Shane Parrish

Mary Kay had no choice but to rise to that belief and believe in herself.

Those phone calls continued for years.

Each call embedded the same pattern deeper.

Someone believes you can do something difficult, therefore you can.

You must.

That phrase, you can do it, became so deeply wired into her that decades later it would become her company's unofficial motto.

She'd repeat it to thousands of consultants willing them to accomplish what they didn't think possible.

She built an entire company around one idea.

Ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things if someone believes in them loudly enough, consistently enough, and relentlessly enough.

But first she had to survive 25 years in corporate America.

Those years taught her exactly what she did not want to build.

After World War II, Mary Kay found herself newly divorced with three children to support.

Her husband had returned from the war, decided family life wasn't for him, and left.

She was now the sole provider in an economy that paid women a fraction of what it paid men for identical work.

She needed flexibility.

She had to be home when her kids came home from school.

She needed to make parent-teacher conferences and stay home with sick kids.

Traditional employment didn't allow for any of that.

Miss too many days and you'd be fired.

So she went into direct sales with Stanley Home Products, a maker of brushes, mops, and cleaning supplies.