Let Them Underestimate You

Building a billion-dollar brand has taught JESSICA SIMPSON that when people assume you're clueless, it only gives you more time to prove them wrong.

- FRANCES DODDS

Ringing the bell was a wild experience, I have to say." Jessica Simpson is sitting in her company's Los Angeles office on a cold January afternoon, near a small mountain of shoeboxes emblazoned with her name. “Everyone was, like, this is amazing! This is amazing! People were really digging it for me, and I was, like, 'OK, guys... I'm going to ring the bell now,”

Simpson lifts a hand into the air, long green nails curled around the imaginary gavel at the New York Stock Exchange.

“Ding! I don't know what I just did.” She widens her eyes and turns her head from side to side, consulting invisible onlookers. “Wait, does this mean I have to run Wall Street now?”

She does a big Texas cackle, deep from the diaphragm, sliding up a few octaves at the end. After 20 years in the spotlight, Simpson, 41, has mastered this particular note: laughing at herself, playing a little dumb for your enjoyment. But if, by now, you still think the pop singer (turned reality star, turned actress, turned fashion mogul) is clueless, well, then you have a thing or two to learn about the perks of making yourself the punchline. Simpson knows that when your audience is laughing at you, they're distracted. And that gives you time to size them up.

“Being underestimated is the superpower," Simpson says. “It makes you want to soar over everyone. But really, it's better to do it patiently. I play along in a way that I let people know I'm playing along."