{"id":4834,"date":"2021-04-19T15:39:32","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T15:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/living.chanintr.com\/?post_type=journal&p=4834"},"modified":"2022-01-04T07:13:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T07:13:56","slug":"one-mouth-and-two-ears","status":"publish","type":"journal","link":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/one-mouth-and-two-ears\/","title":{"rendered":"One Mouth and Two Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Texted by Brent D. Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was like a dream. Was I really there? Did I really have this experience? It now plays out in slow motion in my mind. The camera focuses in on the back of a young 28-year-old man, nervously attempting to appear grownup but equally excited to be walking down the aisle of Isetan Shinjuku, the most important store, globally, for beauty and fashion brands in the \u201990s, side by side with the most powerful man in the beauty industry, Leonard Lauder. The Est\u00e9e Lauder counter to the right. Clinique to the left. Chanel directly across the aisle and Lanc\u00f4me next to Chanel. It is my first time meeting the legendary \u201cLeonard,\u201d as everyone called him in the company, and I keep looking up at his face noticing his oversized ears and even larger lips, but I notice that he has placed his laser-focused attention on the Aramis counter at the very end of the store and as this is my responsibility, I instantaneously become worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonard stops in his tracks. Places his arm around my shoulders, his lips to my right ear and quietly says, \u201cBrent, why are there so many Aramis beauty advisors at 10 a.m. on a Sunday?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quickly looking up at the counter, I saw the entire beauty advisor team standing at the counter like soldiers lined up for battle, and my mind jumped to an alternate universe, \u201cWhat the hell, how did I not think of this? Of course, he\u2019s going to ask about all of these beauty advisors on a two-meter Aramis counter at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning. The demo cost!\u201d And without missing a beat, I pull back from his grasp, look him straight in the eye, and confidently respond, \u201cBut Mr. Lauder, they\u2019ve all come to see you on their day off!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with that, Leonard Lauder, scion to Mrs. Est\u00e9e Lauder, the founder of the $4 billion namesake beauty juggernaut, picked up his pace, nearly jogging to the counter, threw his arms high in the air, and right on cue exclaimed, \u201cGood morning ladies! Thank you!\u201d*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is Leonard Lauder; genius businessman, in-the-trenches retailer, and consummate showman. In his recently released memoir, \u201cThe Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty<\/a>,\u201d<\/strong> Lauder takes the reader on his childhood journey growing up in depression-era New York City with a driven mother, who as he describes \u201cmakes General Patton look like a slouch\u201d and desires to be financially independent and provide for her family, to his education and time spent in the U.S. Navy which gave him the basis for which he took over the operations of the company and built it into the brand that it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many nuggets of wisdom that Lauder imparts, but the most memorable are his standard business practices which the company expected from their management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n