Design & Style, Arts & Entertainment, Business

Leading With Impact

Anna Wintour

Lesson time 11:11 min

Iconic leaders don’t just execute on their job; they also build relationships with their audience and take a stand. Anna speaks about the deeper meaning in her work and why it’s always important to give credit to others.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Find New Ways to Connect With Your Audience · Subchapter Title: Find the Bigger Meaning in Your Work · Take Credit, but Also Give It

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - The primary role and the responsibilities of an editor in chief, I think, varies with each person. Everybody follows their own map. For myself, I don't think-- I don't sit there with an org chart thinking, OK, today, I'm going to be an editor in chief. And I'm going to do that. I think much more about representing Vogue on a bigger stage. I think about how we can use Vogue as a platform, I think a platform for change, a platform for activism, a platform very importantly for the fashion industry. I think about what we can do from an extracurricular point of view that will be meaningful not only for Vogue but for our audiences and for the industry at large. I can't remember exactly when I first started to talk to RJ Cutler about the September issue. But it really came out of wanting to try and explain to the world what the Met Gala was and how that particular event had really changed and grown and what it had become in a meaningful way to represent for the fashion industry as well as for the museum. And it was through the conversations that I had with RJ that he pivoted and changed to let's make this about the September issue, which hadn't been our thinking at all at the beginning. I think it brought a deeper understanding of what it takes to work at Vogue and the care and love and how much work goes into an issue like a September issue. So from that perspective, it was, I think, extremely helpful and also very revealing to our audiences in understanding the process that they simply hadn't thought about in that way before. We picked up the original thread a number of years later when we made "The First Monday In May" with Andrew Rossi. It was a year that we looked at China's influence on fashion. And we literally went to the Forbidden City to show the length that Andrew goes to create such blockbuster exhibitions. Simultaneously, the movie also showed the incredible work that goes into creating the opening night gala. Another flip of a coin was thinking about how we can talk to our audiences in a way that can be more personal and more meaningful and let them understand in a real way in real time what it is to be a designer today, what it might be to be a journalist today, what it might be like to be a television producer today, and how working within the world of fashion and beauty and culture. And out of that thinking became our Forces of Fashion Conference, an extension of the Vogue brand and, I think, a highlight for our audiences that are able to attend or watch it online. And it's giving an inside look to everything that we do and the creative visionaries that we work with do in a way that only Vogue can provide. So that is another avenue into our world. And I think, when you are all working in the creative world, in the huge landscape that everybody has and the amount of content and access that everybody has to all kinds of information today, the more that you can help the people that you're tryin...

About the Instructor

A fashion and media icon, Anna Wintour has been driving our cultural conversation for more than 30 years. The Vogue Editor-in-Chief and Artistic Director of Condé Nast takes off her signature sunglasses and gives you unprecedented access to her world. See how Anna nurtures talent, makes bold decisions, and evolves a brand. Learn how to lead with impact from a visionary creative leader.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour gives unprecedented access to her world, teaching you how to lead with vision and creativity—and without apology.

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