PAYING IT FORWARD

ESTÉE LAUDER COMPANIES CHAIRMAN WILLIAM P. LAUDER ON LIFE, LEGACY AND LEADERSHIP

- STORY BY MARISA MELTZER

When William P. Lauder was growing up, he wanted to be a baseball player, an airline pilot, a hotel manager. He was like any other kid. But his family’s legacy drew him in. “Both my parents worked together and so oftentimes dinner conversations at the table when I was young were about business,” he recalls from his Manhattan office. “So I may have picked it up osmotically through their conversations.”

He is talking about his parents, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder. Estée Lauder founded her beauty dynasty in 1946, building it into a postwar powerhouse catering to generations of Americans. Today the company offers more than 20 brands in countries around the world.

William Lauder, who was born in 1960, not only joined the family business but also fell in love with it. During his five-year tenure as chief executive officer from 2004 through 2009, he expanded the company’s distribution channels and greatly strengthened the brand portfolio.

Lauder continues to be a globetrotting custodian of a legacy brand, a mentor shaping the next wave of leaders, and a philanthropist harnessing beauty platforms for social good. He is now chairman of the board of directors of The Estée Lauder Companies, ensuring that the corporation remains timeless yet ever adaptive, beautifully poised for the next journey.

He was thinking about the importance of family, as his father had recently passed away at age 92. “He was friend to, father to, mentor to many people, not just to me and other members of my family, but to so many people who are part of our company,” Lauder says. “And he was never shy about sharing his wisdom and advice with a smile. He was selfless and had an easy charm about him that was unique.”