Dani Reiss CEO of Canada Goose keynote talk part 2

Culture is pretty... yeah, I mean, you know, I think that culture is an interesting thing. We have, we're fun, right? I mean, Canada is a fun place to work. It's pretty, it's very casual in the sense that we don't wear suits. I mean, you wear a suit if you want, I guess. You know, sometimes people do, but you know, it's... we used to wear suits with no bankers, but then we just... they just dress up with uses now. Come to us, it's awesome. But you know, I think that culture starts at the top. I think it's very important. And you know, one of the... it's easy, it's important to establish a good culture to begin with. I mean, it starts with the owner of the company, with all of you guys, and you're going to set the culture. The challenge becomes when you start to grow: how do you maintain that culture, assuming it was a positive culture to begin with? But you know, likely won't be successful unless it is. And how do you maintain that as you grow and get bigger, with hundreds of employees and thousands of employees? And how do you put in systems, how do you put in processes that, by their very definition, make you more corporate, yet if your culture is not very corporate, how do you sort of institutionalize that whole thing?

Um, I think it's really... we are a highly entrepreneurial company. An entrepreneurial conference, I think that... you know, it's... I think that in a small company, obviously there's a small group of people who make the decisions. And I think that as we've gotten bigger, and we do get much bigger now, we it's important that people on the front lines are making the decisions as well. And we remain entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurialism is one of our core values, and it's very important that we maintain that. And so yeah, it's not... I mean, I'm a pretty... you have to ask our senior managers, but I would say I'm a pretty hands-off manager. You know, I speak to my people on a regular basis so that everybody goes about their business and does the right thing for the company. I think people really understand, and all of us at Canada Goose understand the direction that we're going in and what the imperatives are.

Yeah, um, so marketing is a big deal, you know. I mean, for us, we just tell true stories, right? And you know, you talk about celebrities. So you know, I could talk about Hollywood, I'll talk about the film industry. I think that's a good approach, a good story to tell. You guys, you know, Canada Goose has been involved with the film industry for decades, right? We've been, if you would, a film setting where it's cold. These days, you will find that most people are wearing Canada Goose jackets because they have big pockets and they're really warm, and you can put your stuff in them. And you know, it's really the unofficial uniform of film crews and film sets anywhere it's cold. And so that's been going on for decades. And if you're working in film, you know that. And we've changed: we've taken that product from being behind the camera to being in front of the camera, to the point where these days, we were with film producers who are making movies, they use our jackets on screen to authenticate their films. Because if they're shooting a film in the high Arctic or in Antarctica, they know that if you go there, that's what most people are wearing. And if they want their films to look realistic, they want people to wear Canada Goose jackets. So that's how we've got our stuff in front of the camera. And the virtue of this relationship with Hollywood, I'd say almost everybody in Hollywood has a Canada Goose jacket, because as long as they've shot a film somewhere where it's cold. So that's the relationship with Hollywood. Now, we've always been very grassroots. Back in the early days, we would put jackets on bouncers and on scalpers selling tickets outside the ACC because they're the coldest people out there, right? And we would do things like that. People look at them and think, 'Those guys are cold, it's minus 20, that must be really warm.' And it is really warm. So the challenge for us becomes, now that we're getting bigger and putting so much more product into the global marketplace, we need to continue to tell our message. How do we continue to do that in the same kind of way? By being authentic and true to ourselves, right? We're not going to start taking out colossal ad campaigns because that's never been our MO. But then how do we reach so many more people? Because we kind of have to, to sell that many more products. And so what we've done lately is we've partnered and formed an alliance with the film industry itself, like sponsoring the Toronto Film Festival and other film festivals, and telling the authentic stories of our relationship with film, which is very organic and makes a lot of sense, and it's also a way to reach more people.

Um, I... I don't. I really love what I do. I'm very passionate about it. You know, I think that for me, what I do is the perfect balance. I don't think about it. I'm not sure it's the proper correct approach, but for me, I don't think there is any lack of balance, right? I think that everything I do is very energizing, and I don't feel burnt out. I feel good.

Definitely. Uh, I think that... yeah, I mean, along the way I've had many. I'm not sure that I... I haven't had one or two, I've had a lot. You know, I mean, I think that I've made friends with a lot of people across the industry, across other industries. I know a lot of people in the footwear industry, for example. It's similar in a way. They'll make their stuff in China, they can make some more stuff here though. That's fun. But I think that it's really important to ask a lot of questions of a lot of people that know things that you might not know, right? So I don't just have one. If I have a big decision to make, I'll probably bounce an idea off of 10 different people, right? Specific selected people, not people on the subway. But I think it's really important, and then to take your logic and apply it to the information that you're getting to make the decision, because ultimately you have to make the decision. But I think that mentors are huge. Today I have an advisory board, which is really important. I really just formalized something which I always did anyways, right? I always... a lot of these folks were important advisers to me, and now they're just in a formal group. But I'd say it's very important to ask a lot of questions.

Canada Goose, yeah, family businesses. Uh, make sure you get everything in writing. That's really important. But no, it's true, right? Because families are very close and very tight, right? And there's a lot of emotion involved. So when you're dealing with your family, I think it's important that you write everything down and get everything so everybody... people forget what they said two years ago or three years ago, right? Happens all the time. So, you know, I mean, succession planning is important, right? I think that depending on the size of the business and the complexity and the amount of thought put into succession planning, it's important to get professional advice on that. Unfortunately, there's a lot of professional advice on that out there as well.

Wow. I feel proud every time I see that video. Um, you know, I don't know that I can say that there has been a single proudest moment. And yeah, it really puts me on the spot. You know, I think that being a global brand and being... you know, our jackets are known in over 40 countries around the world. I'm really proud of that. You know what? I think that, just thinking about this now, we just moved into a new corporate headquarters, and actually moving into that building, I'd say that was my proudest moment. Because it's an awesome building, very excited. And in Canada, it's in Toronto, it's in Canada. Yeah, talking about corporate culture, we have a massive gym, it's great, right? It's really cool. And yeah, just thinking about where we... when I moved into that office, I saw it built along the way, but the actual moment where I first sat in it and walked around it, remembering when we started and going like, 'This cannot be true.' But yeah, that was a good moment. I still feel that way every time I walk into the lobby, like three months later.