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s I walk through Estée Lauder's
Manhattan headquarters with
William P. Lauder, he points out the
lobby walls: a soft robin's-egg
blue. "That was my grandmother's
favorite color," he says, tapping the paint with
the kind of affection most of us reserve for old
family photos. "We refreshed the space last
year, but her hue stays put. It reminds everyone
why we're here." At 65, the grandson of Estée
and eldest son of the late Leonard A. Lauder
and Evelyn H. Lauder is the Chair of the Board,
steering its directors and, by extension, the
25-brand constellation that makes up The Estée
Lauder Companies.
But Lauder didn't slip straight into the
cosmetics business founded by his grandmother
in her kitchen more than half a century ago. As a
fresh-faced Wharton grad in 1983, he spent a
short, eye-opening stint in Washington working
for Treasury Secretary Donald Regan during the
Ronald Reagan White House years. "I loved the
adrenaline," he laughs, "but I'd never met a truly
happy lawyer—and that told me everything."
Retail beckoned next. Macy's executive-
training program taught him "how to make the
cash register ring," and, more important, how
people in different regions of the country shop.
Estée Lauder Chair
William P. Lauder
A
William P. Lauder fuses
family tradition with fearless
experimentation—from pioneering
Origins' sensory skincare to launching
a Skin Longevity Institute in Costa
Rica to championing global
breast cancer research.
BY DEBORAH FRANK
of
the
beauty innovation
B HS B CR F
BALHAR B O U RSH O P S .CO M
