Q. The biggest challenge you faced in your career
A. The biggest challenge is to keep reinventing yourself. If you do something amazing and think all is going well, you are at risk of becoming the next dinosaur. Challenges come from the constant need to keep track of your customers' lifestyle and aspirations and how you can be an asset in their endeavour to look attractive and upmarket.
Q. Your best teacher in business
A. May I name two? One is Yves Carcelle, who transformed Louis Vuitton into the greatest luxury brand ever created. The other is Kishore Biyani, the dreamer and the visionary of Indian retail. Carcelle taught me about brand building, and Kishore teaches me about India and the Indian consumer.
Q. Key management lessons for young people
A. I am a person who has never studied business and made numerous mistakes. So, take this with a pinch of salt. Two things are essential to be exceptionally successful - passion and innovation. Passion drives us to heroic acts, and innovation makes us different from others and gives us an identity.
Q. One essential quality a leader must have
A. There is one key management lesson: We will fail often. So, what? You cannot always be positive in the face of problems. You will get depressed. But get up and you will find your way.