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Avon is a unique place to work we’ve got family-friendly policies. We have more senior women in high-level management than any other company 46 percent of our officers are women.
Women like myself, CEOs, can pave the way for more women to get to the top.
When a woman earns a dollar, the payback is higher. She’ll invest in her children, in their education, health care, and basic needs. The impact of a woman’s role in the economy benefits society at large.
There are pros and cons of experience. A con is that you can’t look at the business with a fresh pair of eyes and as objectively as if you were a new CEO. Fire yourself on a Friday night and come in on Monday morning as if a search firm put you there as a turn-around leader. Can you be objective and make the bold change?
I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve.
You know, you go home and you try on a new mascara, and I guess a male CEO can’t do that.
I feel like I’m part of history being made. I leave Apple board meetings thinking, ‘I’ve got to do a better job.’
President Obama’s 100-day plan is pretty impressive. I think it’s a Wow 100-plus days. The administration is not operating from fear, it is trying to drive change for the future, and that’s a good thing.
If you feel like it’s difficult to change, you will probably have a harder time succeeding.
Avon invented the concept of direct marketing and direct selling beauty. And that’s still very valid to us. We’ll have a firm that will be around for another 114 years as strongly as it was the first 114.