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Leonard Lauder

Former Chairman Emeritus of Estée Lauder, The Lauder Family

Search every verified Leonard Lauder interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Companies, has been promoting his memoir "The Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty," published in 2021. In interviews and public appearances, Lauder has discussed the founding of the company by his mother, Estée Lauder, in their kitchen during the Great Depression, and described watching her mix creams on the stove from his high chair. He has spoken about the company's early marketing strategy of giving away free samples and gifts with purchase, which he attributed to his mother's ideas. Lauder has also discussed the decision to take the company public in 1995, which he said was due to family pressures, and noted that being a private company allowed for long-term investments such as launching the Clinique brand, which incurred millions in losses before becoming profitable. Lauder has shared business advice in multiple forums, stating that he would "only hire people who are better than me" and that "the wrong decision is far better than no decision." He has emphasized the importance of listening to customers and employees, and said he never makes an important decision without a woman present. Lauder has also discussed his philanthropic work, including his donation of a Cubist art collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which he described as intended to be "transformative" for the institution. He has spoken about his commitment to funding Alzheimer's and breast cancer research, noting that his late wife Evelyn died of breast cancer and that he made it his mission to help cure the disease.

Recent appearances

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