Pablo Isla
The humble Spanish lawyer who became the world's best CEO
Pablo Isla is best known for his 17 year role as the Chairman and CEO of Inditex, the Spanish multinational clothing company that owns Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, and others.
He was born on January 22, 1964, in Madrid, Spain. He studied law at the Complutense University of Madrid and later earned a master’s degree from IE University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He began his career in the legal sector, working as a corporate lawyer for various firms in Spain and the United States. He joined Inditex in 2000 as the Director of Legal Services. His deep understanding of corporate law and business strategy quickly propelled him through the ranks.
- Isla is widely praised for his strategic vision and leadership style. Under his leadership, Inditex has become one of the world’s largest and most successful fashion retailers.
- His strategy emphasizes a fast-fashion business model, which involves quickly responding to changing fashion trends and maintaining a high turnover of inventory.
- He is known for his hands-on approach and attention to detail. He is closely involved in all aspects of the company’s operations, from design and production to distribution and retail.
In 2017, Harvard Business Review recognized Pablo Isla as the world’s best-performing CEO, by Harvard Business Review. HBR said that what stands out is the single word description employees use to convey Isla’s management style. Humble. It’s how his employees talk about him and how he talks of his approach that’s the most telling. He is known for rejecting a meeting culture and the use of hierarchy to command, control, and ego-feed, instead favouring making decisions informally in partnership with his people as he “manages by walking around”.
In fact Isla is so notoriously shy of being in the spotlight that he doesn’t go to his own store openings. Isla described his approach to HBR: “What we want to be relevant is the company or the store opening, and everything always is the result of the work of a team of people. The strength of our company is the combination of everybody, much more than of any single person. And I can tell you that as a company, we try to be a low-profile company, being humble, of course being very ambitious, but being humble. And if we have a big store opening, we want the store to be the relevant thing, and not any particular person.”
Smartly, Isla focuses on putting the spotlight on what is most relevant to the consumer. The core shopper lusting for a $50 pair of affordable but high-fashion high heels from Zara wants to hear about the new store in her neighbourhood, not about how in control some privileged executive is. And he puts the spotlight on the most relevant employees – the front line store managers who are empowered to make product selections and whom he supports via a robust promote from within policy.
During his tenure as CEO, Inditex experienced significant growth and expansion. The company’s revenue and profits have consistently increased, and it has expanded its presence to over 7,000 stores in more than 90 countries. Inditex’s success can be attributed to its innovative business model, efficient supply chain management, and focus on customer preferences.Under Isla’s leadership, Inditex has also prioritized sustainability and corporate social responsibility, implementing various initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint and promote ethical sourcing and labor practices.