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Jay Shetty PodcastThe Business Expert: The SECRET FORMULA That Launches Billion-Dollar Companies!
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Emma Grede on Fear, Failure, Ambition and Building Billion-Dollar Brands
- Emma Grede traces her ambition to her East London childhood, where fashion magazines offered escapism and her mum taught her that no one is better than her and she is not better than anyone.
- She argues there is no overnight success, describing years of unglamorous jobs, cold calling and bad bosses as formative lessons in sales, storytelling and the kind of leader she wanted to be.
- Grede says she is not afraid of failing, treats fear as fuel, and uses a 'rule of thirds' in which a third of the time is happy, a third okay and a third bad when chasing a dream.
- On motherhood and marriage, she rejects the idea of 'balance' and doing it all, and stresses quality time, trade-offs, shared projects and rituals.
- She explains that Good American grew from solving problems she saw herself, building inclusivity into product and decision-making from the start, and says she now feels responsibility to open doors for people historically left out.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasOvernight success is an illusion
Grede says she has worked since age 12, and that paper rounds, deli work and unpaid fashion jobs were all formative, with even unenjoyable work teaching her something.
Bad bosses teach you who not to be
She wrote down how a boss spoke to people and used it to shape her own leadership, arguing you can be unashamedly ambitious while also lifting others up.
Expect to feel bad a third of the time
Grede's rule of thirds holds that chasing a hard dream means roughly a third happy, a third okay and a third crappy, and if you are too happy you may not be pushing yourself hard enough.
Don't be too afraid to lose
She says she has failed more than she has succeeded, including an LA agency office that she felt was the end of her company and career, and that she dusts herself off because she has survived worse.
Reject the myth of balance and doing it all
Grede says her life is a series of trade-offs, that she isn't at the school gate, and that women should lower expectations of themselves, not their ambition, because kids need quality attention more than constant presence.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI have lost and failed more times than I've succeeded. All right? We don't talk about that. That's not in the articles. I don't post that on Instagram.
— Emma Grede
When you are doing something very difficult or you are chasing a dream, you're gonna be happy about a third of the time. You're gonna feel okay about a third of the time. And the other third of the time, you're gonna feel pretty crappy.
— Emma Grede
You have to put your needs and your, uh, wants and your ambition first, because no one is gonna do that for you.
— Emma Grede
No one's gonna take a chance on me. I have to take the chance on me, and then maybe someone else will be inspired to take a chance on me.
— Emma Grede
No one's watching you like you're watching you. Most of your mistakes is in private.
— Emma Grede
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SPEAKERS
Emma Grede
guestEntrepreneur and fashion executive, CEO/co-founder of Good American and a founding partner of SKIMS.
Jay Shetty
hostPodcast host of On Purpose, author, and former monk who interviews guests on purpose, wellness, and leadership.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
