Can a couch potato really learn toBOSS it like Anna?
Never have a peacock at a party and always hold meetings in museums — just two of the tips in an online course by the queen of Vogue. So...
Feisty, formidable, a teeny bit scary and with the best blow-dry in the business, if you’re looking for an example of a woman who’s made her mark on a competitive industry, you’ll be hard-pushed to find a more impressive example than Dame Anna Wintour.
the highly successful editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she’s held for 32 years, is now prepared to pass on her wisdom to the masses in a series of masterclasses. Could the woman nicknamed ‘Nuclear Wintour’, because of her famously frosty persona, teach me a thing or two about getting ahead?
As i now avoid leaving home unless absolutely necessary, there’s never been a better time to brush up my skills.
MasterClass is an online education platform where students are taught by the best in the business. they can learn about film from director Martin scorsese and food from chef Gordon Ramsay.
Ms Wintour’s classes — 12 short videos — are focused on ‘creativity and leadership’ and, eager to #bemoreanna, i sign up and pay my £170 annual subscription (which gives me access to all classes.)
sitting at my kitchen table to watch my first video i become aware that i should have made more of an effort. i’m slumped in my pyjamas with a mug of PG tips. Anna, meanwhile, is immaculate in a green dress and statement jewellery.
‘this is a class for those who want to understand the experiences that have helped me become an effective leader,’ she says during her introduction. she then goes through her impressive CV, and tells me she wants me to be a sponge, a collaborator, and driven to learn.
My first lesson is titled Getting the Work Done, and it contains Anna’s tips for being productive. it’s only nine minutes long but, as i discover, she is a stickler for efficiency.
‘Being a leader means having a strong vision,’ she tells me. she notes that her day starts at 4am when she wakes up and reads the news. she then plays tennis and has a starbucks coffee.
Apart from the tennis and the 4am thing we’re not so dissimilar.
she is at her desk by 8am, and at 2.30pm she’ll leave her office for meetings, which she holds ‘at the museum’. she doesn’t state which one, but i imagine it’s not the Brighton Fishing Museum, which is the nearest one to me and is unlikely to impress anyone.
ANNA tells me that i must trust my ‘ team’, not micromanage them. As a freelance writer who works from home, my team consists of me. But i do trust myself, so maybe that’s a good start.
in her next class Anna says we should all hire assistants who won’t write books about us — a dig at her former assistant Lauren Weisberger, who wrote the bestseller the Devil Wears Prada.
the book was later made into a film starring Meryl streep as the main character Miranda Priestly, said to be based on Wintour.
i’m not sure what any future assistants could reveal in an expose about me. that i sometimes microwave cold tea? that everything stops for Pointless? it wouldn’t make the most exciting movie, i have to say.
she also says i should never accept a job if i don’t like my boss. Wouldn’t that mean hardly anyone would ever take a job?
Apparently all our bosses ought to have taught us something. the only thing i learnt from my worst boss was the importance of paying for his mistress’s presents on the credit card his wife didn’t know about. When it comes to being interviewed for positions, Anna states how important it is to be honest. i know she wants me to ‘own my truth’, but i don’t think writing ‘i look at videos of cats playing pianos while eating Jaffa Cakes’ will impress anyone.
Membership to MasterClass includes access to the online community where people discuss what they are learning. While many taking Anna’s class are in fashion, there are also dancers, engineers and accountants.
Most are finding Anna hugely inspirational. Only one or two lone voices appear to say they are disappointed because the advice seems too vague and generic.
Not all of her classes could be described as too general, though. the only lesson i took from the executing A Vision class was that i should never have a peacock in a cage as a centrepiece at an event, as the peacock may escape — as it did at one of Anna’s dos. Noted.
to give her credit, Anna does talk a great deal about being a risktaker, and she’s undoubtedly breathed new life into Vogue.
Like many midlife women, i do feel stuck in a rut, and sometimes you have to make bold choices. that said, it’s easier to do when you’ve got pots of money and can absorb the hit if things go wrong.
As most of the lessons run for about 15 minutes it’s easy to whizz through them, and by lesson ten i’m rather bored. it seems i’m not the only one. i could have sworn i saw Anna stifle a yawn.
in lesson 11, she tells me that it could be helpful to create a mood board and fill it with pictures of anything that inspires me. My first thought is that i’ll end up with a board full of pictures of macaroni cheese and comfy pyjamas.
However, it occurs to me that i did gather several images when i moved house, and it was a big help when it came to remodelling my new home.
By the time we reach the final masterclass, Anna is talking to me as though i am already an important visionary leader.
she points to the ‘Ask Anna’ segment that appears on Vogue’s digital site as an example of how she has embraced change.
‘Do you ever wear sweatpants?’ asks one reader. ‘No,’ she snaps. so much for embracing change.
it could be my imagination, but in class 12 Anna looks very perky now that her lessons are over. she ends by saying: ‘i truly hope this has been helpful.’ i truly have to say it hasn’t. Perhaps i’m too old and jaded and the classes are more suited to those just starting out.
After nearly three hours of Anna’s teachings i don’t feel empowered and ready to conquer the world. Most museums have closed their doors, but when they re- open i don’t imagine i’ll be holding meetings in one. Not being able to source peacocks for parties hasn’t come as a crushing blow, either. And that, i’m afraid, really is me owning my truth.