Management Style
Robert Polet, Gucci Group
Wednesday 25th November 2009
CEO of Gucci Group has demonstrated a unique ability to bring out the best in his people and his brands
Born: July 25, 1955 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Education: Nyenrode Business Universiteit, MBA 1976 University of Oregon
Career: 1978-2004 Various positions at Unilever, became CEO and President 2004 CEO of Gucci Group
Trivia: Guinness World Records cites the Gucci “Genius Jeans” as the most expensive jeans in the world, priced at $3,134
In 2004, CEO Domenico de Sole and creative director Tom Ford quit Gucci over a failure to agree contract terms with new owners, PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute). Within months, nearly half of the company’s top management had also walked, prompting observers in the fashion industry to predict the imminent demise of an iconic business.
They had reason. Five of the brands within the luxury group were making losses, and many believed that one, Yves St Laurent, was beyond repair. The loss of the team that had rescued the business from near bankruptcy in the 1990s, and in particular the director responsible for its creative inspiration, had the potential to render the brands rudderless. After all, observers reasoned, Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole were Gucci, weren’t they?
PPR believed otherwise, and turned to a most unlikely source to recruit a new chief executive. Robert Polet, 49 at the time, had joined Unilever after earning an MBA degree from the University of Oregon. Of Dutch origin, he was born in Malaysia and educated in Britain, the Netherlands and the US. During his 26 year career with Unilever, he had worked in Paris, Milan, Hamburg and Malaysia, before being appointed president of the ice cream and frozen foods division from which PPR eventually recruited him.
When his appointment as the new CEO of Gucci Group was announced, the press was full of jokes about the switch from ice cream bars to snake skin bags, but one fashion industry expert noted, “Unilever
Wednesday 25th November 2009
CEO of Gucci Group has demonstrated a unique ability to bring out the best in his people and his brands
Born: July 25, 1955 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Education: Nyenrode Business Universiteit, MBA 1976 University of Oregon
Career: 1978-2004 Various positions at Unilever, became CEO and President 2004 CEO of Gucci Group
Trivia: Guinness World Records cites the Gucci “Genius Jeans” as the most expensive jeans in the world, priced at $3,134
In 2004, CEO Domenico de Sole and creative director Tom Ford quit Gucci over a failure to agree contract terms with new owners, PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute). Within months, nearly half of the company’s top management had also walked, prompting observers in the fashion industry to predict the imminent demise of an iconic business.
They had reason. Five of the brands within the luxury group were making losses, and many believed that one, Yves St Laurent, was beyond repair. The loss of the team that had rescued the business from near bankruptcy in the 1990s, and in particular the director responsible for its creative inspiration, had the potential to render the brands rudderless. After all, observers reasoned, Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole were Gucci, weren’t they?
PPR believed otherwise, and turned to a most unlikely source to recruit a new chief executive. Robert Polet, 49 at the time, had joined Unilever after earning an MBA degree from the University of Oregon. Of Dutch origin, he was born in Malaysia and educated in Britain, the Netherlands and the US. During his 26 year career with Unilever, he had worked in Paris, Milan, Hamburg and Malaysia, before being appointed president of the ice cream and frozen foods division from which PPR eventually recruited him.
When his appointment as the new CEO of Gucci Group was announced, the press was full of jokes about the switch from ice cream bars to snake skin bags, but one fashion industry expert noted, “Unilever