Critical analysis of Jason Kibbey's lecture

Kibbey

Jason Kibbey is the founder and CEO of an underwear company called PACT. The company is dedicated to sustainability and creativity in business. Kibbey lectures about how to pursue business dreams without sacrificing the environment or personal passion.

Because Kibbey and his business partners are young, they also offer a lot of inspiration to business students. After all, the idea for PACT was born out of a business school project that got taken into the real world. Only a few years after Kibbey and his partner Jeff Denby developed the idea for PACT in business school, the company was selling underwear. Anyone listening to the Kibbey lecture can be inspired by learning that one does not have to wait a lifetime to become successful. Kibbey showed that with teamwork, intelligence, and passion it is possible to achieve business goals.

Kibbey's success also depended on hard work. For example, Kibbey pointed out that he and his partner Jeff Denby had to quit their jobs to devote time to developing PACT. The risk paid off, as they partners saved money and worked together for years to make PACT a success. Now they are on the lecture circuit and inspiring others to develop their creative business ideas.

The lecture was inspirational on many levels. For one, Kibbey discussed the importance of being flexible in business. For example, the first designs the company produced were criticized for being too innovative. PACT was trying to do what other underwear companies could not do such as incorporate bold patterns. Now, PACT is known for its bold patterns but they did change their advertisements to reflect the needs of the consumer.

Kibbey and his partners still pursued fun, innovative ways of gathering marketing research such as by asking people on the street about their underwear. Although they might have been considered perverts by some, they learned a lot about what consumers want. Kibbey claimed that issues like fit and quality were important to consumers, but the people they interviewed also mentioned the need for both good design and also sustainability.

Another reason the lecture was inspiring is that Kibbey pointed out that we do not need to be an expert to be good at something and succeed. Ives Behar is the design director for PACT. At the time of starting the company, though, Kibbey and his partners knew very little about design. It did not matter, for now Behar is internationally renowned. Success takes persistence, passion, and commitment. The development of expertise comes later.