Andrea Jung Quotations

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?

If you feel like it's difficult to change, you will probably have a harder time succeeding.

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 are clearly the major consumers in far more than just female categories. It doesn't matter whether it is purchases of cars, cosmetics, or even products for men, female consumption power is the leading consumption power in the world. Any company that overlooks the woman as the decision maker is making a huge mistake.

Talent is the No. 1 priority for a CEO. You think it's about vision and strategy, but you have to get the right people first.

You know, you go home and you try on a new mascara, and I guess a male CEO can't do that.

Women like myself, CEOs, can pave the way for more women to get to the top.

I think the economic empowerment of women that has been growing over the past decade is at the 'inflection point' with this global recession. Women are, we believe, the solution for their families in their ability to go out and increase household income.

I can only have dinner with my girlfriends once a month instead of once a week.

The game in beauty is changing so much, if your product isn't high tech or can't make a unique performance claim - plump your lips, reduce your lines, look glossy, and stay on for 24 hours - you can't go to market today. I'm not just talking about a $20 lipstick, but a $5 lipstick!

We also never undercut representatives' prices. A representative will always be able to sell the discounts in our core business, which are not offered at retail. So it's never more advantageous to buy there.

There's obviously a correlation between an economically empowered woman and the investments she makes. That leads to her social and moral conscience for bettering her community.

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.

A representative is free delivery; she's a personal beauty consultant. Some people want that high touch.

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.

China is going to be one of Avon's largest market opportunities. It has a large geographic expanse, with hundreds of thousands of women in small villages really striving to make an earnings opportunity for themselves.

No one in my family had a retail or marketing background. They were professionals. They didn't understand just what I was doing by going into retailing. After I started, though, it got into my blood. I knew this was what I wanted.

Since I'm a mother and a wife, I have to have passion or the frustration would win out. But I love managing people. The product is second to managing the people. And marketing to consumers is so challenging because it is evolving constantly.

I feel like I'm part of history being made. I leave Apple board meetings thinking, 'I've got to do a better job.'

I think it's critical that you feel you're working for a person who is committed to advancing your career.

My parents kept the best aspects of the Asian culture, and they Americanized the family. My mother was a great example for me. She was a working mother with a good career.

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.

It has given me a global vantage point, being the daughter of immigrants from China, who had nothing when they came here. And now I am leading a company. It speaks to something deep in me, the concept that you don't have to start with anything.

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.

We are looking forward to continued momentum into the second half, with the 15-market launch of Avon Wellness, our new global line of women's health and well-being products, and beComing, our new beauty and lifestyle brand that will launch at retail in the U.S. this fall.

With today's appointments, we are leveraging exceptional management talent and experience with two of our most important strategic priorities, namely, the continuing transformation of our direct-selling channel and the building of the Avon brand. These seasoned executives will play critical roles in enabling Avon to unleash the potential of our unique business model.

On a great day, I don't believe that the amount of cosmetics sold over the Internet will be more than 25 percent.

I was still taking piano lessons up until 18 months ago. If I had one thing I could add to my very full calendar, it would be that. That's one of my personal goals because it helps balance all parts of your life, and I really get a lot of enjoyment out of playing Mozart and Beethoven.

Overall, we feel good about the state of our business, and assuming that significant currency weakness does not spread to other Latin markets, we continue to target double-digit earnings growth in 2002 even if the Argentine peso devalues further to 2.00 to the dollar,

Looking ahead, we are confident that the fundamental strength of our business will continue, ... We anticipate further local currency sales growth acceleration in the second half of the year as well as higher dollar operating profit growth, and we remain on track to achieve our stated target of double-digit earnings growth, before unusual items, for the third consecutive year.

I was marketing-based and U.S.-based. I hadn't run our international business; I hadn't run the operating line. Because of the board's insistence that I go on the road and get that experience, I'm sure I'm a better CEO than I would have been.

We invite our representatives to every mall kiosk opening. We try to encourage the fact that this is sort of flagship Avon.

We are disappointed that Sears has made a change in its approach at this late stage and won't be part of the beComing venture, ... We have always viewed retail as a long-term strategy for Avon. We are as committed as ever to our retail initiative.

Follow your compass, not your clock.

It's an unbelievable responsibility to influence decisions, shareholder value and most important to me, people's careers and livelihoods.

I think there is a big and significant difference between being a leader and being a manager-leaders lead from the heart. You have to be analytical and flexible. Flexibility is one of the key ingredients to being successful. If you feel like it's difficult to change, you will probably have a harder time succeeding.

The product is second to managing the people.

That was very much ahead of its time back in the 1880s and, not surprisingly, it was met with some resistance. [I]f you fast forward to today and the fact that we're the single largest source of employment for women (broadly speaking, as the reps are independent contractors), we've been an important creator of entrepreneurship for women.

The company was actually founded on creating earnings opportunities for women, even before it went into skincare, lipstick, and fragrance. The founding Avon principle, before women could vote and when basically only men were working, was to allow women to get out of their homes and to create an entrepreneurship opportunity for them.

It is an honor to be with thousands of leaders from around the world who are united in their mission to eradicate violence against women. Avon is proud to share their commitment to this goal. We are honored to be a leading supporter of the 2nd World Conference of Women's Shelters, and are grateful for the work that all of you do day in and day out to ensure that women across the world can find ways to live their lives free of violence.

My parents ingrained in me early on that the perfect score is always something to strive for. I want to win and I want to succeed no matter what.

Women like to use products that other women say work. The Internet will be a big opportunity, but you cant smell a fragrance there yet.

Some people just wait for someone to take them under their wings but they should just find someones wings to grab onto.

You have to combine instinct with a good business acumen. You just can't be creative, and you just can't be analytical.

The part that loses out at the end of the day is just doing things for myself. Sometimes when I go on a business trip, it's those five hours on the plane or that night in the hotel room which are the only moments when I have time for myself. Only then can I read magazines or a novel.

We are encouraged by the improving foreign currency picture, which could result in some upside for earnings if currencies remain at or near their present levels for the rest of the year,

Avon also has an advantage in that we've always shipped small orders to individuals. So we don't have the back-of-the-house complexities and barriers faced by other traditional companies who try to get up and running.

It's a proud moment for this company, ... Avon and the people of Suffern have had so much history together.

Charles is a results-driven leader with an exceptional track-record of performance, and we are very pleased that he is joining Avon in this important leadership position. His proven expertise in Latin America, coupled with his experience working with four major global consumer companies, will be important assets as we implement our growth strategies in our large and dynamic Latin American region.