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Estée Lauder's William Lauder: 'The Consumer Still Wants to Be Touched'

April 20, 2011 / 22:33

This episode discusses Estee Lauder's core values, the evolution of consumer behavior, and the company's global expansion strategies. Key topics include the importance of customer interaction, the impact of family ownership on business decisions, and adapting marketing for different cultures.

The conversation features insights on how Estee Lauder maintains its brand heritage while evolving with consumer preferences. The guest emphasizes the significance of personal touch in retail, noting that consumers still value expert advice despite the rise of online shopping.

Additionally, the episode highlights the challenges and advantages of being a family-owned business. The guest shares experiences about decision-making processes and the balance between innovation and tradition within the company.

Global expansion is also a focal point, with discussions on markets like China, India, and Latin America. The guest explains how Estee Lauder tailors its marketing strategies to fit cultural nuances in different regions.

Finally, the episode concludes with a personal anecdote about the guest's grandmother and her beauty philosophy, emphasizing the importance of making customers feel beautiful and valued.

TL;DR

Estee Lauder's core values guide its global expansion and customer interactions while adapting to changing consumer behaviors.

Episode

22:33
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[Music]
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first of all I mean Estee Lauder has
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always placed a great emphasis on
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sticking to its core values and keeping
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the heritage of the brand intact could
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you talk to me a little bit about what
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are those core values and kind of how
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they figure into both day-to-day
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operations and also decisions to expand
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and add new brands to your line well you
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know the core value of our companies
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really play into decisions virtually
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every single day at almost at almost
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every single level and I guess you have
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to go back and say well what are those
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core values and how do they inform the
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decisions that everybody makes now mind
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you we've got a company of over 30,000
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employees where we're selling something
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every 4 seconds of every single day 365
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days out of the year if not more um if
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we could sell more we would and the fact
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of the matter is is there are thousands
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of decisions being made every single day
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and they're not controlled by some
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Central allowing allseeing organization
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but it's about those core values it's
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those principles about what makes our
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company great what makes Our Brands
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great and it's all about great Brands
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great people and what is the right thing
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to do for the consumer to make her happy
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and we try to focus that in and
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everybody has their mission and their
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moment for what they're doing and how
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does that what they do contribute to the
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overall mission of the
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company we look at ourselves in many
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different ways and say okay well we're s
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the hierarchy is an
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inverted uh pyramid where the top of our
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organization are the people who
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represent Our Brands to the consumer in
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stores around the world they are the
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most important because they touch the
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consumer every day and it's the
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consumer's connection with them and with
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the brands that continues to make us
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successful MH and now tell me a little
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bit about how women have changed over
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the years like I was reading a recent
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story in the New York Times about the
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company that had mentioned that one of
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your grandmothers kind of the things
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that she always did when people came in
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try to touch every customer that came in
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either by dabbing lotion on her hand or
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giving her a makeover and then there was
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also a point where discussing like the
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new Clinique counters where people can
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actually go and do more self-service
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without having to talk to um a customer
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service associat so talk to me a little
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bit about that dichotomy and how the
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customer has changed and what they want
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has changed many of the Dynamics of how
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consumers shop today for their beauty
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products have remained the same for 20
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30 40 years and some of the aspects in
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the behaviors have changed
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dramatically and they have continually
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involved over time I think what's
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happened is first of all they have an
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extraordinary multiplicity of choice
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they have many different retail
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environments to choose from many
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different brands to choose from in these
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many different retail environments and
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the notion of convenience in shopping
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and how they stratify themselves
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according to shopping patterns has
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changed over time so for example in the
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1970s the consumer who shopped in A very
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upscale prestigious store like a Neman
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Marcus would never consider shopping in
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a Walmart or with a Walmart of the day
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today she thinks nothing of driving her
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Suburban to nean Marcus in the morning
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to buy that very fancy Prada outfit
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having lunch with her friends and then
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getting in her suburban and going to
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Walmart and picking up the toilet paper
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that she needs because she knows it's
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the best value she doesn't have a
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problem with that today and she doesn't
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think that says anything in a negative
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way about herself in fact maybe she can
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even say I didn't shop Walmart I Sho
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Costco that's just an example for our
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products itself you know really is the
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consumer has comes in very
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informed she knows she know she thinks
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she knows what she wants but the
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expertise that somebody gets in the
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store that hasn't
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changed the authority of that expert in
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the store the SD loer makeup artist the
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Clinique consultant the MAC makeup the
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SD lorder Beauty adviser the MAC makeup
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artist the Clinique consultant that
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really hasn't changed and that human
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touch that is so important that was so
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important one of the key core principles
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around which our company was founded
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that still hasn't changed because the
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fact of the matter is is the consumer
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still wants and needs to be touched and
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the EXP expertise that she gets in
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helping to find the right product for
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her she appreciates and she puts that
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into the value calculation that she
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makes when making a purchase that's a
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very important element of the behavior
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that she has convenience is another
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issue the notion of convenience has
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changed not just because of perhaps what
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the internet offers which really doesn't
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represent a meaningful size of her
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consumption in our category and and most
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retail overall doesn't really represent
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a big meaningful side except for Books
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and Music and a few other categories
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where you can actually buy the
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equivalent online without having to go
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to a store but the fact of the matter is
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consumers still want to see it touch it
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feel it smell it technology does not
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allow that to be replaced so she Still's
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willing to go the other thing is is that
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shopping the notion of what shopping is
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about that's a behavioral pattern that
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hasn't really changed it's still as much
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about
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entertainment as it is about an AC of
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consumption and many people can
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entertain themselves happily at home
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with all the different electronic
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gadgets they have to keep themselves
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entertaining home but many still want to
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get out and about and be in a social
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environment so the result is is they
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still like to
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shop in an environment like that and
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that's this is a part of the whole
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activity and then you add that the
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interaction with an expert who they with
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whom they can talk and that that
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behavior has only evolved a little bit
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not a lot so there are certain things
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that CH and we in the Cosmetics business
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for example we thrive on the fact that
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so many of our consumers once they find
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the product that they love and they like
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they want to come back and buy it again
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and again and they want something new
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but they want the thing that they like
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not to change so they can use it again
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and again the number one consumer
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feedback we get from the consumers is
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bring back when we've discontinued a
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product their favorite shade their
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favorite this the number one if you just
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if I just say categorize their what do
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they complaining about it they
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complaining about service they
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complaining about environment number one
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is bring back that I was going to say
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you take away someone's favorite Shad of
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lipstick and they're going to tell you
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about it absolutely true now tell me I
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guess one of the other things in the
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time story was that you you were quoted
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us saying that working for a family
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business means every member of the board
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has your home phone number they know
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where you live talk to me I mean what
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are some of the challenges and also the
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benefits of working for a company that
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really I would say at this point is
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probably like another member of your
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family almost well you know a family
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company is both you know there's two
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definitions of family there's family
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that's blood and then there's family
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which is everybody who belongs to the
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organization regardless of blood who are
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also family in a way and you want to
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treat everybody the same at in that
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respect but you also want to treat them
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with respect and professionalism which
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is such an important part of what we do
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I think what's our competitive advantage
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of as a family company really is and has
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been since our founding is our
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Innovation and our patience that has
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allowed us to maintain our leadership in
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our industry because of our patience in
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nurturing and developing new brands
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nurturing and developing people and
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creating an environment where we are the
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place to come for Innovation we are the
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one we're the most Innovative marketers
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we're the most Innovative brand builders
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we're the most Innovative on a retail on
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a retail basis and we do that because
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not only do we have a for Innovation and
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we may have baked that into our
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behaviors and mentalities of how we look
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at Executives and their skill sets and
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development but also how we succeed with
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the consumer that keeps us coming back
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from more and doing more but we also
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have the patience to nurture new brands
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and new ideas perhaps longer than
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companies that don't have the same
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ownership structure now tell me I guess
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conversely I mean what are some of the
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challenges of it being kind of a
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family-owned business and well many of
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the challenges of a family-owned
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business are the same no matter what
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kind of business you're in which is you
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have family members who may have certain
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uh emotional opinions and biases which
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may or may not be B based on rational
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thought and they may be based on emotion
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and sometimes those emotions are
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legitimate and sometimes perhaps they're
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based on ideas that did work at one
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point but perhaps are not as relevant
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today in other words when I was your age
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well I did this or that and it often
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times to be able the ability to say gee
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you know I'm not so certain that might
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work right now isn't so good now that is
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the other side of what I talked about
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before which was we are very Innovative
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and we have Innovation as a part of what
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we do but occasionally there are
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stakeholders who perhaps have the same
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last name as me who have a stake in the
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way it was not necessarily the way it
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will be and it takes extra convincing to
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get there that's one of the issues and
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you know what at the end of the day I'd
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say we have more advantages than we have
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disadvantages and you just and even for
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our professional managers there are
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those who from a personality basis fit
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within our organization and the
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psychological profile that it takes to
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be successful within an organization and
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they're really good and there are others
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who come along and who aren't as
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successful perhaps because they aren't
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as comfortable in the family style
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environment perhaps they don't have the
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same collaborative approach to what they
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do and but that's almost any
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organization anywhere regardless of the
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ownership structure you have great
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personality fits when people succeed
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because they fit within the organization
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well and they contribute so well with
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their peers and you have others that
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aren't as successful because they don't
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fit within the psychological profile of
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the organization I guess no matter where
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you are institutional knowledge is sort
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of both a great advantage and also can
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be a double-edged sword though correct
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now a few years ago you step you decided
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to step down as CEO of Este Lauder and
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and now you serve as executive chairman
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could you talk to me me a little bit
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about some of the professional reasons
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why you made that decision and then also
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how how has that changed your role what
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is your role today and how does that
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differ from when you were serving as
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both chairman and executive well you
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know quite honestly um being a CEO of a
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public company today in today's
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environment not only the post sarban oxy
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and other things is is not quite what
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it's all cracked up to be if you read it
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in the press and it can be a sentence
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now if you're the CEO of a family
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company if you're not careful it can be
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a life sentence
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and the fact of the matter is is that
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it's uh very hard work it's a great deal
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of time it takes a great deal of energy
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and often times I found and I did not
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have a COO with whom I was working so I
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was if you will doing a great deal
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myself doing three jobs essentially well
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essentially yes I was doing a lot and
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had a lot going on and when I looked at
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the roster of the most senior Executives
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that I had within my organization and I
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said okay fine whom do I have
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who can be a
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long-term partner business operating
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partner with me to run this company and
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as I asked that question I also said let
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me take a survey of the outside to see
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if there are any Executives out there
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who are perhaps not a part of our
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industry not not a part of our company
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not a part of our industry who might be
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able to add something to the collective
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thought and wisdom of way our company
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runs that would be
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different and when I started to look
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outside I found Fabrizio Freda who is
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now our CEO who was someone who was
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thinking along the lines the way I was
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thinking but yet at the same time
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brought a very different perspective a
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very different background and I thought
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you know what he's going to add a spice
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and a different way of looking to what
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we do in a way way that's going to add
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more to what our company can do and at
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the end of the day I said I've always
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said from the day I walked in as I've
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been with my family company for 51 years
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practically but the day I became CEO I
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said I will only be here as long as I
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can be as effective or more effective
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than anyone else who can do this
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job and when I found Fabrizio and we
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found each other in the sense hey you
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know we got along great we said this is
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really great I think this is a
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partnership that can work and he can add
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a lot to our company and our company can
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be a better company for what he can add
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and he can help take preserve what's the
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best about what we do and then add some
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thoughts and disciplines the way we do
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things to make it better and after a
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year and a half I said you know what
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this is perfect tag you're it you're now
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CEO so how does that change my life um
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I'm spending more time on those things
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which I really like to do spending much
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more time on the strategy broad
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strategies of the company much more time
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in our development of our Emerging
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Markets spending more time traveling
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working on brand development working on
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Market development working on strategic
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Acquisitions and I'm also working a
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great deal unfortunately on government
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relations why is that an increasing
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increasing regulatory environment around
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the world predominantly but not
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exclusively Asia and Europe as well as
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in North America and I find I'm actually
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pretty good at that piece and so it
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allows for brizio to keep doing what
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he's really good at and I can focus on
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what I think I'm pretty good at and
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seems to work very well for both of us
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and our company is performing better as
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a result I still spent a great deal of
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time working not just with with a lot of
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members of his team and I've still got
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some Executives who report directly to
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me in certain key roles because it's
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both an expertise I have as well as it's
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the right allocation of responsibilities
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between the two of us so what it
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effectively does is from a leadership
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perspective it gives us a strength in
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the leadership in both a strong
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partnership as well as a very balanced
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approach as to who leads which efforts
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effectively and and there are certain
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things that Fabo is expert at and which
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I say go wonderful do this really well
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there's certain things that I'm more
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expert at that he may be focusing in on
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but we talk together about it and then
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he goes and does it or he may say look
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this is something I'm working on I'd
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really love your assistance in this and
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whether I say go do it and he go does it
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or he says please and he sort of toss it
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in my lap and I go do it that's we
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really are very comfortable there's no
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ego we both have enough of an ego for
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certain but there's no ego in the sense
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of saying we want to get it accomplished
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we're both very results oriented that's
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very important great and you actually me
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you mentioned Asia so I guess that
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brings my next question um talk to me a
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little bit about like what what
00:15:06
countries or what regions is Este laud
00:15:09
looking to expand or create maybe a new
00:15:11
presence and how I mean how do you adapt
00:15:13
to sort of going into Global markets to
00:15:15
different markets other than maybe the
00:15:17
US and Europe well the fact of the
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matter is is that we've been a global
00:15:20
company for 30 40 plus years or if we
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first expanded outside of the United
00:15:25
States in the UK I think in 1960
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and today we're doing 63 to 65% of our
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Global businesses outside of uh North
00:15:37
America um and that's growing much more
00:15:40
rapidly than inside of North America for
00:15:42
a number of reasons number one it's a
00:15:43
less developed market so those markets
00:15:45
are growing faster number two our share
00:15:48
isn't as strong as it is in North
00:15:49
America so therefore we've got more
00:15:50
share to gain and number three for the
00:15:54
vast majority but not exclusively for
00:15:56
the vast majority of the last 10 plus
00:15:58
years the dollar has been very weak so
00:16:01
the result is is as the dollar the
00:16:03
Dollar's weakness actually helps us as
00:16:06
we translate
00:16:07
back into Dollars our results so the
00:16:11
combination of the fact says we need to
00:16:12
be continually investing more
00:16:14
we we're in Europe very early on in the
00:16:17
process but most of our key competitors
00:16:19
are European or asian-based we don't
00:16:21
have as many American competitors in the
00:16:24
prestige cosmetic space they're
00:16:26
predominantly European some Asian um but
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we've been early investors in a number
00:16:32
of different markets in the world and
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this goes back to the question you asked
00:16:35
about advantages as a
00:16:36
family controlled company the fact of
00:16:39
the matter is is we've got a great deal
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of patience when it comes to investment
00:16:42
in markets so we are continually
00:16:44
investing we started investing in
00:16:47
China 12 14 years ago and we made some
00:16:51
very conscious decisions about 67 years
00:16:53
ago that not we were going to ramp up
00:16:56
our investments in China and we were
00:16:58
going to change from management
00:16:59
perspective how we made those
00:17:00
investments in China or how we treated
00:17:02
those investments in China to make sure
00:17:04
that no short-term decisionmaking got in
00:17:07
the way of the long-term goal of having
00:17:09
a leadership position in share and
00:17:12
Prestige cosmetics in China as an
00:17:14
example we're continuing to invest in
00:17:16
India it's small now but it's growing
00:17:18
we're investing in Russia and it's
00:17:19
growing very rapidly now and it's
00:17:20
getting to significant size we're
00:17:22
looking very seriously at Latin America
00:17:24
we have a presence in Latin America but
00:17:25
it's small and it's growing and we look
00:17:27
at where might be and perhaps the next
00:17:30
Frontier is
00:17:32
Africa obviously growing very rapidly in
00:17:35
population there seems to be a growing
00:17:37
middle class we' like to see how the
00:17:38
retail networks develop in the in those
00:17:42
markets where there is some growing
00:17:43
middle class the key characteristics are
00:17:46
stronger emerging middle class with
00:17:48
disposable income which they have to
00:17:49
spend on themselves we've been investing
00:17:51
in the Middle East for a number of years
00:17:53
quite successfully and we'll continue to
00:17:55
do so too so there's lots of regions in
00:17:57
the world that still offer us great
00:17:58
opportunity as well as our established
00:18:00
markets where we look and say well how
00:18:03
can we how we model those markets
00:18:05
against our more wellestablished markets
00:18:07
and say where can each of Our Brands go
00:18:10
and develop their share to a level that
00:18:13
we think matches the opportunity in the
00:18:15
marketplace and we continually find ways
00:18:17
to invest in those opportunities where
00:18:19
they are where there are competitive
00:18:20
advantages and sometimes we pull back
00:18:22
and say you know what we're not going to
00:18:24
invest as much here because we're the
00:18:27
investment's not giving us the turn we
00:18:29
need that's a very important element of
00:18:31
what we do and now how do you adapt kind
00:18:33
of your marketing to more of a global
00:18:36
audience I mean is is it one siiz
00:18:38
fits-all or do you have to really
00:18:39
specialize to fit the customer in
00:18:41
different areas you know the concept of
00:18:44
global imagery for Brands is very
00:18:46
important there a consistency of imagery
00:18:48
but not a slavish consistency to image
00:18:52
where all of a sudden perhaps it looks
00:18:54
the same around the world but isn't as
00:18:55
relevant in many places so how we
00:18:58
customize the relevance is extremely
00:19:00
important for the success of any of our
00:19:03
marketing programs and that may mean
00:19:06
things like I'll give you a great
00:19:07
example this was a number of years ago
00:19:09
but to me it's a great example we had a
00:19:11
product where one the key prop for one
00:19:15
of a better word in the advertising shot
00:19:17
was a birthday
00:19:20
candle and so that was the key profit
00:19:23
and was leading up against the product
00:19:25
and the notion was that you're going to
00:19:27
stop seeing the signs of agent so you're
00:19:29
going to stop seeing the signs of what
00:19:30
more and more birthday candles May mean
00:19:32
right and we like the photograph it was
00:19:35
a beautiful Photograph by wellknown
00:19:36
photographer and it really looked great
00:19:38
and we were showing our Asian brand
00:19:41
managers for this one brand the picture
00:19:43
and the shot and I noticed when we
00:19:47
showed it to them that they were very
00:19:48
silent their silence was very
00:19:52
loud Asian many Asian cultures there's a
00:19:57
belief that one shouldn't be
00:19:58
confrontational so instead of like the
00:20:00
European counterpart saying I hate it I
00:20:02
don't like it and this is what you're
00:20:03
wrong about they were just quiet they
00:20:06
weren't noding saying yes I love it they
00:20:08
weren't clapping they were just quiet
00:20:11
and to me it was a very loud silence so
00:20:15
I
00:20:15
said guys what's up and finally one of
00:20:19
the Bolder ones said well it was a white
00:20:24
birthday
00:20:25
candle and they said well you know in
00:20:27
Asia we only burn candles like this when
00:20:30
somebody
00:20:32
dies there was a reev revelation to us
00:20:35
oh okay fine what kind of candles do you
00:20:38
have in a birthday cake or whatever when
00:20:40
you to celebrate somebody's birthday and
00:20:42
they said oh it's a red and white or a
00:20:44
pink and white candle same style but all
00:20:46
white is when somebody dies with a
00:20:48
stripe in it it's for a birthday oh okay
00:20:51
easy to
00:20:52
fix but that's a cultural relevance
00:20:55
piece in other words so there's a
00:20:56
consistency of the image you just change
00:20:57
the one thing that all of a sudden says
00:20:59
the wrong thing to the consumer you know
00:21:02
the classic case of course you know the
00:21:04
most classic is the Chevy Nova marketed
00:21:07
in Latin America in Spanish NOA means no
00:21:11
go know that actually I mean you use you
00:21:15
you you there's there's actually a
00:21:16
website I forget the name of the website
00:21:18
with all these really classic marketing
00:21:21
mistakes that were really born out of
00:21:24
cultural ignorance mhm great well thank
00:21:27
you so much for being with us today I
00:21:29
guess one quick thing to wrap up I guess
00:21:30
can you share with us quickly was there
00:21:32
sort of a favorite Beauty tip that your
00:21:33
grandmother would always talk about you
00:21:36
know uh my grandmother was famous of so
00:21:38
for so many expressions and so many
00:21:40
things she said well I mean a beauty tip
00:21:42
she said everybody's beautiful and I uh
00:21:45
and she said every every woman is
00:21:46
beautiful just some are more lazy than
00:21:48
others and how they work on their beauty
00:21:50
one of the things and one of my favorite
00:21:51
expressions of hers is she said our job
00:21:54
is we have to get women to put their
00:21:56
hands together in this hand she has her
00:21:58
pocketbook and this is her free hand we
00:22:00
need her to stick her free hand into her
00:22:01
pocketbook P pull out her credit card
00:22:03
and say I'll take it because at the end
00:22:06
of the day the efforts we make to create
00:22:08
the product we want is all about the
00:22:10
customer saying I want it I need it I'll
00:22:12
use it and I'll come back again great
00:22:14
thank you so much for being with us
00:22:16
today thank you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 60
    Best overall

Episode Highlights

  • Core Values Drive Decisions
    Estee Lauder emphasizes core values in daily operations and brand expansion.
    “It's all about great brands, great people, and doing the right thing for the consumer.”
    @ 01m 12s
    April 20, 2011
  • Changing Consumer Dynamics
    Consumer shopping behaviors have evolved, yet some core aspects remain unchanged.
    “Consumers still want to see it, touch it, feel it, smell it.”
    @ 05m 11s
    April 20, 2011
  • The Challenge of Family Business
    Family-owned businesses face unique challenges but also enjoy significant advantages.
    “There are family members with emotional opinions that may not be rational.”
    @ 08m 38s
    April 20, 2011
  • Global Expansion Opportunities
    Estee Lauder is focusing on expanding in emerging markets like China and India.
    “We are continually investing in markets with growing middle classes.”
    @ 17m 58s
    April 20, 2011
  • Cultural Relevance in Marketing
    Understanding cultural differences can make or break a marketing campaign. A white birthday candle in Asia symbolizes death, not celebration.
    “It’s a cultural relevance piece...”
    @ 20m 55s
    April 20, 2011
  • Beauty Tips from Grandma
    A memorable beauty tip shared by a grandmother: 'Everybody's beautiful, just some are more lazy.'
    “Every woman is beautiful, just some are more lazy than others.”
    @ 21m 46s
    April 20, 2011

Episode Quotes

  • The consumer still wants and needs to be touched.
    Estée Lauder's William Lauder: 'The Consumer Still Wants to Be Touched'
  • A family company is both blood and everyone in the organization.
    Estée Lauder's William Lauder: 'The Consumer Still Wants to Be Touched'
  • We have more advantages than we have disadvantages.
    Estée Lauder's William Lauder: 'The Consumer Still Wants to Be Touched'
  • The dollar's weakness helps us translate results back into dollars.
    Estée Lauder's William Lauder: 'The Consumer Still Wants to Be Touched'
  • Our job is to get women to say, 'I’ll take it.'.
    Estée Lauder's William Lauder: 'The Consumer Still Wants to Be Touched'

Key Moments

  • Core Values01:12
  • Consumer Evolution05:11
  • Family Business Dynamics08:38
  • Global Expansion17:58
  • Cultural Insights20:55
  • Grandma's Wisdom21:46

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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