Robert Polet

By Sarah Raper Larenaudie

In July, Polet, 49, became CEO of Gucci Group, the world's third largest luxury conglomerate. He comes from an unlikely place--Unilever, where he was head of the frozen food and ice cream division--and has a tough mandate: sail Gucci, fix Yves Saint Laurent (where losses widened to $135 million in 2003) and mesh both of them with half a dozen younger businesses into a profitable whole. Here Polet talks with Sarah Raper Larenaudie about barnstorming Gucci facilities to meet and greet--and reassure.

HOW DOES AN EXECUTIVE RUNNING THE WORLD'S LARGEST ICE CREAM BUSINESS LAND AT GUCCI?

The first time [a headhunter] contacted me, he actually said, "If I say the name Gucci, what do you think?" And I said, "Wow." And that wow feeling has stayed with me ever since.

IS IT WEIRD TO GO FROM SELLING ICE CREAM TO SELLING BAGS?

I didn't sell ice cream. I sold concepts. I sold worlds in which people consume ice cream, but I didn't sell a piece of vanilla with a chocolate topping on a stick.

HOW DID YOU GET SUCH INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE?

I'm a modern gypsy. My father worked for a trading company, and I just fell in love with Asia. Then I went to school in London and boarding school in Holland, and I studied at university in Holland and in the U.S.

WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER LUXURY GOODS?

When I was a boy, my father took me to a very good store in London to buy me a pair of Crockett & Jones shoes. I still have them. My mother heard about my new job and said, "I saw it already when you were 5 years old."

ARE YOU A BIG SHOPPER?

I'll tell you a story. I felt proud coming into this world because I have 30 pairs of shoes, which I thought was, well, abbastanza. Yesterday, I met somebody in the company, and this guy says, "Ahhhhh, you're just coming, my friend. I've got 300."

HOW ARE YOU COPING WITH THE FACT THAT MANY OF THE EMPLOYEES WERE PERSONALLY RECRUITED BY FORMER GUCCI LEADERS DOMENICO DE SOLE AND DESIGNER TOM FORD?

The biggest concern--and this is often an issue when you get a change of leadership--people think, Oh, my God, everything is going to change. There will be change, but it will be normal change that the previous leadership would have implemented as well.

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN SO FAR AT GUCCI THAT YOU LIKED?

There's a real wish within the group to win in the marketplace. We have people in our factories and our partner factories who have been working on our products for 20 or 30 years, and they are proud. I even met a shoemaker in Florence who had been in the factory for 45 years.

FORMER COLLEAGUES DESCRIBED YOU AS VERY CREATIVE. WHAT DID THEY MEAN BY THAT?

I love thinking in concepts and being continuously aware of what happens in the world. You start working in Shanghai, then you go to Sao Paulo, and then you go to New York, and you think about the aspirations of thousands of people. This just comes naturally to me. We could brainstorm now, and we'd get 10 ideas going.

DEFINING LUXURY SEEMS SO CONFUSING--A $20 LIPSTICK IS LUXURY, BUT A $50 PAIR OF JEANS IS NOT. SHOULD LUXURY GOODS BE FOR EVERYONE?

Luxury brands are more than the goods. The goods are secondary because first of all you buy into a brand, then you buy the products. They give people the opportunity to live a dream. People want to belong to certain aspirational worlds. Now, you do it at different price points--somebody buys into this world with a handbag for $500 or $800. And somebody else buys herself a dress for $20,000. Both allow people to be part of the world that they are aspiring to.

SO FAR, WHAT'S THE BEST ADVICE YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN?

I visited our archives in Milan. I saw what appeared to be old newspapers, so I took a look and landed on an advertisement by [Gucci founder] Guccio Gucci. It said, "When the quality is still remembered, the price will be long forgotten." This is the essence of what we want to do.