Michael D'Esopo’s Post

Power and prestige aren’t handed out—they’re earned. At the Annual Family Office Luncheon, 300 family offices managing $28 billion will be watching, but it’s the brand that takes the lead that will be remembered. That brand? Yours. You’re not interested in just showing up—you’re here to dominate. If you’re ready to own the conversation, let’s talk about how you can make this event a showcase for your leadership in luxury.

Thankful Thursday: I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend the Vistage Executive Summit yesterday! A special thank you to Jesse DePriest (pictured below) for inviting me to be a guest and experience this extraordinary event. Vistage Worldwide, Inc. is an incredible organization that brings leaders together and helps them be better leaders. Being in a room full of executives who are curious, care, and yearning to learn how to be effective leaders for their organizations is something I'll never forget. My biggest take-aways were: Sales Process - focusing on learning all about clients and customers before jumping into the selling part of the process. Understanding that proposals are useless unless it's clear there's alignment and truly meets a need. Forecast for future organization success - a key differentiator for companies in the fight for talent today and in the future continues to be culture. Neuroscience of influence - employees respond best to leaders when they are empathetic about people's situations (especially in challenging times), transparent about a situation and current business needs, and finally ask for teams to take action in a clear and authoritative manner. I look forward to future connections and experiences with this organization!

🎉 We’re Turning 5!!! Celebrating 5 Years of Growth and Partnership 🎉 Today, we proudly celebrate 5 incredible years of helping retailers transform their businesses, overcome challenges, and achieve success. Over the past five years, we’ve grown into a trusted partner to some of the most innovative and influential retailers in the industry, and the journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. A heartfelt THANK YOU to our clients, team members, and partners who have been part of this journey. Your trust, collaboration, and dedication have been the foundation of our success. This milestone also brings a moment of reflection. We want to honor and remember our one of our founding partners, Ken Morris, whose vision, leadership, and passion were instrumental in shaping who we are today. Ken’s impact on our company and the retail industry was immeasurable, and his legacy continues to inspire everything we do. 🖤 In 5 years, we’ve:  ✅ Guided retailers through complex challenges ✅ Delivered cutting-edge solutions in retail technology and operations ✅ Built a culture of excellence, innovation, and integrity Here’s to the next chapter of driving success, creating impact, and continuing to innovate—guided by the values and vision Ken helped us create. 💡 💬 We’d love to hear from you! Share your favorite memories, milestones, or moments working with us in the comments below. #Celebrating5Years #RetailExcellence #ThankYou #LegacyOfLeadership #CompanyAnniversary #InnovationInRetail

Join Trevor Godman, Binoj Nair and me as we explore the characteristics of different types of brands: Power Brands, Mainstream Brands, Exclusive Brands, and Smaller Brands. We will examine their market performance, consumer disposition, and growth strategies tailored to each typology, ensuring that every brand can find its path to success. Discover how to maximize your brand strength and unlock your brand’s potential through effective activation. Our session will feature real-world examples, providing practical insights you can apply to your own brand. Hope to see you there!

At NielsenIQ, we're passionate about helping brands unlock their full potential. Join us at our upcoming webinar 'Brand to Grand: Strategies to Boost Revenue and Market Position' and learn how you can elevate your brand and drive serious revenue growth! 🚀

Go to Bat for Your People: Spotting the Rudolphs on Your Team As a leader, you have one job—find the red nose on your team. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer wasn’t the obvious choice for leading Santa’s sleigh. He was teased, excluded, and underestimated. But when the storm hit, his unique, often-criticized feature—the glowing red nose—became the key to solving the mission-critical challenge of saving Christmas. Santa had to take a chance on Rudolph—a chance that paid off significantly. At 23 years old, I was the youngest and only female team leader during a major company reorganization. Our office was ranked second to last in the district and known for relying on a few top-performing sales associates. In my youthful cockiness, I told my colleagues to pick their top performers and leave me the rest. They gave me all the underperformers. I went to bat for them, and they went to bat for me. They not only wanted to win, they wanted me to win. Together, we did. I took that team of “Rudolphs” to the top of the sales district, helping boost our office to third place. I know firsthand what it’s like to both be and lead a team of Rudolphs—those who are overlooked but uniquely qualified for the mission. When leaders go to bat for their people and take a chance on their untapped potential, they unlock new levels of innovation, teamwork, and success. Leaders who fail to do this miss out on the hidden brilliance that can elevate their teams and their organizations. I’ve been helping leaders created winning teams since 2018. Bring The Rednose Effect™ to your organization to foster teamwork, collaboration, and innovation. Visit NatalieFikes.com today. #Leadership #Teambuilding #Collaboration #TheRednoseEffect

Belgians got talent!   I’m so proud to have been one of the keynote speakers at the Colosseum Dental Group Leadership Convention in Rome   You, CEO, executives and HR business partners, may I recommend a recipe for your unforgettable convention  with impact for your company /customers / business partners.   Hire those ‘fab 4’ and you will have a magic mix between content, strategic messages, entertrainment and a real commitment to make it happen!   Patrick De Maeseneire, CEO Colosseum Dental Group with undenied pan-European skills, succeeded in some spectacular turnarounds in international companies such as Adecco, Barry Callebaut Group and many others. He will give you the keys to embed a very performing culture where ‘human touch’ helps to create a legendary customer experience above all expectations.   Marc Herremans : By telling his life story you will cry and laugh! Marc tells you that nothing is impossible! “there will be sunshine, there will be rain, but no matter what … a smile is a choice, is (y)our daily choice!”   Joeri Van den Bergh : awarded thought leader on how to understand why the #NextGen chooses for companies who really make impact. How to create a company experience where the X – Y and the Z gen can inspire each other in harmony.   Bob Delbecque incredible high energetic person who succeeds to summarise a convention and put everyone in ‘the game’ while addressing the audience in their own language! His motto : ‘you’re not responsible for the face you were given, but you’re definitely responsible for the face you pull!'   The other Belgian Jeroen Beckers was the wizard for our technical support. #bobdelbecque #cocreaction #masterclassstorytelling #personalcoach #energycoach #offsite #teambuilding #followup #training #summit #kickoff #meeting #mentor #changeyourlife #behappy #changeyourthinking #personaldevelopment

Dive into the leadership journey of Yin Becker, Stryker's VP, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, and discover the values that drive her to make a difference. From embracing purpose to leading with empathy, Yin's insights encourage an impactful career journey. Ready to be inspired? Learn more from her blog feature: #Leadership #WeAreStryker #CareerGrowth https://gag.gl/q9K7bs

📚 Currently rereading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, and one passage really resonates in the world of sales leadership. Lencioni’s story of a basketball player who cared only about his stats—and not the team’s performance—hits close to home. It’s a powerful reminder: in a high-performing sales organization, there’s no place for ego that overshadows team goals. As leaders, from the site-level district managers and directors, and from our region-level VPs and Presidents up to the Executive Leadership team of the organization, we’re all connected by one mission: building a network that consistently delivers and supports each other’s success across multiple sites, multiple regions, and a nationwide team of incredible people. Our individual wins are the building blocks of our larger success, but it’s when we actively celebrate each other’s accomplishments that we build a culture where people love to work. If we only focused on individual performance, we’d fall into what Lencioni calls "inattention to results"—and we’d start breaking down the trust, cohesion, and accountability we’ve worked so hard to foster. But when we think of and uplift each other’s success, we create a company where every team member is valued and every accomplishment fuels us all. Here’s to supporting each other, celebrating together, and building a winning culture that keeps us all performing at our best. 🌟 #SalesLeadership #TeamSuccess #HighPerformance #Sysco #SeatAtTheTable

Dive into the leadership journey of Yin Becker, Stryker's VP, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, and discover the values that drive her to make a difference. From embracing purpose to leading with empathy, Yin's insights encourage an impactful career journey. Ready to be inspired? Learn more from her blog feature: #Leadership #WeAreStryker #CareerGrowth https://gag.gl/q9K7bs