott-ceo-tom-nolan-doesnt-like-a-know-it-all-leader-find-out-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Kendra Scott CEO Tom Nolan doesn&#8217;t like a know-it-all leader. Find out why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Tom.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On this episode of\u00a0<em>Fortune<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/topic\/leadership-next\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/topic\/leadership-next\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"sc-82aca549-0 klXAci\"><em>Leadership Next<\/em><\/a>\u00a0podcast, host Diane Brady talks to Tom Nolan, CEO of jewelry and accessories brand Kendra Scott. They discuss what it takes to step into a CEO role that was recently vacated by a still very present company founder, the continued expansion of Kendra Scott\u2019s brick-and-mortar stores, and how to lead a company in a category you\u2019re not personally passionate about.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Listen to the episode or read the transcript below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=FMC4108101905\" style=\"border:none\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr class=\"sc-fa0656e5-0 gIAhfJ\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcript<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Diane Brady:<\/strong> <em>Leadership Next<\/em> is powered by the folks at <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" class=\"sc-82aca549-0 klXAci\" rel=\"noopener\">Deloitte<\/a> who, like me, are exploring the changing roles of business leadership and how CEOs are navigating this change.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to <em>Leadership Next<\/em>, the podcast about the changing rules of business leadership. I\u2019m Diane Brady. This week I speak with Tom Nolan, the CEO of Kendra Scott. You may not know it, but it is one of the fastest growing jewelry brands in the world. A billion-dollar brand at this point, affordable luxury fashion meets philanthropy. It will soon be in 300 stores across the U.S. Tom took over from the woman who founded it more than 20 years ago with $500 in her pocket. He talks about that. He talks about his own journey to the C-suite and what\u2019s next for one of the world\u2019s most popular jewelry brands. Here\u2019s the interview.<\/p>\n<p>Hi, everyone. We are here with Tom Nolan, CEO of Kendra Scott, a billion-dollar jewelry brand. Tom, good to see you. I have to say, when I mentioned I was doing this, one of my colleagues downstairs immediately pointed to a gold chain on her neck with a very beautiful gem. So you are beloved here at <em>Fortune<\/em>. I can tell you you\u2019ve got customers in the building.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tom Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah. Thanks, Diane. I\u2019m happy to be here and appreciate you having me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Well, let\u2019s start for those who don\u2019t know. Tell us a little bit about where this brand fits in the pantheon of jewelry out there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah. I mean, look Kendra started the business 22 years ago now, which is amazing to think about. I\u2019ve been around it for going on 10 years now, but 22 years ago, as a single mom, she saw white space in the industry to create affordable, beautiful, natural gemstone material for somebody that she couldn\u2019t afford. And there was white space out in the marketplace at the time, it didn\u2019t really exist. So, she created Kendra Scott out of the spare bedroom of her house with $500 and a dream and started the business as a wholesale business, really walking around with her eldest son, Cade, in a Baby Bjorn selling her wares. And today, as you mentioned, the company\u2019s really just grown leaps and bounds and couldn\u2019t be more proud of the team or her or what we\u2019ve created throughout the years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Yeah. And you became CEO in 2021, but you joined the board, I believe, 10 years ago, and you\u2019ve had various roles, including president. Let me pause a second with the, uh, the origin story is is fantastic. When I hear the term affordable luxury, I\u2019ve also heard the term fashion meets philanthropy\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Mm hmm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady: <\/strong>\u2026give me a sense of what that means, because that\u2019s a term that people can immediately read as somewhere in that mid-market that\u2019s kind of undefinable and sometimes hard to grow. What do you think has differentiated the brand?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, well, it\u2019s funny. When I was at <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/ralph-lauren\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/ralph-lauren\/\" class=\"sc-82aca549-0 klXAci\" rel=\"noopener\">Ralph Lauren<\/a>, I never liked the term affordable luxury. But, you know, living in a space where a large constituency of our customers are mid-market customers, you know, and the customer is our boss. We love her and love him. I feel like it\u2019s important for a brand to be able to touch all aspects of the customer wherever they are in their lives. So I think that\u2019s a really important place to be. And there\u2019s been a lot of stories written recently in the consumer space specifically about luxury goods, and LVMH has been kind of centered around that, and they\u2019ve had tremendous amounts of success, but, you know, 85% of the global population makes less than $100,000 a year, and 81% of the U.S. population does. So I think, like all customers are important, is kind of my way of saying that. As it relates to fashion meets philanthropy, we have three pillars of the company\u00ad\u2014family, fashion and philanthropy\u2014and philanthropy, I believe, is our most important one. Kendra put a stake in the ground 22 years ago when she started the business to make sure we were not just selling jewelry or creating something but trying to do good in the world. And there\u2019s a story behind how she started her previous business, which was called The Hat Box. Her stepfather, Rob, was going to\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> That failed, that one, didn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>It did, pretty monumentally, as a lot of those do. And, you know,  just like I try to teach my kids, you learn a lot more from failure than you do from success. But she saw her stepfather, Rob, was going through chemotherapy for brain cancer, wound up passing away. But she was at M.D. Anderson a lot in Houston and saw patients dealing with the loss of hair. So she wanted to create a hat company to help those patients and had soft linings inside of hats and, you know, had these grand visions of people walking around wearing top hats and fedoras again, and that business failed. But it showed her what a difference a company could make in the lives of somebody.<\/p>\n<p>And when she started Kendra Scott out of The Hat Box, out of that failure, I should say, the Austin community really got around her and galvanized around her because she always had something to give, whether it was to a local church or a school or somebody in need. And she put a stake in the ground and said she always wanted to make sure that she helps people in need, not just organizations in need, but individuals in need. And we felt true to that 22 years later. And it\u2019s, I think for a lot of us, the why of why we enjoy working here so much and it\u2019s foundational to our culture as an organization.<\/p>\n<p>And I think the consumer over the years, <em>Fortune<\/em>\u2018s written a lot about this as well as other media outlets, cares a lot more about the companies they\u2019re working with and who they\u2019re buying something from. It\u2019s not just purchasing goods, it\u2019s it\u2019s really about making a difference and aligning yourself with companies and businesses that appreciate the same things that you do. And we\u2019ve been at the center of that for more than two decades now. So, I think it\u2019s really allowed us to be more successful in recent years and see just tremendous step growth in the last couple of years specifically.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> So let\u2019s remind people, you\u2019ve got a fascinating background yourself. By the way, I want to get into you\u2019ve been a founder as well and a golf fan. We can talk about that. But  the price point, it\u2019s around, what I mean seems to be a pretty wide range. Let\u2019s just tell people what the category\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Average price point. Sorry, is around $100.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>And we span from $35 and now we have engagement rings that span up to $35,000. Our sweet spot is right around the $100 mark. But, you know, some of the things we really care about are creating beautiful, natural gemstone, high quality product that has a high value proposition. And value proposition means a lot of different things to different people in points in their life. You know, last night, I went took my family to Bingo and I was sitting next to one of my daughter\u2019s friends who\u2019s 12, who had an \u201cElisa\u201d necklace on, and she was super proud of it and saved up her money to buy it, and that item sells for $65. And she got it at our Color Bar, which is in every one of our 139 stores across the country, and her mom was wearing one of our fine jewelry pieces. And I was sitting next to my wife, who was wearing several of our fashion pieces, as well as our fine jewelry pieces, and seeing that multi-generation, you know, wearing that and, a lot of times, the same product but also different product from the same brand with pride and feeling good about themselves, I think is kind of what we stand for as a brand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> I\u2019m fascinated that you\u2019re taking your family to play Bingo. Is that a weekly occurrence in the Nolan household?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>We have, and when we\u2019re here in the summer, the place that we go to has Bingo every Monday night. And it\u2019s the highlight of our summer. It\u2019s the highlight of my week. And my son actually won.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Let\u2019s talk about here. Here right now is not Austin, Texas. Where are we talking to you from?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, I\u2019m talking to you from the mountains in North Carolina, which is kind of an escape for us in the summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Nice. Very nice. Well, I want to get into before we, I know you\u2019ve got bold expansion plans, etc., etc., but I want to talk a little bit about your background, Tom, because when I look, you know, you\u2019ve spanned the horizon here. You\u2019ve been a partner in a spirits company. You\u2019ve co-owned a golf club. You\u2019ve been on the board of numerous companies, including, by the way, a men\u2019s underwear brand. That\u2019s how I associate Tommy John. And you founded your own company. You mentioned Ralph Lauren. Tell me a little bit about what did you want to be when you grew up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>I wanted to be a baseball player when I grew up. I grew up on Long Island. My dad\u2019s an electrician and I\u2019m the only person in my family to graduate from high school. So, you know, the dreams I had were were not education dreams or business dreams, because it just seemed like a, you know, too far a stretch for me, the way and the environment that I grew up in. But because I could throw a baseball well, I won, that wound up paying for college for me and, you know, my dreams, I was a big dreamer, like I dreamed about being successful and having things that I kind of envision come true. But if I\u2019m being honest, the business world was a far stretch for me. I had no exposure to it whatsoever, really, until I got out of school, but started my career in the publishing industry with a company called Ziff Davis and then transitioned into Time Warner for a very brief period of time, and then Cond\u00e9 Nast is where I spent the majority of my publishing career. I became a magazine publisher at really young age. I was 26 years old, which is, you know, looking back, crazy, to think that somebody gave me the keys to the P&amp;L of a successful business\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> You were publisher of <em>Golf World<\/em>, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>\u2026at that age. Yeah. <em>Golf World<\/em> magazine. That\u2019s right. And I loved it. It was a passion of mine. I wound up playing baseball and golf in college, and it was great. And I had the ability and I worked for some great people and I had an amazing team there that really allowed me to be vulnerable and successful and work hard, and it was great. And then a little after working there for several years, I wound up at Ralph Lauren, as you mentioned. I ran their golf and tennis business, which was great, and learned the business from [Chief Operating Officer] Roger Farah, who I think is one of the best operators I\u2019ve ever been around, and to this day, a mentor of mine and then learned the brand from Ralph. We spent a lot of time together and it was awesome just being in the room with those two individuals and then the broader group, and from there I left and kind of had an itch I wanted to scratch to be an entrepreneur. I heard Ralph talk a lot about being a great entrepreneur, and S.I. Newhouse and all these people that I had been around, and I hooked up with a private equity firm and launched a holding company called Prospect Brands because that was the street I grew up on. And we bought distressed assets, and it was, you know, one of my dreams was I wanted to be a CEO. I did that probably a little too premature.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Well, what did you learn from that experience? You said earlier you learn more from failure. And I\u2019m not going to call Prospect Brands a failure, but you\u2019re in a different role today. Tell me about that experience and what you took away from it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>You know, I think, I didn\u2019t really know what it meant to be a chief executive. I think what it means in hindsight is just being a great teacher and a coach. And I was so, so busy with trying to prove to everybody that I deserved to have that role and I could be successful in it. And I didn\u2019t listen probably as well as I should have to the team, to the market, to my family in a lot of instances and, you know, tried to force a square peg into a round hole in some instances with some of the businesses that we owned. And it just, it didn\u2019t work. And one of my strengths, I would say, is I just have a dogged determination and, you know, I\u2019ll persevere and see things through and a lot of times it serves you really well. But in some instances, you\u2019ve got to listen to the environment around you and your people around you and what it\u2019s telling you. And sometimes it just says, no, hey, this isn\u2019t working or the way you\u2019re doing it isn\u2019t working. So I think I learned you\u2019ve got to pivot more quickly, trust your gut sometimes. So I wouldn\u2019t say it was a monumental failure, but it certainly wasn\u2019t a great success. But what was borne out of that was while I was working at Prospect Brands, I got a phone call from Norwest Venture Partners who had just made an investment in this jewelry company called Kendra Scott in Austin, Texas, that I had never heard of. And that\u2019s when I joined the board to your earlier point, it was in 2013 now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Wound up changing my life in a lot of different ways. And philanthropy was a big part of it. And then in addition to that, as you mentioned, I\u2019m on, have been on the board of Tommy John for a number of years now, which is ironic because my name is Thomas John and my mom used to write Tommy John in my underwear. So maybe I, maybe I should have come up with that idea instead of Tom Patterson.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> You know, I\u2019m struck when you\u2019re talking, Tom, you\u2019re in a company that is 95% women, and you\u2019re mentioning things like soft skills and emotions and work-life balance. And I don\u2019t want to get into gender stereotypes here, but I\u2019m sure you must get asked a lot about being a man leading a company of women for women. Tell me a little bit about how you are sensitive to that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, I wouldn\u2019t say I have any sensitivity to it. I just kind of react to the reality of it. I mean, when I first joined the organization, we were 99% female. So it\u2019s one of the reasons why my email is just Tom at Kendra Scott because I was the only one when I first started. Now we have first last name. But, you know, look, I think it was different for me. It wasn\u2019t, it wasn\u2019t something I was used to. I came more from,  I have a like a sports mentality kind of the way I grew up, I\u2019m a hard charging person. It was a different sort of softer skill set, necessary here, I think in order to be successful. It\u2019s made me a much better leader in the sense of recognizing and leaning into the importance of work-life balance. You know, how important it is to, you know, the superpower that working moms have. I don\u2019t think it necessarily has anything to do with gender in that regard. Because, you know, I\u2019m a father as well. And, you know, I want to be able to spend time with my family. And I think this organization really recognizes that, leans into it in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Yeah. Mother\u2019s Day is a day off, right? Don\u2019t you give everybody Mother\u2019s Day?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>That\u2019s right. We do.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady: <\/strong>But not Father\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah. Yeah. So we gave Mother\u2019s Day, I think just because of the nature of our organization being so female, it made sense to do that. And it has been celebrated. In fact, you know, the media hadn\u2019t really talked about it as much as I would have hoped that they would. But I know the employees certainly appreciate it. And the flexibility I think, that we afford our workforce to be able to spend time with their families. And at the end of the day, we put points on the board. Right. The growth in our business has been extraordinary. We\u2019ve been an outlier amongst outliers, specifically in the consumer space. And I think a lot of it has to do with we have this recognition of accountability to each other and that\u2019s our family pillar and this relentless desire and need to win. But we balance it with kindness and heart and compassion and understanding and flexibility so that, you know, I\u2019m fortunate, too, and I live this myself. I don\u2019t miss a lot of sports games for my kids, and I try to make things that matter for my family, but I always show up for our organization. Yeah. And, you know, it\u2019s always about winning and it\u2019s about doing what we said we\u2019re going to do as a company and as individuals. And I think that makes a big difference.<\/p>\n<p>[Music starts.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan Murray:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m here with Jason Girzadas, the CEO of Deloitte US, who had the good sense to sponsor this podcast. Jason, thank you very much for joining me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jason Girzadas:\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you. It\u2019s a pleasure to be here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:\u00a0<\/strong>Jason, the majority of Fortune 500 companies have made commitments to reach net zero to address climate, but it\u2019s still unclear how they actually get there. What\u2019s the role of technology in meeting those ambitious goals?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Girzadas:\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s a broad recognition that the cost of climate change is far greater than the cost of not investing in it. Organizations will continue to utilize technology to move on the journey towards a decarbonized future and a more circular economy. We\u2019re already seeing the benefit of technology through an increase in alternative energy sources. The advances in battery and storage technology are evident. You\u2019re seeing the growth and increased performance of EVs at lower price points. So the impact and value of technology is being felt already, and that\u2019s only going to continue. It\u2019s pretty clear that climate change requires innovations that don\u2019t exist today. But we do think that there will be new opportunities for innovation to be further accelerated through the development of ecosystems around emerging technologies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s clearly a lot to do on this front. You talk to a lot of CEOs about this. Do you feel there\u2019s a real sense of urgency on meeting these commitments?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Girzadas:\u00a0<\/strong>The urgency is there. The call to action around climate change and the path to sustainability is there, and the impact of climate change is real. I think the narrative is shifting one from it being a cost and an inconvenience to decarbonize our economy to one where it\u2019s actually a opportunity. The climate organizations that we serve are in their own way, charting a path to a sustainable future.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:\u00a0<\/strong>Jason, thanks for your perspective and thanks for sponsoring\u00a0<em>Leadership Next<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Girzadas:\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>[Music ends.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Let me talk about one of the things that\u2019s always fascinating to me is when you have a strong founder and I think everyone would agree that Kendra Scott herself is a strong founder. She is still the majority shareholder, executive chairwoman. What\u2019s the relationship she has to the company now? Because it\u2019s very hard to make the place your own when the person who founded it is still lingering down the hall.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, I mean, I have the fortunate context of only working for founders and having been a founder. So I think there is a very pervasive and specific founder mentality. There\u2019s a great book called <em>The Founders Mentality<\/em> that if you haven\u2019t read, it\u2019s worth reading. And it\u2019s very true, right? I mean, the way a founder looks at a business is it\u2019s their child, right? Especially founders whose names are on the building and I\u2019ve worked for two of those. And one of the reasons when I first came here, and I think for Kendra to hand the reins over to me as CEO was incredibly humbling. But also it was a bit of a surprise because it\u2019s like giving custody of your child to somebody. So that was rooted in trust over the last several years that we worked together before that. Now, now almost a decade.<\/p>\n<p>You know, she plays an unbelievably important role in the organization. She\u2019s very active in the organization. You see her on <em>Shark Tank<\/em>. I mean, she has written a very successful book. She runs all design and philanthropy and brand for the business. And she\u2019s here a lot and she\u2019s very visible and very vocal. But at the same time, I think the one thing that she would say and has said publicly is, you know, she recognizes where she needs to fill holes. And I think it\u2019s a sign of a great leader to fill those holes with people that accentuate your talents and fill in some of the gaps that you have, and I think she\u2019s done that really well.<\/p>\n<p>You know, for me, I mentioned earlier I had a sister who passed away 15 years ago. She\u2019s kind of taken on a surrogate sister relationship to me, which means, you know, we bicker every now and then, but we\u2019re mutually aligned, almost always on the big macro strategic initiatives we want to have as an organization. And treating people the right way, I think that\u2019s paramount. Everything we do as an organization is making sure that the customer is our boss, right? We all work for her and him like they sign our paychecks, like that drives every decision we make. And then we want to treat our people well, we want our people to be seen and heard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> You mentioned \u201chim.\u201d Do you have many male customers?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, sure. We have a pretty significant, particularly around the holidays, represents about 20% of our customer base. We have a men\u2019s line that we launched a couple of years ago called Scott Bros. And much of our jewelry is unisex, can be worn by both those who identify as female and male. But gifting as it relates around the holiday specifically, we\u2019ve leaned into, we do a lot of sports sponsorships, which, I\u2019m really excited about personally, but it\u2019s worked and I think the brand stands out and everything that we do, not just from a product perspective, but how we treat people, customers, and also people internally.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> I would say Barbie was your best collab last year if I had to guess, but I\u2019m just guessing. But let me ask, I want to ask a bit of advice before we go on to the growth, because I think obviously what happens from here is fascinating. But you\u2019ve mentioned you\u2019ve worked for a lot of founders, you\u2019ve gone from being president to CEO now with the strong founder. What advice do you have for how to work with founders? Because many people find themselves in that situation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, I want to just zoom back in to something you mentioned earlier, the constituency makeup of our organization, because I think this is important. It dovetails nicely into the question you just asked. Coming into this organization, this is the first company I think I\u2019ve worked for where I wasn\u2019t personally passionate about the product. Right. Like working at <em>Golf World <\/em>magazine, like it was my favorite magazine, and working at Ralph Lauren was a brand I idolized as a kid. Tommy John, I\u2019m the customer. Like, Sweetens Cove, the golf course that we own, the bourbon that we launched, I\u2019m passionate personally about those things.<\/p>\n<p>When I came here, I wasn\u2019t an expert in the space. I wasn\u2019t personally passionate specifically about the product that we were making. So I had to be curious. And I had to ask a lot of questions. I could never act and, to this day, I still try not to ever act like I know what\u2019s going on, [like]I know everything. And I think that was a quality I didn\u2019t like in leaders that I had worked for over the years. So I think that that part is really important to be curious, ask a lot of questions. And I think, as it relates to working for founders, similar, right? Nobody and I say nobody, but I certainly don\u2019t like know-it-alls, right? I like people that ask me questions about myself and my family. It shows that you have an interest in me, whether it\u2019s, you know, perceived or real. And I think, you know\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> It\u2019s real, Tom, it\u2019s real. One thing I\u2019m intrigued is you\u2019ve gone out, you\u2019re looking for funding, you\u2019re expanding in the brick-and-mortar space, which I found fascinating. I think your aim is to have 200 stores. What is it about the in-person live retail experience that makes you want to expand on that at a time when many others are, frankly, contracting?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, so we\u2019ve been bullish. I\u2019ve been bullish on retail from the go here. We are an experiential brand, an experiential business. I think one of the things that the world saw coming out of COVID was people were starving for experience. They were starving for one-to-one personal interaction. You know, everybody was tired of Zooming and tired of being virtual and tired of being stuck in their house and not being able to go to restaurants. So when you look at the performance of publicly or privately traded companies that are rooted in experience, whether it\u2019s travel or cruise lines or hotels, they\u2019ve outperformed other segments of the market because the world wants to get back out again. I also think just the flexibility that was built coming out of COVID with businesses is that people can work from home. They can be able to be more flexible to go out and find those experiences. Brick-and-mortar is really important to us. You know, again, I learned this at Ralph. I mean, he created a world of when you walk into the mansion of Madison Avenue, you\u2019re stepping into another dimension, a lot of where it\u2019s like.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> You\u2019re stepping into a different income class too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah totally. So we\u2019ve done that in, last year in 134 stores, we did 21,000 events. Events are so important to us and it\u2019s not just important to us because it creates a connection with a customer. The majority of those events were rooted in philanthropy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> So what kind of events? Could give me a sense of what a jewelry event is like?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>So oftentimes they\u2019re in our stores, so we have a Color Bar in each one of our 139 stores today where you can walk in and create your own jewelry. So a lot of the times we\u2019ll do Color Bar parties and it could be a birthday party for my 16-year-old daughter. It could be somebody who\u2019s in a local community and in the Charlotte Birkdale [Village] store who is suffering from a disease or needs help. And we will run an event for them. An individual not always an organization. And 20% of those proceeds will go back to help whatever cause or help that individual needs. So it varies.<\/p>\n<p>Oftentimes we go out of the store and we\u2019ll do events at Sloan Kettering. We\u2019ll bring a mobile Color Bar and we\u2019ll do Color Bar parties to help cancer patients, pediatric cancer patients. We\u2019ll do events at golf clubs for member guests or charity organizations. So an event is really defined by the person that wants to have the experience. We use our stores as a conduit to be able to bring those events to local communities. But the fact that we did 21,000 of those last year is really important and it helps bring the brand to life. It allows people to step into Kendra\u2019s house to understand what she cares about, who she is as an individual. And there\u2019s a tactile nature to retail that\u2019s really important. People want to look and feel and touch the product.<\/p>\n<p>And one of the reasons for our success in retail early on was when you went into jewelry stores 10, 15 years ago. It was a really intimidating and scary experience. You know, you\u2019d walk in, everything was under a case. Oftentimes people were judgmental. They wore white gloves. It was like super intimidating. We invite people into our stores. The team is remarkable. Our retail team is absolutely incredible. They\u2019re warm and they\u2019re inviting and they\u2019re happy and they\u2019re friendly. We invite people to try things on. Everything\u2019s above case. We want them to touch it, feel it, and experience it, and it\u2019s led to a lot of success. So we\u2019ll open 15 stores in fiscal year 2024. Our plan and goal here is to open 300 stores now in the U.S. \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady: <\/strong>Oh, 300?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan:<\/strong> Yeah, then we\u2019re dipping our toe international in the next coming years as well. But the retail stores are important to us. And I think one of the things that separates us from others, not just jewelry brands or lifestyle brands, but all brands, is that when you walk into a Kendra Scott store, whether you\u2019re in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, or Soho or Southern California or Atlanta, Georgia, we feel like we\u2019re a part of the fabric of the community. And it\u2019s because of the events, it\u2019s because of our reach out into the community, it\u2019s because of the charitable nature of our business so that we become more than just selling goods to somebody, it\u2019s selling an experience, and it\u2019s selling something greater than that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> I totally agree. I know we have to finish up here, but I cannot let you go without asking about golf. You know, my late husband was obsessed with it. My sons play it. What is it about golf that you like? Tell us the beauty of the game.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Well, first of all, I\u2019m sorry to hear about it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Oh, thank you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>You know, look, I don\u2019t know where if I\u2019m being, truthfully, I don\u2019t know where I would be without the game of golf. I didn\u2019t grow up playing it because it wasn\u2019t something that was, I just didn\u2019t grow up in that world so I didn\u2019t understand what it could do. I think it is a wonderful test of character of people. You know, there\u2019s that old adage of, you know, if you cheat at golf, then, man \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Yeah, cheat at life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>\u2026you\u2019re not a good person. Like, what else are you cheating at? I think it\u2019s just the truest measure all by yourself, right? You can\u2019t rely on anybody else. I mean, even though there\u2019s teams, I played on a team golf, but you\u2019re relying on yourself. And I think the fortitude and perseverance that you have to have to be successful, successful at a high level at it is really important. But at the same time, you know, somebody that\u2019s a tour player can play golf with a 25 handicap and have just as much fun. You\u2019re outside. It\u2019s exercise. There\u2019s a new goal every single hole you get to and you know, I\u2019m a goal person, so I like accomplishing goals. I think it\u2019s wonderful from a family perspective. You mentioned your late husband and your sons play. Like it\u2019s such a great experience. Like for me, I have an 18-year-old son who\u2019s going to college to play golf next year, and what else could I do with him where he\u2019s going to want to be captive with me for five hours and enjoy the time together? So it\u2019s such a great reward as a parent to be able to do that. And I, you know, I love what the USGA and other organizations are doing to bring the game to different types of people across the country because, making it more affordable and accessible for people I think is critical because you learn a lot about yourself. I mean, I learned a lot about business just by caddying and hearing how business people spoke to each other. I mean, it changed my life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Yeah. No, I think it\u2019s\u2026what\u2019s your handicap? Am I allowed to ask?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>I mean, I\u2019m like a one nowadays.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> Great. Well, great founders always, in my experience, have great partners, as do great brands. So, thank you so much, Tom Nolan. Great to chat with you and we\u2019ll see you on the course or in the stores.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, thanks, Diane. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brady:<\/strong> <em>Leadership Next<\/em> is edited by Nicole Vergalla. Our audio engineer is Natasha Ortiz. Our executive producer is Chris Joslin. Our producer is Mason Cohn. Our theme is by Jason Snell. <em>Leadership Next<\/em> is a production of Fortune Media<\/p>\n<p><em>Leadership Next<\/em> episodes are produced by <em>Fortune<\/em>\u2018s editorial team. The views and opinions expressed by podcast speakers and guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of Deloitte or its personnel. Nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse any individuals or entities featured on the episodes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/07\/24\/kendra-scott-ceo-tom-nolan-doesnt-like-a-know-it-all-leader-heres-why\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] On this episode of\u00a0Fortune\u2019s\u00a0Leadership Next\u00a0podcast, host Diane Brady talks to Tom Nolan, CEO of jewelry and accessories brand Kendra Scott. They discuss what it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}