Inspiration From a CEO

Recent statements by a CEO of a popular clothing brand have caused a great deal of chatter as of late.  It seems that the CEO of this particular company feels only certain people should wear his brand.  He was quoted as saying, "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids."  He continues, "Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don't alienate anybody, but you don't excite anybody, either."

I must make one thing clear; I believe he has every right to believe what he believes and to market exclusively to whomever he wishes. I don't need to worry about shopping in his store since I am not cool enough, certainly not attractive enough (you should see his picture!) and I'm too fat to fit in his exclusionary garments.  While I admire his laser-like focus on his target market, I believe his comments are misguided.  After all, who cares if the money he earns comes from someone ugly?  Then again, he is the one with the billion dollar corporation, not me! 

As I read the article, I found myself getting angry at this individual that I don't even know.  I got angry because I believe his attitude is wrong, but then a story popped into my head.  In the Bible, (John 8:1-11) a woman is caught in adultery and according to the law, was to be stoned.  Jesus basically tells the accusers that the individual with no sin could go ahead and throw the first stone.  I found myself realizing that in some ways, I have, or have had the same attitude as this CEO, yet I was ready to call him to task! 

If we are honest, we would prefer to hang out with the cool and popular people, not the broke and busted individuals in the world.  Many of us would prefer to be seen with the owner of the company over the janitor.  Please don't read too much into this, but there was a time where I felt certain people should be excluded from churches due to their particular choices of sin.  Some will still not allow people into their particular organizations simply based on religious beliefs or political views.  Others do not have anyone with a different skin color or financial status in their circle of friends.  Most of us would not dare be seen with an individual with a turban for fear of what would be said about us. 

I decided not to mention the name of the CEO or company in this post.  I didn't want to give him any publicity beyond what I mentioned.  So what is my point?  Simply take a moment, as I did, and ask yourself if his remarks made you upset because they are offensive, because it stirs up some of the same attitudes in yourself, or perhaps both.  We can get mad at what he said, but we can also look at ourselves and see the areas in our life that reflect the exact mentality.  While we may not make millions of dollars, we may find ourselves living more enriched lives by including others instead of excluding those who look, act, think or worship different than us.

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