Join us as we interview Charlie Cole on overcoming failure and letting it be the catalyst for producing better work in this weeks installment of STANCE.

1. Genuine. Empowering. Leader.
B I G F I S H P R E S E N T A T I O N S . C O M
Interview Series
Unpacking leadership
with Charlie Cole

2. Charlie Cole is the Chief eCommerce Officer for
Samsonite and the Chief Digitial Officer for TUMI.
He joined TUMI in 2015 as the Company’s Chief Digital
Officer. In this role, Mr. Cole is responsible for overseeing
and developing the brands’ national and international
e-commerce and digital platforms. Prior to joining TUMI,
he held various leadership positions, including CEO of
The Line, and head of e-commerce for Lucky Brand and
Schiff Nutrition.
It is key to Find what you’re good at and
the only way to figure that out is to get
your ass beat. A majority of my
successes came on the heels of failure.

3. The world’s greatest presenters and where they stand,
on and off the stage.
(noun) /stans/
the attitude of a person or organization toward something; a
standpoint.

4. Question:
What advice would you
give your younger self?

5. When you’re a young entrepreneur or even a
young manager, its normal to surround yourself
with people who think like you. Surround yourself
and build teams with non like-minded people.
The best teams in the best companies are a mix
of nationalities, genders, and most importantly,
background from different educational
experiences.
Answer:
Surround yourself with people
that don’t think like you.

6. Lorem ipsum
WHO were some of your mentors
and how did they help shape
you as a leader today?
Question:

7. Answer:
Tarang Amin CEO OF ELF COSMETICS
Jerome Griffith CEO OF LAND’S END
Tarang - He leveled with me on how he
saw us as a team on the very first day
which taught me transperency.
Jerome - He told me something I’ll never
forget: “I have never yelled at or fired
someone for screwing up. I have yelled at
and fired someone for not admitting
they’ve screwed up.” He knew the art of
scaling trust with people and he built
them to have a willingness to fail.

8. Question:
When building your team,
what traits or abilities
do you look for?

9. Self Awareness & humility accompanied
by confidence in their core strengths.
I want someone who says “I am the best in X and
looking to learn from your brand in X.” I have no
tolerance for cliches or bullsh*t answers. I want to
understand who that person really is.
Quick Tip: You have to disarm the person you are
interviewing. However, your job as an interviewer is
NOT TO F*CK WITH THE PERSON YOU'RE TALKING
TO.
Answer:

10. Question:
What do you learn more
from: failure or Success?

11. The Lucky Brand was not a financial failure but a
cultural one. Your investors really do matter. The
investment we took was not what our company
expected. It taught us the following lesson: who you
choose as your investors can make or break your
company financially, but most importantly, culturally.
My failure at Lucky is why Tumi is so successful. If
you can synthesize and be aware of failure and then
let it be the catalyst for why you won't fail again,
success will mean more. What we did really well with
Tumi was letting our creative and merchandising drive
the brand. Understanding what made us truly different.
Answer:
Failure.

12. what is your end goal
in life?
Question:

13. Financial freedom
and comfortability.
I’ve made it to a point where I dictate my life
and my life doesn't dictate me.
The goal is to wake up every day and do
whatever the hell I want.
Answer:

14. Question:
What’s one habit you
think everyone should
make?

15. Listen - There are people who learn by
reading and listening. I personally need to
zero out other activities, and the best way to
do that is by listening actively.When I’m on
phone calls, I don't multitask. I completely
focus on the person and what they’re
saying.
Vacation Often - My wife and I have two
different vacations; Wild & furious and then
quiet & calm. One of our vacations will be
jam packed with activities while the other
will consist of us relaxing.
Answer:

16. Question:
Everyone Stands for
something; What do you
stand for?

17. I stand for learning from your failures.
There's A lot of things I’ve done that i’ll never do again.
Answer:

18. Digging the insights?
Want to see more interviews?
Subscribetothe
big fishblog
followuson
slideshareAND

19. B I G F I S H P R E S E N T A T I O N S . C O M