In this wide-ranging interview, Dr. Daniel Langer addresses the most pressing challenges facing luxury brand leaders today, from the dangerous illusion of short-term management to the emotional mechanics that actually drive ultra-high-net-worth purchasing decisions. He explains why craftsmanship is a rationalization factor, why luxury must be treated as a long-term asset class, and what brands get wrong about client experience. Drawing on two decades of research and advisory work with the world's leading luxury houses, he offers a blueprint for the leaders who intend to survive the next era.

The steps of a luxury experience are identical to any other. You arrive, you check in, you leave. The difference is purely emotional: when it's outstanding, the client feels valued, and that feeling doesn't happen by chance. It happens by design.

Most luxury brands are managing for the quarter when they should be managing for the century. Clients aren't buying products. They're buying into a perception shift, a transformation of identity, and every short-term decision that weakens that signal is a form of brand suicide.

Luxury is an infinite game, yet most brands are playing it wrong. To win, they must focus on narrative clarity, not just product quality.

Chinese consumers have not stopped spending. They’ve just stopped spending in the way global brands expect them to.