Jan Singer, Global Consumer Retail Executive and Venture Capital Advisor

Jan Singer is an influential and incredibly accomplished executive leader with over 25 years of experience in footwear, apparel, and cosmetics. She’s served as CEO at Victoria’s Secret, Spanx, and J. Crew. Earlier on, she held key roles at footwear giants like Nike and Reebok. In this episode, Jan shares how these experiences have shaped her successful leadership style, how she evaluates leadership in others, and a few key lessons she’s learned along the way.

Highlights from our conversation include:

• Key takeaways from Jan’s time at Nike (2:53)
• How she adapted her leadership style to Nike’s culture (8:54)
• Building teams during transformational times at companies like Spanx, Victoria’s Secret, and J. Crew (11:49)
• How she evaluated capabilities across different teams and functions (14:19)
• Jan’s approach to recruiting outside talent (16:57)
• What she looks for in leaders (19:48)
• Does the perfect candidate exist? (24:10)
• Why diversity, equity, and inclusion works is key in team success (24:37)
• Jan’s advice for aspiring leaders (28:00)

Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.

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