This week I did a deep dive into the beauty industry, learning about leadership, history, product development and innovation. I have grown interested in this from my reading of The Company I Keep, the story of Estee Lauder and family in business, told by her son, Leonard. I also continued to think about Ulta CEO Kecia Steelman and her brilliant ideas she shared on David Novak’s podcast.
As a consumer of beauty projects, an overwhelmed one at times, I was interested in understanding what makes these companies unique in a competitive market, and how other people’s experiences as newer brands with giants like Lauder compare.
Not every company in the industry has an Estee Lauder story – a company that has itself had many ups and downs – I learned about the overhaul of H2O beauty, known for it’s “playful moisture-heavy skincare,”and the subsequent closing of business. Joy Chen who worked to consolidate the business, and encouraged the team in the restructure to continue to innovate and iterate. Their best brainstorming was during his “wine down” Friday’s where they would share their wild product ideas. She encouraged vision in the midst of change: “believe you have the power to realize it.”
Chen reflecting on the closing, shared about the challange for brands in the midst of redevelopment: “you have to ensure that you retain the current customers as well as the new.” Continuing, Pola Orbis shares, “you really need to nurture what has made the brand successful and not ignore those.” Following an acquisition, Orbis recommends: “sometimes keeping and nurturing what you have received is just as important or more important than changing everything.”
Nurture what you have while you grow to what is next. A powerful lesson and not as simple to execute.
In an ever-changing, competitive industry, who is in leadership? What are the biggest brands and what delineates beauty leadership from other industries?
It turns out, beauty industry leadership is male0dominated. Founders like Estee Lauder “were the exception, not the rule.”
While it is a female dominated workforce, things change at the top. Representative of women in senior leadership across the beauty industry drops by 50%.
This is something Leonard was aware of – he recognized he was a man leading a cosmetics company – and said his maxim at every meeting in every context was: there should always be a woman at the decision table, if not in leadership over the major components of the business. If there wasn’t a woman at the major moment of decision, he would ask why.
So innovation, iteration, customer satisfaction and market competition – a fascinating industry and one that affects us each day.
Steelman, a woman leading a major beauty store, Ulta, shares how she does this each day with her team:
“Everyone can sell products but it’s the DNA of our culture – I want to be a place where we hone can come to be the best versions of themselves.” She admits that failure can be hard (they pulled all of their Ulta locations out of Target stores this month – an attempt to compete with the Sephora + Khols partnership that fell flat), but if you can fail fast, move forward, and learn, you’ll be in a better position for the long term. And don’t forget your customers and what they want to feel.
She, like Estée, understands what women want: to feel beautiful.
Getting there, not easy. I’ll leave you with brilliant words from Estée herself:
“I’ve always believed that if you stick to a thought and carefully avoid distraction along the way, you can fulfill a dream. My whole life has been about fulfilling dreams. I kept my eye on the target, whatever that target was. Whether your target is big or small, grand or simple, ambitious or personal, I’ve always believed that success comes from not letting your eyes stray from that target. Anyone who wants to achieve a dream must stay strong, focused and steady.” Estée Lauder