We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serv... — Mary Kay Ash

We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you.

Author: Mary Kay Ash

Insight: There's something almost radical about the idea that the people working for you deserve to be treated well—not because it's nice, but because it actually works. Mary Kay Ash understood something that still trips up plenty of managers today: respect isn't a cost, it's an investment that pays back in loyalty, creativity, and effort that no policy manual can demand. The tricky part most people miss is that this isn't about being soft or letting standards slip. Treating people like royalty means taking them seriously—listening when they have ideas, acknowledging their work matters, giving them real responsibility. It means they show up differently. When someone feels genuinely valued rather than replaceable, they think about problems differently, they stay around longer, and they actually care about doing good work. The cynical assumption that people only perform when threatened or micromanaged almost always fails the test. The harder truth underneath this is that it requires patience. You can't fake genuine respect for long. But when it's real, it creates this quiet momentum where people start treating each other—and customers—the same way they've been treated. That's when a workplace stops feeling like a job and starts feeling like something worth showing up for.

Source: Mary Kay, p. 86, 1995

Respect Works Better Than Rules

There's something almost radical about the idea that the people working for you deserve to be treated well—not because it's nice, but because it actually works. Mary Kay Ash understood something that still trips up plenty of managers today: respect isn't a cost, it's an investment that pays back in loyalty, creativity, and effort that no policy manual can demand.

The tricky part most people miss is that this isn't about being soft or letting standards slip. Treating people like royalty means taking them seriously—listening when they have ideas, acknowledging their work matters, giving them real responsibility. It means they show up differently. When someone feels genuinely valued rather than replaceable, they think about problems differently, they stay around longer, and they actually care about doing good work. The cynical assumption that people only perform when threatened or micromanaged almost always fails the test.

The harder truth underneath this is that it requires patience. You can't fake genuine respect for long. But when it's real, it creates this quiet momentum where people start treating each other—and customers—the same way they've been treated. That's when a workplace stops feeling like a job and starts feeling like something worth showing up for.

Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay Ash was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, one of the largest direct sellers of cosmetics and skincare products in the world. She is known for creating a company that empowers women to achieve financial independence through entrepreneurship and for her innovative business model based on rewarding salespeople with luxurious prizes and incentives.

We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serv... — Mary Kay Ash

Respect Works Better Than Rules

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