In this success post, we are going to share the story of Leonard Lauder, the chairman of the Estee Lauder Companies, a family business he has successfully run for three decades. He first joined the company in the year 1958, where he worked with his mother, the founder of the Estee Lauder.
Under the Leonard Lauder leadership, the company’s first R&D laboratory was created, and brands like MAC, Aveda, and Bobbi Brown were acquired in the mid-1990s.
The company now operates other brands such as La Mer, Smashbox, and Clinique and of course, Estee Lauder.
He served as the CEO of the company until 19999 but maintains his position as chairman emeritus of the company. But he is also popularly known as the CTO around the company. He is ranked as the 56th in the Forbes 400 of 2019.
Leonard Lauder Early life, education, and career
Leonard Lauder was born on the 19th of March 1933, to Estee and Joseph Lauder. He is the firstborn son and elder brother to Ronald Lauder. In their childhood years, Leonard Lauder and Ronald would fill jars, type invoices, deliver packages and answer phone calls at the Estee Lauder store. They became unofficially part of the company until their adulthood – Leonard first in 1958 and Ronald later in the mid-1960s.
Leonard Lauder attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. And furthered his studies at Columbia University Graduate School of Business. On graduation, he joined the US Navy, where he served as a lieutenant until he later joined his mother at Estee Lauder in the year 1958. In the same year, the company recorded its first $1 million in sales. It later moved to its new Manhattan office and production facility in Long Island.
Leonard Lauder’s Contribution to Estee Lauder Inc
Leonard consistently increased company sales and profits by continually developing and implementing innovative sales. And marketing programs that significantly contributed to the growth of the company. Alongside making other brand acquisitions and incorporating them into Estee Lauder. He also created the company’s first product development laboratory with the involvement of professional specialists.
A strategic part of the Estee Lauder’s expansion and growth is owed to Leonard. As he took the company international by opening its first international account at Harrods in London.
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