Miranda Priestly is the “perfectionist mindset”

brought to life in one person.

The iconic Editor in Chief of Runway, a publication resembling Vogue,

knows exactly what she wants and exactly HOW she wants it.

“For the fortieth time, no.

I don't want dacquoise,

I want tortes filled with warm rhubarb compote.”

No detail is too small for Miranda.

“If I see freesias anywhere...

I will be very disappointed.”

And no excuse is acceptable for failing to meet her high standards.

“I actually did confirm last night—”

“Details of your incompetence do not interest me.”

The devil in The Devil Wears Prada is supposedly the villain of this story.

“Meryl Streep is the bad guy.

You never see it coming.”

Yet her pursuit of excellence also makes her a role model

for working women everywhere.

Here's our Take on how channeling Miranda's perfectionism

will make you the consummate professional,

if you're willing to pay the price.

“That's all.”

Before we go on, we want to talk about this video's sponsor.

Skillshare is an online learning community

where you can learn everything from video editing,

to business strategy, coding, or lucid dreaming.

They offer 25,000 online classes from famous teachers

at the top of their field.

And right now, Skillshare is offering

our viewers, TWO MONTHS access to all their classes—FOR FREE.

So click the link in the description below to sign up now.

Perfectionism is defined as striving for flawlessness,

and being extremely critical when that bar isn't met.

“I saw the pictures that he sent for that feature

on the female paratroopers and they're all so deeply unattractive”

The image that sticks in most people's minds is

the CHAOS that ensues before Miranda's arrival at work.

“She's on her way.

Tell everyone.”

So before we even meet this character,

this portrait of how she impacts her environment

tells us she runs the tightest of ships,

and her expectation of perfection

motivates her entire staff to be better than they are.

“I asked for clean, athletic, smiling.

She sent me dirty, tired and paunchy.”

While everyone is always scrambling and struggling

to get things right for Miranda,

she herself never appears out of control.

She always maintains a precise mental picture of the plan.

“I want the driver to drop me off at 9:30

and pick me up at 9:45 sharp.”

She also has an encyclopedic knowledge of her industry.

“One thought I had was enamel.

Um, bangles, pendants, earrings.”

“No.

We did that two years ago.

What else?”

Thus, the picture that emerges is that Miranda is on a higher level

than everyone else, and far from lowering herself

to be understood by mere mortals, she demands that others keep up.

“I need 10 or 15 skirts from Calvin Klein.”

“What kind of skirts do you—”

“Please bore someone else with your questions.”

Her first name even comes from the Latin mirandus,

meaning “wonderful, marvelous, worthy of admiration.”

“We deliver it to Miranda's apartment every night, and she retu—

Don't touch it.

She returns it to us

in the morning with her notes.”

There are three distinct types of perfectionism:

Self-oriented perfectionism, which means having high standards

for yourself and being self-critical when you fall short.

Socially-prescribed perfectionism, which is the feeling that you need

to live up to external expectations for validation.

And other-oriented perfectionism, which means expecting perfection

from others and being highly judgmental of their performance.

Miranda is a textbook illustration of other-oriented perfectionism.

“Why is no one ready?”

She accepts nothing less than the best from her employees

and eviscerates them when they don't meet that standard.

“It's just baffling to me.

Why is it so impossible to put together

a decent run-through?

You people have had

hours and hours to prepare.

It's just so confusing to me.”

As a boss, she creates an environment where everyone lives

in a constant state of terror.

But on another level, Miranda's exacting standards

have a very positive effect.

We can see the beneficial results of Miranda's mentorship

in the transformation of her assistant, the movie's protagonist, Andy.

Let's take a minute to look at who Andy is when the movie begins.

She's woefully unprepared for her job interview,

“Who's Miranda?”

“Oh, my God.

I will pretend you did not just ask me that.”

“So you don't read Runway?”

“Uh, no.”

she has no real experience outside of her college newspaper,

nor can she find work anywhere else,

“Basically, it's this or Auto Universe.”

and she has a condescending, “holier-than-thou” attitude about fashion.

“Because this place, where so many people

would die to work, you only deign to work.”

We know this young woman is smart and passionate.

She's willing to give up

what would be a more secure career path

in order to pursue her dream of writing.

“I'm just trying to understand why someone who got accepted

to Stanford Law turns it down to be a journalist.”

But she hasn't really accomplished anything yet when she arrives at Runway.

What she learns from Miranda, is excellence.

“Call my husband and confirm dinner.”

“At Pastis?

Done.”

“And I'll need a change of clothes.”

“Well, I've already messengered your outfit over to the shoot.”

Andy starts off not understanding the importance of details.

“The amount of time and energy that these people spend

on these insignificant, minute details, and for what?”

This lesson is epitomized in the scene at the run-through,

where she doesn't see any difference between two belts.

“Both those belts look exactly the same to me.”

To Miranda, there is a glaring difference.

And to underline her point that details are everything,

she picks apart Andy's outfit—

“What you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue.

It's not turquoise.

It's not lapis.

It's actually cerulean.”

proving to this young woman how an eye for detail is key

to unlocking a big-picture understanding of the world.

“That blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs.

And it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts

you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing a sweater

that was selected for you by the people in this room.”

The other key skill Miranda teaches Andy is resourcefulness.

“We have all the published Harry Potter books.

The twins want to know what happens next.”

“You want the unpublished manuscript?”

When you have someone standing over you demanding the impossible,

you're forced to find a way to make it happen.

“I know it's impossible to get but, well, I was wondering if you

could make the impossible possible.

If that's at all possible.”

Andy surprises herself with what she can accomplish

under intense pressure.

“It's Ambassador Franklin, and that's the woman

that he left his wife for, Rebecca.”

What we keep hearing throughout the movie

is that working for Miranda will open any career door.

“You work a year for her, and you can get a job at any magazine you want.”

At first we might think this is because of Runway's prestige,

but we come to realize that it's even more so about the qualities

that working for Miranda instills in you: resilience, a tireless work ethic,

and the commitment to go above and beyond.

“Oh, no, I made two copies and had them covered, reset and bound

so that they wouldn't look like manuscripts.

This is an extra copy to have on file.

You know, just in case.”

By the end, Andy emerges as a capable professional

ready to go after her dream of being a journalist—

something she wasn't equipped for at the beginning.

Lauren Weisberger, who wrote the book that The Devil Wears Prada

is based on after her stint as an assistant at Vogue,

has said that in spite of her struggles there, it was

“one of the most valuable times of [her] career”

because she got to learn from high-powered people

at the top of their game.

In addition to these valuable skills imparted by Miranda,

there's one key thing that Andy and Miranda have in common

from the beginning: self-respect.

When Andy starts at Runway, Miranda's senior assistant is Emily.

“I hope you know that this is a very difficult job

for which you are totally wrong.

And if you mess up,

my head is on the chopping block.”

Emily seems far more suited for this job, as she is fully committed to the work,

has a passion for fashion and worships the ground Miranda walks on.

“She's the editor in chief of Runway, not to mention a legend.”

But what she lacks is Andy's sense of self.

Emily would never dare to talk back to Miranda

or assert herself in a meaningful way—

“You may never ask Miranda anything.”

which is what Andy does.

Despite her poor performance at the job interview,

Andy refuses to be dismissed.

“I'm smart, I learn fast, and I will work very hard.”

And her faith in herself prompts Miranda to give her a second look.

The reason Andy's self-assurance sparks Miranda's interest

is that it reminds her of herself.

“There you are, Emily.

How many times do I have to scream your name?”

“A-actually, it's Andy.”

It's a key part of her perfectionist identity.

“You, with that impressive resume and the big speech

about your so-called work ethic, I, um, I thought you would be different.”

Through Miranda, the movie highlights the double standards

that working women face in their pursuit of perfection.

In the book, Weisberger based the Miranda character on her old boss,

Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.

But for her performance in the film, Streep went in a different direction

by channeling men she knew in Hollywood, starting with Clint Eastwood.

“The fact that you don't raise your voice makes you much more scary.”

“I got that from Clint Eastwood.”

“Ohh”

“He never raises his voice on the set,

and there's no one more sort of intimidating.”

Streep explained that Eastwood's quiet tone of voice requires everyone

to “lean in to listen,” thereby making him

“the most powerful person in the room.”

[Whispers] “Have you gotten my note?”

Meanwhile she's said that Mike Nichols, who directed her in movies

like Silkwood and Heartburn, inspired Miranda's

biting wit and her ability to be both mean AND funny.

“They're showing a lot of florals right now, so I was thinking I could—”

“Florals?

For spring?

Groundbreaking.”

Many women of Miranda's generation had to develop a hard shell

to survive in a male-dominated workplace.

“The conversation of a raise is not inappropriate at this moment,

but do not be timid.

You presented like a man, now act like one.”

And they often had no choice but to emulate men in order to be accepted.

“Do you think I act like a man?”

“I guess you have to a little.”

Yet, even though Miranda's personality is based on men, the premise of this movie

would never work if the character actually WERE a man

because there's nothing novel or surprising about a powerful man

being demanding and cut-throat as he chases success.

“Okay, she's tough, but if Miranda were a MAN,

no one would notice anything about her, except how great she is at her job.”

In her world, Miranda is WELL-AWARE of how she's perceived.

“Just imagine what they're gonna write about me.

The Dragon Lady, career-obsessed.”

She knows people will judge her harshly for being an exceptionally powerful woman,

regardless of what she does.

“She's a notorious sadist.”

“Do you want me to say, 'Poor you.

Miranda's picking on you.'”

“She's just doing her job.”

Miranda's trademark look was inspired by model Carmen Dell'Orefice

and French lawyer Christine Lagarde.

But she also bears a striking resemblance

to another iconic working woman—

Cruella de Vil.

Cruella and Miranda are both self-assured, career-oriented fashionistas.