Monetizing Divine Style
ROBIN BOUCHER BENET, ENTREPRENEUR
Robin Benet is an extraordinary example of female entrepreneurship and grace in the face of diversity. She has had three very different business ventures in an economically challenged Bogotá, Columbia, yet has made substantial profits at each. Like Temple, she was told that she could accomplish any goal she set her mind to. Benet grew up in a traditionally-minded family, and her father had a strong influence on her personal development, and especially on her self-esteem. Ironically, although her father held traditional beliefs of women’s roles, he maintained that Benet and her mother were exempt: “I always believed myself to be equal to anyone, and certainly any male.”
In 1978, she started her first venture in Columbia, a clothing manufacturing company where she sold merchandise to major department stores in New York City. After two years, she felt unfulfilled, as she lacked a personal interest in, and passion for, children’s clothing. She promptly sold the business, which freed up her time and allowed her to pursue business ideas that better reflected her values.
Benet has a great appreciation for aesthetic beauty and the “art” of forming relationships through specialized communication. She formed a company with two women who celebrated relationships with beautiful gifts during the holidays. To keep start-up costs low, they convinced product manufacturers to give them product samples that they would later “dress up” as extraordinary gifts to be used for order-taking. An example of this was a beautiful wooden duck that opened to a bowl that they filled with pâté. Another was a box of stationary that they beautifully wrapped and personalized. This became one of Benet’s least favorite creations because the paper they purchased was never engraved. To her, it felt like a tragedy to miss this detail because she felt that it misrepresented her.
With such seasonal success, it seemed perfectly natural to Benet to launch a full time venture with these women that would fix the paper problem. Stylus Impresores became the company that would feed Benet’s desire to serve the specialized communication needs of the entertaining society:
“It took guts. We often went to the bad parts of town to conduct business. We had to take risks. Often the streets weren’t paved and our husbands were dismayed to find out later where their fearless wives had been. You can’t conceive of the fact that it won’t work. It’s all about attitude. You speak with authority, particularly when you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Benet attributes much of her success to her leadership style. She believes in leading by example and to manage by consensus and with dialog. She admits, “My approach in Bogotá was a bit Amazonian.” The business was led by three women with several men employed as craftsmen. The men, in fact, needed the women to strategize and sell the product as well as change the face of stationary to reflect a more feminine appeal. This was combined with extraordinary customer satisfaction that was inspired by, but not limited to, the approaches of American companies. For instance, they would hand-place tissue between every business card in a box and then gift wrap it with ribbon. In this manner, she made every customer feel unique and special:
“Take all of the things you have been exposed to and combine the best. The product appealed to me. You have to love the product. I didn’t care about children’s dresses, but I still get excited about stationary. It is art and a projection of who you are. Businesses I have been successful in are in line with that. I have long believed in the written word and that there is nothing you can’t solve with a beautifully written letter. Your letterhead and business card speak of you first. You cannot compromise the quality of that product. There is a real sense of caring.”
Benet attributes her low turnover rate to her management style: “I think men are more pragmatic, matter-of-fact, and less concerned with nurturing.” She believes that employees will be more content when they are well-informed contributors. In this way, one is creating a vested interest by allowing employees to “buy into” the plan. It is also critical for them to know that they make a large difference: “They won’t care unless you empower them. You can do this by giving employees the sense that they are really a team.”
Benet’s final piece of advice is, “Choose something you believe in. I also think this is more important for women than men.” Perhaps this is because men tend to see business in abstract terms; they don’t have to relate to their product as much, although they may have a greater ability to separate financial viability from philosophical needs. Benet continues, “If you can be dissuaded, you haven’t found the right thing.” Thus, for Benet, quality, customer service, and personal commitment all follow from an initial decision to choose a product or service that most closely reflects one’s passions and identity: “I don’t think you can successfully have a business selling widgets unless widgets really speak to you” (Benet, personal communication, February 3, 2005).
UPDATE: Robin Boucher Benet is now the managing director at the John Barrett Salon at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City.
Temple’s Wisdom
TEMPLE ST. CLAIR CARR, ENTREPRENEUR AND LUXURY JEWELRY DESIGNER
I was honored to interview the extraordinarily talented and successful Temple St. Clair Carr. Her story is one of pure and distinguished achievement. She began her jewelry business by following her inner wisdom to achieve tremendous results.
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, she built a career from her passions for art and travel. Temple’s drive and leadership style began its development during this upbringing. She came from a family who supported her ideas and repeatedly told her that she could achieve any goal she set her mind to. Her family further influenced her with an early appreciation for travel and the arts, including exposing her to the Jeffersonian architecture and Country Gothic styles that accentuated her childhood home. As an early adult, she studied marine biology, but became dissatisfied with its limits on personal expression. Textbook in hand, she found her true inspiration in the streets of Venice and her sensitivities from the depths of Renaissance paintings. Some of Temple’s attraction to the style was explained by her fascination with the classic look of the era, the richness in color, and its timeless quality. She began combining her fascination with treasures of the earth with her lifelong connection to art and travel. Based on this foundation, she began to sketch her jewelry renditions of a “new classic” that incorporated color gemstones and classic designs from a different time period. This would lead to her discovery by a Barney’s scout who would later take her designs to New York City. Soon thereafter, Temple’s designs would attract premium pricing and a celebrity following that would lead to recognition and financial support from corporate giant, Tiffany and Company.
Today, the Temple St. Clair studio is located in Soho, NY, where Temple bases her operations and leads a staff of twelve employees. She describes her leadership style as the cement of her personal and professional styles: “I am the brand,” Temple proclaims. “It is my responsibility to protect the brand, believe in brand and all its values. After all, they [her values] are my own.” While she enjoys building friendships with her employees, Temple maintains that she protects her investment cautiously, maintaining a “keen” self-interest while striving to foster what she describes as an “egoless” workplace. Being involved in every aspect of her business gives her the ability to observe at multiple levels. Perhaps this is why she prefers the title “Creative Director” over “Chief Executive Officer.”
Temple sees herself as a transformational leader and feels that she and her company are constantly evolving: “I try and understand individuals and nurture the team to find a common goal. The corporate world can be emotionless. It is difficult to draw the lines so clearly.” This compassion and nurturing style is not to be confused with a lack of drive or discipline: “My work-style is tough, as I push myself. However, I don’t always take care of myself as I should.” Temple admits, “I expect everyone else to give 110% like I do. Mistakes and mediocrity are difficult for me to tolerate. My leadership style is progressive and improves just as the business improves.”
Temple believes that sharing information is critical, yet describes the process as a delicate balance in order to accommodate hierarchy and respect timelines: “Sharing business plans is useless if those individuals don’t already harness the context where the information germinates.” According to Temple, complex sexist issues exist in many contexts. Male executives can be uncomfortable if they find a woman attractive. Setting boundaries in these situations is complicated, as women are often forced to choose between monetary gains and “losing the connection” with their male counterparts.
Temple truly is her own “brand.” She, like many other successful individuals, has a difficult time separating her personal and professional “selves.” Her advice to potential entrepreneurs includes, “Just have the guts to do it, or you will be someone else’s employee. Well, some people like that. There is so much possibility in this country, and it is especially evident to me after living abroad. Mmmm… Italy!” (Carr, personal communication, January 25, 2006).
UPDATE:
You can read more about Temple St. Clair and her passions in her fantastical book called, “Alchemy”.
Harper Collins describes:
A Southern girl with a nomadic spirit and a voracious appetite for history and culture, Temple St. Clair grew up spending summer vacations in Morocco and Bavaria, studied at an international boarding school in Switzerland, and went night diving in Honduras with the son of Jacques Cousteau. In her early twenties, St. Clair landed in Florence, where she completed a master’s in Italian literature. In fact, she had no exposure to jewelry making until her visiting mother bought an ancient coin and asked St. Clair to commission a local goldsmith to make a piece of jewelry around it.
Armed with the coin and a sketch, St. Clair entered the ancient Palazzo dell’Orafo of Florentine goldsmiths, where she first discovered the centuries-old art of fine Italian jewelry making. Inspired by the distinctive craftsmanship, St. Clair continued to work with artisans to bring her designs to life. A new world soon began to open up to her—a world that engaged her multicultural education, vast experiences, and rich curiosity; a world that awarded her with a new identity as “an amateur anthropologist, a hopeless hunter and gatherer, a bit of a wanderer, and a self-made jewelry historian who loves to dream and draw.”
With an artist’s eye for detail and an unwavering esteem for the historic, St. Clair creates one-of-a-kind pieces that combine ancient influences with traditional craftsmanship and contemporary flair. In Alchemy, she takes readers on an idiosyncratic excursion into the intricate history and craft of jewelry making—from the ancient origins of talismans and charms, to the complicated pursuit of the perfect gemstone—all through the lens of her own fascinating experiences. The result is a mesmerizing and visually stunning book that will appeal to jewelry lovers, artistic dreamers, and anyone who suffers from wanderlust.
Civility and Luxury
Author Roger Hargreaves offers a glimpse of this concept in his children’s book, Mr. Uppity.
My Philosophy
My art is to create experiences that resonate around history, places, events and time through words and the production and arrangement of color, flavor, space, texture, sound, aroma and movement.
I believe value is achieved through an authentic exchange that connects and enriches lives.
An old indian proverb says:
“Tell me the facts and I will learn. Tell me the truth and I will believe. But tell me a story, and it will live in my heart forever.”
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