Activity
2K followers
-
Kelly O'Reilly shared thisA new CEO once challenged me on why our experience did not mirror our largest competitor. We grew the business 5x by doing the exact opposite. We doubled down on what made us different. Conformity is not a winning strategy. Or even a safe one. Copying another brand does not mean you are copying what made it work. Performance is never one isolated variable. At best, you become a diluted version and strengthen their position. At worst, you erode trust by borrowing elements that feel inauthentic. Success requires an uncompromising, distinct perspective distilled across every touchpoint. Not just the marketing. Own your identity. Dare to lead. #BusinessStrategy #BrandIdentity #Differentiation
-
Kelly O'Reilly shared thisI do not subscribe to fatalistic narratives about disruption. E-commerce was not the death of brick-and-mortar. It catalyzed its reinvention, giving rise to experiential retail. AI is no different. Technology is never the threat. Our inability to adapt is. Every major shift follows a familiar pattern: catastrophize the unknown, over-romanticize the promise, and normalize the reality. Enduring companies do not resist change, nor do they chase tools for the sake of novelty. They have the discipline to decode how human behavior is shifting, and the courage to act with intention. Businesses only fail when they stop evolving. #BusinessTransformation #AI #ConsumerBehavior
-
Kelly O'Reilly shared this‘Consumed’ is an absolute must-read. Aja Barber is brilliant in breaking down the need for collective change regarding colonialism, climate change and consumerism.
-
Kelly O'Reilly shared thisa few brands worth looking at closer for their forward movement #theleadinnovationsummit Allbirds | Jad Finck even more than achieving a net-zero carbon shoe—their transparency on the making-of is an inspiring dare to the competition Athletic Brewing Co. | Andrew Katz reinventing a non-alcoholic culture built on staying socially integrated, not on separation, is an empowering movement The Honey Pot Company | Beatrice Dixon pushing to normalize vaginal health care and not limiting the conversation to a women’s only conference should be celebrated TOMS | Amy Smith evolving their impact to fight mental health is courageous—it is the root cause of most, if not all, problems in this world
-
Kelly O'Reilly shared thisHonored!Kelly O'Reilly shared thisPlease join us in congratulating Direct 60 honoree Kelly O'Reilly, VP, DTC & Digital Commerce for John Hardy. The Direct 60 is The Lead's power list of executives from established brands mastering ‘Direct-to-Consumer’. You can see the full list here: https://bit.ly/3ab90wO. Kelly joins The Direct 60 with 19 years of experience in the fashion/retail industry and has previously worked for Calvin Klein, New York & Co. Bloomingdale’s, and ALEX AND ANI We look forward to celebrating Kelly and the rest of The Direct 60 honorees at The Lead Summit-Direct, in New York & livestreamed, on Oct. 14th. Registration information can be found here: https://bit.ly/3DirQ1B #Directtoconsumer #faashionbrand #ecommerce #TheDirect60 #TheLeadDirect60
-
Kelly O'Reilly posted thisOpen positions for passionate, results-driven, digital talent—working for a thriving business and meaningful brand https://lnkd.in/dQbPbu4 https://lnkd.in/dkM7UKN https://lnkd.in/daZADUk https://lnkd.in/derbfxG
-
Kelly O'Reilly liked thisKelly O'Reilly liked thisWe didn't set out to change the world. We set out to change cocoa. But if doing that lands us on Fortune's Change the World list.. we'll take it 🍫 50 companies. ~200 evaluated. And Fortune doesn't just look at what you say, they look at measurable impact, business results, and whether you're pulling others along with you. That last one matters to us the most. Because Tony's Open Chain now has 20+ Mission Allies sourcing cocoa the right way, and that number keeps growing. This isn't just a trophy for the shelf. It's proof that the model works for farmers, for business, for everyone who said you can't scale impact. Massive shout out to all those that work so hard to deliver impact day in day out, our farming co-operatives, our Tony's Open Chain team on the ground in West Africa and all of team Tony's, not forgetting of course our mission allies, it is by working together we can end exploitation in cocoa. Onwards...
-
Kelly O'Reilly liked thisKelly O'Reilly liked this✨ A little career update… ✨ After years of leading teams, building businesses, driving growth, and figuring out how to turn big ideas into real results, I’ve decided to put that experience to work in a new way. I’m now taking on select consulting and fractional leadership opportunities. I’m especially interested in working with companies that could use an experienced set of eyes on merchandising, retail strategy, brand growth, product, leadership, and business development. I love looking at a business, spotting opportunities others may not see, and helping turn those opportunities into results. Sometimes, a fresh perspective is exactly what a business needs. If you’re working on something exciting, know a company that could use my experience, or simply want to reconnect, send me a message. And yes… I’m officially open for business. 😊 #Consulting #Retail #Merchandising #BusinessStrategy #Leadership #Growth
-
Kelly O'Reilly liked thisKelly O'Reilly liked thisSo often when we talk about "nice" or "polite" cultures, we're actually describing environments where people are some combination of: 1. Conflict avoidant 2. Not supported by leaders with more formal or informal power when they attempt clear conversations, and/or 3. Lacking the skills to talk TO people about hard things, so they talk ABOUT people instead. Not one of these scenarios leads to nice or polite. They lead to back-channeling, meetings after the meetings, gossip, loss of agency, poor decision making, decline in performance, and distrust. The best investment leaders can make is in building the skills that support a clear and kind culture, and rewarding that behavior rather than punishing it. Clear and kind cultures can get uncomfortable, but that's where courage lives.
-
Kelly O'Reilly liked thisKelly O'Reilly liked thisWhat do your highest performers truly need from you when the stakes are high and expectations are relentless? It is never more pressure—it is the compassionate presence of a leader who genuinely sees them. A senior manager once told me: "Your best people rarely need more pressure. They're already putting pressure on themselves. What they need is clarity, trust, and a leader who notices when they're carrying too much." I never forgot that. Your top talent is driven by an internal fire. They obsess over excellence, take full ownership of their results, and silently shoulder the heaviest burdens without complaining. Micromanaging them or turning up the heat only burns out their spirit. What unlocks their brilliance is absolute clarity on the mission, radical trust to let them lead, and the emotional intelligence to step in and help lighten the load before they break. True leadership is not about pushing people to their limits; it is about protecting their energy, honoring their dedication, and lifting them higher. Care for the people who always carry the team. Give them clarity, trust them deeply, and never let their silent strength go unnoticed. Ready to master the ultimate blueprint of human-centric leadership and cultivate a high-trust culture where your best people thrive without burning out? Order copies of my book, The Blueprint of Leadership, on Amazon for your entire leadership team today. Don't break your best people with silent burdens. Give them clarity, grant them trust, and protect the energy that drives your success. Invest in your team’s growth. Order on Amazon today: https://geni.us/s2nooOD
-
Kelly O'Reilly liked thisKelly O'Reilly liked thisThe higher you climb, the harder it gets to find someone willing to tell you you're wrong. That's why the best sounding board I have right now isn't human. I'm still learning to navigate what happens when more and more business decisions depend on your judgment. Here's the part everyone warns you about, but nobody prepares you for: the more senior you become, the less anyone challenges your thinking. Not because your ideas got better. Because the cost of disagreeing with you went up for everyone around you. Your team looks to you for certainty. Your board wants the clean version. There's no room built into the org chart for "I'm not sure yet." That's the room I found in Claude. I bring it a strategy before anyone else sees it and ask it to find the holes in my logic. It doesn't soften the answer. It asks the question I didn't see, which is usually the one that saves me from the problem no one wanted to point out. And I'm not alone in this. A recent IBM Institute for Business Value study found that 64% of surveyed CEOs are comfortable making major strategic decisions based on AI-generated input. That’s exactly why we spent last Wednesday building that same muscle across the company. If it helps us ask better questions and make better decisions, it should become part of how we work. Craig Foldes, Founder of ChatWalrus (the platform we're using to deploy AI across the organization), kicked things off by framing the opportunity ahead. From there, the team spent the day working on how to move Claude from an administrative tool to becoming part of how we operate at alexanderwang llc. Grateful to Craig for helping set the tone and challenging us to think bigger about what’s possible. Finance, merchandising, marketing, and design, all showing up to ask better questions, not faster ones. Wednesday was only step one in a much longer AI rollout. Because the real opportunity isn’t to make every function faster. It’s to make every decision better. That’s the shift worth naming: AI is no longer just a tool that saves leaders time. It’s becoming a tool that sharpens judgment. For me, that means hearing something I don’t want to hear every day. So a genuine question for the operators and founders here: are you using AI to move faster, or to think sharper? They’re not the same thing, and I think we’re only beginning to understand the second. #AILeadership #ExecutiveLeadership #alexanderwang #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork
-
Kelly O'Reilly liked thisKelly O'Reilly liked thisDon't stop thinking! AI puts the answer to any question at our fingertips, which is equal parts magical and risky. Magical as it allows us to do things we wouldn't have dreamed possible two years ago, and risky in the increasingly rare cases the information is incorrect. Ironically, the better the technology, the greater the risk. It's important we don't fall victim to "cognitive surrender"- the uncritical acceptance of artificial intelligence outputs in place of one's own reasoning. In other words, we need to trust – but verify. I tend to believe the future won't belong to those who can generate the most AI outputs, but to the few who will challenge assumptions, recognize what feels off, and know when to dig deeper. And the more reliance we place on AI tools, the more important human judgement and decision-making becomes. The real risk isn’t if AI will start thinking for us, the danger is when we become so comfortable with its output that we actually stop thinking for ourselves. I recently shared my thoughts on this topic with The Digital Summit Collective and would love for you to give it a read and let me know what you think about them. 👇 https://lnkd.in/guVi4yhz #AI #DigitalSummitCreative #Technology
-
Kelly O'Reilly reacted on thisKelly O'Reilly reacted on thisThis is the very best thing I’ve seen in a very long time. It is timely, revolutionary, hard to get across the finish line (I can only imagine the number of debates with Legal). It is a clear case of “I wish I had done this”. Massive congrats to the Vaseline team and to Ogilvy. Leandro Barreto, Nathalia Amadeu, Liz Taylor and team, I will be cheering for you on the sidelines in Cannes (well, I always do that anyway). You guys should have won the Titanium GP last year, hope this year is your year. This one is even more revolutionary than last year because of the commerce angle. And it is great to award Titanium GPs to a real global brand that is growing with a case that is totally disruptive (which is the definition of the Titanium category) and that drives sales in a way that I had never seen before. #CannesLions #Creativity
Experience & Education
Other similar profiles
Explore more posts
-
Zeke Hughes
UK fashion retail is not just facing headwinds in 2026… it’s being reset. The era of “business as usual” is over. We’re moving into a world where consumer sentiment, value perception, and brand relevance determine who wins. Here’s what’s happening… 1️⃣ Top performers are now vulnerable. ↳ Even category leaders are feeling pressure as value perceptions weaken and younger shoppers drift. Winning used to mean scale. It has now (finally) shifted to connection. 2️⃣ Macro drag is real. ↳ Consumer confidence is down. Budgets are tight. Essentials beat fashion for attention. But brands that clarify why they matter (read: not that they’re JUST cheaper) are the ones building loyalty. 3️⃣ Fashion is segmenting upward. ↳ The avg. fashion buyer is shifting to higher-income households. That’s a choice point: lean into premium desirability, or redefine value to be relevant again for everyday consumers. 4️⃣ The “value problem” is now existential. ↳ “Good-value” scores are dropping across Gen Z, Millennials, and the broader population. The short has moved from discounting to showing demonstrable durability, utility & meaning. 5️⃣ Brand messaging changes brand perception. ↳ When the market leader signaled a weak economy, younger consumers lowered their value scores faster. In this climate, every communication choice becomes a strategic play (not merely a neutral update). 6️⃣ Some brands are proving the model actually works. ↳ Heritage brands leaning into purpose-driven storytelling and real sustainability collaborations are bucking the trend, proving consumers still reward brands that ACTUALLY SHOW VALUE (not just claim it). … ❗️2026 won’t be a year of recovery. ‼️ It’ll be a reshaping of consumer expectations, brand relevance & category dynamics. Survival won’t go to the biggest brand; it will go to the brand that: 🔥 speaks relevance, not attributes 🔥 earns trust, not eyeballs 🔥 proves value, not discounts … And that’s exactly why always-on, real-time intelligence (read: not quarterly guesswork) will define winners and losers in this next era. If you want something that actually cuts through the noise in UK fashion retail …not just reports the obvious… this year’s data is pointing to brand perception as a competitive weapon. — https://lnkd.in/e8pZ__xq
-
Michael LeBlanc
🎙️ This week on The Remarkable Retail Podcast, Steve Dennis and I are diving deep into fashion, AI, and the future of luxury with *two* incredible voices shaping the conversation: 👔 Guest co-host Ben Miller, VP of Original Content & Strategy at Shoptalk, joins us to unpack the biggest stories in retail — from Amazon’s Q3 surge in marketplace and ad revenue 📈 to the reshaping of the global consumer landscape. Then we sit down again with the brilliant Lauren Sherman, Fashion Correspondent at Puck and author of "Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon". Lauren gives a masterclass on: ✨ The slowdown in luxury demand 👜 How resale is redefining “new” 🤖 AI’s growing grip on fashion storytelling 💡 From Amazon’s earnings to the AI revolution, tariffs, the next phase of luxury reinvention and Shoptalk's new Shoptalk Luxe (see episode notes for exclusive discount offer for #podcast listeners!) this episode delivers insight, perspective, and a front-row seat to what’s next in retail. 🎧 Listen now → https://lnkd.in/gmTvrUyk #Retail #Podcast #RemarkableRetail #Fashion #Luxury #AI #RetailStrategy #LaurenSherman #BenMiller #Shoptalk #ShopTalkLuxe #PuckNews #LVMH #Hermes #Prada #Amazon #Ecommerce #FutureOfRetail #ConsumerTrends #AgenticAI #RetailInnovation #TRE
-
Shizu Okusa
So, why is there a global matcha shortage right now? It’s not just hype — it’s a crisis of identity. Matcha’s rise in the West has been explosive (and as a lifelong lover, I get it). But when demand grows without appreciation, storytelling, or acknowledgment of its roots, it edges into exploitation. Prices in Japan are already up 70%, making traditional tea ceremonies — a centuries-old practice — increasingly inaccessible, even in the country that created them. Loving matcha is easy. Honoring where it comes from takes more work. That’s what I explored in my latest piece for The Observer: the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation — and why the matcha boom is both exciting and dangerous. https://lnkd.in/ewa8-4m3 #matcha #oped #wellness
9 Comments
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content