62: David Daniels, Ex-CEO Asia, Le Creuset
David Daniels shares his global experience managing various luxury cosmetics, retail and manufacturing companies in Europe and APAC, successfully rebuilding struggling businesses.
Mr. Daniels spent 12 years at Yves Saint Laurent, starting out as an intern in Paris, and experienced several roles in marketing and sales including an Area Manager and Brand Manager in the UK. He was eventually promoted to Marketing Manager, leading a team of 16 staff at the age of 29. Mr. Daniels has since then experienced various leadership roles in a global environment as Vice President and General Manager of Marketing Services at Coty Prestige, President of Asia Pacific at Georg Jensen, and General Manager Middle East at Saks Fifth Avenue, and President/CEO Japan at Folli Follie Group. Mr. Daniels most recently led Le Creuset Asia as their CEO.
After an extensive career in the cosmetics industry as a marketing and sales manager at Yves Saint Laurent and Coty Prestige, Mr. Daniels moved to Australia where he experienced first hand the challenge of engaging the local market with headquarters. Yet Mr. Daniels’ fascination with Asia led him to work at Georg Jensen, a Danish watch and jewelry company, as their APAC President. Once in Japan, Mr. Daniels fell in love with the country immediately. At Georg Jensen, Mr. Daniels successfully bought out Georg Jensen from a joint venture partnership with Takashimaya.
Mr. Daniels then worked to bring more energy to the operational management side of the organization. By spending time in the stores and asking his staff for feedback, Mr. Daniels discovered that although the Japan team had many great ideas on organizing promotional activities and creating customized products, it was not being communicated clearly to headquarters. Therefore, Mr. Daniels set up a product council who worked to create Japan exclusive products, which later became best sellers. In doing so, the engagement level between the Japan office and headquarters, as well as within the Japan team increased.
Mr. Daniels then moved onto Saks Fifth Avenue to lead their business in the Middle East in Dubai. Mr. Daniels helped set up a new department store in Bahrain, which he calls a challenging but incredible experience. Mr Daniels recalls his father, who was a veteran in the luxury retail industry was a great mentor to him during this time.
Mr. Daniels next took on the opportunity to join Folli Follie as their Japan President in 2010, when the company was struggling from the aftermath of the Lehman shock and some great internal talent had been lost. Mr. Daniels started by visiting all the retail stores and talking to the store staff as well as the finance people to look at the numbers in detail. In engaging with the staff, Mr. Daniels claims that his Japanese language skills helped him gain more trust. Mr. Daniels further explains: “Ultimately we had to close quite a number of stores that was painful…But the business changed quite quickly. Within 12 months we'd had three years of decline and suddenly the business started growing again, month for month.” After leading other Asia subsidiaries including Korea, Taiwan, Hawaii, Guam and Singapore, Mr. Daniels left Folli Follie after 9 years and stepped into his recent role at Le Creuset.
At Le Creuset, as the Commercial Director for Asia, Mr. Daniels managed nine Asian subsidiaries including Japan. Again, Mr. Daniels sought to bring more positive energy to the business. Mr. Daniels sought to bring more stability to the leadership team and improve their retention rate, communicating with people to increase their motivation. Mr. Daniels says: “One of the lessons that we know in Japan is the “hai”, or even “wakarimashita” does not mean, yes, I'm going to do this. All it means is I've just listened to what you've told me.” By taking careful steps in explaining to each individual their role and what their accountability is, Mr. Daniels says the execution is often flawless.
On advice to new incoming foreign leaders, Mr. Daniel recommends actively listening to the local staff to look beyond what’s being said, and carefully observe what is not being said, as well as the body language. He adds: “be consistent, respect everybody, and talk to everybody…don’t stop asking questions”
