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Prioritizing growth to sell is a perfectly reasonable business strategy. Being acquired by a larger group at some point (like Poppis recent sale to PepsiCo) makes sense for manyto generate cash flow for expansion, take a shortcut to economies of scale or market penetration, or just cash in for early retirement. But not for me. Early on in my business journey at Bulletproof, we considered a buyout from a renowned global comms agency. But when they starting asking for growth projections and questioning whether we could achieve them, we walked away. We went on to smash those projections within three yearsthats when I truly started to realize we would be better off independent. Really, who would want to report to someone who doesnt believe in your vision? Putting independence first Growing a good business is about relevance, internal culture, and excellencequalities that risk dilution under a larger group. You can so easily lose your way and what you stand forjust look at the recent headlines around Ben and Jerrys, with original CEO, David Stever, ousted for the political activism that was always at the heart of the original business. Also, as you relinquish control, you invariably compromise on how you pursue innovation or map the future. Its why Ive always put independence first. But if you dont want to bank on acquisition in your strategy for scale, how can you nurture expansion, while retaining your independent spirit? In fact, independence and global success go together quite nicely, you just need to embrace the right mindset. Always striving for relevance Different leaders will always have different qualities, but independence, to me, is about embracing a certain restlessness. A business shouldnt just be about creating great work, but about being at the cutting edge of cultureabout being relevant. For that, you need to be constantly moving, searching, never settling. We could be a perfectly good business of 50 people in London, sticking to a clearly defined nichevery well-off but ultimately very bored. Or we can be the business that doesn’t settle, one that embraces new technology, new opportunity and innovation without having to deal with interminable layers of approval. Its a choice you need to actively make and embrace. Embracing imperfection To do so, though, you need to allow yourself to make mistakes. In fact, being able to make mistakes, without being dragged over the coals for every misstep, is one of the biggest luxuries of independence. Weve made many mistakes at Bulletproof. For example, we messed up when we thought we could crack New York without having people on the ground and soon learned that it wouldnt work. From a personal point of view, I made the mistake of thinking I could do it allrun the business and be the creative head. For a long time, I didnt accept that there were people better suited to running parts of the business. Its a mistake I wish Id made a lot earlier. You dont grow a business, you grow people. So being independent is about embracing that imperfection and learning from those gaffes along the way. If you dont, you never progress. It goes hand-in-hand with persistence. As a business founder or leader, you take things personally, so youre protective over the business and its people. But you have to learn from mistakes and move on quickly. The right approach to scale Pursuing scale as a marker of success has its place. But progress means that you must grow for the right reasonsand without compromising quality. For us, scale is about growing talent and capabilities to complement our strengths. Its never about scale for the sake of it. For example, we dismissed the idea of franchising our name for global expansion, even though we received a few approaches. Maintaining control over quality was far more important than spreading our name in this way. A better way to think about scale is that its all about the right talent. Hard work, determination, nurturing, kind individuals who attract the right work and embody your values. If you get this right, you can scale. Articulate your vision To ensure that quality, you also need convictionand vision. People can help you with every other aspect of running a business, but the vision needs to come from the top. It needs to be both externally and internally facing. That way you will always have a road map of what you want to achieve and why, and youll always know how to take your team on that journey, At Bulletproof, our vision is to challenge the creative agency networks through doing the most compelling, commercially creative work on the planet. To prove there is a different way of doing things. Keep your fighting spirit But underpinning it all needs to be a fighting spirit. Things start to fall apart when you think youve made it Dont forget the early days, which invariably are hard. I didnt come from a lot, for example. You should always nurture the mindset to spot the opportunities when they present themselves. Diageo is now one of our largest clients, but it all started with a $20,000 brief for a cocktail in a can. Sometimes businesses reach a certain size and only go for the million-dollar briefsbut thats not how you grow, especially not as an independent business. You can see this fight, this alertness to opportunity, in many of the worlds most respected entrepreneurs. These leaders always look to evolve their enterprises, both into new markets and within their business practices, and their fight and drive keeps them relevant. Nikes Phil Knight is a great example. His book Shoe Dog is a personal favorite. In it, he speaks so honestly about what they went through, and the hustle of the early days. Its what makes running a fiercely independent business so rewarding. With it will come the growth that is truly rewardingand the freedom to say no when a buyer comes knocking.
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“Well, it took a minute,” said Spike Lee, surveying the glittering Met Gala crowd during cocktail hour through bright orange glasses that matched his New York Knicks cap. “But we’re here now, that’s the most important thing.”Lee was referring to the fact that for the very first time, the Met Gala was making a point of celebrating Black style and Black designerssomething he felt was an overdue milestone, but a very welcome one. Tonya Lewis Lee, left, and Spike Lee attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] “Long overdue,” Lee repeated. “But we’re here to celebrate. And who knows what’s gonna happen because of this event? There’s gonna be reverberations around the world.” Serena Williams attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] Lee was echoing an excitement that many of the approximately 400 guestsluminaries in sports, music, fashion, film, theater and moreshared as they sipped cocktails or toured the gala’s accompanying exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” The show is an exploration of Black menswear from the 18th century onward, with dandyism as a unifying theme. Alex Newell attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] Another film director, Baz Luhrmann, was touring the exhibit, designed by curator Monica L. Miller, a Barnard professor who literally wrote the book on dandyism: “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. He, too, mused on the importance of this year’s theme.“Sometimes the subjects are fun, sometimes you go, that’s interesting. But this is a subject where you go, why has light not been shone on this before?” Luhrmann said. “Black sartorial power on culture is so great but how much talk has there been about it?” Whoopi Goldberg attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] Thinking of a departed friend For Whoopi Goldberg, the most important person of the evening wasn’t actually there. It was her late friend, André Leon Talley, the fashion editor and personality who was so important to Black style, and with whom she’d attended previous galas.Talley, who died in 2022, is honored in the exhibit; there’s a caftan he wore, among other objects. And Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton has said he was an inspiration for the show. Colman Domingo attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] “I think they did him proud,” Goldberg said during cocktails. “I’m very happy to be here again, but spectacularly happy to see how they took care of him.”Asked what Talley would have thought of the show, she guessed he’d say: “I’m glad you understand.” And she added: “What better way to honor him?”Goldberg was dressed head to toemeaning mini-top hat to spats-inspired shoes, to handbagin Thom Browne.“He said. ‘Will you come?'” Goldberg said of Browne, whose suits, particularly, are hugely popular. “And I said, when you’re done, just put it on me, and I’m good. I feel incredible.” Lupita Nyong’o attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] So what is dandyism? It was a favored topic of conversation; every guest had a slightly different way of defining what a dandy is. For director Lee, it was simple: “Doing your own thing.” For Audra McDonald, it was about “a sense of reclaiming” one’s own identity and worth. The Broadway actor, currently starring in “Gypsy,” was among the first guests examining the exhibit, along with her husband and fellow actor, Will Swenson. Al Sharpton attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] Over at cocktails, the Rev. Al Sharpton was describing dandyism as a form of activism: the silent kind.“It means to me that even in the midst of being in a socially limited situation, we celebrate. I refuse to submit to just having a menial job. I’m gonna dress up . I’m gonna tip my hat. It’s a sense of rebellion without having to speak it.” A crucial sense of timing Sharpton was full of praise for the Met having chosen this moment to honor Black style.“It comes at a very important time,” he said. “To make a statement of diversity at the highest cultural levelwhich is the Met Galawhen diversity is under attack by the highest office in the land is more than if I could do a hundred marches. This is a monumental night.”Broadway actor Alex Newell agreed. It was the performer’s third Met Gala in a row, but this one had a special meaning.“It’s nice to see us represented this way,” Newell said. “Just when it is needed the most.” Simone Biles attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] A flower-filled night sky Once gala guests climb the steps outside and enter the museum’s Great Hall, they encounter each year a monumental centerpiece, usually floral.This year, it was hundredsthousands?of flower petals suspended from the ceiling, with lighting evoking a starry sky. The petals also hung over the Great Hall staircase, which guests ascended to greet the awaiting receiving line of gala hosts.The petalsmade of fabric, truth be toldwere meant to symbolize narcissus flowers, and there were also reflecting pools, nodding to the myth of Narcissus.The greeting was not only visual but musical: An orchestra, accompanied by swaying singers, played favorites like Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” and Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,”Guests then either proceeded to view the exhibit, or head straight to cocktails in the airy Engelhard Court. Often, they seem to prefer socializing, but this year the exhibit was filled with guests. Honoring Oscar (Wilde, that is) One of the more famous dandies, historically speaking, was Oscar Wilde. And so there was symmetry in the fact that Sarah Snook the “Succession” star was dressed in a way Wilde would have liked.It was certainly intentional. Snook now is appearing on Broadway in “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” the stage adaptation of Wilde’s 1891 novel in which she plays all 26 roles. Sarah Snook attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] “Yes, There’s definitely an echo,” Snook said with a smile, about her striking (and aristocratic-looking) black suit. “Oscar would be happy.”Snook said she was enjoying her night off at the gala conveniently for the many guests from Broadway, theaters are dark on Mondays.“I’m loving the celebration of beautiful things,” Snook said of her gala experience. There are always first-timers At every Met Gala, there are newbies and they’re often rather starstruck. One of them was model Christian Latchman, 19, wearing a dramatic white ensemble that combined trousers with a long skirt.If he looked familiar, that’s because Latchman is the face in the photograph on the cover of the exhibit’s massive hardcover catalog.Asked to sum up his feelings about the evening, he said simply: “Astonishment. That’s the word for it.” Keith Powers attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. [Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP] Also new to the gala was actor Keith Powers, who sat on the sidelines, soaking it in. Was it all intimidating? Overwhelming? “All of the above,” he said. “It makes me anxious and happy, and inspired.” A call to dinner, tuba included Cocktails are fun, but dinner at the Met Gala sounds even more fun that’s where guests get an A-plus musical performance, for one thing.But music also accompanies the call to dinner. This time, it was the New York-based High and Mighty Brass Band who did the honors, snaking through cocktails with drums, trombones, a tuba and trumpets.Then guests headed off slowly to dinner, where they feasted on a menu by chef Kwame Onwuachi. Dinner began with papaya piri piri salad, and moved on to creole roasted chicken with a lemon emulsion, and cornbread with honey curry butter and barbecue greens. Dessert? That was a “cosmic brownie” with powdered sugar doughnut mousse. For more coverage of the 2025 Met Gala, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/met-gala Jocelyn Noveck, AP National Writer
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When Cadillac designed its new ultraluxury EV, the handcrafted Celestiq, the design team had to completely rethink its battery pack: a standard EV battery wouldnt fit inside. We had a challenge, because due to the low roof height and the expressive proportions, there wasnt room for a typical battery in this vehicle, says Tony Nausieda, chief engineer of electrical propulsion systems at GM. It would have been probably pretty straightforward to do something like an internal combustion powertrain, but that was not at all what anybody wanted to do. This was conceived to be an electric vehicle. [Photo: GM] They couldnt compromise on the low lines of the car. It also had to be spacious insideincluding in the back seat, because the type of person who owns a bespoke vehicle that starts at $340,000 often uses a driver. And the battery needed to be big enough to give the car at least 300 miles of range. Rear drivers side view of CELESTIQ battery mounted on assembly cart, highlighting the raised tunnel area between driver and passenger seating, and recessed footwell areas for second-row passengers. [Photo: GM] To tackle the challenge, they took a new approach to the layout of the battery cells. In other GM vehicles, the cells are stacked vertically in a tray. (The company calls the arrangement toast since it looks like slices of bread.) But for the Celestiq, the battery cells lie horizontally. And instead of having a uniform height, the battery pack varies from front to back. Its more of a topographical situation, Nausieda says. [Photo: GM] Underneath the passenger seat in the front, the stack of cells is slightly higher; under the second row footwell, the stack is very short to provide as much legroom as possible. Because there was much more room under the second-row seat cushions, the batteries are stacked higher there. Once the engineers had gotten to that point, they were still 25 miles short of what the car needed in range. So, they designed a new console in the interior, from front to back, and added 24 more battery cells in the tunnel theyd created. That put us comfortably above that 300-mile limit, he says. [Photo: GM] The unusual arrangement was possible because GMs Ultium battery system, created in a partnership with LG Energy Solution, was designed for flexibility, with cells, modules, and packs that can be built in different configurations. The Celestiq’s particular battery pack design is unlikely to be repeated in other models, since it’s more difficult to assemble; the luxury car is made by hand and doesn’t need to be made at scale. But it’s one example of the car company’s road map to move from a one-size-fits-all battery to developing the ideal battery for a particular car. In this case, the designers didn’t have a choice. Typically, “your vehicle design and configuration is really somewhat bounded by the propulsion technologies that you have available to you,” says Nausieda. But with the Celestiq, the design came first and the engineers had to make the battery work. “We took a clean sheet of paper approach and made sure that we had the right battery to support this vehicle and not compromise,” he says.
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