Stuart Weitzman built a global brand by daring to try, fail, and create — showing that real success isn’t just learned, it’s lived. At Cal Poly, this spirit is called “Learn by Doing.”
On Monday, Nov. 3, Stuart Weitzman, a legendary shoe designer and entrepreneur who founded the luxury shoe company “Stuart Weitzman,” came to speak at Cal Poly. In his presentation titled “A Designer’s Entrepreneurial Journey on the Road Less Traveled” and in an one on one interview, he speaks of his unconventional journey to success, and how others can be inspired from it.
Weitzman admits he never saw himself being in the fashion industry; he went to the Wharton School in order to try to get a job on Wall Street when his friend approached him.
“He said, ‘You ought to draw some shoes for my dad, he buys freelance’ I swear I never draw shoes,” Weitzman said.
After drawing 20 sketches and earning $20 a sketch, he thought he’d try it for a year.
“I loved it, and then I [thought] ‘That’s it. I’m staying here.’”
With a new passion ignited, Weitzman set off on a different path. He worked for a shoe company that was successful in the industry for around five years to learn the skills he needed. For Weitzman, experience was the teacher, and this is where he credits his success from.
His advice to young entrepreneurs or creatives is simply, “you have to work somewhere, because you’re not going to do it right off the bat. You need to know some things and learn some things, make mistakes with the company that you’re with.” Weitzman says that he was able to apply the skills and connections he had from previous experience to his new role at his company.
He speaks about a few of his “truisms.” To create a successful company you must be imaginative, be able to take a risk, gamble on ideas and follow them through. Through the hiring process, you have to hire people who think that way.
Creating a community within the workplace is another key lesson Weitzman said he realized. He advises that you always have two or three great people working with you, and more importantly they have to be passionate about their job.
“I want someone who’s going to not supply the rocks to my cathedral, but help me build the cathedral,” Weitzman said.
The key to a successful company is the community you build around it, he said. People who are there for you to not just fill a position, but to improve and grow the company as whole. You also need to ensure that you empower them as well.
Through everything Weitzman has learned that it’s important to be kind and create a community within your company. He speaks on how when they won an award, he never got up on the stage to get it, but instead allowed the person who ran that department to go up.
Stuart Weitzman ends with the importance of taking the road untraveled. Success doesn’t always come from a rigid plan, but it grows out a spark and curiosity, an action plan and learning through experiencing. For inspiring entrepreneurs, he hopes his story is an invitation to decide your own course, take risks, learn by doing, and let the adventure itself be your greatest achievement.