to Angela Ahrendts.

Just as a little bit of background

on how all of this happened.

You all know I was just in England two weeks ago,

and as part of that, you came to the talk

at the London School of Economics.

And then the next day we met at Heathrow Airport.

Angela: Yup.

Sal: I had my $6 Old Navy shirt feeling very insecured

the entire time. (Angela laughs)

Both Esther and I were there, and you inspired us

when you said you're going to be in this area

we're like, well, we would love you to do

the same thing with the team.

Just talk about what you're doing etc, etc.

If you could talk a little bit about just how you...

I mean, fashion, the world of fashion, is this world...

I mean, it's not obvious to most people

how does someone get in to it,

and especially get to the level that you've gotten.

How did you start, and what kind of...

at least at the early stages, allowed you to get here?

Angela: I mean, honestly, it's not a dissimilar story

to yours, right?

My thing is, you...

I think the greatest thing that anybody can do

when they're young is discover their passion

and what they love.

I know it sounds really, really terrible,

but I love stuff, and I love to shop,

and I love fashion magazines, and I love to sew and create.

It was the only industry I had to get in to,

but I went to university

and signed up for all these design classes,

and realized I really wasn't that creative.

But I had a really strong opinion

on what everybody else was doing.

I had a professor say that, "we call you a merchant."

I'm like, "Okay," and so then I signed up

for a lot of merchandising and marketing courses.

So my university degree is in merchandising and marketing.

In the world of what we do, I always say

I'm the monkey in the middle.

We have Christopher Bailey who's the chief creative officer,

and he is so creative and so brilliant,

and his whole creative team does all those videos.

But then, and so that's on my right,

and on my left, we have the chief financial officer,

we have our chief operating officer,

we have a number of our teams

that have just arrived as well.

You have this balance so I will say I'm a 50, 50.

I am half left brain analytical,

I am half right brain creative,

and that was actually one of the reasons

that I wanted to chat with Sal.

Because I said, "Someday, as you guys

start to take over the world,

you're going to have to also

start to introduce some right brain curriculum.

And the Burberry Foundation would be honored

to help you start creating some of those things

when you're already down the road out there."

Sal: Yeah, and now we're already starting a little bit,

and we could talk more about that.

No, absolutely, and I think ...

I mean, say you're not creative,

I mean that, I think you're really underselling your…

Angela: Yeah, the design creative.

Sal: But you obviously had a very strong aesthetic,

you had a sense for what connective…

Angela: Yeah, again I'm absolutely a merchant,

and I will tell you the reason Christopher and I

created the foundation is this,

because we are both creative thinkers.

Sal: Right.

Angela: We feel very strongly that the curriculum

specifically in America has become so left brain,

so much of the arts and things have been cut out.

But it is... I think for where the world's going

we need creative thinkers.

We need... and so many times they're getting lost

out of the system, so we created the Burberry Foundation.

We give 1% of our profits into the Burberry Foundation,

and what we do is, we try and pick up the youth

that is starting to fall out of the system

because they think they're dumb, because they don't.

Hopefully, we can help turn them on to you guys

to help them.

If they're still just not left brain

but they're incredibly creative thinking.

We bring as many of them as we can.

We show them a whole another world

that companies like us need,

and that's been our calling.

Sal: Yeah, I know it's incredible.

I mean, you yourself, you said,

"Okay I'll be a merchant."

A professor tells you this,

and you just go to New York,

and then you're not even 30,

and you're the president of Donna Karan?

(Angela laughs) Is that right?

Angela: Yeah.

Sal: How does that happen?

Is that normal?

Are there a lot of 20 something's

running a major fashion houses in the world?

Angela: Probably not, and I will tell you I'm really guilty

because I'm not great talking about myself.

I'm just not. Because I'm only as good always

as the great teams that are around me,

and no different than you guys.

Yes, I think what happens always

is when you discover who you are,

and you discover your passion,

and then it's not work at your life,

and so you just get in to that zone.

I was so fortunate that I met the right people,

things fell into place,

absolutely worked my butt off because I was single,

alone in New York, and why not.

It's all I did was.... But I found my zone, I found…

Sal: Was there a moment where …

I just find if a member of my family says "Hey,

I'm going to go to New York,

and I'm going to go work in fashion."

Like, "Okay, I'll see if I can help support you

at some point or…"

Just the left brain, the left brain side of me.

I mean, how did you break in

and then obviously left such a big mark with people

that by the time, you weren't even 30,

you're a president of a major fashion organization?

Angela: It's funny, I don't think of any different

than a great athlete, or a musician, or a…

I think that what happens

is this is all what I've ever done.

I've always just stayed in my lane,

and then you become ...

Whether you're a footballer or whether you're ...

I didn't jump around, this is all that I've done,

and I have always been so passionate about it.

I think when you direct your energy,

and you become so passionate,

and you unite people, right?

You lead people all around believing in something,

and then things just fall into place.

I know that, and when I say things,

the revenue, the profit, right?

I never went in saying, "I'm going to do this."

I went in saying, "What if we did this?"

I've always been a dreamer.

My father used to always say,

"Take off your rose-colored of glasses."

and I would always say "No."

Now I don't have to, I can keep dreaming,

but the important thing I've learned is though,

I have to get enough people, right?

I have to surround myself with enough people

that can help execute that dream now.

And that's all that I've ever done.

I don't want to over simplify it,

but I found my zone,

I absolutely love what I do,

it is not work at all.

I have never once woke up in the morning said,

"Oh God, I got to go to work."

It's not work, this is my life.

Everywhere that I've been...

because it's not work,

and the Monterey at Burberry

or anywhere that I've been

because the stronger companies get,

then the more they can do,

and the bigger influence they have.

At Burberry, we've always said

that, we have the power to touch and transform lives

through the power of our performance.

The bigger and the stronger we get,

the more we can do,

and that's just always been...

I'm from the heart of Midwest,

real strong family faith upbringing,

and I have been raised to give.

That's how I was raised,

and so why wouldn't you apply that back in business?

And so it just...

Sal: I think you are underselling yourself a little bit. But I'll give you a pass on that.

Angela: Thank you.

But I do want... Because the interesting thing about this

and why we video them is I think

just the Khan Academy user base,

there's a lot of young people out there

who would say, "How do I do that?"

If you had advice for someone who's 16 years old

or 20 years old, and they find this world intriguing,

what should they develop in themselves?

How should they think about the world?

And what should they do?

Angela: Well, and I always say

that the fashion industry is deceiving

because everybody just thinks it's only this creative part.

Where in a company like Burberry,

there are 18 different departments

that comprise the company.

We need, we hire a lot of people from Silicon Valley.

We need great... We have 130 people

just in the IT department in the company.

People don't realize that so we need extreme right,

and we need extreme left.

I think sometimes the fashion industry gets a short,

it's the short stick sometimes when they think

"It's just fashion, it's just..."

In order to create... And here's my thing.

I always say that what we're doing

is we're creating a great brand and a great company,

and we happen to be in the business of fashion.

We didn't set out to create a really great fashion,

we set out to create a great brand.

I say that because there's a part of me that says,

"That is your mission as well."

Sal: I mean, following on that,

I do want to think about...

Well, what in your mind is... what does a brand mean?

I've heard multiple definitions of a brand,

and how would you view Burberry's brand?

And how would you view our brand? In the same...

they're very similar.

(Angela laughing)

Exploring a line of overcoats.

Angela: To me, a great brand... And here's my thing.

Think of yourself and when you interact with products.

What coffee do you drink every morning,

or you might walk into Starbucks,

or you might walk in to...

You might have Apple products, you might...

How do you feel about..

And so you want to be a part of that brand

because you're proud to be a part of that brand,

because that brand makes you feel a certain way.

You trust that brand, and it's authentic,

and it doesn't ever let you down.

It exceeds your expectations

so you want to engage with it, right?

Those are all of the attributes of a great brand,

honesty, integrity, authenticity, quality,

but always doing what yo …

To have a great engagement, or what's the word ...

great brand presence.

There has to be a very trusting relationship