Fighting Your Goliath
Shirley Pieratt sat in church during an evening service, trying to concentrate. For six months Pieratt had struggled with a contentious situation, and she felt weary to the bone. Pieratt and a business partner were trying to buy the company she had worked at for 13 years—Lady Primrose Royal Bathing and Skin Luxuries, a Dallas-based manufacturer of high-end bath and skin products.
The product is sold in retail boutiques and upscale stores such as Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's. Lady Primrose items have also appeared in luxury hotels throughout the world, such as the Lanesborough in London, the One and Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico, the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi.
For six months, Pieratt had been negotiating with a powerful group of people representing Lady Primrose's founding owners. Her previous offers had been declined. Other investors were also trying to purchase the company. Now she knew she needed to make a final offer and move on. "I felt like David facing Goliath," said Pieratt, looking back.
The Giants in Our Lives
Nina G. Gunter, then general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene, preached that night at the Richardson, Texas, Church of the Nazarene. Gunter talked about our facing the Goliaths in our lives.
"I recalled how David said, 'I come in the name of the Lord,''' said Pieratt. "I realized that I needed to embrace David's confidence in God for myself."
At that time she reminded herself, "If this is the right thing to happen, God's hand will be clear. If it doesn't work out, it's not God's will."
That night the figure for a final offer came to mind. Pieratt went back to the bargaining table with that number. "I had such a peace about it," she says. "I had no other back-up plan. This was it." In three days the parties reached an agreement. Pieratt and her partner now owned a multi-million dollar company with 50 employees, an attractive product line with a growing market, and limitless potential—and they enjoyed the sweet scent of success.
A Love of Business
Pieratt, a soft-spoken Texan, does not hesitate to be who she is, a Christian woman in the corporate world. "God has given me a love for business, expressing myself though this, and it comes in concert with other things I do," she said. However, she strives for balance.
"There's a time and a place for everything," she believes. Pieratt was raised in a strong Christian family and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at age eight. She and her husband, Roger, an official with the Federal Aviation Administration, are parents of two children: Caroline, a freshman at Baylor University, and Ryan, who is in high school. The couple leads a weekly Sunday School class for young adults. Shirley is in the choir and Roger is on the church board. "Sometimes I have to travel and that's a sacrifice, but I have a supportive husband," she said.
Responding to Beauty
Loyal customers and celebrity fans such as Queen Elizabeth, Laura Bush, and several popular actresses seem to love the more than 250 high-quality products, from soap to skin moisturizers. Lady Primrose products clearly are luxuries. Splurging isn't for everyone, Pieratt recognizes. But on the other hand, humans are created to enjoy and respond to beauty. "I realize that there is excess in the world, but there is also a place for quality," she says. She tells of a fashion designer who established a charity to turn discarded fabric from her industry into homemade quilts for hospitalized children.
When she wrapped the children in their new quilts they invariably smiled and told her how nice she smelled. She was wearing Tryst, a signature Lady Primrose product. "Now she sprays a washcloth with Tryst and tosses the quilts with it in the dryer before delivering them," said Pieratt. "It's a little thing, but it means something to children surrounded by the medicinal odors of the hospital."
Who's Holding the Slingshot?
The challenges of running an international business are nothing to sniff at.
"Giants [like Goliath] surface regularly," said Pieratt. "My current giant is envisioning and determining the next direction we need to pursue for growth." She says she needs to be vigilant not to do things in her own strength. "I easily fall back into relying on myself. But before long God reminds me who is really holding the slingshot!" "It is awesome to sit back and watch God's hand at work. I believe that God desires more for us than we could even dream possible for ourselves. God truly is in the business of slaying giants for us when we allow Him to do so."
Anita K. Palmer is a freelance editor and writer in San Diego.
Holiness Today, January/February 2008
Please note: This article was originally published in 2008. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.
