to Anne Crews. Anne is our first guest blogger here on Reflections, and I'm so delighted she agreed to share with our readers this month. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and Anne is a Mary Kay warrior when it comes to her commitment to personally do all she can to put a stop to this dreadful thing that plagues so many of our families. All of us at Mary Kay are very proud of the work we doin this area. It takes a lot of money to make a difference all across our country and all around our world, and none of it would be possible without our wonderful independent sales force and their loyal customers. Through their purchases of our skin care and color cosmetics, as well as their generous donations to the Mary Kay Foundation, all this is possible. We owe them a great deal of gratitude, and hope that they are as proud as we are of the work that has been done to help enrich the lives of women in need. I invite you to click on the link below to hear directly from Mary Kay's...

After 20 years of running the company she founded, Mary Kay Ash set down to compile the traits that she thought had made her company so successful. That "list" was published in 1984, as Mary Kay on People Management . An updated version was released in 2008, under the title The Mary Kay Way . One of the many traits that she relied on for her success in business was her woman's intuition, and a caring, nurturing spirit, and she was pleased that she had proved wrong the many who had criticized her for "thinking like a woman." In the introduction to that book, Mary Kay says, "Throughout this book I discuss the specific ways in which women do think differently from men. Such differences are in no way inferior to or incompatible with 'the way a man thinks.' And so one of my objectives in founding Mary Kay was to create a business atmosphere in which 'thinking like a woman' would not be a liability. In my Company those special sensitivities and talents...

Yesterday, as we were gathering to begin a regularly-scheduled staff meeting, four of us were just catching up with each other on what was going on in our personal lives. One woman shared that she had just been to the doctor for her annual physical, and not only was she excited about the significant weight she had already lost, but had set a new goal to lose 17 additional pounds. Another talked about completing her first workout with a personal trainer, and how she was looking forward to the next one. And the third woman, well, talk about being on a mission. She shared that she has set a goal to compete in a triathlon, and had begun daily training for the fall event. As each of them was sharing their personal vision, I could sense the excitement in their voices, I could see by their body language that they had a sense of pride about what they were doing, and I began to feel those same things somehow magically being transferred to me. My adrenaline began to rise (or at least it felt like...

Another of the "10 Things Women Want Now" is a fulfilling career . We heard from some stay-at-home moms in the US that they feel adrift when their kids no longer need them every minute of the day, and wonder if they should have continued to pursue their careers or completed their educations. Latina women in the US felt that a career was a vital part of being a "complete, modern woman". The Chinese women we heard from were well aware of the trade-offs of their careers, and few were completely comfortable with being stay-at-home moms. They seem to need a modern, autonomous view of themselves, apart from their family. This same desire for an element of autonomy drives women in Ukraine and Russia to pursue a career. This sense of autonomy seems to be relevant regardless of culture or geography. Our careers are a very important part of our identity, and are significant contributors to our overall sense of independence and completeness. What seems to differ regionally is how...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I attended and spoke at a Global Business Summit recently in Dallas, sponsored by the local chapter of the American Marketing Association. I was the last speaker, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad; this time it was good. The theme of the conference was focused on doing business in a tough economy, and all day long I listened to folks who were sharing their concerns about the current state of business and sharing stories of challenging times for their companies. As the day went on, my head became filled with thoughts of how well prepared Mary Kay was, unlike many other companies, for any sort of challenge that came our way. I wondered, why are we are in such a different place? What is it that Mary Kay has done differently that has us in such a strong place? I continued to think about that most of the afternoon, so much so that I was often distracted from the program. When it came my turn to speak, I shared the story of Mary Kay's global growth...