The role of creatives in post-crisis financial recovery

Photo Courtesy of PC Chandra pictured to the left of Fern Mallis at NYU Stern.

As the Director of the Fashion & Luxury MBA at the Leonard N. Stern Business School, New York University, I often have to justify why the fashion and luxury industries require different treatment compared to tech or consulting. The answer is simple.

Fashion is an industry with a tangible product that requires specialized systems to bring that product to market. Moreover, these products, while tangible, have inherent intangible value that relates to creativity, innovation, and design. This is exactly what reinforces a company's bottom line, even when market conditions are tough.

Yesterday evening, we hosted the "Godmother of Fashion," Fern Mallis at NYU. Fern, founder of the New York Fashion Week and a fashion industry insider, shared her wisdom about the industry's recovery post-COVID and reinforced what this blog is aiming to achieve, namely refocus attention on the value of creative strategy for a firm's financial advantage.

In Fern's words: "I don't understand why in moments of crisis people fire all the creatives when the creatives are the ones who can come up with solutions to accelerate the company's recovery."

Thoughts?