In his
much-anticipated memoir, The Company I Keep: My Life in
Beauty, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of The Estée Lauder
Companies Leonard A. Lauder shares the business and life lessons he learned as
well as the adventures he had while helping transform the mom-and-pop business
his mother founded in 1946 in the family kitchen into the beloved brand and
ultimately into the iconic global prestige beauty company it is today.
In its infancy in
the 1940s and 50s, the company comprised a handful of products, sold under a
single brand in just a few prestigious department stores across the United
States. Today, The Estée Lauder Companies constitutes one of the world’s
leading manufacturers and marketers of prestige skin care, makeup, fragrance
and hair care products. It comprises more than 25 brands, whose products are
sold in over 150 countries and territories. This growth and success was led by
Leonard A. Lauder, Estée Lauder’s oldest son, who envisioned and effected this
expansion during a remarkable 60-year tenure, including leading the company as
CEO and Chairman.
In this captivating
personal account complete with great stories as only he can tell them, Mr.
Lauder, now known as The Estée Lauder Companies’ “Chief Teaching Officer,”
reflects on his childhood, growing up during the Great Depression, the vibrant decades of
the post-World War II boom, and his work growing the company into the beauty
powerhouse it is today. Mr. Lauder pays loving tribute to his mother
Estée Lauder, its eponymous founder, and to the employees of the company, both past and present, while sharing inside
stories about the company, including tales of cutthroat rivalry with Charles
Revson of Revlon and others. The book offers keen insights on honing ambition,
leveraging success, learning from mistakes, and growing an international
company in an age of economic turbulence, uncertainty, and fierce competition.