Personalization' is a popular word in retail, and people often misuse it to describe simple marketing tactics, like segmenting emails or using big data to identify the likely gender of a visitor to their websites.

Figuring out how to scale the very human art of personalization is difficult, but I believe that it is also the key to building a lasting connection with customers for the long term.

My goal was to have a company off the ground by the time I graduated. But the worst-case scenario was I would have an MBA and a lot of opportunities ahead of me.

Clearly define what success means for you. Set short-term and quarterly career goals with your manager that will help lead you to your long term goals.

I used to work at this store, and I got fired when I actually booked the job on 'Glee' because I had to go film 'Glee.' I was a dancer on 'Glee.' My manager was like, 'Umm this isn't gonna work, so you can come get your last check this week.'

People say, 'Well, why don't they get another job, why don't they pick themselves up by their bootstraps?' Well, the people that say that probably have the kind of jobs where they don't work that hard, so maybe they could have another job.

My failed corporate career became the fodder for the 'Dilbert' comic. Once it became clear I would not be climbing any higher on the corporate ladder, it freed me to mock managers without worrying that it would stall my career. Most failures create some sort of unplanned freedom. I took full advantage of mine.

You can't buy back your respect; you can't buy back your career. You only get one, so I don't want to mess that up.