Last night, Revlon President and CEO Alan Ennis visited campus as part of the Wharton Leadership Lectures series. Ennis joined Revlon in 2009 after working in accounting and took over as chief financial officer at a time when the company was in severe debt.
As CEO, Ennis made a point to hire more female executives. Now, women comprise almost half of Revlon’s leadership team. In addition, Ennis planned the brand’s new product releases for the next three years to increase efficiency.
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The audience comprised mostly of Wharton MBA students, who asked about the brand’s global presence, communication strategies and Ennis’s personal style as a CEO. Ennis commented on Revlon’s and other companies’ changing marketing methods with the ongoing popularity of social media, noting that companies are spending less of their funding on television commercials because this method has lost much of its efficacy.
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The hour-long lecture provided attendees with insights into the business world and the effects of globalization on brand perception and success. Here are a few takeaways from his lecture:
“You get out of [an MBA] what you put into it.”
“I make a point to try all of the products we sell to consumers.”
“You have to have the right product. You have to make it appeal to consumers, and you have to make your store presence better than your competitors.”
“My style is different than many other CEOs’. I’m comfortable being wrong. We are wrong half of the time.”
“Whatever industry you are in, throw yourself into it. Get involved.”
“When you’re CEO, if you say yes, it happens, and if you say no, the project is killed.”
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