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Quote by Polly Allen Mellen

“I loved the masculine style of dressing of Katharine Hepburn, who came from the same town that I came from. I was fascinated by the way she wore trousers. So I think the romanticism of the movies also influenced my life and my interest in fashion greatly.”

Quote by Polly Allen Mellen

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Polly Allen Mellen

Polly Allen Mellen, born on June 18, 1924, is an enigmatic figure with an unknown profession and category. more

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“When I graduated from school, World War II was still going on. At the time, my eldest sister, Nancy, was working in New York City at Lord & Taylor, and she had a great friend named Sally Kirkland who she worked with there and who later went to work as an editor at Vogue. I always told them, "I want to work in fashion like you do," and finally, in the late '40s, I got a job at Lord & Taylor, too.”

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“One day, Sally Kirkland said to Diana Vreeland, who was the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar at the time, "I have a young woman I want you to meet. She's very young, but I think you should meet her." When Sally Kirkland told me this, I said, "I can't possibly do that! I'm going to throw up! That's the scariest thing I've ever heard! I can't do that, Sally. I'm not ready to do that!" But Sally said, "You let them make that decision." I was absolutely terrified.”

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“I think Diana Vreeland recognized the passion and the energy I had. I stayed at Harper's Bazaar for two years, until I met my first husband and moved on to Philadelphia in 1952. But they were incredible years - wonderful, wonderful years. But, anyway, my career sort of took off from there. I was really blessed.”

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“I was surrounded by talented people. I always remember Mrs. Carmel Snow, saying to me, "You know, Polly, if one person thinks they're a big star, then we're all stars. You just go out there and always do your best. And always have time to see any designer - no matter how big or how small, have time to see them. You don't have to just see the big shots. You never know what's coming around the corner and the talent that is going to be important. That is your job."”

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“My mother had a definite influence on my leadership style. She was very involved in the community. She would say that whenever you run into challenges or you're trying to make things happen, you've got to understand what makes people tick, what motivates them. Even though she was a business major in college, I think psychology was more of a passion for her.”

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“Throughout my career, I had a lot of mentors, and I just adopted them. What I found is that, especially if you're young, when you go up to people and say, 'Would you mind being my mentor?,' their eyes widen. They literally step back. What they're thinking about is the commitment and time involved if they say yes. And time is something they don't have. So I would not ask them to be my mentor, but I would just start treating them like it. And that worked very well for me.”

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“I find that a lot of people don't take the advice they're given. But I would do what they suggested, and then follow up with them and say: "Hey, thanks so much. Here's what I did. It worked out great." Now what happens? They feel pretty good about giving you the advice because they had a positive impact. So when I reach out to them again, they're more likely to actually respond to my e-mail or my call. And then they might be more willing to have coffee with me.”

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“A big part of my job is coaching and developing. I've hired the right team. But everyone has areas where we need to improve. One of the things that I do is discuss a leadership topic at our regular meetings. And it makes a difference, because through these leadership topics, I get to reinforce our culture, the style, what's expected.”

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“When people come to you with problems or challenges, don't automatically solve them. As a mama bear, you want to take care of your cubs, so you tend to be protective and insulate them against all those things. But if you keep solving problems for your people, they don't learn how to actually solve problems for themselves, and it doesn't scale. Make sure that when people come in with challenges and problems, the first thing you're doing is actually putting it back to them and saying: "What do you think we should do about it? How do you think we should approach this?".”

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“Everybody understands that no matter what your day-to-day job is, when something happens, everybody gets involved to get it fixed and make it right. It really comes down to teamwork. When people come into the culture and see that everybody in the company plays a role to make things happen, they also act. When people don't, then it just doesn't work, and they don't make it.”

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