How Williams-Sonoma’s CEO Built Her Career w/ Entrepreneurship | Ep. 11 | The Inflection Point

Laura Alber drove to San Francisco without any job prospects, and landed a job at Pottery Barn as a Senior Buyer. She created Pottery Barn Kids while pregnant with her first child — the company’s most successful launch ever. Now as CEO, she leads Williams-Sonoma, one of the largest retailers in the nation, with a digital-first (but not digital-only) business strategy that produced record profits and ensured the livelihood of all its employees through the pandemic. In episode 11 of The Inflection Point, join Monica Langley as Laura shares how her entrepreneurial spirit and obsessions with food, family, and home helped her career (and the company) thrive, and emphasizes her goal to be an industry leader in sustainability. Follow @Monicalangley on twitter for more updates on The Inflection Point Series:   / monicalangley​   Watch more episodes of The Inflection Point on Salesforce+: https://www.salesforce.com/plus 0:00 - Intro 1:12 - Laura Alber’s Inflection Point & Food, family, home 4:08 - Alber’s entrepreneurial experience 8:30 - Becoming the president of Williams-Sonoma 10:08 - How Williams-Sonoma empowers women to become CEOs 13:21 - How analytics is incorporated in decision-making 17:20 - Williams-Sonoma’s sustainability goals This episode of The Inflection Point was brought to you in partnership with IBM. Trust IBM’s expertise, technology and insights to unlock innovation and build your future business together. Learn more at ibm.com/services/salesforce Stay ahead with the latest C-Suite content, fresh ideas, and stories of change with the C-Suite Perspectives Newsletter. Sign up here. The Inflection Point: Today's most influential and inspiring CEOs reveal how their personal backstories, professional influences, values -and inflection points- inform their leadership. Join Salesforce Executive Vice President Monica Langley, former longtime reporter for The Wall Street Journal, as she discovers the moments that changed everything and made these leaders who they are today. Subscribe to Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/form/other... Learn more about Salesforce: Website: https://www.salesforce.com/​​ Facebook:   / ​​   Twitter:   / salesforce​​   Instagram:   / ​​   LinkedIn:   / sale.  . About Salesforce: Salesforce is a customer relationship management solution that brings companies and customers together. It's one integrated CRM platform that gives all your departments — including marketing, sales, commerce, and service — a single, shared view of every customer.