The Mary Kay Way: Timeless Principles from America's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur

If we can follow all of the suggestions in this book we would not only have a better business but a better world

I used this book for "TRAINING" new people with my organization. Creating a Positive Environment, problem solving with thoughtfulness.

I Love Mary Kay books. This book is on management, Mary Kay style.

Mary Kay is a very inspiring woman and the book is a great book about the lady who made a mutimillion dollar company what it is today. With love and honesty and a great believe in God first family second and career third. The insight in this book will inspire and give women the gift of being beautiful and special. If you are an independant beauty consultant it will help you in so many ways. Great Book for anyone to read.

Affirmed my leadership style as a woman. I gained so many nuggets of wisdom from this jewel! Passing it on to teenage entrepreneurs who have started their own beauty business. Super excited for them to glean from it like I did.

I would like to exchange this book because I realized upon receiving it that I had the same exact content as another book I own. This was not the fault of who sent it, I just didn’t realize it was duplicated material.

Great read.

An enjoyable read about an inspiring woman who was ahead of her time.

This book was great , it gives you an insight on how she started her cosmetic empire. She definitely is a role model for women entrepreneurs .

I started selling Mary Kay in 2007 and thought it would be of value for me to know "Mary Kay" and understand the beginning of this pink enterprise. I enjoyed the book a great deal and remember reading it VERY quickly.

If we can follow all of the suggestions in this book we would not only have a better business but a better world

I used this book for "TRAINING" new people with my organization. Creating a Positive Environment, problem solving with thoughtfulness.

I Love Mary Kay books. This book is on management, Mary Kay style.

Mary Kay is a very inspiring woman and the book is a great book about the lady who made a mutimillion dollar company what it is today. With love and honesty and a great believe in God first family second and career third. The insight in this book will inspire and give women the gift of being beautiful and special. If you are an independant beauty consultant it will help you in so many ways. Great Book for anyone to read.

Affirmed my leadership style as a woman. I gained so many nuggets of wisdom from this jewel! Passing it on to teenage entrepreneurs who have started their own beauty business. Super excited for them to glean from it like I did.

I would like to exchange this book because I realized upon receiving it that I had the same exact content as another book I own. This was not the fault of who sent it, I just didn’t realize it was duplicated material.

Great read.

An enjoyable read about an inspiring woman who was ahead of her time.

This book was great , it gives you an insight on how she started her cosmetic empire. She definitely is a role model for women entrepreneurs .

I started selling Mary Kay in 2007 and thought it would be of value for me to know "Mary Kay" and understand the beginning of this pink enterprise. I enjoyed the book a great deal and remember reading it VERY quickly.

great book

As a small business owner, I appreciate this book's insite on how to work the right way in the direct-selling world. As a woman, I appreciate the timeless sophistication Mary Kay embodies. As a Mary Kay consultant, this is required reading! Everyone, men and women alike, who work in sales or the direct-selling industry needs to read this book. It doesn't matter if you are in cosmetics or not, this is the how-to guide on full-circle business excellence.

One of a kind. Keeps me motivated with my own Mary Kay business

Mary Kay Ash is an amazing woman! You'll love this book! "Timeless" is so true. Follow her principles, and just like Mary Kay, everything you touch can turn to gold, too!

and great company. Mary Kay was a smart and wise woman for the era she grew up in..and so tired of not being promoted, while men she trained were

This is such a treasure of truly "Timeless principles" for running a successful business and for succeeding in life! It's all about integrity and making people feel important! A million thanks to Mary Kay Ash and Mary Kay Inc. for continuing to make this book available. It is truly a way to enrich women's lives.

Love this book! Mary Kay Ash ash was one of a kind.

Inspiring, heartwarming and insightful. Gives a personality and the origin of the values that structured the Mary Kay empire. A must for all new consultants.

This is good and thank you.

what can you say about Mary Kay Ash that hasn't already been said- she's the #1 most influential woman of the 20th Century!

I enjoyed this very much. It has great advice for learning to be your own boss.

very good book

Inspiring story of a wonderful woman growing a business in a mans world.

Sage advice from the founder of a successful multinational corporation. Mary Kay knew the secret of handling people and she shared it with anyone interested in improving their workplace interaction with employees.

This is an outstanding book about one of the premiere female entrepreneurs. A good case study in how its done.

I'd definitely recommend this book for anyone who needed a little inspiration, or someone who needs some positive principles in their lives. Easy to read. Sometimes it feels like you are having a conversation with MK.

In business and in life - treat people fairly, honestly. Timeless advice. Wonderful read. I recommend it for anyone in business. Well, anyone who wants to succeed in life for that matter!

Love Mary Kay and her story of moving forward!

I was so glad that I could download this book for my electronic reader. With the Kindle app, I can take this book anywhere.

What a Woman! Her Go-Give Spirit, God First, Family Second, Career Third, speaks for itself of this selfless Woman! Oh that many women could be more like her. Fantastic Book! Highly recommend purchasing this book!

Want to be truly successful? This should be mandatory reading for everyone in every business. Our world would be so much more positive, helpful, and successful! Highly Recommend it for everyone!

This book was an excellent read and one I will refer to frequently as I build my business with Mary Kay Comestics. It also gave a good understanding of what Mary Kay is all about. Definitely recommend reading this book if interested in joining Mary Kay.

Fabulous woman and role model for success and caring: she shows us that capitalism can support both!

This is one of the best books you will ever read on how to live your life!!

this lady did what no man could.

Mary Kay is a wonderful woman to lean on for advice if you want personal growth, empowerment, or to run our own business. I can't wait to crack this book open to read it.

It seems like it wold be obvious to treat people how you would like to be treated, or to praise people to success. Way too often in the business world these values are overlooked.

Awesome book!!!

I am a Sr. Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay I love reading all of her books, this and her autobio is our inspiration for working our businessess the way she did it. The book was in great shape and well worth the investment

Get your very own copy today you will want to underline or highlite it and refer to it again and again!

LOVE Mary Kay!

I have been with this company for the last 10 years and I love reading the words of Mary Kay Ash! What an inspiration this book is to learn how to pass on a legacy. Her business principles are timeless!

Very interesting

Real words of wisdom! The Golden Rule Rules! Making yourself better by helping those around you be better... A fabulous teacher on how to "pay it forward".

I think this book will help any business person or any person who has trouble making and keeping friends! Definitely a good read and something to reference back to in the future!

Mary Kay, what a women, I wish more people would read and follow her advice, she was gracious and dynamic. A true woman of integrity. A great read.

This book would be great for anyone and not just a consultant. Anyone can enjoy the philosophies in this book.

Great book for any entrepreneur or anyone who enjoys learning about people and relationships. This was one wise and compassionate woman.

This is a great book. good for anyone to read not only mary kay consultants.

The book was in very good condition just as it was described before my purchase. I was pleased with my purchase.

Purchased when I was really excited about starting my Mary Kay business learned quickly that not all things are as they seem. If the way the company is run now, is how she intended, it isn't morally something I want to participate in any longer.

Reading the Mary Kay Way has many drawn similarities to How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The book is a touch of biography, with solid portions of life lessons that Mary Kay has learnt and injected into Mary Kay Cosmetics. (Just found a copy online to order of her full autobiography so I will read it the moment it comes in!). There are some minor parts which is Mary Kay's take on women in business, but as a man I found it enlightening to see this view. There are multiple chapters on different lessons, it would be repetitive to go through all of them - so I'll illustrate some of the strong points Mary Kay puts across. I'm going to put in brackets a few of Dale Carnegie's principles for reference. A few great points from the book: #5 The Art of Listening - many times a person will say a great conversation was one where the other person simply listened. Allow them to draw to their own conclusion where possible. (Principle 4 of Dale Carnegie: Be a good listener.) #6 Sandwich every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise - it's not a good feeling being directed at. What should be targeted is the act, not the person doing the act. Criticism (constructive) is necessary in a workplace, and beginning with praise and honest appreciation is crucial for delivery. Mary Kay makes a good point that by hitting a person with a strong critical statement may dull out any praise given, so delivery would be important as well as beginning with the praise as well. Another good point is that honest appreciation for even the SMALLEST successes and improvements go a LONG WAY (Principle 1 &2 &6 of Leadership). #12 Help people to get what they want, to get to what YOU want- focus on their goals that help you achieve yours. Ultimately, it will benefit you too, especially if you are in the same company. A sales team is only as good as the production team - you are there together and should be aiming to help each other. (Principle 5) #7 Follow Through - when you say or promise something, following through is important. You can promise a raise in salary, you can promise a cleaner bathroom but if you don't follow through - what was the point of saying it? I personally feel this was something I am weak at so I had to reflect many times I stated something and didn't follow through for a LONG TIME. Sometimes, following through immediately is stronger. It's sincere. Overall the Mary Kay Way by Mary Kay Ash was a good read. It reminded me of Dale Carnegie's How to Win friends and Influence people which was great as sometimes I can veer off the track occasionally with such small details. I would recommend reading the Mary Kay Way if you are interested in establishing some sound knowledge on self improvement and improving interactions with people in your company, friends and family.

This is a reissue of a volume that was first published in 1984 to which personal comments from Independent National Sales Directors from throughout the world were added, accompanying a Foreword by Mary Kay Ash's grandson, Ryan Rogers. Credit Yvonne Pendleton with a brilliant job of editing all of the material in this updated edition. Frankly, I did not fully appreciate this book when it was first published and then recently, my friend Randy Mayeux presented a brief program to a local business book breakfast group here in Dallas to which I belong. He carefully explained why, of anything, Mary Kay's insights concerning effective leadership are even more relevant now than they were more than 20 years ago. So I immediately obtained a copy of this edition and now share my own reactions to it. As with so many other prominent CEOs, Mary Kay learned most (if not all) of what she considers to be the most valuable business lessons from negative experiences, both hers and others'. Prior to opening the doors to Mary Kay Cosmetics in a 500-square-foot store front in Dallas (Friday, September 13, 1963), she had been the victim of all manner of gender biases, broken promises, betrayals of confidence, etc. From the beginning of her new company, she included The Golden Rule among its core principles. The policies and procedures she formulated all shared the same objective: To create a workplace culture that nourishes and supports everyone's personal as well as professional development. The only limits on that development would be self-imposed. Mary Kay didn't stop there, however. She was determined to do everything humanly possible to help her associates to reject or eliminate such limits. She also expected everyone else to provide such help to those in need of it. To guide and inform such supportive efforts, she devised eight management principles: 1. Praise People to Success 2. Tear Down That Ivory Tower 3. Be a Risk-Taker 4. Be Sales-Oriented 5. Be a Problem-Solver 6. Create a Stress-Free Workplace 7. Develop and Promote people from Within 8. Keep Business in Its Proper Place. When the Independent National Sales Directors were surveyed prior to publication of this edition, they identified #1, #7, and #8 as having had the greatest impact on their personal as well as professional development and were most critical. They also ranked the chapters of this book in terms of their importance to them and four of the 23 chapters emerged: "Help Others Get What They Want - and You'll Get What You want" (Chapter 12) " "Golden Rule Management" (Chapter 1), "The Invisible Sign" (Chapter 3), and "The Speed of the Leader Is the Speed of the Gang" (Chapter 9). "Whenever I meet someone," Mary Kay once explained, "I try to imagine him or her wearing an invisible sign that says: MAKE ME FEEL IMPORTANT! I respond to this sign immediately, and it works wonders." Apparently it has also done so for others in her organization. The company began with nine Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants; in 1984 when this book was first published, there were 200,000 in its sales force; today, there is a worldwide sales force of 1.8 million whose wholesale sales generate $2.4 billion. Here are other representative examples of Mary Kay's "way" of thinking: "A diamond bumblebee is the ultimate symbol of recognition at Mary Kay. It's the `crown jewel,' and its recipient is recognized as a queen...We think the bumblebee is a perfect symbol because, as aerodynamic engineers `proved' many years ago, the bumblebee cannot fly! Its wings are too weak, and its body is too heavy. Fortunately, the bumblebee doesn't know that and goes right on flying. At Mary Kay we teach people how to spread their wings and fly on their own. I can't think of a better way to help people." "Enthusiasm is not just contagious - it spreads like wildfire. Employees often reflect the personalities of the company's owners. A chief executive's enthusiasm and positive personality can permeate an entire organization...Conversely, a lack of enthusiasm can produce devastating results. Hesitation and self-doubt are also contagious." "In a well-run company that offers equal advancement opportunities for to all employees, the cream always rises to the top. In fact, a recent study of the best-managed companies in America shows that they are structured in a way that [begin italics] guarantees [end italics] the best people will be promoted to top levels of management. I view it as a sign of weakness when a company fails to develop a leadership team from within. Nothing prepares one better for the responsibilities of leadership than on-the-job training." Although Mary Kay passed away in 2001, who she was and what she believed as well as the organization she created all live on in the lives she continues to nourish with her wisdom, her compassion, and most of all, her faith. Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba have much of value to say about how to create customer evangelists. That is certainly a worthy objective. However, as Mary Kay suggests in this remarkable book, it is perhaps even more important to create employee evangelists. As she would correctly point out, no company will have customer evangelists unless and until it first has people representing it who are evangelists. That was her objective from the beginning and remains true of the company that bears her name 45 years later. Of how many other companies can that also be said?

In an academic study by Baylor University, Mary Kay Ash, who founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1961 has been hailed the Greatest Female Entrepreneur in American History. After you read the Mary Kay Way, you'll know why. She built her company based on the Golden Rule--and she always practiced it, never deviating from the principle of treating others as she would want to be treated herself. She also instilled her values in others, and gradually over time, the company became one of the best-known brands in America and throughout the world. This is an amazing fact. Think about it. When did you ever see an advertsement for Mary Kay Cosmetics? The company advertises so rarely that chances are, you never saw one. But who doesn't recognize the name, Mary Kay? In reading the Mary Kay Way, Mary Kay's integrity and caring for others comes through loud and clear. Although Mary Kay Ash passed away in 2001, her legacy lives on through the countless success stories of the independent saleswomen who sell her products, build their own dynamic sales organizations under the Mary Kay umbrella--the ones who succeed and earn impressive incomes comparable to top executives at Fortune 500 companies are the ones who adhere to Mary Kay's philosophy of believing that anything is possible if you work dilligently, believe in yourself, and inspire others to believe in themselves. If everyone would follow the lessons that she shares throughout this book, he or she would succeed in any field. Today, the company has 1.8 million independent sales representatives selling the company's skin care products all over the world. Mary Kay Ash's legacy lives on--providing women around the globe with opporuntities to succeed and enjoy a piece of our free enterprise system--even in places where free enterprise is a rare commodity. For this, I salute the company for the tremendous goodwill it is exporting.

I read this book from cover to cover and I must say that it was one of the most inspirational books I have ever read. I have the same beliefs as Mary Kay's in regards to how to run a company. I initially thought my beliefs were too "soft" - meaning that I'm too sensitive about the feelings of others, etc. I work for a company which believes in the total opposite of Mary Kay's (MK) beliefs. I try everyday to have them see their lack of communication, involvement, etc. brings down morale. Well, they want no part of it and keep telling me that they've been around for this many years and haven't had any problems. What's funny is that the company has never grown in size, or in dollars. Which MK addresses in one of the last chapters of her book. There are so many statements in this book that it would take me days to type them all out, but it's definitely a book I would recommend reading if you feel as though the company morale has gone so low that it's reached the soles of your feet.

Everyone, men and women alike, who work in sales or the direct-selling industry needs to read this book. It doesn't matter if you are in cosmetics or not, this is the how-to guide on full-circle business excellence. As a small business owner, I appreciate this book's insite on how to work the right way in the direct-selling world. As a woman, I appreciate the timeless sophistication Mary Kay embodies. As a Mary Kay consultant, this is a definite must read!

Having had many jobs I can agree with much of what she writes. If management had a CLUE how to motivate their employees properly, and effectively, it would improve morale and productivity. She certainly understands what it takes to foster a better working environment. In most places I worked, it was pounded in our heads, you are expendable, you don't MATTER, you should be grateful for this lousy job and all the junk thrown at you daily. All it did was create stress and attrition...I enjoyed the book. I never had a working experience that was promotive and positive. Even when I did Avon sales way long ago, my director YELLED at me for having two products returned from customers, they were defective, but she told me, her team didn't process returns...I quit after that phone call. Because I wouldn't sell products that didn't have a true guarantee.

Whether you are starting as an MK consultant or simply want to better yourself this book has something for you.

I'm a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant and found the book to be very inspiring and informative but I think anyone would find Mary Kay's principles and business techniques applicable to any business you might be in, whether you own your own business or if you are a manager within a large company. She proved that praising people to success, living by the Golden Rule, having integrity and helping others to succeed leads to success for the business leader as well. I find that these values and principles work in my life too, not just my business. I think this is a book I will come back to many times as a refresher course.

The book starts out with a letter from Mary Kay's Grandson, Ryan Rogers. From that very beginning I knew it would be a wonderful update with practical advice from those at the top of Mary Kay. Few leaders are able to sustain their legacy past their life, but Mary Kay has done it and this book is proof of her enduring legacy. The Mary Kay Way will live on because of her philosophy of sharing your success with others. You won't go wrong by applying these principles to your life and your business. I suggest you purchase the book and at least one more copy to share with a friend.

This woman was a success and her company lives on in legacy for a reason.She knew what she was doing and her succesors would be wise not to doubt for a moment the things she put in motion.I am wildly inspired and equaly moved by this book.Practicing trating people with respect is common sense but so often forgoten in todays society that the proven power of it with the forfront leadership of the company is motivation enough for me to keep that the #1 in my futur direct sales. Thumbs up for this one!

What a great tribute to the woman who changed business! This is a great book for anybody, not just sales force and employees of Mary Kay, Inc. I highly recommend this book!