A who’s who of luminaries from the retail, fashion and finance sectors turned out on Monday night to honor Leonard A. Lauder with the Retail Excellence Award cohosted by the Baker Retailing Center on the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and the Retail Leaders Circle.

Lauder, who announced earlier this 12 months he’ll step down from the board of directors of the Estée Lauder Cos. when his current term expires in November, was feted by designer Tory Burch, Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Saks CEO Marc Metrick and Lauder’s son, William P. Lauder and niece Jane Lauder, amongst many others, with introductory honors handled by Pfizer’s chief corporate affairs officer Sally Susman and MidOcean Partners chairman Matt Rubel.

“Leonard has been a real beacon and force in constructing a vibrant and special global beauty company along with his family and team,” said Rubel. “Yet he did so way more in making a culture of learning, love, courage, personal accountability, humanity and appreciation.”

Rubel recounted traveling with Lauder, and noted that regardless of how early he arose, Leonard Lauder would already be dressed and within the lobby, able to go, before anyone else was down. “He was either meeting with a neighborhood retailer, supplier or Lauder leader. To Leonard, no trip was complete without spending time and constructing relationships and elevating others,” said Rubel. “Relationships are the inspiration of what has made the Estée Lauder Corporations vibrant now in its third generation of family leadership.”

Susman experienced firsthand the facility of Lauder’s relationship constructing during her time at the corporate as head of corporate communications. One key lesson: go the additional mile, which for Lauder, “isn’t only a figure of speech,” said Susman, recounting one evening when Lauder insisted on giving her a ride home despite the indisputable fact that she lived all the way in which downtown they usually were just six blocks north from his apartment. “The person went far out of his way, as he all the time does, showing his incredible concern for others,” she said.

She, too, spoke of the incredible connections that he forged with others, which taught her that business should be a “deeply humane pursuit.”

“He knew the facility of being in an organization that felt like a family,” said Susman, who noted she still remembers the primary time Lauder called her “darling.”

“I used to be rattled — I wasn’t used to being called that by my boss,” she laughed. “But I got here to grasp that in every way, including language, this company was not a set of spreadsheets or an obsession with profit margins. It was all the time concerning the people. Even for those of us with different last names, it felt like a family.”

Lauder’s reciprocation of the love for the people within the room was apparent during his acceptance remarks. “Attending the Wharton School was among the best decisions I ever made,” he said. “And so, it’s an enormous thrill all these years later to have received the Retail Excellence Award from the Baker Retailing Center. In case you’re within the business of retail, that is as prestigious because it gets, and I’m grateful to the middle for this recognition.” 

He shared a favourite story about weekly lunches he used to have along with his father, Joseph Lauder, on the Tip Toe Inn, when he’d order crab salad, a turkey sandwich and dessert — all the time the most costly items on the menu. “My father used to say, you eat like a buyer!” Lauder said.

He told of his time at Wharton, too, and the way his father questioned his decision to hitch the U.S. Navy after graduation. Noting that it was there that he learned lifelong lessons about leadership, he said, “I all the time thanked my father for sticking with me.  At all times do what’s best for you — take into consideration where that is going to take you. Start with ‘Yes,’” Lauder said. “Overcome the ‘No’s. ‘Yes’ will get you in every single place on a regular basis.”

Lauder, an attractive speaker who couches deep insights in conversational anecdotes, was true to form, sharing the wisdom he’s learned along the way in which. “In case you do something, make it big — make it great,” he said. “People don’t work for money. They work for recognition,” and concluding with, “Nobody learns from being told how bad they’re — they learn from being told how good they could be.”