Episode No. 1

Seeing Crisis as an Opportunity With Christie Hefner

“One of the keys to success in business, and frankly any organization, is constant innovation, constant agile thinking, and diversity within the organization.” — Christie Hefner

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy, Laurette has the honor to sit down with Christie Hefner, former Chairman & CEO of Playboy and daughter of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

Laurette and Christie cover a wide range of topics, including Christie’s history with the company, from her unexpected and humble beginnings in the early 80s—she had no intention of running the company someday—to helping her father save the company from bankruptcy and officially taking on the role as president and then CEO. It was during her tenure that Christie saw the potential to take the company from a magazine business to a global multi-media and lifestyle company—which she successfully did.

They also discuss how this shift was surprisingly received by women worldwide, and one of Christie’s proudest accomplishments—building a team where 40 percent of the executives were women.

In this episode of Owning Your Legacy:

🦋 Christie Hefner’s early beginnings at Playboy

🦋 Turning Playboy around after a $50M loss

🦋 Building the Playboy brand as we know it

🦋 The need for diversity within an organization

🦋 The importance of lifting up other women in business