Innovator Interview: Estee Lauder

Anne Carullo, SVP of Corporate Product Innovation at Estee Lauder, provides an inside look at how the cosmetic giant innovates.

The background

This Innovator Interview series highlights leading innovators at Fortune 500 companies. In contrast to past interviews, focusing on a single innovation, this series examines the state of innovation at global organizations. We spoke with both innovation leaders and practitioners, within varying business units and organizational structures, across a broad range of industries both for–profit and not–for–profit.

The interviews offer a unique insider’s view into the world of innovation—what makes it work, what holds organizations back, and what critical advice new innovators need to know to be more successful with innovation overall.

The interview

futurethink recently tapped the mind of Anne Carullo, SVP–Corporate Product Innovation at Estee Lauder to learn how the cosmetics giant innovates. Read on to learn why the customer isn’t always right, how hiring the Top 2% isn’t necessarily good for innovation, and the importance of looking backward for new ideas.

Client Quotes

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    Director of Learning & Development, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Sonovian Pharmaceuticals
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    Jeff Honious, Vice President of Innovation, Reed Elsevier Reed Elsevier
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    Jim Daly, Vice President of Human Resources, Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's
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    Brian Weberg, Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
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    Randy Voss, Senior Manager, Global Strategy & Business Development, Whirlpool Whirlpool
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    Mary Fennoglio, Managing Director, Citigroup Corporate Investment Bank Citigroup
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    Joan P. Lawrence-Ross, Chief Learning Officer, AXA
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    Wayne Pethrick, Director, Marketing and Consumer Insights, Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes
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    Cindy Morgan, Innovation Manager, New England Federal Credit Union New England Federal Credit Union
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    Michael Ripa, Manager, FRI Infomatics
  • “Innovation is deliberate, if done well. There is a science and process to it. futurethink has done their homework to provide a wealth of practical knowledge to their customers.”
    Senior Vice President of Innovation, Wells Fargo Wells Fargo
  • “Any innovative company must develop processes for understanding and responding to consumer needs in a very focused way. Otherwise, they're just inventors, they're not necessarily innovators.”
    Tony Tomazic, Director of Consumer Innovations, Humana Humana
  • “We need to look beyond our organization's walls to innovate.”
    Mehmoon Khan, Global Leader, Innovation Process Development, Unilever Unilever