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In Episode 108 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Pauline Brown, the former Chairman of North America for LVMH, the world\u2019s leading luxury goods company. Pauline has over thirty years\u2019 experience acquiring, building, and leading some of the world\u2019s most influential, luxury brands. In this conversation, she shares insights about how anyone can strengthen and grow his or her own aesthetic intelligence and apply that intelligence towards enhancing the quality and prosperity of one\u2019s life and business.

Pauline\u2019s case for aesthetic intelligence rests on four basic points. The first is simply that aesthetics matter, not only in life but also in business. The second is that aesthetic intelligence can be cultivated. In fact, each of us possesses far more capacity than we use; aesthetic vision and leadership also have the power to transform companies and even entire sectors, as has been proven time and again by companies like Apple, Dyson, and others. Lastly, in the absence of aesthetics, most businesses are susceptible to potentially fatal challenges. In other words, when a company\u2019s aesthetics fail, so does the company.\xa0\xa0

Her overall message is that aesthetics matter and that they can be cultivated. As Pauline says: \u201cAlthough I believe that each of us has the potential to boost our aesthetic intelligence, it takes time and effort. It is just like developing other muscles.\u201d\xa0 In this episode, we learn approaches and concrete exercises for building one\u2019s \u201caesthetic muscles\u201d and using them to win over customers, starting with exercises for enhancing what Pauline Brown calls (1) attunement, which she defines as \u201cdeveloping a higher consciousness of one\u2019s environment and the effect of its stimuli;\u201d (2) interpretation, which means \u201ctranslating one\u2019s emotional reactions (both positive and negative) to sensorial stimuli into thoughts that form the basis of an aesthetic position, preference, or expression;\u201d (3) articulation, or expressing the \u201caesthetic ideals for one\u2019s brand, product, or service such that team members not only grasp the vision but can execute on it with precision;\u201d and (4) curation, or \u201corganizing, integrating, and editing a wide variety of inputs and ideals to achieve maximum impact.\u201d\xa0

According to Pauline Brown: \u201cWhen it comes to aesthetics, editorial command is all-important; as Coco Chanel said, \u201cElegance is refusal.\u201d\xa0\xa0

You can access the transcript and rundown to this week\u2019s episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers are granted access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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