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CHAPTERS
Chapter summaries
From being underestimated to building resilience and “lift as you climb”
Leena Nair reflects on how being a “first” repeatedly in her life meant constantly hearing that things “can’t be done.” She explains how that experience shaped her resilience, determination, and commitment to making it easier for those who come after her.
- •Growing up in a small town in India meant ambitions like studying engineering required constant negotiation
- •She describes the double bind women face in how they’re perceived (liked vs. respected, “too tough” vs. not)
- •Resilience came from grabbing opportunities and never taking them for granted
- •She frames being first as a privilege—and emphasizes not wanting to be the last
- •“Lift as you climb” becomes a guiding mantra to open doors for others
Early tools: affirmations, mentors, learning mindset, and embracing failure
Nair shares specific practices she used to develop confidence and capability when she lacked nearby role models. She also explains how embracing failure helped her take bigger risks throughout her career.
- •She relies on affirmations and proactively seeks sponsors and mentors
- •She describes reaching out to a top student from a newspaper article to learn study techniques
- •Curiosity and humility—being willing to say “I don’t know” and learn—are central habits
- •Family support mattered, including a story about meeting her husband after a promise to her father
- •She embraces failure as a learning tool—crying, resetting, and taking more audacious risks afterward
Switching from engineering to HR by following a strength: listening to people
After studying and working in engineering, Nair moves into management and finds herself drawn to work centered on people and motivation. She describes how frontline listening in factories revealed her strengths and pulled her toward human resources.
- •She admits she didn’t enjoy engineering work as much and pursued management studies
- •She found people-centered skills—motivating and galvanizing—came more naturally
- •Unilever rotations across functions helped her discover her strongest contribution
- •A factory example shows how listening to operators taught her more than logbooks
- •She later led HR at Unilever, describing the scale and learning involved
How to build culture at scale: role modeling, incentives, and shared purpose
Responding to a question about culture, Nair emphasizes that senior leaders must embody the behaviors they want to see. She also highlights aligning incentives and connecting employees to meaningful purpose.
- •Culture transformation starts with visible role modeling by senior leaders
- •Leaders must consistently “walk the talk,” with no exceptions
- •Incentives and compensation should reinforce desired behaviors
- •A shared purpose helps people understand why their work matters
- •She describes her personal purpose as igniting belief and capability in others
Achieving gender balance: support women, engage men, and change systems
Nair explains that gender balance requires simultaneous work on confidence and ambition, male allyship, and cultural change. She describes disciplined hiring and promotion processes that insist on balanced shortlists while selecting on merit.
- •Gender balance requires supporting women, working with men, and changing culture at the same time
- •She notes many women may be less accustomed to expressing ambition due to lifelong conditioning
- •She describes men in power often being “gender blind” and needing to be brought along
- •Representation cues matter, such as corridors filled with portraits of male leaders
- •Progress happens “appointment by appointment” by requiring balanced shortlists for roles
The Chanel call: loyalty to Unilever, nine months of doubt, and the pull of an iconic house
Nair recounts being stunned by Chanel’s outreach while she felt deeply loyal to Unilever and was on a CEO succession path. She describes why Chanel’s brand, values, variety of businesses, and the sector’s dynamics ultimately made it irresistible.
- •She was in love with Unilever and initially refused to consider Chanel
- •Her husband pushed her to take the call; it took her nine months to say yes
- •She highlights Chanel’s values: integrity, independence, and audacity
- •She describes the variety of the role across fashion, fragrance, makeup, watches, and jewelry
- •She shares personal moments of embracing Chanel culture and feeling it’s a dream job
Navigating the “quadruple transition”: unlearning mass-market thinking for luxury
Nair contrasts FMCG’s scale and constant communication with luxury’s rarity and desire-building. She explains that moving into luxury required deep humility, unlearning old instincts, and learning a new pace centered on craftsmanship.
- •She jokes a quadruple transition means being brave, foolish, or both
- •The toughest shift was FMCG to luxury: mass availability vs rarity and discovery
- •She explains luxury as creating “a work of art,” not mass repetition
- •Craftsmanship examples: many steps to make a bag and years of training before working on iconic products
- •Her go-to phrase early on was “Help me understand why we do it this way”
First weeks at Chanel: heritage immersion, artisans, and slowing down to learn
Nair describes an unconventional onboarding built around “surprises,” stories, and heritage rather than presentations. Visiting Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment, the heritage archives, and artisan communities reshaped her understanding and pace.
- •Her first-week schedule was filled with “surprise,” unlike structured corporate onboarding
- •She learned Chanel through storytelling about Gabrielle Chanel’s norm-breaking innovation
- •She toured the heritage archives with large collections of artifacts and signature pieces
- •She met specialized artisans and describes the time-intensive nature of handmade work
- •The experience helped her build patience and think differently about value and creation
Leading Chanel with continuity: holistic metrics, compassion, and future readiness
Nair explains that her leadership principles remained consistent despite moving into a traditionally exclusive luxury house. She emphasizes holistic decision-making, compassionate leadership, listening to every voice, and staying curious about the future.
- •She describes leading holistically across brand, clients, people, sustainability, and financial results
- •She notes Chanel’s bonus weighting emphasizes non-financial outcomes alongside performance
- •Compassion, empathy, and listening to quieter voices are central to her leadership identity
- •She shares how she tries to know employees by name and personal story
- •She stays “future fit” by learning from other companies and founders
Gen Z and sustainability: longevity, circularity, and a public ambition
Nair links luxury to durability and a “buy less” mindset, framing sustainability as fundamental rather than optional. She describes Chanel’s sustainability ambition, work on circularity, and focus on dignity in the value chain.
- •She describes Gen Z as a fast-growing luxury segment and ties luxury to longevity and cherishing items
- •She calls sustainability a “non-negotiable” for luxury because durability extends product life cycles
- •She describes a Chanel sustainability ambition including a net zero 2040 commitment
- •She mentions circularity, restoration, upcycling, and staff uniforms made from upcycled products
- •She emphasizes dignity and opportunity across the value chain and aims to be a sector role model
Chanel Foundation: supporting women and girls globally through targeted projects
Nair spotlights Chanel’s philanthropic work, noting many people know the brand but not the foundation. She outlines the scale of projects and gives examples focused on education access and climate resilience led by women.
- •She describes the Chanel Foundation as a large philanthropic organization focused on women and girls
- •She cites hundreds of projects across many countries supporting safety and economic autonomy
- •Example: supporting Radio Begum so girls can access lessons via radio
- •Example: the Green Brigade in India restoring mangroves for climate resilience
- •She argues business has resources and influence and should make a difference in the world
Transparency without losing mystique: why Chanel speaks selectively
Nair explains Chanel’s preference for restraint and integrity in communications, including saying yes to few speaking engagements. She argues that as the company grows, selective transparency can inspire others while preserving the brand’s mystique.
- •She says Chanel is not a loud company and avoids over-communication
- •She notes she receives many speaking invitations but accepts only a handful
- •She frames transparency as increasingly important as the company grows larger
- •Integrity is the bar: Chanel avoids communicating unless confident it’s doing something well
- •She wants Chanel to remain aspirational and keep people dreaming
Vision and legacy: a 100-year horizon, human craftsmanship, and how she wants to be remembered
Nair outlines her hope for Chanel to remain a beacon of inspiration for the next century by staying ahead of what’s next and investing in human creation. She also shares how she wants to be remembered—by how she made people feel and by making her younger self proud through uplifting others.
- •She wants Chanel to be judged decades later as having improved lives through its actions
- •She connects the vision to investing in human skills and craftsmanship in an AI era
- •She emphasizes long-term thinking rooted in heritage and continued innovation
- •She says people remember how you made them feel more than what you said or did
- •She wants her younger self to be proud of her efforts to break norms and uplift others
Audience Q&A: pressure as a “first,” market downturns, China and growth markets, mentors, and AI ethics
In audience questions, Nair discusses the amplified pressure of failing as a “first” and her coping practices like journaling and community support. She also addresses luxury market softness with a long-term brand mindset, shares optimism about China and emerging markets, reflects on mentor impact, and explains Chanel’s approach to AI with ethics and human creation at the center.
- •She admits feeling pressure that failures reflect on broader groups and uses journaling and mentors to reframe setbacks
- •On market softness, she emphasizes long-term focus enabled by being private and independent
- •She says in luxury you don’t benchmark like-for-like competition; you build desirability and client experience
- •On China, she expresses long-term confidence and ongoing investment; she also mentions India, Mexico, and Southeast Asia as growing markets
- •On AI, she describes learning trips, bias concerns in outputs, building data foundations, running many experiments, and prioritizing human creation and ethics
