Shane Parrish

So she was faced with an impossible choice.

Refuse the promotion, stay in Houston, or accept the promotion and abandon her income stream.

Frustrated, but seeing no other option, she moved to Dallas and started from scratch.

The experience left her bitter.

And years later, when she designed her own company's compensation structure, she eliminated geographic restrictions entirely.

Consultants could move anywhere and keep their teams because Mary Kay remembered what it felt like to lose everything just for changing cities.

So after proving herself at Stanley, she moved to World Gift Company in Dallas, and her assignment there was to build their direct sales operation.

So she spent the next 11 years from 1952 to 1963 doing exactly that.

She helped expand their sales network to 43 states, recruiting and training hundreds of salespeople.

She increased company turnover by 50% in a single year.

And she developed training materials.

She tested different compensation structures.

She was, by any objective, one of the most valuable employees World Gift had ever had.

And then came the moment that would change everything.

Mary Kay trained a man to work under her.

She doesn't mention his name.

He was capable enough.

He was smart.

He was personable and, you know, good in front of groups.

He was a solid hire, she thought.