Fifteen years ago, Católica Lisbon Business and Economics launched the first program dedicated to the study of luxury management.
The main objective was to bring the essence of luxury management, and its particularities, often counter to mainstream doctrine, to Portuguese professionals.
It also aimed to open a broad space for discussion and inspiration around the importance of excellence as a founding principle of respect, differentiation, and economic value, particularly relevant for a country like Portugal, which stands to gain more from competing on quality rather than price.
This year, the Luxury Management Program moves into its 21st and 22nd editions, respectively at CATÓLICA-LISBON and at Católica Porto Business School, reaching full maturity. We allow ourselves to look back and reflect on its role as a promoter of specialized education and as a platform for discussion and community building, aligning professionals around the potential of excellence.
From this reflection, three questions emerged:
a) What has been the contribution of this Program to the exercise of thinking about luxury in Portugal?
b) What are the constitutive elements of excellence?
c) How can excellence emerge from mediocrity?
It was challenging to address luxury in a country not particularly attuned to the subject and, I would say, somewhat resistant to it. It was not always so in the past, but various social, economic, and religious factors reinforced over the centuries a reductive and prejudiced view of luxury, associated with shameless ostentation and mere status signaling.
Yet it has been especially rewarding to witness the opening of a path for discussion of this concept. Contributing to this have certainly been the education provided by Católica Lisbon Business and Economics, the emergence of additional discussion forums in different formats, the strong interest of the press, the curiosity of intellectuals and economic agents, and last but not least, the impact of the foreign resident community, particularly the Brazilian community, whose demanding taste and purchasing power helped develop a market that had previously been limited. Demand for luxury fostered a more consistent supply, opening a new economic opportunity within this segment. The professionals we have prepared over the past years have risen to these challenges.
The second reflection addresses the search for the foundational principles of excellence. In this regard, I recall the emotional words of a student who attended our luxury management program: “finally I found my tribe”.
The expression referred to a mental space where a common language was shared. A dimension in which obsession with detail was not seen as a whim; where opposing anything that compromised the elevation of a product or brand was not perceived as arrogance; a place where cultivating superior aesthetics that enchant and move the client was not merely stylistic, but substantive; a space with time to create and to think more deeply about the world; a universe where preserving and respecting tradition, culture, and identity perpetuates people and their ecosystems; a cosmos that exists to fulfill one of the defining human needs: the pursuit of the extraordinary.
Excellence is nothing more than the expression of our will to surpass and to do better. It is a path, a repeated attitude that over time becomes habit. It adheres to the skin and becomes a way of life. Luxury is not required for excellence to exist. But luxury cannot exist without excellence. Both share respect for others. There is an intrinsic moral quality to them: whatever is done is done in the best possible way, in the hope of awakening in others the best they have to offer. There is reciprocity in excellence, a virtuous circle.
Can excellence be transmitted?
This question leads to the final reflection that inspires this text: how can excellence arise from mediocrity. The word mediocrity, despite its undeniable negative connotation, simply means being average. In luxury, however, being average is not enough. It inevitably falls short of excellence.
Its foundations and practices can be disseminated, but fertile ground is always required for them to flourish. Through a culture of self-improvement, discipline, and strong leadership, human potential manifests itself fully and a higher culture spreads and strengthens.
In Portuguese society, still undergoing natural transformation, remnants remain of the previously mentioned view of luxury as something pernicious. Added to this are leadership styles averse to risk and innovation, an economy heavily focused on production, a culture that undervalues detail, fails to reward the most capable, and looks skeptically at those who stand out and go further. Our professionals will need to cultivate excellence in every environment, even the least favorable.
“I am myself and my circumstances, and if I do not save them, I do not save myself”. The proper framework is of utmost importance in the education of luxury professionals. Their training enables them to become transformative agents in multiple contexts, where the degree of challenge will depend more on the resistance of the corporate or civic structures they join than on the excellence they already carry within them.
We will therefore remain committed to educating new generations of luxury professionals in Portugal and increasingly motivated to transform the circumstances in which they will operate. It is important to remember, however, that excellence exists beyond the universe of luxury. It flourishes in schools that uplift, in discoveries that extend lives, in public services that deliver, in works of art that point toward the infinite, and in the simple way we care for our children, our seniors, our culture, and our planet. Excellence should therefore be a collective aspiration, an imperative of our daily lives.
Mónica Seabra-Mendes, Director of the Executive Program in Luxury Management of CATÓLICA-LISBON