{"id":161013,"date":"2019-03-04T22:43:39","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T22:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-my-view-when-does-a-dominant-leader-become-a-liability\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:55:18","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:55:18","slug":"in-my-view-when-does-a-dominant-leader-become-a-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-my-view-when-does-a-dominant-leader-become-a-liability\/","title":{"rendered":"In My View: When does a dominant leader become a liability?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ted Baker CEO and Founder, Ray Kelvin, has resigned from his position at the British company following an internal inquiry regarding alleged harassment of staff. Kelvin <strong>had been on an indefinite leave of absence since December<\/strong>, when the initial allegations were made, but won\u2019t be returning to the business.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Ted Baker was founded in Glasgow in 1988 by Kelvin, initially selling men\u2019s shirts and later expanding into womenswear in 1995. Ted Baker\u2019s huge success, a yearly turnover of \u00a3590m and nearly 500 stores worldwide, is <strong>undeniably down to Ray Kelvin\u2019s individual hand.<\/strong>&nbsp;On his resignation, Kelvin said, \u201cThe past few months have been deeply distressing and I\u2019ll now be taking time privately with my family to consider what my next adventure will be. Bye for now, Ray.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\"I\u2019ll now be taking time privately with my family to consider what my next adventure will be. Bye for now, Ray.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ray Kelvin<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whether you like the brand or not, you can\u2019t ignore its growth and consistency over the past 30 years. Kelvin\u2019s<strong> hard work, attention to detail, quality control and quirky aesthetic<\/strong> has amassed a huge global fan club.&nbsp;While the majority of people wearing Ted Baker would never have heard of Ray Kelvin, they have definitely experienced his overriding vision and eye. It\u2019ll be interesting how the brand maintains that momentum without him.<\/p>\n<p>Founders are very important to fashion companies and they are seldom as exciting after the founder has left. Fashion businesses need strong people with personality and a determined vision of the direction they need to go in.&nbsp;Arguably, fashion needs these people even more than other industries because<strong> it is such an instinctive industry. It\u2019s unpredictable and data often won\u2019t help.<\/strong> You need to follow the leader\u2019s instinct and feel for things if you are to react quickly and timely. Design and decisions by committee is often more conservative and slower and why many companies quickly flounder.<\/p>\n<p>Kelvin\u2019s long-running desire not to be photographed or uncover the fact he\u2019s the real Ted Baker can be twisted to make him look like he was trying, or had something, to hide. Ted Baker, up until recently, didn't advertise and had a distorted relationship with the press.<\/p>\n<p>This is not to condone anybody\u2019s negative actions and anything illegal should be prosecuted, but <strong>when does a dominating character become a bully?<\/strong> One person\u2019s clash of personalities is another person\u2019s intimidation. One person\u2019s eccentric way of greeting people, or \u201cbanter\u201d, can be another person\u2019s sexual harassment or racist allegation. The line of unacceptability is subjective and often blurred.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s Philip Green or another titan of industry, people are, rightly, responsible for their language and actions and companies have to be seen to take any allegations seriously.<strong> Nobody is untouchable anymore. Good.&nbsp;<\/strong>We live in an age where you can\u2019t have any element of doubt. If in doubt, then you are automatically guilty. Which puts potentially innocent people into an indefensible grey area and they are shown the door. You shouldn\u2019t or can't hold onto people at any cost, even if they are the founder, and it\u2019s a verdict of guilty, instantly.<\/p>\n<p>Ted Baker had a tsunami of allegations following<strong> a petition signed by 200 staff<\/strong> and it\u2019s very hard to accuse somebody that doesn\u2019t appear to have anybody to control their behaviour. Nobody should feel like they are being bullied or pressurised into anything they aren\u2019t comfortable with. It creates a toxic environment and may explain a high turnover of staff. People make a business' culture, but it needs to come from the top down.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\"This isn\u2019t a gender issue. This isn\u2019t about men. It\u2019s about people in positions of power abusing those positions.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The shift in society is, rightly, now, controlling these people and losing their positions of power is what will be their biggest loss.&nbsp;This isn\u2019t a gender issue. This isn\u2019t about men. It\u2019s about people in positions of power abusing those positions. It\u2019s <strong>that feeling of knowing people have to do what you say<\/strong> and pushing that into a different and negative dynamic. This abuse is what is a shame, as it\u2019s the same energy, when positive, which makes these companies great. It\u2019s the energy of trying something new, sticking your neck out or pushing a few different buttons. Again, particularly important in the fashion and creative industries.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s Ted Baker or Arcadia, <strong>you wonder whether these companies\u2019 successes could be replicated as big and as quickly in the #MeToo era<\/strong>. You have to break a few eggs to get ahead and often upset and disagree with a few people on the way.&nbsp;Fashion businesses need strong and successful characters to make things happen, but it doesn\u2019t mean they can do whatever they like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10494],"tags":[11120,10248,10267,3788],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In My View: When does a dominant leader become a liability? - TheIndustry.fashion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ted Baker CEO and Founder, Ray Kelvin, has resigned from his position at the British company following an internal inquiry regarding alleged harassment of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-my-view-when-does-a-dominant-leader-become-a-liability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In My View: When does a dominant leader become a liability? 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