What Happened when Kim Kardashian Visited Harvard Business School?
This article originally ran on Today.com in October 2023.
This week, I talked to Elena Nicolaou about Skims founder Kim Kardashian’s guest lecture in Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer, the course I co-teach at Harvard Business School.
What was surprising for some to discover was that Kim’s insights and conviction during her founder journey were on par with some of the best leaders in the world.
Read the full conversation below.
If you're surprised that Kim Kardashian gave a lecture at Harvard Business School, you may be watching too much of "The Kardashians."
At least, that's what Matt Higgins thinks. The former "Shark Tank" host and "Burn the Boats" author is one of the people who invited Kardashian to speak about her shapewear brand Skims in the Harvard Business School class. Her visit was included in Season Four, Episode Two of "The Kardashians."
Higgins, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, says she had every right to be there.
"People know Kim from 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians,' but I think her experience as a phenomenal entrepreneur is way underexposed.”
While cameras follow Kardashian and her family into nearly every room they're in, they were barred from filming the HBS class. Higgins, who co-teaches the course with Leonard Schlesinger and Ayelet Israeli, gives TODAY.com some insight about what went on in that room, aka what viewers weren't able to see.
Higgins explains Kardashian was invited to speak in a class about direct-to-consumer brands, which skip the middleman like large retail stores and sell directly to customers.
The Skims founder was one of three celebrities invited to partake in the class's sub-series about celebrity-led brands (the others were makeup artist Bobbi Brown and actor Scarlett Johansson).
"When you have a celebrity-led brand that uses their storytelling ability and their audience to communicate their product in a compelling and engaging way, (direct-to-consumer) business become more viable," Higgins says.
During the course, Kardashian and Skims chief executive Jens Grede explained their business story in a guest lecture and fielded questions from Harvard Business School students, who "don't hold back," according to Higgins.
Higgins, who says he has never seen an episode of Kardashian's reality show, was "very impressed" with the founder's presence.
"She knew her numbers inside and out, she had thoughtful reasoning about her go-to-market strategy and why they’ve stayed DTC, she had a concrete philosophy around product quality and how she ensures it. The range of her understanding and involvement with the business is impressive," he says.
She was also “honest and vulnerable” about mistakes she had made in her career, Higgins says. Among her insights? Higgins shared some of Kardashian's quotes from the class, including, “The key to our success has been the product. Nothing makes me happier than to see a complete hater falling in love with Skims. ... I really wanted the brand to be able to speak for itself, and that’s something I’ve always been aware and really conscious of throughout this process.”
What Kardashian has done with Skims, valued at $4 billion as of 2023, was "very difficult," Higgins says.
"I don't think people truly understand how phenomenal Skims is doing as a business. (The reason many) celebrities fail is they think they can simply slap their name on a product and the name is going to carry the day. It never works. The difference, I've found is — is the product organic to the celebrity in the way they live their life? Is it something they're very passionate about? Are they willing to put their entire platform behind it?"
On the topic, Kardashian said in the class, “It comes down to being authentic to who you are and what your brand stands for. And making sure that the product is able to speak for itself, no matter what.”
Despite what is clearly a successful business, Kardashian was open with her feelings of imposter syndrome in the episode.
"The top business minds in the country have lectured here. I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm really nervous," Kardashian said.
Higgins sees "imposter syndrome" as "confirmation you are doing very hard things."
"What I thought was fascinated with the media backlash is that it confirms you need to steel yourself and block it out. No matter where you are in your life or how high profile, there are going to be people in your life who are going to question (you)," he says. "The fact Kim Kardashian goes through it, despite her success and wealth, is the perfect illustration.
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