Stephanie Kramer doesn’t think the most compelling careers move in a linear direction, and neither has hers. The executive, who has held a handful of roles across functions of the U.S. business, is now L’Oréal USA’s chief human resources officer after time in the lab and eventually closer to brand and product.
Here, she talks her inspirations and what the future of leadership will look like.
What is one word you would use to describe your career journey, and what has your path been like?
I’d say “courage.” I really believe that — and it may be because I’m now in HR — a great career is nonlinear. Originally, I got closer and closer to customers, but now it’s even closer to people. I started in a lab, behind the scenes, and got closer and closer to the brands, and now I’m responsible for employees who are creating the products and the experience for customers. It’s about reinvention and it’s who you want to go with you.
Which female historical figure inspires you the most and why?
It’s not a famous person in history, but I wrote my first book about working women and pregnancy. I’m thinking about writing my second book, and I’m going to write it about my great-grandmother. Her name was Mae Lameroux Cupps. She was born in 1888 and died in 1986, so she was 98 years old and one of 10 children. She had nine children.
She had the most amazing life that I didn’t know about, and I’m doing all of this powerful research about her. When she was my age, she had her ninth child. She lost her husband and a child in the same year, then became the chairman of the Motion Picture Institute for Pittsburgh. She’s this amazing historical figure, but it’s so behind the scenes. I always try to think of people that you don’t know about.
The women who really inspire me are the ones who created all of this ability for us — leadership when no one’s looking, not necessarily the ones you would know or would recognize.
How are you cultivating the next generation of leaders at L’Oréal?
We created “people-manager town halls,” and we bring all 3,500 people managers across the company together. We’ve done it four times. They’re built around three things: one is connection, how do you cultivate connection between team members around a goal. Another is getting perspective, whether that’s with external speakers or my own point of view or other leaders’ point of view. Lastly is momentum, how does bringing people together create the momentum for where you want to go? It’s about connection, perspective and momentum.
What do you think the future of leadership looks like?
It’s incredibly human, but it’s also very empowered by everything that we do. My personal leadership superpowers are synthesis and snowballing. I’m a pragmatic optimist. This is where I think leaders need to be now, very humble in what they don’t know, but the superpower is the synthesis — distilling things down so there’s clarity for others, but you can take very complicated data and use technology to make it have a synthesis of getting to the understanding. You need the humanity and the efficiency to create the connection. Snowballing is being around cultivating energy and getting the best out of something.
I like to make the things that need to be simple, simple. But I love to expand and make something potentialize, being a maximizer. The best leaders today are able to do both.
What does achievement mean to you?
Success compounds when it’s shared. I’m both thrilled and honored and grateful, but I also still have a pinch-me moment a little bit. It’s like being a trailblazer. In this type of company, it’s very humbling, but I take it as a huge responsibility. From a trailblazer perspective, it’s about how I widen the path, put in the signs, make it easier for other people to navigate.
