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- I've always had a very
inherent respect for somebody who

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if they've got $50 at the end of the month

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and they've paid all their
bills and all of that,

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goes out and has an
opportunity to buy a product,

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and if it has my name on the tag,

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I want it to deliver.

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(upbeat music)

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- At just 24 years old,

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Nate Berkus formed a one man design firm,

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and set about making a name for himself

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in the city of Chicago.

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It's now 25 years later

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and he's managed to build a design empire.

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From product collections
to brand partnerships,

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and there was one moment in
particular that really changed

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the course of his career.

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You were a young designer
and then all of a sudden

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you were kind of thrust upon the nation,

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thrust into this new stage,

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because of Oprah right?

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I mean how did that
opportunity come about?

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And how did you kind of get ready knowing

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that what you've done
before was all gonna change

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from that point on?

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- I got a call from Harpo
from Jenna Kastelnik.

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Then she said, we would
like to try to work with you

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if you'd be interested
in coming on the show,

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we have a small space makeover
in Boston in the Back Bay.

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I need you to bring your
plumbers, and your painters,

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and your drywallers,

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and everyone this afternoon
in a truck to Boston

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and we'll all meet
there tomorrow afternoon

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and we can walk through the project.

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And I said I'm gonna need to call you back

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in like 10 minutes.

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So I sat at my desk, I'll
never forget the moment,

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and I thought there's
no way I'm gonna gather

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all those people, put
them in their trucks,

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and require them to go to Boston,

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they won't do it.

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So I called Jenna back and I said,

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we can do this, but we
can't use the tradespeople

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that I work with here in Chicago.

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What Harpo has to do is reach
out to a national retailer

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that has these people
in every major market,

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and they need to do a deal with them.

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That was actually the formula
that we used for 12 years

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of Harpo makeovers.

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But it was terrific,

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and the makeover went really, really well.

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And she loved it.

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She loved the makeover.

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She loved the ideas,

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and she picked up my hand
kind of like this, may I?

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- Yeah.

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- She goes "Nate Berkus,
remember his name."

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And that was the moment.

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- [Chris] The Oprah.

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- That was the moment.

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At the time,

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I wish I could tell you that
I had all my ducks in a row,

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and that I was this
brilliant business strategist

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and I was like, that was the moment,

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I'm gonna capitalize on that,

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and I'm gonna do publishing and licensing,

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and product endorsements, and
I'm gonna travel the world,

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and I'm rich.

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It wasn't.

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At that moment, I was
very much in that moment.

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And I also made a decision
in that moment that no matter

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how many times I was invited
back to the Oprah show

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to do what I loved,

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I would always treat it
as the very first time.

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I never rested on any laurels.

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I never changed as a person.

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How can I be better?

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How can I work harder?

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How can I be more creative?

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- Your company grew so
much after that experience,

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what did you learn about
yourself as a leader

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during that time?

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- It was very important to
stay consistent and true

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to my character as a person.

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I'm not perfect.

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I would come to work in
a bad mood sometimes.

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I would get run down and super tired,

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but I tried to always be really
consistent and really fair,

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and really stop and listen
to what the other person

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was saying and what the problem
that was being presented

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or the opportunity was really about.

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I had a really good group of
people around me since day one.

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A group that I felt had
my best interest at heart,

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and would keep me in line
when just because we received

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a call from a big company that said,

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"Would Nate be willing to do this?"

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And "This is worth x amount of dollars."

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We said, "No" a lot.

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The best thing you can do
is get out of your own way.

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Lead with empathy.

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Lead with kindness.

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Don't be an asshole that
no one wants to meed with.

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So we're in my booth
in the 1stdibs showroom

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in New York City.

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1stdibs is the leading
global online marketplace

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for vintage, antique,

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not only home,

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but jewelry, fashion, all of that.

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This opened a little under a year ago,

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and all the things that you see in here,

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like these bowls that I
brought back from Mexico,

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that I had to have.

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So basically I sell
stuff that I don't want,

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that I've moved on from.

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And also things that
have belonged to clients

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that they've either moved,

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or they don't wanna keep
the things any longer.

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- How important is travel to design?

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- I think it's the most important thing.

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And I think that when people
who are just starting out

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in design ask me the thing
that I find the most important,

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about being a good designer,
not just a okay designer,

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and that thing is references.

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And if you can't afford to travel,

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you need to be in the library.

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You need to be online.

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You need to study different cultures.

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and what the crafts are
from those cultures,

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and how you can apply them
and mix and combine them

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00:04:49,210 --> 00:04:52,150
in a way that's very singular

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and unique to what you're doing.

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(upbeat music)

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- You're having this 25th
Anniversary of your business,

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what have you found to be the key

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00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:02,610
to longevity and reinvention?

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00:05:02,610 --> 00:05:06,440
- One thing about the way
that I run my business

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is that it's not ego based.

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There's not one right
way to design a room.

138
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There's not one solution to a problem.

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There's always a solution in design.

140
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There's a million ways you
can sort of cut that pie.

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00:05:19,630 --> 00:05:21,560
And what I've learned about collaboration,

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00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,270
and what I learned initially
about it is that there's more

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than one good idea in this space.

144
00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,240
Nothing ever goes according to plan.

145
00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:30,840
Our exercise regime doesn't go,

146
00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:32,050
our diet doesn't go according,

147
00:05:32,050 --> 00:05:33,200
nothing, nothing does.

148
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What I've learned in those
moments of crisis is that,

149
00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,060
that is a really huge part of
being in the service industry

150
00:05:40,060 --> 00:05:44,400
and a really huge part of being
a creative in that industry.

151
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,010
You have to face it, like just,

152
00:05:47,010 --> 00:05:49,140
you have to step in front of the bus.

153
00:05:49,140 --> 00:05:53,150
And the bus is typically
the client's fear, anger,

154
00:05:53,150 --> 00:05:55,800
the situation that you found yourself in.

155
00:05:55,800 --> 00:06:00,060
And you have to own your
mistake if there is one.

156
00:06:00,060 --> 00:06:01,760
You have to own the accountability.

157
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,620
You have to be a 100% accountable.

158
00:06:04,620 --> 00:06:08,220
And I've made some very expensive
mistakes over the years,

159
00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:11,060
and I have navigated them well.

160
00:06:11,060 --> 00:06:13,880
And I've made some very expensive
mistakes over the years,

161
00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:14,960
especially in the early years

162
00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,550
where I navigated them very, very poorly.

163
00:06:17,550 --> 00:06:21,710
And I will say no matter how horrible

164
00:06:21,710 --> 00:06:23,670
and fear based that situation is,

165
00:06:23,670 --> 00:06:24,900
there's no way around it.

166
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You just have to go right through it.