NYC/Estee Lauder

Three weeks down, 101 to go before graduation. Not that I’m looking forward to the experience ending, in fact, quite the opposite. The first few weeks have been a whirlwind. I first heard about the Lauder program at Wharton in 2002 and hoped/planned on attending ever since. Because I spent so many years anticipating the experience, I began Lauder with extremely high expectations. At this point I can say that the experience has exceeded my expectations (which is saying something)!

We are taking three classes this month before beginning the Summer Immersion - INTS 712 (Latin American Area Survey), INTS 670 (Spanish) and MGMT 654/655 (Global Strategic Management). The two Lauder classes are not incredibly time consuming, which is good, because our strategy class is a mind melter. Our professor, Mary O’Sullivan, is from Ireland and educated at Harvard (MBA and Doctorate degree). She also taught at INSEAD for about 10 years. She most definitely ranks among the best professors I've ever had.

Yesterday was a nice change from the typical 12-16 hr day of class/reading/studying/etc. We woke up around 5am and met on campus at 6am to head up to NYC to visit Estee Lauder Companies (as you may have guessed, the Lauder program at Wharton was named after the Lauder family). We visited their executive office on the 40th floor of the GM building with a stunning view of Central Park. We had breakfast, socialized, met some of the Estee Lauder executives and then had the opportunity to meet William Lauder, the CEO of Estee Lauder (grandson of the founders, Joseph and Estee Lauder). He was very bright, articulate and passionate about Estee Lauder and has done an outstanding job of leading the company. He is also a Wharton alum ('83) along with many members of his family. I was fortunate enough be able to ask him to share with us some of the successes and failures Estee Lauder has experienced in the acquisition of other companies. He shared the incredible success story of the acquisition and rise of MAC cosmetics along with a few experiences of failures, such as the acquisition and subsequent sale of Jane cosmetics.

We also had the honor of listening to Ronald Lauder, along with the Senior Vice President of Global Management Strategies, the Global President of Bumble and Bumble and the SVP of Global Marketing. Each of them passionately and eloquently spoke to us about Estee Lauder and their roles in the organization.

After an exciting day in NYC, I returned to Philly to continue my studies and preparations for the final week of class. Finals and group presentations await me this week, followed by 24 hrs at home with my family before heading off to Argentina and Spain!