patience

Behind every “overnight success” is a years-long master plan, a bit of luck, and the calculated foresight to strike when culture is ready.

The fact is, star brands take time to grow. Take some of the small makeup companies we have acquired recently, like Bliss and Urban Decay. When we bought them, they were little start-ups run by their founders—very simple businesses, but with a lot of originality in the products. So now we know we must nurture them until they have some history. But

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I’m interested in the relationship between time and understanding. Some things I’ve learned in a split second: via embarrassment or deep regret for an impulsive mistake I made, or an epiphany surfaced at a lecture or in the middle of reading. Other things have taken me a long time

I also think a lot about the old, iconic structures around the world that have stood the test of time and, in many cases, where we aren’t quite sure of all the details of how they were constructed. Marvels like the Colosseum, Roman aqueducts, or the Great Wall. Incredible architectural feats that were, by necessity, built to last and built slowly –... See more