A great advantage I had when I started The Body Shop was that I had never been to business school.
Look at the Quakers – they were excellent business people that never lied, never stole; they cared for their employees and the community which gave them the wealth. They never took more money out than they put back in.
All through history, there have always been movements where business was not just about the accumulation of proceeds but also for the public good.
You can’t change t he wor ld f rom t he rear view mir ror.
Irritation is a great source of energy and creativity.
There are only two ways of making money: the hard way and the very hard way!
When you take the high moral road it is difficult for anyone to object without sounding like a complete fool.
Mess with nature and it will mess right back...
Maybe this is what the future will look like: fresh, clean water will be so rare it will be guarded by armies. Water as the next oil – the next resource worth going to war over.
When your back is against the wall financially, creative juices flow.
We can’t have self-government without the self-confidence that is at the root of it.
I think the leadership of a company should encourage the next generation not just to follow, but to overtake.
The aging process is fascinating because it doesn’t disturb me, because this is what it is supposed to be like. But I’ll tell you what does – it’s the lack of strength – you can’t hold up suitcases and do it yourself. Loss of physical strength.
Retiring isn’t even a word I’d understand. Taking what makes you feel alive, and everyone’s looking for ways of making them feel alive, in whatever they do – relationships, business or work – and not just being a voice for a money making business.
Women are storytellers, they are communicators. They’ll go and sit around a table and talk about their first date, their first smoke, their first lipstick, whatever it is. Those rituals of life, marriages and death aren’t part of the language of men.
Any business or enterprise that shaves away loneliness is going to last forever. And like it or not but we’ve got a lonely society.
I think progress is a sort of comfortable disease, and we’ve got a media that says entertainment and celebrity, which isn’t bad in itself but it stops the real issues coming forward.
If you’ve got a partner that’s supportive and you’re doing something you enjoy it doesn’t ever become a job or a burden. Its about community, new friendships, support mechanism.
Women are networkers, women hate hierarchy and especially entrepreneurs hate hierarchy because when they see hierarchy structured in they see rules and regulations are commonplace, and they want to tear it down.
One of the most intriguing things in management and in business is the role of storytelling – people need the anecdotes to do the work that they do.
You’ve got so many groups that have no voice in this world – the indigenous, the poor. So how can I use the resources that I have and bring them up, highlight them. And it’s not that difficult. It’s just choosing and concentrating and focusing.