The native Indian will take over the executive position of Chanel in the new year.
Dusseldorf When Leena Nair takes a stage, she stresses that she needs a lot of interaction with the audience. “My resume says I’m the best Bollywood dancer in London,” she said at an event in London in December where she gave students insights into her career path. “If you give me a lot of energy, I can even dance for you.” From the first moment she had the audience on her side.
The native Indian has been with Unilever for most of her professional life. Three decades ago, the now 52-year-old started as a trainee in her home country at the consumer goods manufacturer. In January she will move to the French fashion company Chanel – and become CEO there. “If someone had told me when I was growing up that I would do what I do today, I would not have believed them,” she said at the event. “What I mean to say to you: Dream big! Everything is possible.”
Leena Nair was the first woman, the first Asian, and the youngest human resources manager and board member in Unilever history. “It’s a privilege and a burden to always be the first woman to do something,” says Nair. For example, when she studied electrical and telecommunications engineering in India, she was one of 18 women out of 3,000 men.
At Unilever, she made sure that half of all management positions are held by women. The company announced the goal back in 2010. At that time, the proportion of female managers was 38 percent. “It took ten years to achieve this goal,” says Nair.
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The position that she will take on at Chanel at the end of January has been vacant for a long time. Her predecessor Maureen Chiquet was fired in 2016. Officially, it was said that there were different views on the strategic direction. According to media reports, there were repeated quarrels with the then chief designer Karl Lagerfeld, who has since passed away.
Owner still involved in leadership
Alain Wertheimer has been running the company on an interim basis since 2016, which he owns with his brother Gérard Wertheimer. With the handover to Nair, Wertheimer will become Global Executive Chairman.
Chanel is one of the family-run international luxury companies. The company not only has to struggle with its internal machinations, but also with the consequences of the pandemic. In the 2020 financial year, sales fell by 18 percent compared to the pre-crisis year, and profits even fell by around 41 percent. The proceeds amounted to around nine billion euros, the profit in 2020 was 1.8 million euros.
The pandemic also hit the French fashion house.
(Photo: AP)
In addition, the industry has a diversity problem. For example, it caused an outcry when H&M showed a black boy with a sweater in a photo campaign that read “I am the coolest monkey in the jungle”. Nobody in the fashion company noticed that this was racism.
At Chanel, Nair should now ensure more diversity. Already at Unilever, she recognized that women are the main target group in the consumer goods industry. It was only logical for women to take on management positions. The next step was to create a structure for this. This also included the possibility of sharing posts.
“Look through the eyes of others”
In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar fashion magazine, Nair emphasized the importance of empathy for her. “You become empathetic when you look through the eyes of others, their lives, their struggles – then you see what makes it difficult for them to do their job,” she told the magazine.
When she started at Unilever, Nair went through various positions. First she sold tea, then she became a manager in a plant in southern India. She moved to an Indian village for six weeks to get to know the average local consumer better. “I study every day,” says Nair. As an engineer, for example, she only worked a few months before moving to HR.
In a world that is becoming more and more digital, humanity is becoming more and more important, is one of her key messages. With this approach, Nair differs fundamentally from its predecessor Maureen Chiquet. In her book “Beyond the Label”, which she published at Chanel after she left, she describes how she sorted out her wardrobe on her first day off. For years she wore jeans, a top and a Chanel jacket every day. For the first time that day she realized that a real person was hiding behind the uniform.
More: Especially now: Why the global luxury market is booming after the crisis.