As markets accelerate and expectations fragment, leaders feel pressure to constantly adjust: new messaging, new initiatives, and new cultural language meant to signal modernity. Relevance becomes something to chase rather than something to preserve. The result is motion without direction: organizations move faster while standing for less.
Over time, culture becomes harder to describe. Not because it's complex, but because it's no longer clear. What's often misunderstood is that relevance isn't created by novelty; it's born of recognizability.
When Patrice Louvet took over as CEO, the company was navigating a familiar leadership tension. The brand was iconic, but its connection with younger audiences had weakened. Many organizations respond to that moment by chasing relevance through new trends, louder messaging, or broader distribution.
However, in an earlier interview on This Is Working , Louvet explained that they resisted this and instead returned to first principles. "The business we're in is the dreams business," he said. That framing served as an operating constraint. Decisions about products, partnerships, and where the brand showed up in the world flowed from that clarity.
This distinction matters well beyond retail. Coherence doesn't come from having more ideas. It comes from narrowing the lens through which decisions are made. When leadership is clear about what an organization stands for, relevance becomes a byproduct rather than a pursuit.
Coherence—and ultimately culture—is experienced through environments, decisions, and standards that don't break under exposure or sway with opinion.
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