Bobbi Brown Had a Strategic Point of View
Her point of view on lipstick and blush made her $75 million, and more.
This year the theme for our Collaboratives is ‘only the companies with a point of view will survive.’ I believe that. And I believe it is even more important now that Trump tariffs are changing the world economy. If you are going to survive the uncertainty and be competitive in the new world of AI, you need a strategic point of view.
Yesterday, April 17, 2025, in the Wall Street Journal Magazine there was a perfect example of what I’m talking about. It’s an interview conducted by Holly Peterson with Bobbi Brown, the entrepreneur who turned her point of view about make up into billion-dollar businesses.
It’s a classic entrepreneurial story. Bobbi and her husband drained their savings account of $10,000 so that they could hire a chemist to help her create her lipsticks. In the early 90s, the entire fashion industry was focused on bright colors and flourish. But Bobbi, who was trained as a makeup artist, believed that what women wanted was colors that matched their lips and skin.
“Her eponymous brand sold colors ‘that matched my lips, foundation that matched my skin and blush that made me look like I’d just worked out. It was all ‘duh.’ I’m not good with being someone I’m not.’”
She caught the attention of Leonard Lauder, whose mother, Estee’, had gone down a similar path. He thought her colors reminded him of his mom’s. He became Bobbi’s mentor.
Eventually Bobbi sold her cosmetics company to Leonard for $75 million. She worked for Lauder for 20 years, took five years off, and launched her second company, Jones Road, which, in five years became a billion-dollar concern.
Bobbi’s point of view never changed. When the Peterson asked her to name one innate quality that led to her success, she replied:
No question, it’s common sense. Choose a foundation that matches the skin. Find a lipstick that looks like your lips, blush that looks like your cheek when you exercise. Just common sense. Duh. It all felt obvious.
I want to unpack her statement because it’s a powerful example of what I’m talking about when I say a company needs a point of view about the experience. She calls it common sense and in the interview she says she has no time for MBAs who talk about strategy. She avoids them at all cost. She therefore may not like my analysis but I will proffer it just the same.
1. She articulates what the customer will want.
Her statement, which no doubt she has said a million times to thousands of people since the 90s, is a declaration of what the customer will want. It’s simple. She feels it’s obvious and common sense. Most companies do not have a simple, declarative statement of what their customers will want. They have complex needs analysis, sorted by segments, and designed to tap deep into people’s brains. She has no time for such nonsense.
2. Her declaration clearly describes the jobs to be done.
Women hire cosmetics (the tools) to enhance their beauty, not to make them into someone else. That’s what she wants her teams to understand. Therefore, the colors should match their skin colors, their lips, and so forth. While the entire cosmetic industry of yesteryear was following the trendsetters, she articulated the real insight into consumer decision-making. She focused on the real need, instead of some made up scenario.
3. It was obvious.
Well, it wasn’t obvious to the rest of the industry or they would have done it. But this is key, folks. You can only rally a company around a strategic point of view if the insight behind the point of view becomes obvious to them. She calls it being grounded. I like that description. We constantly talk about how all strategy needs to be grounded in real customer insights about future needs. Her statement not only describes the need but also what success looks like. How powerful!
A powerful point of view about the near future needs of customers cuts through the crap. It simplifies decision-making. It inherently describes what success looks like. There is nothing more straight forward than a strong point of view.
Bobbi Brown may not have time for MBA-types. She says she doesn’t even understand half of what they say. But she does understand experience strategy. Her gut has taught her how to spot a need and, like Akio Morita in the 80s, who led Sony to Walkman fame, or Steve Jobs in 90s and 2000s, or even Tim Cook today, she leads with experience strategy. (Cook’s point of view is about privacy, in case you were wondering.)
I am convinced that in the crazy world we live in today, a strategic point of view is the lodestar that companies need to navigate. That is why this year, in the Collaboratives, we are focusing on helping your company develop a strategic point of view. Join us!