At the recent Sharing Best Practice workshop, in partnership with L’Oréal, Nicolas Pauthier, Global People Development & Learning Director, and Sébastien Emond, head of L’Oréal University for Leadership & Culture, provided a deep insight into more than five decades of outstanding dedication to developing L’Oréal’s leaders.

As EFMD’s Director of Corporate Services, I had the pleasure of kicking off the workshop by advocating for a broad and integrated perspective on leadership, rather than a too-narrow view of leadership development programs alone. I highlighted the role of a leadership model in creating a shared understanding of what good leadership looks like and the importance of measuring leadership effectiveness to hold leaders accountable. Leadership, I explained, is very context-dependent and must simultaneously exploit known territory and explore new territory, which requires each a different approach.

In my eyes, L’Oréal is a great example of a systemic and holistic approach to leadership development, having for decades a strong reputation for growing its own talent and shaping its culture through leadership, not of the few, but of the many.

Nicolas Pauthier and Sébastien Emond took turns recounting L’Oréal’s journey toward leadership in the global beauty market, now constituting a unique combination of a pure beauty company, a luxury company, a medical company, an FMCG company, and an AI-powered beauty tech company with a well-balanced global footprint.

Central to L’Oréal’s success has been its strong and unwavering focus on people and culture. It was a pioneer when, in 1971, it co-created the executive development centre CEDEP, which is still one of its major partners. Since then, L’Oréal’s consistent investment in people and leadership development has been nothing short of impressive. It now totals 1,300€ and exceeds 35 formal learning hours per employee each year, with 100% of employees participating in at least one learning programme annually.

L’Oréal doesn’t hire for jobs, but for careers, always with a long-term employment perspective and a strong graduate intake every year. This leads to long tenures on average, with leaders moving across geographies, businesses and functions. Such leadership journeys are powered by L’Oréal University for Leadership & Culture’s seven transition-to-programmes. There are a must for managers moving into a new role. These programmes have shaped the global identities of, e.g., country managers or general managers. They are all designed and refreshed at a global level, but also delivered at a zone or country level.

In addition to these transition-to-programmes, the university offers a comprehensive onboarding package for new joiners and a portfolio of special skills programmes, such as those on AI, critical thinking, intuition, or inclusive leadership, aimed at accelerating L’Oréal’s transformation programme, Simplicity.

L’Oréal’s leadership model LeadEnable underpins the ongoing measurement of leadership effectiveness e.g., via its engagement survey, 360° feedback surveys and a leadership survey for the top 2000 managers, the outcome of which defines a significant part of their bonuses.

The workshop concluded with a lively discussion among participants on L’Oréal’s progress toward gender balance without compromising on the principle of meritocracy, on the engagement of the university’s advisory board, on quality managing and renewing the programme portfolio, and on the commitment on filling positions from within by consistently loading and growing the talent pipeline, as a prerequisite to creating a unique corporate culture.

Highlights and materials from this workshop (including the recording) are available in the Corporate Digital Library.

EFMD company members can request free access to this library if they have not yet done so. Guests from other companies can ask for temporary access by contacting Natalie Altincizme.

Save the date! Our next Sharing Best Practice Workshop for corporate members and invited guests will take place on 27 March 2026, hosted by Daimler Truck. 

For additional insights, reflections and perspectives, visit the conversation on Sharing Best Practice.