The Expertise of Emotionally Intelligent Luxury

There is a great deal of mythology and lack of expertise in digital transformation tech at all consumer brands, not just luxury and premium brands. But luxury and premium brands are different. They are in the unique products and deep customer relationship business; at least the best ones are. They rely partially on scale, but mostly on share of customer relationship. Using those benchmarks is how we designed the luxury and premium customer tech priorities list outlined in our May 2022 white paper, How to Prioritize Customer Tech's Top 5 in 2022 and Beyond.Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, is an independent and active investor in a few of the recommended technologies mentioned. Unlike VCs, we cannot afford to have only one unicorn out of seven investments. We strive for unattainable perfection. We identify game-changing, scale or fail technologies, and the best players within these categories.We believe that brands that develop the skills to profitably scale the top 5 technologies recommended, in order of priority, are serving the best interests of their shareholders and are aligned to serve the best interests of their customers.

Luxury really is different. Luxury and premium brands cater to the most affluent, educated, and sophisticated consumers. The luxury goods and services that affluent, wealthy, and uber-wealthy consumers buy are highly considered, high-value, high-investment, and high-emotion purchases such as fashion, watches, jewelry, vehicles, high-end appliances, homes, travel, private jet charters and financial services, etc... True luxury brands need to highly differentiate by delivering unique and extraordinary experiences that make customers, and associates, feel special, develop deep trust, exchange fair value, and build long-term relationships. The customer lifetime value potential is far too high to leave to today's blunt digital marketing practices. In Luxury Institute's latest white paper, we outline 8 recommendations for brands to test and optimize over time to build trust and find an intelligent path towards respectful, symmetrical customer data relationships. 

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, speaks at Luxury Daily's Luxury FirstLook 2022 Event and provides a luxury sector-by-sector analysis for 2022

Digital transformation is the hot project of the new decade. COVID-19 has forced affluent consumers of all ages to embrace digital engagement and has accelerated emerging digital trends. However, Luxury Institute 2022 trends research, conducted with its Global Luxury Expert Network (GLEN) members, indicates that luxury and premium goods and services brands are operating with inaccurate assumptions. In this white paper, Luxury Institute provides a reality check that will help brand leaders to debunk the seven most dangerous digital myths and empower them to free their organizations from false beliefs that can damage their brands in 2022 and beyond.

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO and DataLucent Chairman, welcomed Firework Co-Founder and CEO, Vincent Yang, to discuss how video livestreaming has and will continue to revolutionize how consumers shop.Today, Firework reaches over 600M+ people globally who consume millions of short-videos across hundreds of categories, and includes the creativity of over 300K+ professional creators on the open web.

On October 6, 2021, Milton Pedraza interviewed Rishad Tobaccowala on the ABCDE of Re-Invented Marketing. In this podcast, Rishad and Milton focus specifically on the Data portion of the ABCDE.

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO and DataLucent Chaiman, hosts a candid, myth-busting conversation about the ABCDEs of Reinvented Marketing with advisor, speaker, educator, and author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data, Rishad Tobaccowala.Rishad was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five "Marketing Innovators." He is a Senior Advisor to the Publicis Groupe, the world's third largest communication firm with 80,000 employees serving most recently as its Chief Growth Officer and Chief Strategist. Rishad has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Bombay and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO and DataLucent Chairman, interviews Megan Gerhardt and Hana Ben-Shabat to discuss the myths and realities of Generation-Z and understand this generation as consumers as well as their expectations in the workplace.Megan Gerhardt is the Professor of Management and Leadership at Miami University and Author of Gentelligence: A Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce.Hana Ben-Shabat is the Founder of GenZ Planet, a research and advisory firm dedicated to the next generation of culture creators, employees and consumers. She is the author of the recently published book Gen Z 360.

During the past few months, as economies recover and enter a new normal, Luxury Institute and DataLucent have engaged in rich, candid dialogue with C-level executives at top-tier luxury, premium and mass brands. During these conversations, a series of myths that are pervasive among brand executives have come to light – be they marketing, digital, legal, data, or privacy leaders – about customer data. Because the world is evolving so rapidly, it may be hard to keep up with the legal and business innovations that are significantly affecting business performance. Here are the most common critical data myths and corresponding truths to help executives take control of their customer data strategies and tactics to drive optimal results. Ignore them at your own peril.            The white paper is available on LuxuryInstitute.com

On September 9, 2021, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO and DataLucent Chairman, spoke with Kareen Mallet and Corey Gottlieb, founders of Replika Software, and two of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in the luxury goods and services industry.As a social selling platform designed to help brands activate their sales associates and brand ambassadors to sell more effectively online, Replika Software gained the trust and received significant investment from both LVMH and L'Oréal, with representatives from LVMH Luxury Ventures and L'Oréal BOLD joining the Board of Directors.During this immersive conversation, Kareen and Corey shared their fascinating journey to innovating a technology company that even the most discerning luxury goods and services giants love.

Given Apple opt-in levels, Google cookie-less world, pending federal privacy legislation, and the plummeting stocks of companies such as Live Ramp, brands realize that they will have no choice but to develop first-party data relationships with their customers and prospects. This has created significant urgency for brands, third-party data companies, and ad agencies. So what's next?On Tuesday, June 22nd, Luxury Institute hosted an  exclusive update from two of the world's leading attorneys in the personal data economy:Richard Whitt, an experienced corporate strategist and technology policy attorney, 11-year veteran of Google (2007-2018), serving as Google's corporate director for strategic initiatives. Richard is also the president of the GLIA Foundation.Tim Moynihan, a legal expert in cyber privacy and data licensing, previously served as Forrester Research General Counsel and Secretary where he was Chief Legal Officer. Tim is also the Co-Founder and Chief Data Officer of DataLucent, and Founder and Managing Partner of Moynihan Partners LLC.

The economics say that a 5% increase in retention can increase profits by 25-95%. Premium and luxury categories, by nature, are long-term client relationship-building ventures. In this podcast, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, shares seven new rules to super-charge a premium and luxury retention program with new high-performance marketing and innovation rules that drive maximum results.You can also access our white paper on LuxuryInstitute.com

On Tuesday, May 18, 2021, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO and DataLucent Chairman, held an exclusive discussion on Empowering Brands and Consumers to Share Personal Data.Privacy is a critical issue. According to Gartner over two thirds of consumers globally will be protected by privacy legislation, similar to GDPR by 2023. The bigger opportunity is to empower consumers to take control of their social and e-commerce data (Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc) and securely license it as a copyrighted asset to multiple brands they trust for fair value rewards and true personalization. This will fuel digital transformation. It will also unleash the multi-trillion dollar personal data economy and help reduce inequality.

On May 11, 2021, Milton Pedraza, CEO of Luxury Institute, ignited an exciting discussion with three of the top experts in luxury beauty on The Future of Luxury Beauty & Wellness:-Oliver Garfield, CEO & Board Member of Cos Bar-Anne Talley, Beauty Executive & Consultant, Former GM of L'Oréal, Brand President of Revlon, and Brand Incubator at Walmart-Claire McCormack, Senior Editor at Beauty IndependentListen to learn exclusive insights into the growth opportunities and potential challenges for all major categories of beauty and wellness as we emerge from the pandemic, and beyond.

Digital Transformation (DT) is a term that inspires awe as well as fear in the hearts and minds of premium and luxury goods and services brand executives. On one hand, executives have a fear of being left behind. On the other, they are so often bombarded with mixed messages and content about what DT is, and isn't, especially in an industry that uniquely values customer relationships and human touch, that it is easy to be awed and confused as to how to move forward. To help brands navigate and scale an effective journey with the highest probability of success, Luxury Institute conducted its own primary and secondary research. First, the Institute conducted an in-depth online survey with its Global Luxury Expert Network (GLEN) members. These individuals run, or have recently run, some of the top brands in the premium and luxury industry. Then, the Institute supplemented the GLEN member insights with secondary research insights from trusted, unbiased sources. Luxury Institute's goal is to deliver timely, fresh, objective perspectives and realities in implementing DT initiatives successfully. In this podcast, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, shares the findings.You can also download the white paper on LuxuryInstitute.com 

On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, Luxury Institute welcomed Jack Ezon of Embark Beyond, Shannon Knapp of The Leading Hotels of the World, and Ben Trodd of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts to share the challenges and abundant opportunities of reigniting the luxury hospitality industry in 2021 and beyond. Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, and Kathleen Shea, a luxury hospitality and lifestyle leader at brands such as Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, and Taj hotels co-moderated this event.

On April 5th, we launched our latest white paper on the New Rules for Reinventing your Business Model to Drive Customer-Centricity. Despite the pandemic, the ranks of the wealthy around the world continue to grow in size. Younger affluent consumers are digital natives. They have dramatically different expectations and are redefining what “customer-centricity” actually means. The brands that will flourish are those that approach their business model reinvention from the perspective of these new customers with deep empathy, and create internal systems that cultivate trusted, emotionally intelligent relationships. Building a customer-centric culture used to mean adopting best practices. Today, it means reinvention and measured risk.

Luxury Institute CEO and DataLucent Chairman, Milton Pedraza, welcomed Dr. Augustine Fou, a marketer of 25 years, steeped in how digital has transformed the world and marketing. Dr. Fou helps marketers audit their digital campaigns for ad fraud and optimize campaigns based on accurate analytics. He has witnessed the entire arc of the evolution of digital marketing, since the mid-90's. Dr. Augustine Fou has worked on the "client side" for American Express, and on the "agency side" as Group Chief Digital Officer of Omnicom's Healthcare Consultancy Group, a $100 million group of 8 agencies serving pharma, medical device, and healthcare clients. He is also the former SVP Digital Strategy Lead at McCann Worldgroup/MRM Worldwide, starting his career in New York City with McKinsey & Company. Dr. Augustine Fou received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering with a minor in Innovation, Management of Technology, at MIT.

In 2021, and moving forward, one of the most important ways that a brand can measure customer loyalty is by how much data and insights their customers are willing to share with them, legally and ethically, for fair value rewards and personalization. Enterprise start-ups that are starved of customer data will never take off, and incumbents that can't achieve, or suddenly lose, customer trust will vanish.Luxury Institute and DataLucent define primary data as consisting of genuine, authentic content and personal data that are generated, collected, compiled, and shared by individuals.Primary data comes in many forms. Some of the most powerful include social media profiles from Facebook, Google, Instagram, Apple and other digital platforms with complete histories of content and metadata, Amazon and other e-commerce platform shopping history, recommendations, and searches, and direct engagements with consumers via online surveys and other means.All primary data begins with a verified individual – a human being. It represents the most original, authentic personal data possible. Primary data is the richest most accurate collection of digital information in the history of the Internet because only the individual can access and share this verified, cross-platform data.For top-tier brands, agencies, and consultants that embrace true digital transformation, primary customer data will become the obvious choice for personal data, which, when combined with first-party data, will optimize business models in the roaring 20s. For the high-performance brands of the next data generation, the new era of sourcing primary customer data has already begun.

The Luxury Institute has announced the launch of its Advanced Personalization Xchange (APX), a unique proprietary technology platform that enables affluent consumers to provide access to their rich, relevant and highly predictive personal data to premium and luxury brands in exchange for rewards and benefits, while maintaining full legal control of their data. APX is the first of its kind, opt-in, people-first, data panel platform that delivers previously inaccessible customer data as a service (DaaS) to premium and luxury brands. The platform is GDPR, CCPA and international privacy law compliant. APX can access personal data in Europe, Latin America, and the USA to start. Asia will be tested soon.When prospects and existing customers are invited by their favorite brand, and opt in to share social media information, a secure, private personal data store is created for each person on a secure platform. Then, each individual is automatically assisted to easily download and transfer their social media data trove from Facebook and Twitter, through an app, first to their device, and then into their personal data store. Over time, the data will be updated automatically, in real-time, using APIs. The data is structured immediately for analysis, enabling brands, and/or their agencies, to generate rich insights that drive advanced targeting and personalization. Brands gain a license to this predictive data by exchanging it for creative rewards, benefits and personalized value. APX enables truly personalized, trusted, long-term relationships between premium and luxury goods and services brands and their valued customers.With legal, ethical access to all the data that Facebook and Twitter (as a start, due to the rich nature of the data) have gathered about an individual, including all their segmentations and ad responses, among myriads of predictive attributes, brands will understand their customer base and prospects at an unprecedented level. Over time, all Google, Amazon, Instagram, Apple and many other types of comprehensive, predictive data will be gathered in each individual personal data store for licensing. While only some customers will opt in at first, as each luxury brand earns trust, and delivers rewards, personalized offers, and services, many more consumers will engage, and opt into the mutually beneficial, rich exchange of value.APX is a proprietary tech platform powered by DataLucent, an innovative tech company based in Cambridge Massachusetts. The founders are veterans from MasterCard, Forrester Research, MIT, The Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, and Duke University. The technology will be fully protected by a combined patent, copyright, and trade secret strategy.  The DataLucent technology is available for licensing across all consumer goods and services industries.“Data is the fuel of the digital economy,” said Milton Pedraza, CEO of Luxury Institute. “After a long search, we have found, and partnered with, entrepreneurs who have designed moral, ethical, legal and effective technology that serves the best interests of individuals, as well as the ethical brands who serve them. We are not alone, there are many entrepreneurs and pioneers who have educated and encouraged us to launch APX. Many top-tier luxury brand leaders with whom we have spoken in the last few weeks totally get the need to go direct to their customers for the most legal, accurate and predictive personal data. Most have expressed a strong desire to partner with APX. We look forward to this truly disruptive and transformational journey together.”

Luxury Institute meta-research from across the globe indicates that the post COVID-19 landscape for consumer brands, and especially for luxury goods and services brands, is a potential minefield due to rapidly escalating consumer concerns for personal data privacy. Consumers are becoming activists on many social issues, and all surveys conducted in 2019-2020 by credible institutions such as Pew, Ipsos and Microsoft clearly identify privacy as a sizzling hot issue across all demographics. Luxury Institute's own 2020 global research shows that the affluent and wealthy globally share deep concerns for personal data issues. In the most recent survey conducted by Transcend, a data privacy infrastructure company, with 1,000 American consumers, a whopping 98% agree that data privacy is important in their lives. The results were similar across all demographics (98% males, 98% females, 95% Gen Z and Millennials, 99% Gen X, 99% Boomers). Income figures had a similar dispersion, dispelling the persistent myth that only older, wealthier people care about privacy. All segments of American consumers agree that data privacy will be even more critical in the next five years (94%). The pandemic has only accelerated those concerns.  In this podcast, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, shares the insights from the  September 2020 white paper, Data Privacy Is A Brand Reputation Issue, Not A Compliance Issue.

“Edge AI is a dramatic breakthrough. It completely redesigns machine learning into a secure, private, cost efficient and effective process,” said Milton Pedraza Luxury Institute CEO. “The Cloud AI providers, such as Amazon and Google, know that Edge AI is the future, yet, are unwilling to disrupt their rapidly growing, highly profitable cloud AI businesses in order to serve the best interests of their clients. They are fully aware that Edge AI is a superior method, both for their corporate clients and their valued customers. Edge AI's technical challenges have been, or continue to be, surmounted quickly by start-ups and entrepreneurs. Today, as we move up to create a better future, it is time for the luxury goods and services industry to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and master Edge AI to unlock the power of personalized client relationships.” In this podcast, Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza shares insights from the September 2020 white paper, including the five major advantages of Edge AI in order to help luxury brands drive advanced personalization for high performance.

The biggest customer experience opportunity, pandemic, or not, is to understand and embrace the skills that support the blending of digital and emotional intelligence. To optimize their digital strategy brands must embrace the fact that they will need to master three critical skills: personal data expertise, AI expertise, and emotional intelligence expertise. Everything else, including product innovation, supply chain and channel management optimization, is dependent on that foundation. The pandemic has nearly paralyzed many luxury goods brands, as well as some luxury services brands. It has exposed the vulnerability of a primarily transactional, Industrial Age business model. Although no brand is immune, having cultivated deep client relationships pre-pandemic has provided resilience for a few brands. As some top executives and business development associates have told the Luxury Institute, “You know you have a deep, trusting client relationship when the client calls you first, to check how you are holding up during the pandemic, and then soon calls you back to tell you what they need to buy next.” In this podcast, Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza shares insights from the July 2020 white paper for each skill that will help brands execute their digital business strategy successfully to build and deepen client relationships.

The proliferation of digital access during the pandemic has created a world where consumers are able to interact and transact without engaging directly with humans, and many may prefer it. Digital access with no human contact has clear advantages, especially for purchasing low-value commodity goods. However, affluent consumers will still have the basic need to interact with trusted expert advisors who serve their best interests when they make high-value, high-investment, high-risk, and highly emotional luxury purchases and decisions, virtually and face-to-face. In wealth management, real estate, private aviation, yachting, travel, health and wellness, and other highly considered purchases and decisions, a trusted expert is usually required, and preferred. Unfortunately, luxury brands often alienate their clients and associates with transactional techniques. Today, many luxury brands are failing to serve their clients' and associates' best interests, and ultimately their own.In this podcast, Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza shares details from the July 2020 white paper that outlines five powerful steps brands can take now to transform their “sales force” into a humanistic, high-performance “relationship building team” post pandemic.

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, and Zornitza Stefanova, BSPK Founder and CEO, discuss building client relationships with emotional intelligence in the digital age.COVID-19 is prompting a massive shift to digital across industries, particularly in luxury.  Ralph Lauren and Prada said recently they were expanding digital services. And Bain raised its forecast for luxury e-commerce by five percentage points. The consultant now expects e-commerce to more than double to 30 percent of all luxury purchases by 2025. We are at the dawn of a new era of hybrid shopping which connects the in-store experience with out-of-store experience, prioritizes the human connection and goes beyond transactional interactions, and focuses on the lifetime value of the client. Zornitza Stefanova is a Silicon Valley innovator who is spearheading the change. She believes in the power of technology. But as a consumer of luxury, she says technology has limits. Perhaps unusually for Silicon Valley, she favors Emotional Intelligence over Artificial Intelligence.

In the post pandemic personal data economy, a brand's privileged access to relevant, rich, and real-time customer data will be the major driver of economic and competitive advantage. As customers are empowered by legislation, and a rapidly growing community of ethical, innovative entrepreneurs and trusted intermediary services to take full control of their personal data, they will be selective about sharing. There will be winners and losers in each category. Smart brands need to develop the optimal customer data strategic plan and operating model now in order to take advantage of the opportunity. For almost three years, Luxury Institute has been researching, investing, and building critical relationships and deep expertise in the emerging personal data economy. The Institute has designed an effective framework for planning and executing in the new era of Advanced Personalization, as outlined in our May 2020 white paper. In this podcast, Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza shares Luxury Institute's unique 10-step process for developing a strategy to kick-start the ethical, client-centric, advanced personalization process.

Citizens of the world have endured months of living through the COVID-19 pandemic experience. When we are past the worst of the crisis, we will not be the same, but we know from history that there will be many major opportunities for economic prosperity. How can luxury business leaders take creative, effective steps right now to shift the growth curve to a higher plane, with a steeper growth trajectory? To help brands achieve their well-intentioned purpose and values, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, outlines seven rules for reinventing the luxury business model for post pandemic success. 

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, hosted a live webinar on the future of privacy and personalization in the luxury industry, including research, trends, and use cases that can advise luxury goods and services executives.

Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, and former Google Senior Executive and GLIAnet Project and Foundation President, Richard Whitt, discuss their co-authored white paper Empowering Personal Data For Exponential Economic Growth.Post pandemic, the rapid evolution of the personal data economy will have huge implications for the luxury industry. The industry is one where client relationships are an inherent part of the business model. The only way ethical luxury brands can achieve true personalization is when clients trust our privacy policies, and share their rich, real-time data by consent, so that we can personalize and customize to build deep, long-term client relationships. This is the future of personalization.

Tough times bring out the best in most human beings and institutions. In order to help companies prepare to reignite their luxury businesses post-pandemic, Luxury Institute is conducting on-going primary and secondary research with clients and constituents, as well as external sources, to identify some key potential best practices. For Luxury Institute, the goal is to provide recommendations to the industry that will help guide luxury and premium goods and services brands, small and large, to stay adaptable, agile and sustainable during the next several weeks and months. For businesses, their goal should be to do everything possible to remain viable during the crisis, and then, thrive again.In this podcast, Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza, will share five key recommendations luxury and premium goods and services brands may find useful.From everyone at Luxury Institute, wish every luxury and premium goods and services brand the best of luck, but most importantly, we hope every brand will execute great emotional intelligence and operational skill during this period.

The world is in a state of fear and anxiety. It's all hands-on deck. Governments, healthcare entities, businesses and citizens must all come together to survive the crisis and begin to thrive again. In order to provide key insights and recommendations that are actionable, Luxury Institute reached out to all members of its Global Luxury Expert Network who are operating at the front lines of the global luxury industry to get a crowdsourced view of the situation. In this podcast, Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza, shares their insights and recommendations.Thank you to the Global Luxury Expert Network members who participated from all over the world to help us all learn and reflect.

One out of three high-income shoppers likes to interact with a sales associate when shopping for luxury goods, 35% cite helpful sales professionals as a top factor in doing business with a brand, and 15% of consumers say that a relationship with a sales associate is a primary driver of luxury goods buying decisions.Luxury Institute's State of the Luxury Industry 2020 report, based on surveys of more than 3,100 affluent consumers around the world, details the critical role played by luxury salespeople as brand ambassadors and catalysts for sales in dozens of industries. In this podcast, Milton Pedraza shares how, despite the gains made by online commerce, stores and sales associates remain central to the success of luxury brands.

Affluent U.S. consumers demand stringent safeguards on the security and privacy of their personal data from companies that collect their information, according to a new Luxury Institute survey of Americans earning at least $150,000 per year. They also demand true personalization in exchange for their data. With several high-profile breaches of customer data kept by merchants, credit card companies, and even credit bureaus, insights into attitudes on data sharing and personalization were among the most revealing in the Luxury Institute's 2020 State of the Luxury Industry report.In this podcast, Milton Pedraza shares insights into the demand by affluent consumers for privacy and personalization.

To generate the trends likely to affect the luxury industry in 2020, Luxury Institute conducted a crowdsourcing project with its Global Luxury Expert Network at the end of 2019. The Global Luxury Expert Network (GLEN) is a growing network of hundreds of luxury goods and services experts who form the core of Luxury Institute's research, training, and business solutions teams. The network is made up of the best minds in the industry who have a minimum of 12-years of operating experience and are current and/or former C-level, VP or Director executives at top-tier luxury brands with proven track records of high-performance. Their expertise spans over dozens of luxury and premium goods and services categories. Their real-time intelligence, diverse perspectives, strategic and tactical analysis, innovations, recommendations and solutions are critical to the success of all clients.In this podcast, Milton Pedraza shares the seven key trends that Luxury Institute's elite Global Luxury Expert Network members predict will reshape the luxury industry in 2020.

Luxury is going through another transformational phase. Unfortunately, in times of change, there is so much noise in the system that it is very difficult to hone in on the true signal. Myths abound with respect to the definition of luxury and luxury consumers. Today, anyone who feels empowered by the chaos, declares themselves a luxury expert and proceeds to declare what they know to be the ultimate luxury truth. From this, a great deal of mythology is making the rounds in the luxury media, and luxury events. The Luxury Institute recently conducted a crowdsourcing project with its Global Luxury Expert Network (GLEN) members to identify the current greatest myths in the luxury and premium goods and services industry that represent the biggest obstacles to high-performance. GLEN is a network of hundreds of luxury goods and servicesexperts and executives who form the core of Luxury Institute's research, training, and business solutions staff. Through the Global Luxury Expert Network, Luxury Institute has the ability to provide its clients with high-performance, leading-edge business solutions developed by the best, most successful minds in the industry. Allhave a minimum of 12-years of operating experience and are current and/or former C-level, VP or Director executives at top-tier luxury brands with proven track records of high-performance. Their expertise spans over dozens of luxury and premium goods and services categories and their leading-edge expertise is key to the success of all clients.In this podcast, Milton Pedraza, Luxury Institute CEO, outlined the 12 myths, and the corresponding realities, that GLEN members voted as the greatest obstacles to high-performance in the luxury industry in 2019.

Today, consumers and goods and services brands have been persuaded by digital ad platforms that privacy and personalization are mutually exclusive. The operating assumption is that individuals need to compromise their data, and their privacy, in order to get “free” services and personalization. That is a false choice. The reality is that the Big Tech ecosystem is only the first chapter in the life of the internet. The existing model has too many downsides to remain viable. Emerging forces are converging to decentralize the internet, freeing it up from its dependency on tech giants. These forces are not visible to the naked eye today. When they converge, they will reverse the current B2C model, and will empower consumers and legitimate goods and services sellers to evolve into mutually beneficial Me2B business relationships. There is a truism about digital trends; by the time you can measure a trend, it's probably late. In this podcast, Luxury Institute has identified several emerging digital forces. Some are apparent, and some are barely sprouting. When they converge, they are likely to drive a new business model of the internet that reverses the seller/buyer relationship from “B2C” to “Me2B” and puts consumers in charge over the next decades. To download a copy of the white paper, please visit LuxuryInstitute.com

Recently, the Luxury Institute conducted one-on-one interviews with its Global Luxury Expert Network (GLEN) members including senior global luxury luminaries, entrepreneurs, and start-up founders to explore one critical topic: in this digitally connected, algorithmic world, what is the future role of the human front-line associate across luxury channels? The candid and passionate discussion yielded several hypotheses on the role of humans in delivering expertise and emotional connection in the multi-trillion-dollar luxury goods and services industry, and beyond. In this podcast, Luxury Institute outlines their key findings and recommendations.

Luxury Institute CEO, Milton Pedraza, shares The Top 3 Ways To Stay Hyper Relevant In The Elite Expert Economy.

"The Age of Artificial Intelligence demands that we build up our professional expertise, but not in the trivial ways that most pundits recommend." In Milton Pedraza's latest podcast, The Most Critical Business Skill In the Age Of Artificial Intelligence, you will learn what it takes to thrive in this new business terrain.

In Milton Pedraza latest podcast, The Elite Expert Economy, he explains how the future of work is the 'Gig Economy' and, at the top-tier of work, will be the Elite Expert Economy. Are you ready for the risks and opportunities of this emerging new liquid workforce?

Regardless of whether we are fully employed or independent, today, we are all gig economy workers.In the first part of this 2-part podcast, How To Be A Rock Star In the Elite Expert Segment Of The Gig Economy, Milton Pedraza discusses 2 of the 3 critical imperatives that you need to execute to be a winner in the elite expert segment of the emerging gig economy.

In the second part of this 2-part podcast, How To Be A Rock Star In the Elite Expert Segment Of The Gig Economy, Milton Pedraza discusses the third and final critical principle that you need to execute to be a winner in the elite expert segment of the emerging gig economy.

To generate the trends likely to affect the luxury industry in 2019, the Luxury Institute initiated a crowdsourcing project with its global consulting unit, the Global Luxury Expert Network (GLEN). Collectively, Luxury Institute is comprised of the world's largest network of elite, on-demand luxury consultants who provide real-time, effective solutions for luxury clients at a fraction of the cost of traditional consulting firms. In this podcast, you will learn about the seven key trends that Luxury Institute's elite luxury expert network predicts will help reshape the luxury industry in 2019.