I am learning French…and I am terrible at it. I can manage the greetings just fine, but then when people start to respond, I freeze up, forget what I am supposed to reply—it’s frustrating.

But I love the language completely, it’s sexy and fun and everything sounds better in French. I adore Paris (j’adore), and am planning another trip this year, and my French teacher ​Laurence​ is extraordinary and it is so much more powerful learning from a person than an app, so I keep showing up, persisting, practicing, and learning. Which, as it turns out, is also the most important thing a leader can do.

Have you noticed there is a heaviness in the world right now that every leader I work with is feeling?

Leaders are being called upon to lead in a time with no precedence. Global disruption, political chaos, environmental concerns, economic anxiety. Add the fact that technology is not only changing the way we work, but impacting people’s ability to make decisions—it lacks accountability, and there is so much information available to us in a 10 second conversation with my boyfriend (Claude). It can all feel very paralysing. Our knowledge and experience used to be our differentiator and now when knowledge is more readily available than it has ever been before, as leaders it is the mindset we bring and the experiences we create that give us a competitive edge.

In our digital AI world, the human connection is more important than ever.

Experience is everything.

Every newsletter I read from thinking leaders is filled with coping strategies or sharing vulnerabilities of this pivotal time.

The uncertainty is real, the pressure has not let up, and your team is walking into your meetings and conversations carrying all of it with them. And maybe, so are you?

The question is not whether energy is difficult right now. The question is what you are going to do about it as a leader?

I keep returning to this phrase I’ve claimed as my own theme for this year: une curation d’exception. Exceptional curation.

It sits at the heart of what I call curated elevation, the idea that we have far more agency over the quality of our experience than we claim. In the world of luxury, curation means choosing only what belongs, releasing what does not, and presenting what remains with absolute intention.

Here is what I know to be true, and what I wrote in Exceptional Experiences: you are responsible for setting the energy in every room you enter.

That is not your burden. That is your responsibility.

The brands that understand this most deeply are the ones we consider truly exceptional.

Ritz-Carlton empowers every team member to resolve a guest issue without asking permission because genuine care cannot be scripted from the top. It has to be alive in every person in every room. Four Seasons does not train its team to follow a protocol. It builds a culture where anticipating what a guest needs before they ask is simply the standard. Virtuoso travel advisors arrive at every client conversation with a curated understanding of exactly who that person is.

That is nouvelle energie. New energy. Chosen deliberately.

The French do not rush into a space. They arrive.

And that distinction changes everything about how a room receives you. The preparation you do before, how you show up during, and what you do after have a massive impact on those around you. We need to be more deliberate and conscious about how we are showing up as leaders and the experience others have of you.

Arriving Into A Space The Experience Elevation Model™ Way

Entice with your presence. Before your next meeting, pause and ask yourself what you are bringing into the room. The French call this se ressourcer, to restore yourself before you engage (recharge your batteries). Thirty seconds. It changes the entire room.

Invite people into something elevated. Which of your interactions have become transactional? The shift from transactional to transformational begins the moment you decide to show up differently as a leader. Anticipate what your people need before they have to ask.

Excite through the environment you create. Look at your meeting rooms and client spaces. Are they curated with care or simply functional? The details people encounter before a word is spoken tell them everything about your standard. I am a brat for beauty. I want to have lovely surroundings to be creative and productive so for me that means an organized office and fresh flowers on my desk and a candle burning. I even recently added a candle warmer, inspired by my friend and leader in KW Luxury, ​Caroline​. Who knew we needed such a thing!

Delight by “listening with your eyes.” Slow down enough to truly see the person in front of you. In a world moving this fast, that quality of attention is the most exquisite luxury you can offer. Put down your device, close your laptop, look up, say, “Hi,” (or Bonjour if you are learning French like me). The stealth message of my book is how to make people feel seen, heard, and valued.

Ignite by modeling nouvelle energie consistently. Culture is never what is written on a wall. It is the energy demonstrated, repeatedly, by the person who walks in first, you—their leader. Your confidence is contagious. I always say I walk into every room and assume everyone wants to play with me—take that with you to ignite confidence in others.

Une curation d’exception is not about perfection. It is about discernment. What you consciously choose to bring into your world determines the quality of what becomes possible within it.

To allow this to occur also means protecting your inputs. I am very privileged to be able to be deliberate about who I follow on social and how much time I allow this into my beautiful brain. I check messages at certain times in the day to protect my energy and productivity. I schedule time with VIPs (very inspiring people) and avoid VDPs (very DRAINING people). What about you? What do you do to protect your inputs?