Filed under: Management, Entrepreneurs, Polo Ralph Lauren’A’ (RL)
This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think David Lauren should take up the reigns of Polo Ralph Lauren, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.
David Lauren is unusual among his two siblings and father, Ralph: he is not an entrepreneur. Ralph Lauren is, after all, the very definition of a self-made man, having brought himself up from his humble beginnings as Ralph Lipshitz (it was his brother who suggested the name change) and forged a company worth several billion dollars today. But as the only Lauren sibling to work for Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) — as the SVP of Advertising, Marketing, and Corporate Communications — he has been called the “heir apparent” to his father by more than one fashionable pundit.
As a junior investment banker, I analyzed Ralph Lauren’s balance sheet more than once, seeking to show how well it might fit with another fashion house. The numbers were convincing, and it’s probable that many a quiet chat was held between high-powered apparel executives based on these balance sheet combinations. The fact that nothing has ever materialized from this Wall Street cajolery is testament to the thing we all talked about but never appeared on our PowerPoint pitch slides: Ralph Lauren likes control. (I remember a story about a major photo shoot held up for hours because Ralph didn’t approve of the shade of beige used in some thread, or something similarly outrageous.)
Many a sensible succession has been held up because the aging founder was unwilling to give up the corner office, in corporations and in kingdoms alike. For all his patrician good looks and endless charms, Ralph is rather unyielding in his patriarchy and certainly has not made David’s path to the CEO spot a hop, skip and a jump.
Continue reading Heir apparent: David Lauren and the sport of style
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