Power Players with Brian Sozzi · Oct 19, 2026 · 38m · 30m saved
With Mindy Grossman, Partner and Vice Chair, Consello; former CEO of WW International and HSN
Photo via consello.com
Mindy Grossman, partner and vice chair at Consello and former CEO of WW International and HSN, took Polo Jeans Company from zero to almost $500 million in sales in less than five years, she told Power Players with Brian Sozzi. She got that job because she had resigned from Warnaco the day before with nothing else lined up.
Most executives treat leaving without a next job as the risk to avoid. Mindy has made walking away a deliberate tool across a career at Nike, Ralph Lauren, HSN and WW.
"Not taking a risk is often riskier, especially in business, than taking the risk if you've really thought it out." — Mindy Grossman
Mindy took HSN public two weeks before Lehman Brothers failed, and ran WW when the pandemic shut down its in-person business. She has worked alongside Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Oprah Winfrey, Barry Diller and Michael Rubin.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 38 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 12 lessons that matter.
Key Takeaways
Mindy resigned from Warnaco with no other job because its values no longer matched hers
Ralph Lauren called the next day
Polo Jeans went from zero to almost $500M in sales in less than five years
HSN went public in August 2008, two weeks before the Lehman bankruptcy
WW converted 30,000 weekly workshops in 13 countries to virtual in 6 days, after a call to Zoom's Eric Yuan
Fear is the worst thing an organization can have, because people start hiding problems
Rose bushes at the end of vine rows catch pests early, which is the warning system Mindy wants in a company
1. Adopted With a Boss's Help
Mindy traces her drive to her adoption as an infant. Her parents tried for 12 years to have a child and could not afford the cost of adopting until her father's boss, seeing him struggle, handed him an envelope that covered the expenses.
Mindy Grossman's parents told her she had been given a gift she had to use
"I was adopted when I was three days old... my parents from the time I can remember anything said, you've been given a gift. We've been given a gift, and you have to use that gift to have impact on others." — Mindy Grossman
She credits that message for her lifelong self-belief and her willingness to take risks.
Mindy Grossman says self-belief has to come first
"Why is someone going to believe in you if you don't believe in yourself." — Mindy Grossman
