Mary Kay Ash tells her story of becoming and iconic entrepreneur and building her global company from the ground up.

But this isn’t a brag book, it’s a how-to-succeed book that demonstrates that anyone can realize their dreams with hard work, grit and a tenacious determination to break the conventional business model.

Basing her success on personal values and applying The Golden Rule—treating others as you would like to be treated—Ash shares her philosophy of how uplifting and empowering are the secrets of her success. People matter and when you show them the kindness and respect that they deserve, they want to do business with you. This innovative methodology is what allowed Ash to grow her business into a multibillion-dollar enterprise that continues to prioritize these values to this very day.

This book has twenty-three insightful chapters that share her core principles of success.

Each one holds stories of her journey and examples of personal techniques, she, her executives and her sales team have employed. Most of her employees, including Ash herself, started out as an independent beauty consultant, building a customer base and meeting or exceeding quotas before rising in the ranks. As many in the field will testify, this is not an easy thing to do. They don’t have pre-existing established territories, but instead, must employ grit and tenacity to build and maintain one of their own. This is the beginning of their leadership journey which is supported worldwide through mentoring, professional development and succession planning.

While Mary Kay also employs men, she believes strongly in the power of women. After all, this is a business built by women for women. And whenever a team member feels uncertain about her abilities, she encourages them to use patience, honesty and hard work and that they can always find within their ranks others willing to help.

Let’s hope all companies realize that there are many talented women in their organizations, and that these women represent a largely untapped leadership resource.

 She also shares her belief in praising people to success and that nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm. As these, and her other guiding principles, suggest, the power lies in the simple extension of common courtesy. These are just a few of her success strategies. But they don’t work unless they are wielded with consistency and authenticity.

Success is uniquely defined by each one of us.

While wealth, title or power may be your definition of success, you might also include robust health, a happy family and longevity in life as tenements to success. Regardless of your definition, steadfast prioritization of personal values should be an integral component of your success formula. That is exactly what Mary Kay Ash believed as she set forth to build her own success and champion other women (and men) to do the same.

I’ve read her book three times now and consider The Mary Kay Way a must-have resource for achieving success in your personal and professional life.