TIME Magazine: TIME 100: Lindsay Owen-Jones


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Lindsay Owen-Jones

Builders & Titans
	Lee Scott Carly Fiorina Abigail Johnson David Neeleman Rupert Murdoch Lindsay Owen-Jones Howard Schultz Azim Premji Warren Buffett Michael Dell Al-Jazeera Lord John Browne Hiroshi Okuda / Fujio Cho Sergey Brin / Larry Page Bernard Arnault Sepp Blatter Belinda Stronach Meg Whitman Daniel Vasella Steve Jobs
	Leaders & Revolutionaries Artists & Entertainers Scientists & Thinkers Heroes & Icons Introduction Essay FROM THE ARCHIVE: Builders & Titans from 1900-1999

Dreams of Beauty

By JENNIE JAMES | Paris

HERVÈ BRUHAT / RAPHO

FROM THE TIME ARCHIVE

	Putting on Heirs A new generation is leading Europe's biggest family firms toward new profits — and risks [3/24/2003]

Less than a decade ago, Maybelline was a mass-market cosmetics brand with an image problem. But in 1996, it was taken over by French personal-grooming behemoth L'Oréal, headed by Lindsay Owen-Jones. As it has done with so many of its 17 beauty brands—like the zany personal-care line Garnier or the ethnic hair-care concern SoftSheen/Carson—L'Oréal gave Maybelline a marketing face-lift and sent it out to conquer the world. "I had what was perhaps an unrealistic ambition," Owen-Jones, 58, told TIME: "to put a Maybelline lipstick in the hand of every woman in China."

Not so crazy. Maybelline was launched in China in 1998. Now, buoyed by the popularity of products such as Water Shine Diamonds lipstick, the brand is recognized by 95% of Chinese women. In January, Owen-Jones, who is British, celebrated his 20th year at the helm of L'Oréal. He is one of the few non-Frenchmen to thrive in what remains an insular corporate culture. Along the way, he has transformed a once modest French firm into the world's largest cosmetics company, whose products sit on shelves from Melbourne to Moscow.

Owen-Jones went to work for L'Oréal in 1969, fresh out of management school in France. He became CEO in 1984 and chairman in 1988. Once in charge, he set about globalizing beauty. But he has proved most adept at staying one step ahead of his customer. His key to being a successful business leader? "The ability to dream rather than simply plan."

Sept. 27, 1999	Dec. 7, 1998	March 17, 1941

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