Bad advice can come in all forms and from all different types of people.
For fashion mogul, Tory Burch the worst advice she never took came from a potential investor who told her "Don’t ever say business and social responsibility in the same sentence." Burch got that advice over 15 years ago when she first started fundraising for her eponymous company. Hearing that today almost sounds absurd as more and more companies are committing to philanthropy as a part of their core mission. If anything, Burch was ahead of her time.
"When I went to raise money, they thought it sounded very light and charity work and really I was positioning, as this is good for the bottom line," Burch tells ABC News’ Chief Business, Technology and Economics Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis.
“It’s good for our employees. It’s good to attract people to want to work here and then it’s also good for the customer. So it’s a win, win”
She was right. Since that meeting her company would go on to become a worldwide success and she one of America’s richest self-made women, all while staying true to her mission of social good, launching The Tory Burch Foundation in 2009. The foundation supports female entrepreneurs by providing access to capital, education and resources to grow their businesses.
“Now companies aren’t relevant or innovative without purpose, so I would say you can never listen to advice you really don’t fundamentally believe in.”
You can hear more from Tory Burch on ABC Radio’s “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis” podcast.