Why Leslie Blodgett Stayed at Bare Escentuals

In 2009, I was thinking about not being the CEO of Bare Escentuals any longer. I had done it 16 years and felt I probably wasn’t the best person to take the company to the next level: We were preparing a new skin-care line and were on the cusp of a huge retail expansion. I wanted to get back to a more creative role. This wasn’t well known, but my board was aware.

Then, that August, a letter thumped on my desk from the CEO of Shiseido. In it, he talked about how he’d been following the company and asked if we’d be up for a meeting. It mattered that this was coming from a real person, since normally you get a call from some banker who says, “hey, someone is interested,” just to feel you out. We’re a public company, so we have to take offers to the board. I called my chairman, who also got a letter, and we brought it to the board. We knew this could be life-changing.