Executive Vice President of Enterprise Marketing, Chief Data Officer & Director, Estee Lauder Companies Inc
Jane Lauder On Her New Position | Full Interview Fortune MPW
Jane Lauder sits down with Fortune’s Leigh Gallagher to talk about her new position as Global Brand President of Clinique.
Want to see more Fortune Video? Subscribe to our channel
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c...
Connect with Fortune Online:
Read more about Fortune Business Tech: http://fortune.com/tag/brainstorm-tech/
Find Fortunes’s Official Site: http://fortune.com/
Find Fortune on Facebook: / fortunemagazine
Follow @FortuneMagazine on Twitter: / fortunemagazine
Find Fortune on Youtube: / fortunemagazinevideo
About Jane Lauder
In a 2014 interview with Fortune, Jane Lauder discussed her new role as Global Brand President of Clinique. She described her grandmother, Estée Lauder, as a determined person who taught her to never take no for an answer. Lauder stated that Clinique's longevity is due to its focus on allergy-tested, fragrance-free skincare and staying true to its brand values. She emphasized the importance of understanding customer needs by talking to consumers and frontline staff, and noted that the cosmetics industry has become more competitive with the proliferation of niche brands. Lauder also addressed the challenge of staying relevant in a crowded marketplace, comparing it to the cable TV business where many brands come and go. She said that brands must merge online and offline experiences to allow consumers to shop whenever and wherever they want. Lauder described herself as shy behind the scenes and identified building relationships as a critical aspect of leadership. She expressed hope that she makes her grandmother proud by being determined and never taking no for an answer.
Transcript (23 segments)
I
Interviewer0:14
We have Jane with us. As Patty said, we're thrilled. I'm a beauty junkie; we were just geeking out about products backstage a little bit, but we're not going to talk about that. We're going to talk about you. So Jane, I want to start way back. Your grandmother was Estee Lauder, yes, a legend, a force in business, a force in beauty, said to be one of the most influential people in business of the 20th century and a colorful character. Tell us about her. You were the youngest of the grandchildren, so she was still active in the company, but you got to spend quite a bit of time with her obviously. So tell us about her.
J
Jane Lauder0:53
Well, I'm absolutely... thank you, I'm honored to be here. What's most impressive is that she believed in her business, she believed in what she was doing, and she taught me that in order to succeed, you have to be able to drive your business and never take no for an answer. Some of the legendary stories of her making sure that women tried her product: she wanted to get a space in Saks Fifth Avenue, she wanted to get a counter, and the buyer at the time said, 'I'm not sure, we don't know your brand,' and she dropped the bottle on the floor and this wonderful fragrance came up and wafted by. He said, 'What is that?' And that was lore and history. So she was really a sales force. Absolutely. If you believe it, you can sell it. When she would do makeovers, she would take a woman's right...
I
Interviewer2:10
Out of getting out of college, you didn't go right to the company. You did something different. So tell us what that was and why that was and what you learned.
J
Jane Lauder2:20
Well, you know, yesterday we got a chance to talk to a lot of high school students in the mentee program, and it's so interesting about wanting to know about different areas of business before you get into it and having different jobs. One of the things I wanted to do was go and have a different job before I signed up for life, because signing into a family business is for life. So I worked in advertising, and it was a great way to learn about what I liked and didn't like about different businesses. I realized I definitely like to be behind the scenes creating product versus up there...
I
Interviewer3:11
Do you think that you had to work extra hard because your last name is Lauder? Did that inform the way you worked?
J
Jane Lauder3:19
I think that's such an interesting question because my family, everyone is a hard worker, and I think that was just how we were raised. This is a business that we're all deeply committed to and so lucky to get to work in this business. Of course I want to do the best job I can do. It's about setting an example for everyone else in the company because that's part of our role, not just to work in the company but also to instill the values of the company with everyone in the company.
I
Interviewer3:50
Your sister Erin also worked in the company for a bit, but she's taken a different tack. Could you possibly have shared a room for 10 years and grew up in the same house? We are very different, but we have a lot of similar backgrounds and similar tastes. She's definitely much more outgoing and doesn't mind being center of attention. It's hard for me to get up on stage and talk about myself, and she's much more open about it, so it's a good balance.
J
Jane Lauder4:10
So then a few months ago, actually six months ago, you were elevated into the biggest role yet for you, which is a very big job. Jane is the global brand president of Clinique. I didn't know this, but Clinique is actually the largest division of Estee Lauder. How's it going so far?
It's incredible. It was really my dream job. It was the first brand that I was introduced to by my mother, but in this case it was my father. It's so incredible now that when I sit in my office, I have a table that was in his office when he was president of Clinique. It's just such a great feeling.
I
Interviewer5:25
Did you talk about beauty products growing up at the dinner table?
J
Jane Lauder5:29
Absolutely. Everyone had opinions. If you want a lot of opinions, you can come to my family and find out about beauty. My grandmother would come and tell me to always wear bright colors. She would be very happy with your pink. She said it gives you energy and makes you look bright.
I
Interviewer5:49
With Clinique, this is a huge brand that has been around for a long time. Where's the growth?
J
Jane Lauder6:10
I think what's so exciting is to see some of these markets like China just exploding and having this growth in these cities that are growing so quickly. It's really exciting to see how many women are coming into beauty. In places like China, they were not introduced to beauty by their mothers; a lot of them are first-generation consumers. It's wonderful to learn about.
I
Interviewer6:35
What would you say is your biggest weakness as a leader? What is something you'd like to work on?
J
Jane Lauder6:44
It probably is that I am definitely shy behind the scenes. I think the most important thing about any business is relationships and working with people and getting to know people. That's critical, and one of the reasons I'm here is to engage in every aspect of the business. You wipe the dry erase board when it's done, you clean up after the meeting. Decisive, we always know where the plane is going to land.
I
Interviewer7:26
That's some good praise. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like you?
J
Jane Lauder7:33
Thank you. Definitely very decisive and focused, but thank you.
I
Interviewer7:37
Where does that come from? Does that come from your grandmother?
J
Jane Lauder7:40
I think that definitely comes from my family, but I also think it's listening and absorbing how my entire family works. It's really about listening and understanding the leader you want to be. You learn as much about things you don't want to do as you do.
I
Interviewer8:12
People say that you could one day run this company. Do you want to?
J
Jane Lauder8:19
I get that question a lot. It's a tough question. One of the most interesting things is that so many members of my family had incredible influence on this company. Whether it was my grandmother, who was never the CEO, or my father, there are so many ways to contribute and be engaged in this company. I love what I'm doing right now, so I don't know what the future holds. I think it's exciting. We all spend so much time thinking about the future, but one of my favorite quotes is from Emily Dickinson: 'The future is made up of a series of nows.' The hardest thing to do is to enjoy the journey and be in the now, so that's what I'm trying to do.
I
Interviewer9:10
I think you were reading Emily Dickinson. Clinique has been around for many years in a world where a lot of brands have come and gone. What do you think are some of the secrets of success of such a strong brand lasting for such a period of time?
J
Jane Lauder9:21
That's a great question. One of the things that my uncle Leonard Lauder taught me was that brands are born, they're not created, and they're born out of an idea that has deep roots, and that's how a brand sustains itself. Clinique was born at a time when everything was fragrance and all the cosmetics were fragrance, and there was nothing for women who wanted simple skincare that was fragrance-free and allergy-tested. That was a real need, and that's something we've stayed true to.