Dallas, Texas, August, 1963.

Mary Kay Ash is sitting at breakfast with her husband George going over plans for their cosmetics company.

They're one month away from opening. She's put her entire life savings into this.

Everything they have is on the line.

Then, something terrible happens. George collapses face first onto the

table with a heart attack. He was dead before the ambulance arrived. Everyone around Mary Kay tells

her to stop opening the company, get whatever money back she can and find a job. You can't do this

alone, her accountant says. You're going to go bankrupt. Mary Kay doesn't

say anything. She buries her husband. Then she sits down with her youngest son Richard and asks him to quit

his well-paying job and help her launch this company for almost no money. He says yes immediately.

Her older son can't leave his job. He has a family,

but he pulls out his checkbook and writes her a check for $4,500. Every penny he saved since he was a kid. He hands it to her. One month after the funeral, she opens the doors.

Welcome to the Knowledge Project.

I'm your host, Shane Parrish.

This is an episode of Outliers, and it's all about mastering the best of what other people have already figured out so you can use their lessons in your life.

Today, we're talking about Mary Kay Ash, who built a $2 billion cosmetics company by solving

one problem.

How do you get ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results?

Her answer wasn't motivation or charisma.

It was a deep understanding of people and systems.

After 25 years watching companies waste their best people,

she sat down and designed a business from scratch.

...