dispatches from the new world of work

With the Greatest Sadness ...

I have just read on the Web of Anita Roddick's death. While I was hardly her great friend, we were pals and spent many hours over the years chewing the fat about most every topic under the sun. She was passionate about so many worthy causes, and used her business and strength-of-conviction for the greater good in a way that can genuinely be called "peerless" in the exact meaning of that word. In my sphere of business, she was a practitioner and vociferous champion of doing business in a way that contributed enormously and directly to society; her causes went from environmentalism to the creation of a "supply chain" that lifted hundreds of thousands out of poverty.

My best personal memories are of her appetite for life—and her constant challenge to me, in a pointed, no nonsense way, to use my bully pulpit to champion the causes which she and we held dear. She was a "for profit capitalist" who used her commercial power to enhance the life of so many, and, indeed, the planet itself.

At just 64, she departed, alas, much too soon.

Tom Peters posted this on 09/10/07.

Comments

Wow - so sad and yes, way too soon. The world needs more people like her.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at September 10, 2007 5:38 PM

Perhaps more than any other, she nails the 'different business' principles & practices of what many are here for:

'The future lies in finding a broader bottom line to live by. First, you have to have fun. Second, you have to put love where your labor is. Third, you have to go in the opposite direction to everyone else.'

'Sorry she's gone?' Absolutely. 'Glad she was here?' Of course - although the teacher has gone, the lesson lives on.

http://tompeters.com/col_entries.php?note=005336&year=1992

Posted by gulliver at September 11, 2007 12:24 AM

Business will miss her energy and her passion. This is a sad day.

Posted by Trevor Gay at September 11, 2007 12:49 AM

Anita Roddick is a wonderful example of both business success and human responsibility. She has inspired me tremendously in my studies and now in 'real' life. Thanks for this post.

Posted by lammert vrieling at September 11, 2007 1:42 AM

Anita Roddick was someone who became a role model for many women of my generation.

Whether or not you agreed with her cause (which I did, incidentally), you could not fail to be inspired by her determination to build a business that stood for something different. It always saddened me when people rubbished her principles, often suggesting that they were adopted for reasons of image and marketing. I think that said more about her detractors that it did about her. The proof of the validity of her principles seems to me to be the fact that they are becoming increasingly main stream.....the obvious principles for the 21st century.

And as a woman in a man's world, I am convinced that she gave many other women the confidence to have a go themselves in their own way; she will always be a true icon for me.

She will be sadly missed. Thanks for everything, Anita.

Madeleine

Posted by Madeleine at September 11, 2007 3:23 AM

For a refreshing, realistic view of management and leadership Anita's book 'Body and Soul' is the best I've read. I have yet to find a more straightforward view of business. Her energy and her vision fill every page.

Posted by Trevor Gay at September 11, 2007 4:35 AM

Very sad news. I first read about Anita Roddick in Tom Peters' book Liberation Management and was impressed by her simple and straight forward style of management. I quoted her a lot during my lectures in business classes here in Pakistan. A great soul has been lost.

Posted by Masd at September 11, 2007 5:17 AM

For me Anita Roddick had "great character." She had a set of core values and beliefs that were the rock solid foundation of her actions. She didn't manage by consensus. She managed by conviction.

Posted by Paul B. Thornton at September 11, 2007 7:28 AM

"LONDON (AP) â€” Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, who used her international cosmetics chain to promote eco-friendly practices long before they were widely fashionable, died Monday night after suffering a major brain hemorrhage, her family said. She was 64.

Roddick, known as the "Queen of Green," was lauded around the world for trailblazing business practices that promoted environmentalism and other causes dear to her heart, from human rights to Third World debt relief."

"Businesses have the power to do good," Roddick wrote on the website of the company, which was bought by the French company L'Oreal Group last year for $1.14 billion.

Amazing lady - 9/11/07 USA Today article link below.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-09-11-body-shop-founder-dies_N.htm?csp=34

Posted by John at September 11, 2007 9:12 AM

Oh thats so sad.
I was such a big fan of hers.
She was such an inspiring entrepreneur. may God bless her soul.

Posted by Gaurav at September 12, 2007 10:27 AM

A great loss of a great leader.

kgp

Posted by Kevin Powell at September 13, 2007 12:47 PM

Thank you for sharing this. She was really an admirable business exec and seemed to do an enormous amount to prove that there needn't be a conflict between business, personal and community success. A great life.

Posted by Ron Davison at September 14, 2007 11:56 AM

Simon Says
By Scott Simon
Scott Simon, at npr.org, has a story about how Roddick's Body Shop "pure" claims have be revealed as false.

Roddick's Body Shop: An Empire Built on a Ruse?

Weekend Edition Saturday, September 15, 2007 Â· Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick died this week at age 64. She created a cosmetics empire that sold good works as much as good scents: its products were branded as "pure" and not tested on animals. Alas, Roddick's ethical business claims turned to be dubious, says Scott Simon.

Posted by Scott Johnson at September 17, 2007 3:03 PM