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Wealth & Money Quote by Andrea Jung

"I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve"

About this Quote

There’s a polished humility in Andrea Jung’s phrasing that doubles as a quiet flex. She doesn’t dramatize the crisis; she frames it as weather: “the hit on old economy stocks.” That choice matters. By naming the market downturn as an external event, she sidesteps any implication of personal fault while still claiming the credibility that comes from surviving turbulence early. It’s leadership-as-stress-test, narrated with the calm of someone who wants you to hear competence, not panic.

“Old economy” and “traditional branded firm” are doing heavy work here. They’re shorthand for a whole era when consumer stalwarts suddenly looked sluggish next to the frothy promise of tech. Jung’s subtext is that she inherited a company type the market had started to sneer at, and she had to learn - quickly - how to defend value in a climate that rewarded novelty over fundamentals. The phrase “fast learning curve” is corporate-safe, but it implies triage: pressure from analysts, jittery shareholders, internal morale, and the brutal realization that brand strength doesn’t immunize you from macro shifts.

The intent reads like a strategic origin story. Jung is positioning her CEO identity as forged in volatility, not built in calm. It’s also a subtle argument for adaptive leadership: if the market can re-rate your entire category overnight, the job isn’t just running operations; it’s constantly translating what the company is into what investors think it should be.

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TopicLeadership
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Jung, Andrea. (2026, January 17). I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-became-ceo-at-the-beginning-of-the-hit-on-old-74555/

Chicago Style
Jung, Andrea. "I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-became-ceo-at-the-beginning-of-the-hit-on-old-74555/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-became-ceo-at-the-beginning-of-the-hit-on-old-74555/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Andrea Jung (born November 13, 1959) is a Businessman from USA.

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