Jean-Paul Agon Talks Marketing and Making a Difference

NEW YORK — Jean-Paul Agon was by turns amusing and insightful during a wide-ranging conversation on Wednesday evening at the 92Y here with David Rubenstein, the co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group. Agon, chairman and chief executive officer of L’Oréal, regaled the crowd of beauty industry insiders and civilians alike with tales of his rise through the ranks of the group and his strategy for making the world’s largest beauty company the top-ranked firm when it comes to gender equality, sustainability and ethics, as well. He said he decided to pursue a career in business when he was 15, after ruling out psychiatry and film directing. “But in my job today, I do all three,” he said. “It’s partly about understanding the desires of people and creating beautiful images.” Although he majored in finance in business school, marketing was — and remains — his true passion. “In every case study, my recommendation would be to change the advertising — even though it was a finance class,” he quipped. Turning back to today, he continued, “Beauty is the supreme art of marketing — it is about intuition, perception and creation.” Agon joined L’Oréal in the sales department at age 21, then moved into marketing. Three years

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