Final Project II

Final Project Part II – The Organizational Leadership of Ralph Lauren and Self-Assessment of

Leadership Skills

Thomas McDonald

Southern New Hampshire University

Final Project II

Final Project Part II – The Organizational Leadership of Ralph Lauren and Self-Assessment of

Leadership Skills

Abstract

In the nearly 50-year career of Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur Ralph Lauren, it is

well noted is passion for the fashion world. He started working for various clothing stores and

makers until he created his own lines of ties in 1967. His career became the visionary career for

many American designers to follow built on creating the vision of the “Ultimate American

Lifestyle.” Lauren then assembled a team to right his business ship and turn it into a nearly 18

billion dollar a year business. From his original start-up, we will capture his leadership style and

how you can create two divergent leadership views to make one successful company.

Meanwhile, we look to analyze what my leadership strengths were and compare what similarities

there are in how we see how a fashion organization is maintained.

When we look at the professional life in the fashion retail environment we first must look

at the various styles of conflict management and the behavior patterns associated with them.

Then I will address how they are related to the retail world. This paper will look at how Ralph

Lauren responds to conflict and resolves it. Often the emphasis that Lauren towards is based on

the creative processes that take place inside his offices. Meanwhile, I also self-reflect, through

self-assessments, on my strengths and weaknesses when it come to the creative leadership

process and conflict resolution. The result of which will provide a comparison of leadership

skills needed in Fashion Industry from an Executive such as Lauren and a Retail Sales Associate

like myself.

Team Building

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When we look at Ralph Lauren’s Leadership strategy, there is mix of charisma,

authoritarianism, vision and emotional intelligence that is pervasive in his work. Ralph Lauren

first of all is very passionate about those things that interest and inspire him. Couple that with a

bondless need to provide the Great American Lifestyle with his brands and have the most

creative design teams in the industry lead him to be a demanding task master. This however

fosters the Leader-Member Exchange team leadership environment Laurens seeks to achieve

(DuBrin, 2015). The reinforcement of high demand and high personal achievement reward

structures spurred on a natural conflicting environment amongst teams. However, the setting up

of teams that focused on creating brand images for the individual brands, focused on enhancing

business in general minimized such conflicts, (Ohlendorf, 2015, Nov 3,). Though there are some

conflicts This makes Lauren to be a highly demanding leader that despite his demands cultivates

a very highly motivated workforce to follow him (Ohlendorf, 2015, Nov 3,). This allows Lauren

to create the lifestyle vision he sees in his clothing lines. However, it is important to note that

Lauren historically and recently has augmented to different team leadership philosophies. For his

creative teams the charismatic visionary leader who builds his creative teams to achieve his

design visions and beyond. For his organization teams, it is a more consolatory style of

leadership where they advise him on his business and organizational plans to get the most of the

creative concepts and market, finance and control the logistics of a still growing fashion label.

Ralph Lauren University - Creative Team Structure

Often it is well known in the industry that working with Ralph Lauren is often considered

to be known in the Fashion industry as “Ralph Lauren University.” Those who join and become

immersed in a culture fostered by Lauren of highest level of competency of creativity

(Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.). Those proposed designs He and his seniors team members could

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spot what designs were a copycat from either a prior design of his or even from another

competitor. So yes, even in a fashion designer based on creating the signature American lifestyle

there was overriding passion for originality as well (Karimzadeh, M., 2010). However, the perks

of working for Ralph Lauren, like at other similar companies such as Apple, is boundless. Many

of today’s top American Designers received on the job training with Ralph Lauren; these

designers include John Varvatos, Joseph Abboud and Vera Wang among many others.

Organizational Team Leadership Structure

It is important to note at this the key hypothesis of this paper. That Ralph Lauren had a

creative and visionary skills to become a great leader from the outset. However, the area of the

business that he needed guidance in order to make the company ultimately successful was on the

company’s financial and organizational structures. For the business and retail teams the attention

to detail was a bit different for Lauren, mainly due to the fact that creative skills did not translate

into the financial side of the business. However, he had his team building skills as a designer

translate well into finding the people he needed to grow the business. The best example of this

took place in 2000 when Lauren appointed Roger Farah as his Chief Operations Officer. At this

time Lauren was having difficulty due to inefficiencies in Lauren’s Supply chain which caused

the financial help from Goldman Sachs. To improve the profitability of the company, Ralph

needed a supportive but objective operations team in order to make his visions and concepts

more financially successful. Under Farah’s Guidance, Ralph Lauren was able to streamline their

logistical operations, simplify their supply chain and the other logistical process. At Farah’s’

retirement in 2014, Ralph Lauren went from being a 1.8-billion-dollar company in 2000, to an

18-billion-dollar company, an impressive feat (Manufacturing Close Up, 2014). In the retail

operations, Ralph really showed an even greater consolatory management style as he early on

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received advice and opinion from the retailers that he already worked with. The ability though to

grow the business by creating brands that reaches most of the consumer buying public was a

diverse strategy which the Lauren vision was helped by Companies like Macy’s, Kohl’s and

Nordstrom (Truong, Y., 2008). Customer experience management is a consistent business

strategy as it pertains to Ralph Lauren’s retail and ecommerce operations designed to manage the

customer experience to get customers to make Ralph Lauren’s vision theirs (Grewal, D., et al.,

2009). Even the recent appointment of a new CEO shows Lauren’s continued attention to retail

and vision in finding the most creative talents to create his designs and find the organizational

minds to keep his company growing even after the end of his days (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.).

The result of this is a shows the more consolatory form team leadership that Ralph Lauren

learned to develop which increased the success of the company as far as the financial and

industry markets were concerned.

Case Scenarios-Sid Mashburn: Sid Mashburn worked for Ralph Lauren as Senior

Design Director from 1991 to 1994 as Senior Design Director in Accessories. During this period

was when the advent of the prewashed fabrications for garments took place. Sid currently runs

his own clothing line and competes directly with Lauren’s Polo label. This is an example of both

the nature of working for Ralph Lauren and the potential conflicts and outcomes for working

with Ralph Lauren.

“It was a daily competition for outfits. All the creatives dressing very creatively were really just

doing so because they liked it. But on a more serious note, Ralph and Jerry and the team

demanded real excellence and the very best from us. It required a lot of hours and total

commitment—not a job for the faint of heart. At the time, I had quite a bit of reign as a Design

Director for J. Crew. It was an enviable position—laying down the DNA for the future of the

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brand. It would have been very easy to keep on doing what I was doing. But, going to work at

RL was like going to play for the Yankees—it was the top (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.).”

Case Scenario - From plan to revision to patent. An excellent example of the Ralph

Leadership approach in general comes from Eric Goldstein who was director of Fabric and

Finishing in the early Nineties. He was the innovator of acid and dry washes. Currently Eric is

an Entrepreneur, Designer, owner of Jean Shop. What Eric describes here is about the process

behind the antiquing process he developed for Ralph Lauren now commonly used in the industry

and found in Ralph’s RRL and Denim and Supply labels.

“As we were starting RRL, we talked about how we needed to make a very authentic

looking jean. One that you couldn't tell apart from a true vintage jean. I spent months working on

a stone washing process in our lab in North Carolina and our production facility in Texas. We

developed a double tinting and washing process that produced impressive results. I made a bunch

of jeans in different fabrics using this process and was so excited to show them to the team back

in New York. We all reviewed them and thought they were great—ready to show Ralph. I was

23 years old at this point. We rigged the room with mannequins fully dressed. We put a few in

our new jeans and a few in vintage. Once we were ready, I called in Ralph. He looked around

and was impressed. He commended me on the work and it was clear we were all happy with the

results. But a few weeks later, I got a phone call from Ralph's office. He wanted to see me in the

showroom. When I went into the room, there were a bunch of jeans on the floor and Ralph

simply said, "We can't launch a new denim line with these. The jeans just don't look authentic.

You can do better Eric." I was devastated and not sure what to do. After much thought, I ended

up in an old dry cleaning facility in Kansas City, where we processed leather in the past. I had

the idea of running denim jeans in a dry cleaning process to impart color—something that was

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never done before. After many tests and hundreds of jeans later, I had a few that I felt were nice

enough to show to Ralph. Once again, I set up the showroom with the new jeans and called him

in. He loved it, really loved it this time and a few weeks later, he called me back to his office and

said he wanted to patent the process (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.). He felt strongly that we

needed to own it and protect it. Well, it's now registered with the US government as patent

#5,653,770 (Goldstein, E., Finley, R., 1997, Aug 5).”

Assessment

Looking at these two testimonies to Lauren’s leadership one thing is clear. Like with

most Entrepreneurial companies, the ultimate Quality Control is Ralph Lauren himself. He

expects the best from their employees in their creative and innovative efforts. Pleasing the boss

here was the ultimate goal and satisfaction as Sid Mashburn referred to in his recollection.

Competition and desire to please Ralph was the key motivational force and conflict in the

organization with Ralph’s critique being the deciding factor. Conflicts in the creative stem from

the competitive nature that arises from the need to create products for Ralph Lauren. The results

in the short term prove the success of Ralph Lauren’s brands on a global scale and in the long

term for many of Ralph Lauren current and especially former employees.

Organizational Power

Any person that leads an organization must due to their level of leadership be able to

display to their members and to their customers the vision that they are in charge of the company

and have the ability to transform the company to reflect how well the business is operating as

well as how the business will be run. We will examine the Entrepreneurial form of

Organizational Power created by Ralph Lauren and how that has changed over the years.

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Position Power

When it to the types of power Ralph Lauren utilizes in the leadership of his business the

most obvious is legitimate power. As an entrepreneur, the business carries his name and

regardless of the titles in the company he may hold. As long as the business has his name on it

and he makes most of the major decisions. His power in the organization remains most legitimate

(DuBrin, 2013). With the result being enhancing the brand image (Cervellon, M., & Coudriet,

R., 2013). Often the ability just by being Ralph Lauren allows him to attract the best talent and

give them the mentorship with his legitimate power to develop them into team leaders in their

own right. In actuality though Lauren seems like an Authoritarian to some extent there is actually

more of the mentor in him. By setting the standards he set for his business and how to treat

everything you do in your business with a hands-on approach, Lauren trained numerous

employees to operate their own companies or take a greater stake in others. Often, having Ralph

Lauren on a resume can often be the greatest reward to new entrepreneur or someone trying to

become a leader in another organization (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.). Though giving

employees free breakfast or taking them out for a burger after a long day of creating a new shirt

can be a great perk. Creating with a multitude of labels that allow Lauren on create several

different types of themes within his general theme and retail it with each label hitting a different

demographic (Yang, W., & Mattila, A., S., 2014).

Personal Power

When it comes to ability of a leader like Ralph Lauren to utilize personal power, Ralph

Lauren may well have the personal power that few leaders in their fields business can possibly

possess. As an expert in the fashion business with over 50 years in the business, Ralph has seen

all the trends and how to incorporate them into the lifestyle he has projected a knowledge that

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may seem intimidating. However, due to the prestige, Lauren maintains. Ralph inspires his

creative and his business staffs to be even more innovative and creative. This leads Ralph as the

creative authority to exude Referent Power or the ability to influence both the staff and those

who purchase his products (Gross, M., 2005). This creates the Prestige power that gives Lauren

that he can only voluntarily relinquish. Even with a new CEO to help run the business, Lauren is

still the principal leader of the company based on the ability to utilize the personal, and visionary

power in the charismatic manner in which he has display this over nearly 50 years to transform

his leadership from a tie maker to global enterprise. But relinquishing his CEO role in the

company, and show an internal as well as the external leadership succession that Ralph Lauren

has had many of his protégés create their own companies. This proves that he is more willing to

power share, especially after the restructured his C-level Executive as long time executives

moved into different roles, like Roger Farah, his longtime Chief Operating Officer to Executive

Vice President, in 2013. Farah since has left the company and in 2015 joined former Lauren

Marketing Executive, Tory Burch, as Co-CEO of her company.

Political Power

Ralph Lauren has been one of the most fortunate leader in that having been able to grow

his business by having been able utilize the strategic contingencies to able to make the necessity

changes to his organization when situations required him to do so (Reid, W., 2009). He was

able to avoid many of the political blunders due able to obtain adoration from many of his

followers in the organization by means of reaching out to his employees at all levels of the

organization even getting feedback on product and even concepts (Spreitzer, G. M., 1999).

However, this is not the organizational encouraging admiration you see in some organization

where the admiration would be used to gain unethical favor. This is due to the motivation of the

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members of his organization to excel for their mutual benefit. The following case examples

provide a picture of Ralph Lauren’s organizational processes.

Organizational Vision and Strategic Development

As is with Charismatic, Visionary leaders like Ralph Lauren. The key to the vision of

Ralph Lauren is based on his perception of what his consumer has in the description of the

“Great American Lifestyle.” The original concept of the basic label is based on fitting the Polo

brand to fit one type of targeted customer. This is demonstrated by Ralph Lauren living that life

as well, Lauren’s other love is Cars, antique cars are his love and driving around in a 1950

Mercedes (Foley, B., 2007). Lauren is a style maker in that he can exercise great inspiration and

drive in his employees. The further development of the Ralph Lauren as a fashion designer was

creating labels that expanded on that description to different types of American Lifestyle and

even expanding the market share based on Customer Demographics not previously considered in

the late 60’s and early 70’s such as Chaps in the 80’s and Denim Supply, today.

Case Examples

Case Study-I, Creating the Impression. There are numerous cases we can utilize to

provide evidence of how Ralph Lauren utilizes his power to create the products that create the

image of Ralph Lauren and the business sense to make that company successful. In this country,

he is considered the grand master of American fashion. “Polo U” has many stories to tell about it

famous president and dean of students (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.). Lauren is praised by Polo

grads for both his business acumen and devotion to all phases of the design process, advertising

and promotion. "It fascinated me that this man would still sit and hand-pick every swatch for

every clothing and dress shirt collection," remembers Crit Rawlings, president and CEO of

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Oxxford Clothes, and who worked at Polo for 7 years in the mid 80's and early 90's (Lipke, D.,

2002). The key result of this is in the end Ralph Lauren in part created his success by being

building relationships with those who worked with him using many tried and true methods like

managing his impression, flattering others sensibly displaying loyalty, even when his former

employees become competitors. This is what brings the best and brightest in fashion to him.

Case Study II, Creating the Culture Through the Leaders Vision. Prestige power

presides all around at Ralph Lauren. Imagine walking into your office and there is a fireplace to

provide atmosphere as John Varvatos remembered while working there (Yi, D., 2014). One of

the stipulations was that those who worked for Ralph dressed like Ralph so to speak. If not, it

better be vintage. The idea is being able to capture the American Lifestyle image that Lauren

creates. The best case for this comes from probably his most celebrated alumni. That world is

largely immune from fickle fashion trends, a fact that has helped Polo steer a steady course of

growth for 35 years. "Ralph has always been so true to himself," notes designer Joseph Abboud,

who joined Polo in 1980 as New England sales rep and left in 1984 as associate director of men's

design. "If there were trends that seemed to be happening, he didn't care about them. If he

wanted tweed jackets, he didn't care if the rest of the market was going to lighter weights. That

taught me to really believe in your own concept. (Lipke, D., 2002). The key component of

prestige power for any designer is being able to focus on their vision and to be able to do so and

become the trend setter in themselves. For Ralph Lauren, that vision is the definition of Prestige

Power.

Case Study III - How to best utilize political power to get the absolute excellence. For

those who work at Ralph Lauren understand that if there is any type of coercive power at Ralph

Lauren it is likely only the pursuit of excellence and the vision created by Ralph Lauren.

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However, due to the professionalism of Ralph Lauren this coercive power became the driving

force to make his employees succeed. This is where Lauren shined at. Then he would turn

around and take his employees out to dinner and get to know them (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov

3.). Another thing Lauren was well known for was asking anyone and everyone that work for

him in the boardroom and in the workshops and offices. He even asked his contemporaries what

they thought about practically everything. A major key for success for someone is never to be

afraid to learn about the things that interest and what interests’ others cause the genus of an idea

or even a clothing line can come from the simplest conversation (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.).

This gives his followers the ability to absorb the Lauren culture and feel compelled to provide

him with near absolute loyalty (Spreitzer, G. M., et al., 1999). Numerous Alumni of Ralph

Lauren note this in all their recollections. This allowed Lauren to be to utilize strategic initiatives

in order to execute all of his business now and into the future.

Hypothesis of Power Leadership

Eric Goldstein creates a new washing process and shows Lauren the results. He first gets

approval from Lauren for a process. If you take into account Lauren’s consolatory style, Lauren

likely shows others and they detect something that is not right with the process and convince

Lauren that process was not right. Lauren then tells Goldstein it needs improvement. The

reaction however to not meeting Lauren’s approval proved to be the empowerment to Goldstein

eventually creating a process to which Lauren bestowed on him full credit and the filing of his

own patent. This is a case example of proper use of his political power throughout this process

(Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.).

Conflict Management and Resolution

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Ralph Lauren’s Conflict Management

It is important for an executive in any organization whether it is Ralph Lauren, resolving

whether an issue with what pattern of dress shirts he needs this year (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov

3.) or just us trying to negotiate a possible raise. It is essential for us to be utilize each of five

style of conflict management in order for us to become successful leaders in both business and in

life. Those of us who take part in the fashion industry understand the importance of Creative

Leadership is in the success of the Fashion and Apparel industry (Moore, C. M., 2004), It is

creation and changes to them even in the slightest, and the role the conflict resolution plays in the

creative leadership process that makes the fashion industry. Ralph Lauren is no exception to this

maxim.

Conflict Resolution, by Ralph Lauren. In Lauren, you witness all aspects of the conflict

resolution and the creative approaches utilized towards that resolution. His knowledge of the

industry is well versed in the nearly 60 years he has been a part of the fashion business. From the

earliest days Ralph has had a cognitive ability to sense how to take a lifestyle and make fashion

with it often give him an assertive approach. With this take a personality that draws the best to

work for him and sells the image of his clothing (DuBrin, A., 2013). Then you have a passion for

the task that may well be unparalleled in Fashion, he oversees processes to create the Polo image

that it can get him into trouble with financiers and with his operational teams (Gross, M., 2005).

However, in recent years he found the right people inside the organization and licensees from the

outside to help him parts of the business to build a collaborative resolute group for parts of the

business he has difficulty with in the past (Reid, W., 2009). The result of Lauren's creative

leadership was being able to create a broader vision of their companies; in turn, providing

customers with that vision regardless of price, and even particular style.

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Conflict Resolution in my retail work place.

To understand retail sales floor environment, you need to understand some of the

workplace dynamics with a company. Competitive style conflict resolution occurs with

individual associates especially with especially commission associates competing to work with a

potentially large big ticket sale. (Bradford, K. D., 2004). Accommodative style is basically used

to appease. This most often occurs in two places when associates need a vacation and the

manager can only give one time off. But the biggest is when a sales person or cashier gives a

customer a price adjustment on an item that was on sale yesterday, but more expensive now.

Sharing or splitting the difference or our management negotiating a settlement or an associate

needing time off (DuBrin, 2013). The most common form of Conflict management resolution is

collaborative. In many cases it’s the customer-salesperson interchange that generates a sale.

Collaboration can also be the leader-member coaching experience where both set goals to

improve the business for mutual benefit (Moore, C. M., 2004). The key is in both examples the

ability to resolve a conflict in terms that benefit all parties involved. Avoidance is also common

in the workplace. This often occurs when Managers fail to resolve conflicts between associates

or a manager that avoids work with a customer and assist the associate that is facing conflict with

a customer or any other entity (DuBrin, 2013). Part of the practice of empowerment is utilize

more avoidance conflict style situations to allow associates to utilize their competitive and

collaborative conflict resolution styles.

Comparison between Ralph Lauren and my personal conflict resolution skills. It is with

great understanding that when you work in retail or sales in general. You often find yourself in

the midst of resolving many issues including resolving external conflicts between you,

customers, fellow workers, supervisors and followers by utilizing your sales resolution skills to

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resolve internal conflicts that occur throughout your retail workplace (Bradford, K. D., 2004).

Standardly the five major types of conflict handling styles based on the combination of satisfying

others (Cooperation) and satisfying yourself (Assertiveness) (DuBrin, 2013).

It not just the difference between leader and follower this important to note but that there

are many similarities as well. His ability to utilize his authoritative skills as a foundation for his

initial assertive resolution skills then switch to a more collaborative approach. Though I do not

have the ability to use that approach within the organization, I can utilize that same approach

with customers using the expert power I have, as a sales person, in a similar approach Lauren

uses with his customers and his members of his organization. If there is one thing I would

possibly to some avoid more of the competitive approaches that do take place within the various

design teams. We do have some competitive conflict in our store. But the primary approach is

the collaborative approach to create the best customer service environment to bring about the

most productive sales (DuBrin, 2013).

Leadership and Self-Assessment

Personal Leadership Strengths

When I completed my Self-assessment on December 21st, I recognized several key

strengths that the Self-assessment already picked up on several themes I felt I naturally knew

existed. Learner, the process of learning is as important to us as the knowledge we gain and

sharing it with others, the highest theme on my self-assessment (Rath, T., 2007). Futuristic,

loving to peer over the horizon and share a fascination of the future. Also a theme that has a

visionary view of life followed Learner. Learners naturally like to keep and hold pieces of

information makes the input theme essential as a follow up strength to Learner. Strategic is an

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essential skill to have if you are input and learning oriented, being to sort out information to find

the best solution to a situation is typical of someone with a Strategic skill set. When facing

complex situations involving many factors, Arrangers, an executive skill, enjoy managing all of

the variables, aligning and realigning them until they are sure they have arranged them in the

most productive configuration possible and then demonstrate that capacity (Schenck, P. M.,

2009). After Arranger on this list as a leadership trait, Maximizer is someone who see the skills

they and others utilize and promotes the strengths of others and then putting people where they

best skilled to do any task offered. Positivity, my best relationship skill typically means I’m

generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the upside of the situation.

Take these seven skills together and there a lot of positives that I can bring to an organization

and any team within that organization that can provide progressive even charismatic tendencies

into my leadership style (Farrington, E. L., 2011, 05). The skills of Arranger and Maximizer

stress making necessary changes to enhance the organization showing a transformative

leadership style with solid communication skills, (Rath, T., 2007).

Challenges for improvement.

This being said while having several excellent team building capabilities there are things

to which I need to develop better skills in. First is to where I’m have strong strategic skills I must

be better able to carefully deliberate in my decision making process (Rath, T., 2007). I also need

to identify situations in which repeatedly I was as effective as I wanted to be and ask for advice.

This might help me be able to see the bigger picture due to the fact I will have several different

mindsets in order to solve a problem. If I find myself facing opposition, I need to better

understand why certain people see things differently than me. Knowing the answers as to why

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will help me address their concerns and move them closer to agreement and taking command of

a situation.

Assessment of Ralph Lauren

Born in 1939 in a working class section of the Bronx, Ralph Lifshitz faced not being able

to be an athlete or could excel in academics. What Ralph did want to do was create a new vision

of himself. First, he accepted his brother’s idea of changing his name to Lauren. Then he would

find himself working at Brooks Brothers in New York in the early 1960’s, where he learned the

fashion trade (Tungate, M., 2012). He looked at the comparisons between the modern fashions

he was seeing as compared to the traditional fashion he sold at Brooks Brothers from there he

gathered his inspiration. In 1967, Lauren designed ties much different from the skinny modern

looking ties he saw modern icons like the Beatles through the mid 60’s he even made them an

inch wider than the convention. Many stores rejected him. However, one store said yes,

Bloomingdales’ (Aurik, J., C., et al., 2003). From that initial success, Lauren was able to start his

business and vision of the great American fashion designer. His first show was a year later in

1968. Then Hollywood called, first to dress Robert Redford in “The Great Gatsby” to dressing

Diane Keaton in “Annie Hall.” After that Lauren vision of traditional men’s and women’s wear

with a bit of self-indulgence and flair becomes an iconic label and as a symbol of the ultimate

American lifestyle.

As an entrepreneur he successfully transitioned from that role to fashion designer to an

organization that developed nearly 20 different individual brands. Each of these give the wearer

an ability to express themselves in several themes at several price ranges from extravagantly

wealthy in the Purple Label to working class buyers with Chaps, this is an indicator Lauren has

the abilities of another important skill that of an Arranger being able to bring more pieces of the

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fashion business based of both type of fashion and the demographics of the target customer of

each label (Aurik, J. C., 2003). Instead of changing the look of his primary label like some

designers, he creates a whole new label then segments to fit a certain customer using input

received by his creative and business teams, this is an indicator having competency in using a

strategic process. This also demonstrates another skill Lauren has, one is that an arranger, by

making sure that all of the pieces fit whether it is how a pants and a sweater go together or

creating a global fashion network that included subcontracting companies to make his products

Leavy, B. (2013).

Transformational Leadership Skills of Ralph Lauren. Lauren’s primary skill is that of being a

visionary and futuristic cognitive that creating an initial vision and then adapting that general

vision based on business condition. Lauren takes a vision and setting himself apart from others

from that vision even though it seems like a throwback to the past but it is the sense of creating a

look at looks traditional but is placed in the present (Morris, G. B., 1985). The other is control

being able to get business people, fashion designers, sales people and logistical personnel all to

work together and share his vision. Ralph and I share several leadership traits that are essential to

being a part of the fashion business. Having a vision and sensing a futuristic approach in that

Lauren was able to see himself and where he wanted to be (DuBrin, 2013). As a designer the

ability to arrange products and the personnel that make them are essential in our business.

Another skill we share is that of the learner, having learned the business of fashion inside and

out, and becoming a master. Even today. he still is learning. Then Lauren adapts some of the

processes that allows expansion to those companies that work for Lauren. Lauren also

encouraged his designers to create looks within looks to allow Polo to create theme based

seasonal fashion (Kompella, K., 2015). A key ability to take input and create new looks and

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concepts in fashion is key to long term success. Now imaging doing this over 20 brands and

providing different themes along with the basic design themes in each brand every season. It

takes a great team effort to create the Polo look (Lawlor, K. B., 2015).

Ralph also has leadership skills to which I feel need further development. Ralph also has

great abilities in being able to take control of a situation. This includes being able to begin the

process of reducing his role in the organization (Lawlor, K. B., 2015). He was able to control the

point of time in which he began to give others responsibility for various parts of the organization,

especially corporate leadership. Another skill I admire that Ralph Lauren has is adaptability, the

ability to expand his creative and business vision. This is one most daunting judgments that any

leader can face, and bringing it through successfully is a multi-year, adaptive leadership

challenge that calls for courage and conviction (Leavy, B., 2013). Lauren has also developed

over the developed an appreciation for achievement of his creation. First by giving his creative

teams the ability to assess trends and recreate styles within his labels. Then, allowing his

business teams to examine results and provide analysis to allow Ralph Lauren to grow and

expand to newer markets in developing countries, like China (Kim, H., 2012).

Leader Problem Solving - How to create a new brand “Denim and Supply”.

The key reason to notice Lauren’s conflict resolution skills come when he starts to utilize

his creative leadership styles. When you look at the five stages of creativity as it means to Ralph

Lauren, you take the process into the creation of a Lauren brand. A good example of this is the

Denim and Supply Brand. Regularly, the fashion industry addresses the issue of making their

brands respond to a new and growing audience, namely the urban and suburban millennial (Karr,

A. J., 2013). Ralph Lauren had brands Polo Jeans Company and Rugby, that had some success

but its style duplicated what denim swatches they we may see in Polo itself.

Final Project II

The process of creating the new line begins with the immersion stage, you could see the

image boards Lauren uses filled with denim influenced street style from around New York City

and the boroughs giving the line a New York feel (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.) This is the

assertive style of resolution in Lauren when he sets the vision of the new label. Incubation takes

place for Lauren while his design teams try to create in garment based from what Lauren's vision

is; therefore, collaboration begins to take place as Laurens design teams begin to competitively

work together in creating the various pieces in the collections. Then when the insight moment

happen is when the leader likes what he sees. Then Lauren will pass ideas to other departments,

employees that work in other parts of the business and so forth as part of the verification process

in the creative cycle and the sharing process begins in conflict resolution (DuBrin, A., 2013).

This does not mean that everything is ready as Eric Goldstein remembered with his weatherizing

process (Ohlendorf, C., 2015, Nov 3.). However, once the look, design, and in this case the label,

fit the image and meet design and quality that Lauren requires then it is merchandised and even

is placed in several of its own stores. This shows the collaborative results of the vision Ralph

Lauren has for his company and the products he and design teams create.

Assessment of Problem Solving in our Workplaces.

Essentially, Ralph Lauren utilizes his creative leadership as the basis of his conflict

resolution with negotiation and cooperation as basis to finalize projects and process in his

organization. Essentially, the customer I work with plays the role not too different from what

Ralph Lauren they express their needs to which I, the salesperson creates the outfits for them

then the negotiation and cooperation take place (DuBrin, 2013). However, Ralph Lauren only

requires accommodative resolution skills when working with the organizational processes of his

business. As a salesperson, myself, I have display a greater range and be able to use each type of

Final Project II

conflict resolution in order to maximize the customer shopping experience and work

successfully.

Conclusion

As far as the fashion industry in North America is concerned, today there is no one more

impressive as a designer on the world fashion stage than Ralph Lauren. The charismatic look of

the affluent, confident, figurehead designer that Lauren displays to the consumer, belies the

visionary approach to transformational and creative leadership started when he presented ties to

Bloomingdale's that were wider than commonly used in 1967. Lauren encouraged his designers

to create looks within looks to allow Polo to create theme based fashion. When assessing my

own leadership strengths through self-assessment tests, I recognized that I shared traits that my

chosen leader profiled was able to utilize to take an idea such as creating a great American

fashion designer and making much more. Other similarities include Conflict Resolution

techniques between Ralph Lauren and his day to day business and what I do in my daily life in

that we utilize collaboration and competitive resolution technique we use on the sales floor.

Though as a retail sales person we are required to appease and share in conflicts and occasionally

we have avoidant forms of conflict resolution. These cases are where the supervisor has the

associate utilize empowerment techniques in a positive manner of conflict resolution or as

avoidance when the manger cannot resolve the conflict themselves. The results from both the

associate and the CEO show that conflict resolution at all level of leadership allows the creative

process to make an organization be a long term success.

Upon the examination, of the leadership process, it is apparent that in general, Ralph

Lauren uses two different general leadership approaches. For the creative parts of the business

such as product development, design and merchandising his vision is the ruling force. This vision

Final Project II

needs a task-oriented leader but when the member makes the right garment or the designer

creates the right visual image it makes it all worth the effort. For the business side of the business

it becomes a more consolatory style of leadership as Lauren grew to trust a small group

immediate followers to lead the operational part of the business and now with Stefan Larsson as

CEO. This will allow Lauren to delegate more of his time to the creative vision of his company

and allow others to manage the business effectively. But remember, it is his name on company

and that means everything to Ralph Lauren. Being a long time entrepreneur that strives for

perfection and excellence in everything you do does not necessarily mean that you are a

complete ogre and a beast to work. This especially in the case of Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren’s

is able to utilize the prestige of his personal brand to create an atmosphere that motivates his

employees to do their very best to obtain organizational structure. Though being an expert, he

asks for advice constantly. The rare combination of mixing authoritative with consolatory power

has allowed Lauren in the end to be able to create Strategic Initiatives that are to this day the text

book example to build, grow and even plan for an even greater future.

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Final Project II

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