Leonard Lauder (Estee Lauder’s son) was engaged in the business since it started in 1946.

Although he didn’t officially join the payroll until 1958, soon becoming CEO.

Leonard (along-side his mum and dad) is responsible for growing Estee Launder from a handful of products barely breaking even, to a multi-brand global colossus with revenues exceeding $14 billion today.

The interesting thing. At the end of his 2020 book ‘The Company I Keep’ he puts large chunk of the company’s success down to employing people who were smarter than him.

But he had added one caveat to this statement…

‘Beware of people who think they are super-smart, which are those people who think they’re the smartest person in the room. They have no humility’

‘That not only makes them difficult to work with, but it’s only a matter of time before they get too smart for their own good and make mistakes that can harm the company.’

Wise words from an extremely wise man.

Yes, you must employ people smarter than you. But make sure they have the right attitude, as one bad apple has the potential to destroy your culture and bring the organisation down.

The rest of the book takes you on a journey, through time and the history of the beauty business, detailing how Estee Lauder (from nothing) became the leader in their industry.

Estee Launder became a successful company and Leonard, and his family became wealthy. But it didn’t happen overnight it took decades of graft, insights, and risk to achieve it.

It’s not just a book about Leonard’s life or for those of you interested in beauty products. It’s also a book about business strategy, which just happens to revolve around hair and beauty.

‘The Company I Keep’ gets a thumbs up and 5 stars.

Any questions please connect and message me.

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…thank you & see you next week.