Prestige vs Mass Beauty Leadership: What’s Different
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerPrestige beauty leadership centres on brand desirability, experience, and premium positioning, often through selective distribution; mass beauty leadership centres on scale, value, broad distribution, and winning at retail. The instincts and models differ enough that strong leaders in one do not automatically succeed in the […]
How to Hire a Fragrance Brand Executive
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHiring fragrance leadership means finding people who understand the category’s distinctive blend of creativity, craft, and commercial reality — the role of scent creation and the perfumer relationship, the storytelling and emotion that sell fragrance, and the commercial and retail dynamics of the category. The […]
How to Hire a Wellness Brand Leader
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a wellness brand leader who combines authentic credibility in health and wellbeing with genuine commercial and brand capability. Wellness consumers are discerning and values-driven, so leaders need real conviction and category understanding alongside the discipline to build a durable business — a balance close […]
Leadership for Beauty M&A and Integration
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerBeauty M&A succeeds or fails on leadership as much as strategy. Whether preparing a brand for sale, leading through a transaction, or integrating an acquisition, the right leaders — who can hold the business steady, protect the brand, and deliver the value case — are […]
Hiring Leadership for a Beauty Startup
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA beauty startup needs builders — leaders comfortable with ambiguity, speed, and doing more with less, who can create structure where little exists. Pedigree from a big beauty house does not guarantee this. Hire for genuine startup temperament plus brand sensibility, and be honest about […]
DTC Beauty Leadership: Hiring for Direct-to-Consumer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerDTC beauty leadership means owning the direct relationship with the customer — e-commerce trading and growth, the data and CRM behind retention, the digital experience, and the economics that make direct-to-consumer profitable. Hire for the rare blend of commercial trading instinct, data fluency, and brand […]
Hiring Leadership for a Clean Beauty Brand
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading a clean beauty brand demands both genuine credibility on ingredients, sustainability, and values, and the commercial discipline to build a real business. The rare leaders who combine authentic conviction with rigour — and can protect the brand’s integrity while scaling it — are what […]
How to Hire a Beauty CHRO
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a beauty CHRO when informal, founder-led people practices can no longer carry a growing organisation. Look for a genuine commercial partner who can attract and keep the breadth of talent beauty demands — creative, commercial, and operational — and build culture through fast growth, […]
How to Hire a Beauty CMO
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a beauty CMO who pairs genuine brand and creative instinct with commercial discipline — someone who builds desirability and owns marketing’s contribution to revenue across brand, performance, and digital. In a category defined by brand, the creative-commercial balance is decisive and the hardest thing […]
What Makes a Great Beauty Leader
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerGreat beauty leaders combine genuine brand and creative sensibility with real commercial discipline — the rare ability to protect what makes a brand special while building a serious business around it. They understand a fast-moving, launch-driven, consumer-led category, and they lead the blend of creative, […]
