In the most recent edition of the Financial Times’ list of the Top Women in World Business Andrea Jung occupies the Number Two spot for the second year running. She earns this title in recognition of her highly successful reign as CEO of global cosmetics corporation, Avon Products, a position she has held for over a decade.
Introduced to the company as President of Product Marketing in 1994, Jung’s career with Avon spans 17 years. In those early days she quickly worked her way through the ranks but did not set out to become CEO of the company. However, an opportunity arose in 1997 and Jung put herself forward. “I realised that I wanted to be a leader and make a difference in the future of the company,” she recounts. Although she was a good candidate, she lost out to a male applicant. An article in the New York Times cited this as an example of a deserving female being passed over for career progression in favour of a man. When offers flooded in from outside companies wanting Jung to be their CEO, she found herself at a crossroads. Should she stay with the company she loved and had worked so hard for, even though she might never become CEO? Or should she accept a guaranteed opportunity to advance her career elsewhere? She chose to stay loyal to Avon and was in fact rewarded with the top job within 18 months after things didn’t work out for the previous CEO.
For the first five years under Jung’s reign, Avon’s profits soared. However, in 2005 a financial crisis hit Avon Products. Following advice from business consultant Ram Charan, Jung embarked on a restructuring of management levels that would save the company over $250 million. Rather than delivering the bad news from a distance, Jung travelled the world to explain to representatives from numerous cities why some members of the organisation would be losing their jobs. While the process was difficult for all parties involved, Avon employees were grateful for her honesty, sending her emails thanking her for being so upfront.
Jung credits her open and warm leadership style to her traditional Asian upbringing in which confrontation was discouraged, but also notes that she has evolved somewhat as a result of occupying senior roles. “I don’t think I’m aggressive but I’m far more assertive than I was brought up…. [but] I am the same person,” she says. “I’m proud that I still have the values that were beaten over my head about humility.” She also observes some differences between female and male styles of leadership. “Women are adept at seeing all sides of the situation. They tend to be inclusive, are able to bring others around to their point of view,” she suggests. “Women work very hard at building relationships. Their style is often one of influence rather than command and control.”
Under Jung’s leadership and indeed throughout its 125-year history, Avon has sought to create opportunities for females. The founding principle of the company, the direct selling model, has enabled millions of women to become financially independent. Back in 2009, in the midst of the recession, Jung spotted an opportunity to boost the number of Avon sales representatives. An advert was broadcast during the Super Bowl, targeting women who had recently been made redundant, offering them the freedom of self-employment with Avon. Simultaneously, Jung pushed for expansion in emerging markets such as India and China. Today there are over 6.2 million ‘Avon ladies’ worldwide. That’s not to say men don’t catch the direct selling bug too, though. “Over 95 percent are women and the men are often in Avon couples. I love those conversations, where the husbands tell me that they quit their jobs because their wife’s business was doing so well, so they’ve joined forces to run the business as a couple!” Jung says.
Avon: The brand
Avon’s efforts to empower women extend beyond business. The Avon Foundation is the largest corporate philanthropy dedicated to women’s causes globally, with programmes in around 50 different countries and over $800 million raised and donated last year. The charity makes breast cancer and violence against women its prime concerns and Jung is proud that her company is able to raise awareness and help women suffering worldwide: “We have made educational pamphlets about breast self-exams and about domestic violence, which our representatives can give to their customers. We have donated mammography units to underserved hospitals in Spain and created mobile mammography units in China,” she says.
In addition to being the first female CEO of Avon, Jung was also the first woman to be elected chair of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association, a position she held until 2005. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Apple and the General Electrics Company and is a member of the New York Presbyterian Hospital Board of Trustees and the Catalyst Board of Directors. To say Andrea Jung is a high flying woman would be an understatement. However, despite her own success, Jung continues to be concerned by the issues facing woman in business today. While women make up 46.3 percent of the workforce in the US, only 2.2 percent of the CEOs of the Fortune 1000 companies are female. Of the need for her gender to be acknowledged in any interview about her as a businessperson, she says: “On the one hand, it’s a subject I don’t like, and on the other hand it’s a subject I’m extraordinarily passionate about. I think the day that we don’t have to talk about women in leadership, which is still a ways away, will be a different and great day.” However, Jung observes that the situation is improving, if at a slow rate, and is optimistic about the future. “I think there is no question that the pipeline is significantly different,” she says. “There is clearly progress on that front and I am optimistic and hopeful that you‘ll see more women taking on CEO roles at huge companies.”
How quickly this progress will be a made remains to be seen, but Jung makes an excellent role model for future generations of female leaders while – with her firm determination and her distinctly feminine managerial style – she continues to lead Avon Products Inc from strength to strength.
To read the September issue of Business Review Europe click here
