February 13, 2025 • 47 mins
What if the future of retail isn't just about selling products but about building deep, meaningful connections? Join us as we welcome Dominick Miserandino, CEO of RetailWire, who opens up about his unique journey through digital media and modern retail. His career, shaped by pivotal experiences from Wall Street to the mentorship roles he embraced during the pandemic, is a testament to the power of treating people as individuals. Dominick shares how these experiences have influenced his leadership style and vision for the future of retail, offering invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of commerce.
We explore the transformative potential of a growth mindset and the essential role of human connection in the retail industry. Learn how leveraging the wisdom of mentors and peers can be a game-changer in personal and professional development. As Dominick highlights, retail is not just about transactions—it's an intricate web of relationships and deep understanding. We also examine the potential downsides of immense expertise in a single area, which can sometimes stifle innovation and limit exploration. The conversation encourages maintaining an open and diverse strategy to ensure resilience against future challenges.
In an engaging discussion on the balance of tech advancements and human interaction, Dominick shares anecdotes on prioritizing growth while nurturing customer relationships. We touch upon the impact of AI and the importance of empathy and support within teams. As the episode unfolds, Dominick's curiosity shines through, from his love for travel and food to storytelling and technology. Whether he's talking about ideal dinner guests or the essence of meaningful connections, Dominick paints a picture of a life driven by curiosity and connection, leaving listeners with much to ponder about the future of retail and beyond.
ABOUT DOMINICK:
Today's guest is Dominick Miserandino, CEO of RetailWire, the retail industry’s premier news publisher and online discussion forum. For over 21 years, RetailWire has served as a trusted and free resource for the industry, offering compelling content that goes beyond conventional headline reporting. Dominick leads the organization with a deep understanding of digital media and e-commerce, bringing decades of experience to his role.
Before joining RetailWire, Dominick founded one of the first online publications, TheCelebrityCafe.com, and grew Inquisitr.com from zero to 80 million visits monthly. He has held various leadership roles, including CMO for AdoramaPix, and has served as a CRO and CEO for multiple companies. Over his 30-year career, Dominick has turned around more than 100 e-commerce and digital businesses and advised over 200 startups on operational strategies. His expertise has been sought by major brands such as The Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley, NASA, Goldman Sachs, and Hearst Publications.
A frequent speaker at conferences and events, Dominick shares his insights on entrepreneurship, scaling digital businesses, and social media. He is also a mentor to over 100 startups and lectures on web businesses and analytics at institutions such as Hofstra University, Stony Brook, and NYU. Fluent in multiple languages, including Italian, Spanish, and French, Dominick has worked on international media projects and received numerous accolades, including a New York State Citation Award and Stony Brook University’s recognition for his charity work.
Dominick is also an accomplished musician, photographer, and author of two travel books. His wealth of experience in media, e-commerce, and leadership makes him an exceptional guest.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/miserandino/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rich (00:00):
So today's guest, it is Dominic Miserandino.
We'll be bringing him on in afew minutes.
Dalfin, have you had the chanceto meet him?
Gautham (00:06):
We're connected on LinkedIn, but we have not had
the opportunity to cross paths,so I look forward to this
conversation.
Rich (00:12):
I had the preliminary conversation with him when I
reached out to see if he wantedto do the podcast.
He's very engaging, veryoutgoing, interested to gain his
perspective from a I don't knowif I want to call him an
outsider in it, but he's from anouter periphery of retail
looking at it from the mediaperspective.
So I'm looking forward to thisone.
(00:33):
It should be an interestingconversation.
Gautham (00:35):
Yeah, me too.
I look forward to thisconversation and see what he
thinks of retail and where it'sheading.
Paula (00:41):
Today's guest is Dominick Miserandino, CEO of RetailWire
, the retail industry's premiernews publisher and online
discussion forum.
For over 21 years, retailwirehas served as a trusted resource
for the industry, offeringcompelling content that goes
beyond conventional headlinereporting.
Dominick leads the organizationwith a deep understanding of
digital media and e-commerce,bringing decades of experience
(01:04):
to his role.
Before joining RetailWire,Dominick founded one of the
first online publications,thecelebritycafecom, and grew
Inquisitor.
com from zero to 80 millionvisits monthly.
That's not easy to do.
He has held various leadershiproles and has served as a CRO
and CEO for multiple companies.
(01:24):
Over his 30-year career, dominichas turned around more than 100
e-commerce and digitalbusinesses and advised over 200
startups on operationalstrategies.
His expertise has been soughtby major brands such as the Wall
Street Journal, morgan Stanley,nasa, goldman Sachs and Hearst
Publications.
A frequent speaker atconferences and events, dominic
(01:44):
shares his insights onentrepreneurship, scaling,
digital businesses and socialmedia.
He's also a mentor to over 100startups I don't know where you
find the time for that andlectures on web businesses and
analytics at institutions suchas Hofstra University, stony
Brook and NYU.
Fluent in multiple languages,including Italian, spanish and
French, dominic has worked oninternational media projects and
(02:07):
received numerous accolades,including a New York State
Citation Award and Stony BrookUniversity's recognition for his
charity work.
Dominic is also an accomplishedmusician, photographer and
author of two travel books.
His wealth of experience inmedia, e-commerce and leadership
makes him an overachiever andan exceptional guest.
Dominic, welcome to RetailRelates.
(02:28):
It really truly is a pleasureto have you.
Dominick (02:31):
Oh, I'm thrilled to be here.
I'm happy to talk to you guys.
That's my primary goal here.
Paula (02:35):
I want to learn more about your travel books, but
that's not the purpose of thispodcast.
Dominick (02:40):
Oh, we can go down that road, we could.
Paula (02:47):
Well, we will start.
I will stay focused.
We like to kick things off alittle differently.
Instead of asking you themundane, boring questions, tell
me about yourself, which we'veheard your impressive background
.
I want to learn more about whatmade you you right.
So what are your three mostpivotal points in your career
that led you to where you aretoday?
Dominick (03:02):
Probably the first was my first boss on Wall Street.
Ed taught me to treat peoplelike people and that's kind of
been a theme throughout I'vedone at the conferences I do a
lot of lectures personalbranding and connecting to that
human within leadership withhumanity and Ed was.
I still talk to him constantly.
We see him at holidays and thatreally was pivotal in teaching
(03:26):
me that in the business worldyou do not have to be a
cutthroat lunatic.
You could just treat peoplelike they are individuals and
not just get to know Paula fromthe podcast but know Paula is
Paula.
And then the podcast is thereand it kind of really does
enhance those relationships.
That was truly one of thebiggest in terms of career wise.
(03:49):
Number two probably is retailwire.
I was on the media space and Iwas very proud of what we do on
the media end and I'd havepeople walk up to me and say, oh
my goodness, that's awesome,you're a blogger, what's your
day job?
And at the time I remember oneof the times they said that I
had 20 employees and I saidthat's cool, that's awesome,
you're a blogger, what's yourday job?
And at the time I remember oneof the times they said that I
(04:09):
had 20 employees and I saidthat's cool.
That's cool.
No, this is my day job.
Oh, what do you want to do whenyou grow up?
Retailwire definitely connectedthose dots.
So I have the same connectionsin terms of I have 30,000
followers on LinkedIn becausethey were hitting me from the
media end.
It's the same connections.
Now, the third was actually thementorship really got me through
COVID in general.
(04:30):
I signed up to mentor anyone.
It was ridiculous.
I've actually done mentorshipin Spanish and Italian, but with
my terrible accent.
Yeah, I heard you say my nameand I'm like I wish I could call
myself correctly, as Paula does.
But the mentoring of thestartups was like crash course
education, because you'rehearing 100 plus companies say
(04:52):
100 plus problems.
That was invaluable.
That was truly invaluable.
To hear everyone and hear thecommon threads through
everyone's problems andeventually get to the point like
, oh, what's your problem?
All right, paul, you knowhere's the problem, here's the
solution.
I've heard it already kid, letme get another coffee.
And that was really educational.
So that was probably numberthree of the deep thoughts.
Paula (05:13):
I'm not going to test you on your Spanish because I'm not
.
So to keep.
Dominick (05:16):
So to speak, but my accent is very terrible.
No, it's great, you speak likean Italian.
Well, I can speak Italian, butmy accent is also different
because I speak with my sister'saccent.
Unfortunately, I speak with theaccent of my mother-in-law and
she's a Sicilian.
(05:36):
So the true story is, I had ameeting recently enough in the
retail industry and the womansaid why do you sound like a
gangster?
And I was just like, first ofall, I feel like that's a little
like terrible, but we'll notget to that.
I sound like my Sicilianmother-in-law when I speak
Italian sometimes, which reallyconfuses them.
Sound like the godfather.
Paula (05:57):
It sounds great.
Rich (05:58):
I screwed up my Spanish that.
I know it's somewhat, but whenClaudio Del Vecchio bought
Brooks Brothers, I tried toconvert it to Italian.
The good thing is I couldunderstand every third word, so
when he was having aconversation in Italian with
other business leaders, I couldfollow along.
I didn't bother to tell him.
Dominick (06:17):
It took a while and actually the mentoring helped,
because I mentor in Spanish nowand I'm like wait, you're going
to pay me to practice Spanish.
What's the catch?
I'll do it in a heartbeat.
But the real trick I find isjust, I always practice.
If I'm in a restaurant and Ihear over here Spanish, I'm
practicing, I don't care.
But I think you always have topractice and put yourself in
(06:40):
that vulnerable space to reallyjust try.
Yeah, my accent's terrible, Idon't want to say terrible.
I mean, paul understood me, butI feel like I don't have.
Cuando tú puedes decir minombre misuradino, I can't even
say my own name as well as Paulhas said my own name, and that
eats at me at times.
Paula (07:01):
It's those rolling R's.
They get to you every time.
Dominick (07:04):
That's why I married a speech therapist, but I still
live to 20.
Paula (07:09):
Gotta ask Dom, is this what you envisioned for your
life, for your career life, whenyou set out?
So what did you?
What did little Dom want to bewhen he grew?
Dominick (07:17):
up, there were two answers.
When I was nine, I had thesheet I wanted to be the boss,
so under that argument, havingmy own company was what I
envisioned.
But when I went to college Iactually went for a social
scientist to go into social work.
I tangentially approached it.
I've worked with nonprofits.
I've always kept that in theback of my mind.
(07:38):
If anybody in a nonprofit hearsthis, I always love helping
nonprofits, but that was my goalat one point.
But I do think people ingeneral are multi-interests so
you're always blending it.
My favorite part of the job,even now, is when I can take a
coaching slash, counselor-esqueapproach to leadership.
At times when you could say,okay, here's the problem, but
(08:00):
I'm missing something.
I enjoy so much.
When there's a moment in theteam I could say prove me wrong,
let's discuss this.
As opposed and having adialogue, I enjoy it.
I'm truly looking forward toseeing this team, the retail
wire, in person at NRF.
We're all scheduled to be thereand just seeing everyone in
person really that humanconnection, it's a lot to make,
(08:20):
yeah and who would have guessedwhen you studied social work
that that would tie so well intoretail?
Paula (08:26):
because you really have to understand your consumer,
like what makes them tick, whatare they going through, like who
is this person and how can theybring them value?
Dominick (08:34):
That was truly the biggest lesson I learned from
digital media.
Everything in digital media isthe number.
We have 80 million visits andthereby 80 million, or speaking
to data science, I wouldfrequently speak to students who
will look at numbers as numbersand I think in any business,
(08:54):
the success is you have to lookbeyond that and say what are
these 80 million?
One of my favorite businessmoments was actually at Adorama
Pix.
One of the first weeks I toldeverybody print out the list of
the top 100 customers and Icalled every single one
literally.
I would have moments which wereridiculous, like what is the
(09:16):
issue?
Just tell me this issue andI'll fix it.
Oh, I'm really upset.
I want a coupon for 18%.
I'll give you 19%.
Are you happy?
Now?
We'll figure it out.
Or whatever it may be, and bysolving that individual problems
, it made the data come to life.
Paula (09:32):
That's impressive Marrying the social aspect to
the data, humanizing the datapoints.
Dominick (09:38):
Absolutely, you have to do so.
Paula (09:41):
What would you be doing if you weren't doing this right
now in an alternate universe?
What are you doing right now?
Dominick (09:47):
I try actually I view the universe in general as like
you have.
I frequently say this.
It might be a corny metaphor,but I've told people I mentor.
Life to me is almost like a, adeletable series on netflix.
You can only watch it right nowand my daughter is 18.
I have now to watch it.
If I don't watch her the weekshe turned 18, that season is
(10:11):
deleted forever.
You get photos, you get alittle recap on TikTok kind of
recap.
And I say that because for meI'm just trying to maximize as
much as I can, go the full speedas far as I can.
I almost enjoy it.
I enjoy like me and my wifelove doing road trips at the
same time.
I'll say go sleep honey, andI'll make seven business calls
(10:34):
on the right way to Philadelphiaor something.
But it's not like it's notbeing to me work, it's just as
much.
I'm trying to watch as manyepisodes as I can at the same
time.
So I feel like you just alwaystrying to fulfill that all, and
so for me I'm blessed and luckythat seeing friends and
traveling is a very big part ofwhat I do.
Paula (10:54):
Okay, I've got to tell you.
So my mom, we grew up superpoor, super, super poor and my
mom always instilled in me youknow we have nothing, but you
have education and you haveexperiences and no one can take
that away from you ever.
And I just lived my life, likeyou said, like multiple
universes, multiple moments,multiple episodes at a time
being part of nonprofits, doingmy day job, starting a business,
(11:17):
being part of the community,having a baby.
I'm like how many episodes canI have simultaneously?
Dominick (11:23):
Absolutely.
I mean, I grew up on FlappishAvenue, brooklyn.
I in college, I think at mypeak I had five jobs at the same
time to pay for college.
I wanted to be as much as I canindependent.
But it was also that wackinessof that experience I was giving
piano lessons.
I gave guitar lessons.
(11:43):
I would type papers for money.
I sold ads in the newspaperconnected to media and I was
giving piano lessons.
I gave guitar lessons.
I would type papers for money.
I sold ads in the newspaperconnected to media and I was an
RA.
Yeah, you have this episode.
I always say, and if you canmax it, I prefer that than
sitting there staring at thewalls absolutely.
Rich (11:58):
I'd actually like to follow that up.
I was going to save it forlater, but if I'm hearing this
and I'm starting off in mycareer I am hearing almost about
an overachiever.
It reminds me of when I readRichard Branson's biography and
thought there is no way I coulddo half this stuff.
(12:18):
How am I motivated by it?
So I'll ask the question howhave you dealt with setbacks and
failure?
Dominick (12:26):
Since I turned 52, was it a week and a half, two weeks
ago I've literally had, withoutexaggeration, something
ridiculously horrific happenevery day.
I'm laughing about it, I don'tdeal with it.
Well, I said by accident to agood friend of mine all I do is
stumble forward.
I try not to stumble backwards,I just stumble forward as much
(12:49):
as I can.
But I also think there's amislabel when we say like
overachiever or not, because Ifeel like overachiever is to me
that person who's always pushingtowards working out, let's say,
and pushing the heavier weightthan they did the last time.
I'm more conscious and I thinkthat's just it.
(13:12):
If you have it in front of you,I always tell people take
whatever opportunities are outthere.
If someone has a question I dothis often I'll be like hey,
rich, I have a question, I justneed to pick your brain on this
for 30 minutes.
I'd rather that than stew overit.
So whenever I have that failure, I try to remind myself Cron, I
(13:32):
need to call Rich this and I'vedone like.
Last night I was having thisone issue with conferences in
general.
I realize when you say thisquestion, I probably called six
people Not to vent to say I'mhitting this challenge.
I'm hitting this failure.
Where am I wrong on this?
How can I solve this?
What can I do to better orlearn from this circumstance?
(13:56):
And I always find it funny,just mentoring.
People will say coaching.
People will say asking a friendfor advice, maybe within your
world, wherever they may beConnecting with other humans to
bring it full circle and sayingwhat can I do?
I just need to understand thisbetter.
We're surrounded by experts,we're surrounded by people and
(14:16):
they're right there.
I bet you a dollar.
I mean, I think I realize Paul.
I think this is the first timewe met and I sent you a message
in two months saying I'm dealingwith XYZ.
I just want to pick your brainfor 15 minutes.
It's not likely.
Paul just met me.
He's going no.
So the way I try dealing withit is purely reaching out to
those resources with it.
Rich (14:38):
I love that answer and it's something that I try to
coach my daughter on, so if shelistens to this episode, I think
it's great advice and we try tocoach others on it.
It took me a while to get tothat point, so I'm going to
pivot a little bit to the lesson.
So you, many of us in retail,this was an accidental career.
You've come into this aftermany years of experience in
(15:00):
digital startups and onlinepublications, and so you truly
are for lack of a betterdescription a newbie within the
retail industry.
So tell us, what are youfinding fascinating?
What are you findingchallenging?
What keeps you coming back?
Dominick (15:16):
There's two parts to your question the newbies
entering it, and I had thisquick conversation this morning.
I think we view, on the surface, retail as owning a fashion
store and selling jeans.
But retail is not that.
Retail is business, it'stransaction, it's commerce, it's
(15:38):
almost the direct commerce to aconsumer relationship, right,
which is a lot, which is big,which is more than the initial
surface.
And I say that because when wehave these newbie in retail
experiences well, I guess I'vebeen in retail.
(15:58):
I was on the media side sellingads to the guy selling the jeans
on the rack.
Almost everyone at some point.
If you're living in America, acapitalistic society, you are
somewhat involved in retail.
Now, the second answer, thenewbie entering this all the
(16:18):
answer is being conceptuallyaware of it.
I don't know why.
I think it's actually more of alinguistic issue.
The word retail means, like wesaid, selling the jeans on the
rack.
But is that retail?
Um, how have you been involved?
Who do you know?
Uh, but one of the things I dois I just constantly say I know
(16:42):
nothing, I'm okay, no, knowingnothing, how can I learn
immediately?
Uh, one of the first things Idid with RetailWire is I met
with every senior statesman andwe have conversations.
Our conversation you, rich, istruly one of many I've had and
(17:03):
you're just constantly adding toyour knowledge database and
just connecting the dots andconnecting to your previous life
experiences.
Retail is relationships.
Business is relationships.
I think that products in and ofthemselves you can have the
(17:25):
best product and if there's zerorelationship, the product dies.
If there's zero leadership, thecompany can die.
Um, if there's zero uhleadership, the company can die.
And I enjoy so much in this, inbeing see of retail wire,
seeing all the people, uh,whether my own team, which I,
they they don't know by now howmuch I adore them they I'll
repeat it again um, because thepeople you're meeting, um, it's
(17:48):
very different than otherindustries retails,
relationships, that's it thismay be a great answer.
Rich (17:57):
No, I'm not asking it, but I'm.
I'm, you know, I'm gonna goahead and throw it out.
Do you think that sometimes theextensive knowledge that some
retailers may have actually 100?
Yes, innovation?
Dominick (18:10):
or moving forward.
I'm not 90% and I say thatbecause the frequent.
If you ask me a differentquestion which is going to
answer this one was there anycommon thread of all the
startups you've mentored and allthese companies you mentor,
yeah, the common thread becomes,especially in that startup
early phase.
We get in that rut of success.
(18:31):
Maybe it's this podcast.
Oh, my goodness, we're reallygood at this podcast.
We know how this podcastoperates on Spotify.
And then you're not reinventing.
At times it was.
You're really doubling down onthat.
Success does beget success andI always advise this diversity
there.
So I find that deepencyclopedic knowledge will
(18:53):
cause people times to doubledown on success, which is smart,
it's instinct, it's the correctresponse.
But not also take that step backand say but are there other
avenues we should be exploringthis time?
Are other avenues we should beexploring this moment in time?
(19:13):
And I frequently have haddoubters for the moment, so to
speak, saying why are you doingthis on the side if that's not a
revenue-generating activity?
Paul is nodding in the key, youhave that moment.
Oh, that's notrevenue-generating.
And I'll say because it isn'trevenue-generating now.
But I have to make thatprediction in case the thing
that we're doubling down on withthat encyclopedic knowledge
(19:35):
possibly goes wrong.
And you know, I live by themantra of.
My great-great-grandfather was afisherman and I said he never
went out to the ocean assumingthere wouldn't be a wave.
I guarantee you he knew theocean would have waves, there
would be a storm.
He was up in Newfoundland,canada, where there was icebergs
.
I'm sure he never said, oh, mygoodness, there's an iceberg,
(19:58):
how could that happen?
But why in business do we havethis encyclopedic knowledge?
We continue forward saying,whoa, something changed in the
model, and you see evidence ofthat in retail Sears.
There's so many stories wherethey become super good at it.
Something happens in theuniverse and then there's a
shock Fighting.
(20:19):
That natural instinct is sayingmaybe we have to also be
consciously aware of that.
There's something else and wehave to balance this all.
Rich (20:29):
So I'll ask the question without expecting you to name
names, because I don't want toput you in a position where you
are calling out the retailersthat right now you've got
relationships with.
But what you're talking aboutis approaching an ever-changing
business with a sense ofcuriosity and not arrogance.
(20:52):
In your conversations, in yourinteractions, are you seeing
those retailers that have moreof a stayed?
Dominick (21:19):
this is the way we've done it and it's going to work
versus those that areintentfully curious.
Are you intentfully curiousthat my daughter's grammar
school was a progressive schooland very focused on teaching the
kids a growth mindset?
It probably taught me more thanit might have taught the kids
at that point.
That's the biggest mistake.
In fact, if you ask me a verydifferent question, when it
(21:39):
comes to growth mindset of the100-plus companies e-commerce
companies you've scaled Dominic.
Is there any common thread?
Yes, they get really good at onething and they screw up
everything else, and it'spartially growth mindset, it's
partially the reward, especiallyonline, a singular success.
You might have a really greatTikTok account and then,
(22:02):
magically, tiktok gets bannedand then, or Vine or Instagram,
you get really good at thatthing and then that thing
changes and, generally speaking,I've seen so many leaders go
but wait, I was really good atthat thing.
What's wrong?
Because that thing rewarded you.
If you become the topinfluencer on Vine and you do
(22:23):
not figure out something else,that's wonderful, but you're
dead the next day.
Now we're talking TikTok banand everything else and that
directly impacts and I'm justusing the social media as an
example yahoo to google, or mapquest, or there's so many
stories online of that thingthat you could have been number
one at die, and we come withthat hubris of saying I know
(22:45):
this thing, I'm gonna doubledown on it, and then it dies no,
I was an investor in palm pilotand I bought it at 40, 20, 10,
5 250.
I think my last purchase was at41 cents yeah, and I love and
that's a great example palmpilot's a great example.
I was one of the first users ofthem too, and, uh, I loved my
palm pilot.
I thought it was genius, Ithought it was well designed.
(23:07):
It doesn't exist, so it wasn'teven.
To make it worse, it, you wouldargue the darwinism of business
would have killed it.
But it's not always that, it'sjust sometimes.
And here's the iphone.
It's better.
Pop out should have been aboutsome sense.
Rich (23:22):
If you just isolated the product, maybe it should have
existed to this day in someformat thereof, maybe it should
have, but it does and it's not,uh, isolated to no reason, so to
speak well, maybe it's time forand I'm gonna date myself and
I'm probably going to assumethat you know the uh the player,
the movie but maybe it's timefor alec baldwin to change the
(23:46):
abc from always be closingtoious.
Dominick (23:50):
Oh, I do know the reference, I do know the movie
and I do think you're alwayscurious, you're always growing,
you're always learning.
I could confidently say I'velearned more, of course.
I mean, I think everyone shouldlearn more post-college than at
college.
Not that college is thatfoundation, but I think we do
(24:10):
look at it as an endpoint.
And then there's a high shockfactor, thinking speaking to
students.
Now, you know, I entered thisindustry and I thought I knew
everything.
There's no way you're going toknow everything.
You have to encounterchallenges.
And then, by the way, what Iusually, when I lecture with the
(24:37):
students, I'll everything I'mtelling you is accurate as of
this moment in time, and when Ileave the room it's not accurate
anymore.
I just want to be clear becauseit's true.
And five minutes later andwe're recording this podcast on
day X and day Y, everything I'vesaid has had to have a variant
because of the nature of time,the nature of business, the
nature of life.
Things change.
Gautham (24:54):
I want to ask something that's closer to my heart,
which is on the domain ofinnovation.
You talked about successbegetting success, leading to
failure.
Right, and you come from anoutsider into retail.
What do you see as retail'sinnovation path moving forward,
especially when it comes todealing with the changing needs
(25:15):
of the customers?
Dominick (25:17):
You know, innovation, ai conversations, changing needs
.
I always think we get theseinnovation moments in tools
which are very beneficial AI issuch a good example, of course
which are very beneficial.
Ai is such a good example, ofcourse, but I'm also I always
laugh.
My maternal grandfather was oneof the head sales guys Abraham
and Strauss, a predecessor toMacy's and those fundamentals
(25:46):
connect to the customer stillexist.
I feel like and maybe this alsoillustrates it we get a tool,
an innovation AI.
I remember last year at NRF, Iwas losing my mind.
Like what do you have?
I have AI or unified datasolution.
Oh my God, unified data.
I get you.
That's amazing.
You're the 33rd booth in thisone aisle to tell me the same
story, and I think, though, whatessentially is retail is truly
saying connecting with anotherhuman going.
(26:08):
Do you like this?
That's retail Like to withanother human going.
Do you like this?
That retail like.
To me, that's the core story issimply facilitating that
product transaction to human,and I think, as long as we can
keep that within a core,innovation will accelerate that.
I've seen companies accelerateit, like use unified data to
identify their customers better,connect with the customers in
(26:31):
mass, and where they might gowrong is the hardware store.
You're connecting in mass butthen you're sending e-blasts
that are so impersonal thateveryone's not connected.
At the core is do you want tobuy this?
Is it right for you?
Because ultimately, if thatcore message to me is lost, you
have an angry customer, you solda terrible product and I think
everything with innovationsometimes can, uh, drive the car
(26:53):
too fast, not too fast.
I'm very pro speed off the road,that is I love the answer um I
hope you do, because I Iimprovised it completely no, and
you're gonna improvise on thisquestion too.
Gautham (27:06):
Looking at your bio, you've worked with a lot of
startups, right, and as amarketing professor, where my
focus which I love thisconversation is on the customer.
Now, as you grow your customerbase, so does customer
heterogeneity right.
Different customer, differentneeds and so forth, or a company
(27:27):
in general.
Maintain that balance betweengrowth as well as staying true
to each customer, and build thatconnection with the customer.
To me, there seems to be atrade-off right, and data can
play a role in building thosebridges.
But what are your thoughts?
Because, ultimately, if thereis no customer, if there is no
need, there is no company.
Dominick (27:48):
Okay.
So the concern in the way ishere's this new, exciting
product.
Can we do it?
And I will say that product'samazing, it will change our
lives, it will 100% benefit thebusiness.
But we cannot do it.
And the paradox to me becomes wecan't handle the bandwidth of
what we got.
So I kind of, when you sayconnect with the customer, I
(28:11):
keep that relationship alwaysforefront in the mind.
And yes, in the past week I'vebeen presented with concepts.
My investor group called mewith RetailWire and had some
ideas and I was like yep, 100%,brilliant, absolutely love the
idea, it is perfect.
(28:32):
So we're going to implement it.
No, and that's the toughest isyou have to say this idea will
change the world, it is going tosave us, but our bandwidth is
only X and it pains me to say Ican't.
But it's almost the same as ifwhen the cardiologist says, hey,
you got to do your 5K run, it'ssnowing out, I can't do it
(28:58):
today.
So sometimes, in that,describing your answer to me,
once you're presented with thatadditional thing, if the team's
bandwidth, your own bandwidth,cannot process it, it might be
perfect, it might be the productof the century, it might be the
technique of the century.
But if you can't implement itwith all other factors, keeping
(29:18):
that relationship in mind, itsucks.
You just can't implement itwith all other factors, keeping
that relationship in mind, itsucks, you just can't do it.
Gautham (29:23):
I love the focus on constant contact with the
customer, even if it's in theairport, and also the notion of
prioritization.
We have limited resources andyou have to prioritize, and some
things get under the wing.
Dominick (29:39):
I want to interject because it's not even constant
to the customer.
It's constant to the person,whatever that person may be Like
.
Recently, on one of my team noone, third of my team got sick.
I can't control that.
I can't reach out.
Their kids are sick, they'resick.
We don't have the bandwidth.
Those are the people I wascalling in the airport.
(30:01):
Are you OK?
What do you need?
How can I help you on thissituation?
The people in the whole system,whether it be the customer,
your team, your clients, yourenemies, your friends.
You have to be aware of allthat.
(30:24):
Sorry to interject, but I justrealized that point is just
always the person, no, it's agreat point.
Gautham (30:30):
Retail I think you said this.
Retail is a human business andwe have to maintain a connection
, irrespective of what yourforesight is.
Let me ask one last questionnow before I pass it back on,
which is that you're now the CEOof RetailWire, right?
What kind of trends do you seeinfluencing retail?
(30:50):
You also are on the Retail AICouncil, so I'm not asking you
to talk specifically about AI,but in general, what do you see
are the trends that retail willconfront in 2025 and moving
forward?
Dominick (31:04):
AI, everyone, of course, is talking about.
You know, it's almost the AIanswer.
By the way, just so parallelswhen social media came out, I
remember when Google came out,streaming came out oh my
goodness, people like this out.
Streaming came out oh mygoodness, people like this.
And then everyone doubled downto this.
Streaming platforms we couldlist no one's heard of, or
(31:24):
social media platforms no one'sheard of.
Election is not me gettingpolitical.
It's that uncertainty.
If we're discussing tariffs andwe're discussing a global
economy, unless we know, youknow, I think that's going to be
the story of the year.
Maybe this and this plan worksperfectly, maybe not.
And whenever the universitiesand retails, business and all
(31:48):
said and done, and whenever anybusiness encounters uncertainty,
we, like humans, love stabilityin general in general.
Rich (32:07):
So let me double down on that point.
In a forward trend ofinstability which you could
argue, retail has been headingdown that path for quite a while
.
We used to be able to predict10 or 20 years ago, down to the
day, how you would do, and andnow it becomes much more
challenging.
How do you see the consumerchanging and what do you think
is critical for the retailer tobe able to do?
Dominick (32:28):
I think you can never discount the direct impact on
the consumer of covid.
We became a world of loaded inmy trunk and I don't even want
to talk to you anymore.
I love the concept.
Even last night I, at two inthe morning, woke up and said oh
, I forgot to take I need X, yand Z.
And is at my doorstep at 6 am,four hours later.
(32:50):
That's insane and the truth isI don't.
Who needs a product within fourhours?
That's mind boggling.
But I think that was, to me,one of the biggest societal
shifts.
The internet, covid A, theinability to transact digitally.
And then the consumer with giveit to me now from anywhere in
(33:11):
the world.
So, yeah, I think theconsumer's perception is that
give it to me now, anywhere inthe world.
Rich (33:19):
Nobody has predicted that the drones over the east coast
or amazon or walmart deliveringholiday packages.
But how do retailers now adapt?
Dominick (33:28):
well, and that leads to the thing you have, this
consumer expectation.
Give me it today.
Maybe drones should deliver mycandy bar for christ tonight, in
four hours.
But then you have anoperational, human, cultural
reality in running a business.
You know, when it comes topredictions, I always laugh
(33:50):
because I get that especiallyend of the year what are your
predictions for 2025?
What are your predictions for2030?
And now that we have five yearincrements coming up, I don't
know.
And I think I go back to thatmetaphor of the sailing on the
boat.
It would be to me.
I always use that because mygreat-grandfather on the boat I
can't imagine someone said howmany icebergs will you see today
?
12.
I'll see 12.
He doesn't know.
(34:10):
He's sitting on the dock.
But I think the question to mebecomes yeah, there's icebergs
In terms of retail.
Who would have predicted AI,drones, election, covid?
And this is the past four years.
So why are we interpretingthese events as if they are
shocking moments?
That's normal.
Maybe it's normal to have asocietal.
(34:31):
It doesn't mean I enjoyed COVID, any deviations, but it's very
tough because I think we wantall stability and the reality is
life is unstable.
Paula (34:41):
Let's talk about the advice.
All right, so this is one of myfavorites, because I get to
learn from some of the best.
What's the best advice you'veever gotten?
Dominick (34:49):
Don't worry, that was it, don't worry.
Paula (34:52):
I thought for a second, I had you speechless there.
Dominick (34:54):
We did because there's been moments.
But don't worry, it's certainlyit.
I think um a friend of minealways says the line uh, these
are simply events going on andthey're not, um, emotionally
impactful events, they're justevents.
If you're sailing on a boat andthe boat hits a little rock in
(35:14):
the river, it's not like therock intended to hit you.
The rock's a rock and I think,just remind of the.
Not to worry.
These events in the universe dohappen and there might not be a
causality or anything you cando about it.
At times, it's a tough reminderand one of which you just
strive to always get to.
Paula (35:32):
You're absolutely right about shifting and change and
dramatic change and stuff likethat.
Something that I love aboutchange, even dramatic change,
regardless of if I was for it oragainst it, like covid right,
like but there's alwaysopportunity regardless.
Dominick (35:48):
It's like the phoenix rising up, yes, so it's, and you
find that opportunity in myonly.
When you rise above that momentand have clarity, which is so
much easier said than done, andI know any.
The friend who gave me theadvice will look at me like you
never do that, dude.
You get wrapped into your ownmania, just stop.
Gautham (36:09):
Don, let me ask a follow-up question.
Not a follow-up question, but aquestion that I wanted to ask.
When you started talkinginitially, you talked about
lecturing on personal brands.
When you started talkinginitially, you talked about
lecturing on personal brands.
As a faculty professor, I startevery semester talking about
brand you and how to build brandyou.
I think it's critical in aworld where you have to stand
(36:30):
out.
What advice would you have toour audience on how to build
brand you while being authenticto yourself?
Any tips?
Dominick (36:40):
You could definitely go to miserandinocom and watch
some of the lectures I've givenon this.
They're wonderful YouTubestreams under my speaking tab.
But besides the shameless plug,I do enjoy very much when I
speak about it.
I'm always telling stories frommy own life and we connect as
people to stories and I thinkit's finding, when it comes to
(37:01):
personal brand, painting thatpicture of who and what you are.
I'm always looking and saying,well, what is this thing?
But I think it's alwayspainting that story, figuring
out the story and then paintingthe picture to appropriately get
to the story.
Rich (37:17):
And in that maybe that's one of the discoveries is that
oftentimes technology innovationis great AI, streaming, social
media but often we get sowrapped up in the technology
that we forget the story and weforget the humanity of the
customer 100% and beyond thecustomer, the person.
Dominick (37:40):
I have seen companies live and die based upon who the
people are on the team you haveto.
It's the customers, the people.
Why you know?
Ultimately there's no.
I was about to think.
The only business that does notinvolve people is like Bitcoin
mining, but even that involvespeople, because you have
electricity affecting the globaleconomy.
(38:01):
There is nothing in a box wethink there is when you trade
stocks or something, but no,everything does, at the end of
the day, does involve people.
Maybe solar panels, I guess,like you sit passively on your
roof and you get electricity.
But ultimately there's a personin this equation somewhere,
whether it be the customer, theclient, the coworker.
(38:22):
That's where it is.
It's not the humanistic elementof it, it's just the reality.
Why are we on this planet Earth?
We're not isolated to theuniverse.
Rich (38:36):
All right.
So here's where we're going totransition to the rapid fire
round, the relatable rapid fireround, where we're going to test
your agility, and I'm not goingto pretend that you don't have
AI working in the background togenerate these answers, but I
think we've developed enoughtrust for you that this is going
to be you and you alone, Allright.
(38:56):
So my question you are anaccomplished musician.
I do want to know whatinstruments, but my rapid fire
question is what is yourfavorite?
Dominick (39:08):
walk on.
I actually have never thoughtof that.
I actually just normally, whenI'm walking on a stage, I'm
usually talking to the crowd, soI almost tune it out.
To be honest, I know it soundsweird.
I don't have like, I just enjoytalking to the crowd, so I
almost tune it out.
To be honest, I know it soundsweird, I don't have like, I just
enjoy talking to everybody andI will put the headset on and
literally address the crowd.
I just was at ETL Canada.
(39:28):
We did this and people seem toenjoy just having that
five-minute conversation beforewe got into it all.
So do you want an audible andyou plan a walk-off song?
I need to.
It's one of those things I haveto really contemplate now.
Rich (39:45):
Yeah, see, on the stand.
So with the hands up, nokeyboard.
No, I all right.
So I have to ask whatinstruments do you play?
Dominick (39:49):
piano and guitar, uh, but I actually studied, of all
things, harpsichord because Iwent in college.
I went to the piano auditionsand there was three seats and 30
people sitting there and I wasready to play Billy Joel and
Bruce Horn to be for theaudition and they were like
Tchaikovsky and I went I'm fromBrooklyn, we don't got no
Tchaikovsky and then down thehall was harpsichord and no
(40:13):
kidding.
I walked up, looked in the roomand again Flapper Avenue,
brooklyn.
I said, okay, I'm going to needa little more information.
What's a harpsichord?
How does it work and how do Iplay it?
I need to learn quickly and Ihad someone give me the concepts
and I played Stairway to Heaven.
I transcribed quickly for theharpsichord as all arpeggios
(40:35):
flowing notes, and I studiedharpsichord for four years
because it was the one I knew Icould get into as opposed to
piano.
Well, you realize that is verygood.
Harpsichord rendition ofstairway to heaven.
Yeah, it would be very surreal.
Our way to heaven very nice,all right.
Paula (40:53):
So if you could transport yourself anywhere in the world,
where would you go?
Dominick (40:57):
I love to travel and there's moments like I do say,
oh, I really want, like I wasthinking this morning I want to
get coffee at Cafe du Monde inNew Orleans and I would love.
I go to Quebec City frequentlyand I'd love to have dinner in a
nice French restaurant inQuebec City, which are all the
sides of the French empire.
Logistically it's, I guess,possible, but transporting would
(41:20):
make life beautiful and I wouldlove a Christmas.
Oh my God, it's all foodrelated.
I want the Christmas burritofrom Santa Fe.
Those are probably my top three.
I would jump between whichwould be completely illogical
and not logistical, but I wouldtransport.
Gautham (41:35):
All right, so for music and food to transport to now
the last question if you werehaving a dinner party, who are
three people that you wouldinvite to, living or dead?
Dominick (41:49):
Oh, I just would invite my closest friends.
That's easy, that was so easy.
Yeah, I enjoy the most.
Actually, my favorite ever wasmy 40th birthday.
We rented a house on the NorthFork, long Island, and we just
had our two closest friends andthe families and it was
wonderful.
It was just a weekend ofeveryone talking, making dinner.
(42:11):
It was great.
You know, we all cookedtogether.
I didn't cook, that's beyond myabilities.
Rich (42:17):
Dom, thank you very much for joining us today.
This was fantastic.
Dominick (42:21):
This was an amazingly wonderful conversation and nice
meeting you, little buddy.
Gautham (42:31):
But I am so glad I had you guys.
You guys had me on.
Well, that was definitely avery interesting conversation.
You know you started off bysaying it might be an out.
You were interested in what anoutsider's perspective was, and
I think there were multiplepoints where you could see that,
where the outsider's insightinto retail was truly
fascinating.
Rich (42:46):
Yeah, it was.
I mean, first of all, what aninteresting person.
I am going to have to see if Ican find a rendition of Stairway
to Heaven on the Harpsichord.
I don't know that it exists.
I might have to ask him torecord it.
He very effectively talkedabout how, in his media
businesses, how he has alwaysbeen part of the retail industry
(43:08):
, just from a differentperspective, and now being a
little bit more closely alignedto it and engaging with all
these different brand and retailleaders, how much he's learned
and this is the word that comesup a lot is how curious he is,
and you can just see him beingnaturally curious about
everything.
I'm trying to figure out whatlanguage he's going to learn
next.
Gautham (43:27):
Yeah, I will say like.
I think for me that was thething that stood out the most
was how multifaceted he is, andhis ability to switch between
topics and bring stories intothe conversation was really a
lesson, I think, for ourlisteners, as a way to captivate
audiences.
Rich (43:48):
Macy's and the Harry Selfridges and the retail
theater and the narrative andthe storytelling that they
created.
There is some of that and Idon't want to say it's missing,
because there's obviously verysuccessful retailers creating
(44:08):
very good stories, but not tothe extent that there was years
ago and you can see him kind ofcapturing that or talking about
that element.
Gautham (44:18):
Retail is about storytelling, right.
Ultimately, it's about makingthose movements that connect,
and you do that with stories.
Maybe it's in the physicalstore, maybe it's through actual
storytelling, but everythingboils down to that connection,
and stories are the best way tomake those connections, in my
opinion.
Rich (44:36):
Yeah, and I thought you know it was interesting because
when we were asking abouttechnology, you and I have said
we're both fascinated bytechnology and the advances.
You know we want to dive in andtalk about what the latest
technology is and then at theend we'll say but it's about
people.
When you know he sits on the onthe AI council and almost
immediately went to, it reallydoesn't matter what the tool is.
(44:57):
You've got to figure out whatthe story is, what the
connection is, what therelationship is, and the tool is
secondary.
So he really just kind ofjumped right to the point on
that one.
I will tell you what the mostsurprising answer to a question
was.
When you asked him who he wouldwant to invite for dinner, I
expected a laundry list of themost eclectic group of people
(45:22):
and for him to say I just wantto go home and have dinner with
family and friends and spend theweekend and you could see where
somebody with his energy andintellect and how engaging he is
, that he would want to justunplug and do that.
So but I will admit I wassurprised by that answer.
Gautham (45:38):
Yeah, I was too unplug and do that, so, but I will
admit I was surprised by thatanswer.
Yeah, I was too, but at thesame time it gives us a peek
into who he really is andinsight into how he operates and
what's important to him.
It came out of left field.
That was the highlight.
Rich (45:50):
Yeah, and I think that's where asking some of the uh, the
, the the less obvious questionscan can be funds.
Well, as always, it's good tosee you.
I know Paula had to, uh, had tojump off, but it was great to
see Riker, as always.
Gautham (46:05):
Yes, indeed, we should make him a member of our podcast
team.
You know, actually a lot abigger audience for us.
Rich (46:11):
It would actually, you know what.
We could get them a smallermicrophone I could try and find
one on on Amazon and, and youknow, maybe if, since we haven't
been able to convince Paula togo into retail, we could start
young with him, take himshopping, get him acclimated to
it, start him off in the stockroom.
Gautham (46:28):
There you go.
That's hope then.
Rich (46:30):
All right, great to see you, as always.
Thank you on behalf of allthree of us and a final shout
out to Dominic for joining ustoday and to all of you for
joining us on Retail Relates.
So today's guest, it is Dominic Miserandino.
We'll be bringing him on in afew minutes.
Dalfin, have you had the chanceto meet him?
Gautham (00:06):
We're connected on LinkedIn, but we have not had
the opportunity to cross paths,so I look forward to this
conversation.
Rich (00:12):
I had the preliminary conversation with him when I
reached out to see if he wantedto do the podcast.
He's very engaging, veryoutgoing, interested to gain his
perspective from a I don't knowif I want to call him an
outsider in it, but he's from anouter periphery of retail
looking at it from the mediaperspective.
So I'm looking forward to thisone.
(00:33):
It should be an interestingconversation.
Gautham (00:35):
Yeah, me too.
I look forward to thisconversation and see what he
thinks of retail and where it'sheading.
Paula (00:41):
Today's guest is Dominick Miserandino, CEO of RetailWire
, the retail industry's premiernews publisher and online
discussion forum.
For over 21 years, retailwirehas served as a trusted resource
for the industry, offeringcompelling content that goes
beyond conventional headlinereporting.
Dominick leads the organizationwith a deep understanding of
digital media and e-commerce,bringing decades of experience
(01:04):
to his role.
Before joining RetailWire,Dominick founded one of the
first online publications,thecelebritycafecom, and grew
Inquisitor.
com from zero to 80 millionvisits monthly.
That's not easy to do.
He has held various leadershiproles and has served as a CRO
and CEO for multiple companies.
(01:24):
Over his 30-year career, dominichas turned around more than 100
e-commerce and digitalbusinesses and advised over 200
startups on operationalstrategies.
His expertise has been soughtby major brands such as the Wall
Street Journal, morgan Stanley,nasa, goldman Sachs and Hearst
Publications.
A frequent speaker atconferences and events, dominic
(01:44):
shares his insights onentrepreneurship, scaling,
digital businesses and socialmedia.
He's also a mentor to over 100startups I don't know where you
find the time for that andlectures on web businesses and
analytics at institutions suchas Hofstra University, stony
Brook and NYU.
Fluent in multiple languages,including Italian, spanish and
French, dominic has worked oninternational media projects and
(02:07):
received numerous accolades,including a New York State
Citation Award and Stony BrookUniversity's recognition for his
charity work.
Dominic is also an accomplishedmusician, photographer and
author of two travel books.
His wealth of experience inmedia, e-commerce and leadership
makes him an overachiever andan exceptional guest.
Dominic, welcome to RetailRelates.
(02:28):
It really truly is a pleasureto have you.
Dominick (02:31):
Oh, I'm thrilled to be here.
I'm happy to talk to you guys.
That's my primary goal here.
Paula (02:35):
I want to learn more about your travel books, but
that's not the purpose of thispodcast.
Dominick (02:40):
Oh, we can go down that road, we could.
Paula (02:47):
Well, we will start.
I will stay focused.
We like to kick things off alittle differently.
Instead of asking you themundane, boring questions, tell
me about yourself, which we'veheard your impressive background
.
I want to learn more about whatmade you you right.
So what are your three mostpivotal points in your career
that led you to where you aretoday?
Dominick (03:02):
Probably the first was my first boss on Wall Street.
Ed taught me to treat peoplelike people and that's kind of
been a theme throughout I'vedone at the conferences I do a
lot of lectures personalbranding and connecting to that
human within leadership withhumanity and Ed was.
I still talk to him constantly.
We see him at holidays and thatreally was pivotal in teaching
(03:26):
me that in the business worldyou do not have to be a
cutthroat lunatic.
You could just treat peoplelike they are individuals and
not just get to know Paula fromthe podcast but know Paula is
Paula.
And then the podcast is thereand it kind of really does
enhance those relationships.
That was truly one of thebiggest in terms of career wise.
(03:49):
Number two probably is retailwire.
I was on the media space and Iwas very proud of what we do on
the media end and I'd havepeople walk up to me and say, oh
my goodness, that's awesome,you're a blogger, what's your
day job?
And at the time I remember oneof the times they said that I
had 20 employees and I saidthat's cool, that's awesome,
you're a blogger, what's yourday job?
And at the time I remember oneof the times they said that I
(04:09):
had 20 employees and I saidthat's cool.
That's cool.
No, this is my day job.
Oh, what do you want to do whenyou grow up?
Retailwire definitely connectedthose dots.
So I have the same connectionsin terms of I have 30,000
followers on LinkedIn becausethey were hitting me from the
media end.
It's the same connections.
Now, the third was actually thementorship really got me through
COVID in general.
(04:30):
I signed up to mentor anyone.
It was ridiculous.
I've actually done mentorshipin Spanish and Italian, but with
my terrible accent.
Yeah, I heard you say my nameand I'm like I wish I could call
myself correctly, as Paula does.
But the mentoring of thestartups was like crash course
education, because you'rehearing 100 plus companies say
(04:52):
100 plus problems.
That was invaluable.
That was truly invaluable.
To hear everyone and hear thecommon threads through
everyone's problems andeventually get to the point like
, oh, what's your problem?
All right, paul, you knowhere's the problem, here's the
solution.
I've heard it already kid, letme get another coffee.
And that was really educational.
So that was probably numberthree of the deep thoughts.
Paula (05:13):
I'm not going to test you on your Spanish because I'm not
.
So to keep.
Dominick (05:16):
So to speak, but my accent is very terrible.
No, it's great, you speak likean Italian.
Well, I can speak Italian, butmy accent is also different
because I speak with my sister'saccent.
Unfortunately, I speak with theaccent of my mother-in-law and
she's a Sicilian.
(05:36):
So the true story is, I had ameeting recently enough in the
retail industry and the womansaid why do you sound like a
gangster?
And I was just like, first ofall, I feel like that's a little
like terrible, but we'll notget to that.
I sound like my Sicilianmother-in-law when I speak
Italian sometimes, which reallyconfuses them.
Sound like the godfather.
Paula (05:57):
It sounds great.
Rich (05:58):
I screwed up my Spanish that.
I know it's somewhat, but whenClaudio Del Vecchio bought
Brooks Brothers, I tried toconvert it to Italian.
The good thing is I couldunderstand every third word, so
when he was having aconversation in Italian with
other business leaders, I couldfollow along.
I didn't bother to tell him.
Dominick (06:17):
It took a while and actually the mentoring helped,
because I mentor in Spanish nowand I'm like wait, you're going
to pay me to practice Spanish.
What's the catch?
I'll do it in a heartbeat.
But the real trick I find isjust, I always practice.
If I'm in a restaurant and Ihear over here Spanish, I'm
practicing, I don't care.
But I think you always have topractice and put yourself in
(06:40):
that vulnerable space to reallyjust try.
Yeah, my accent's terrible, Idon't want to say terrible.
I mean, paul understood me, butI feel like I don't have.
Cuando tú puedes decir minombre misuradino, I can't even
say my own name as well as Paulhas said my own name, and that
eats at me at times.
Paula (07:01):
It's those rolling R's.
They get to you every time.
Dominick (07:04):
That's why I married a speech therapist, but I still
live to 20.
Paula (07:09):
Gotta ask Dom, is this what you envisioned for your
life, for your career life, whenyou set out?
So what did you?
What did little Dom want to bewhen he grew?
Dominick (07:17):
up, there were two answers.
When I was nine, I had thesheet I wanted to be the boss,
so under that argument, havingmy own company was what I
envisioned.
But when I went to college Iactually went for a social
scientist to go into social work.
I tangentially approached it.
I've worked with nonprofits.
I've always kept that in theback of my mind.
(07:38):
If anybody in a nonprofit hearsthis, I always love helping
nonprofits, but that was my goalat one point.
But I do think people ingeneral are multi-interests so
you're always blending it.
My favorite part of the job,even now, is when I can take a
coaching slash, counselor-esqueapproach to leadership.
At times when you could say,okay, here's the problem, but
(08:00):
I'm missing something.
I enjoy so much.
When there's a moment in theteam I could say prove me wrong,
let's discuss this.
As opposed and having adialogue, I enjoy it.
I'm truly looking forward toseeing this team, the retail
wire, in person at NRF.
We're all scheduled to be thereand just seeing everyone in
person really that humanconnection, it's a lot to make,
(08:20):
yeah and who would have guessedwhen you studied social work
that that would tie so well intoretail?
Paula (08:26):
because you really have to understand your consumer,
like what makes them tick, whatare they going through, like who
is this person and how can theybring them value?
Dominick (08:34):
That was truly the biggest lesson I learned from
digital media.
Everything in digital media isthe number.
We have 80 million visits andthereby 80 million, or speaking
to data science, I wouldfrequently speak to students who
will look at numbers as numbersand I think in any business,
(08:54):
the success is you have to lookbeyond that and say what are
these 80 million?
One of my favorite businessmoments was actually at Adorama
Pix.
One of the first weeks I toldeverybody print out the list of
the top 100 customers and Icalled every single one
literally.
I would have moments which wereridiculous, like what is the
(09:16):
issue?
Just tell me this issue andI'll fix it.
Oh, I'm really upset.
I want a coupon for 18%.
I'll give you 19%.
Are you happy?
Now?
We'll figure it out.
Or whatever it may be, and bysolving that individual problems
, it made the data come to life.
Paula (09:32):
That's impressive Marrying the social aspect to
the data, humanizing the datapoints.
Dominick (09:38):
Absolutely, you have to do so.
Paula (09:41):
What would you be doing if you weren't doing this right
now in an alternate universe?
What are you doing right now?
Dominick (09:47):
I try actually I view the universe in general as like
you have.
I frequently say this.
It might be a corny metaphor,but I've told people I mentor.
Life to me is almost like a, adeletable series on netflix.
You can only watch it right nowand my daughter is 18.
I have now to watch it.
If I don't watch her the weekshe turned 18, that season is
(10:11):
deleted forever.
You get photos, you get alittle recap on TikTok kind of
recap.
And I say that because for meI'm just trying to maximize as
much as I can, go the full speedas far as I can.
I almost enjoy it.
I enjoy like me and my wifelove doing road trips at the
same time.
I'll say go sleep honey, andI'll make seven business calls
(10:34):
on the right way to Philadelphiaor something.
But it's not like it's notbeing to me work, it's just as
much.
I'm trying to watch as manyepisodes as I can at the same
time.
So I feel like you just alwaystrying to fulfill that all, and
so for me I'm blessed and luckythat seeing friends and
traveling is a very big part ofwhat I do.
Paula (10:54):
Okay, I've got to tell you.
So my mom, we grew up superpoor, super, super poor and my
mom always instilled in me youknow we have nothing, but you
have education and you haveexperiences and no one can take
that away from you ever.
And I just lived my life, likeyou said, like multiple
universes, multiple moments,multiple episodes at a time
being part of nonprofits, doingmy day job, starting a business,
(11:17):
being part of the community,having a baby.
I'm like how many episodes canI have simultaneously?
Dominick (11:23):
Absolutely.
I mean, I grew up on FlappishAvenue, brooklyn.
I in college, I think at mypeak I had five jobs at the same
time to pay for college.
I wanted to be as much as I canindependent.
But it was also that wackinessof that experience I was giving
piano lessons.
I gave guitar lessons.
(11:43):
I would type papers for money.
I sold ads in the newspaperconnected to media and I was
giving piano lessons.
I gave guitar lessons.
I would type papers for money.
I sold ads in the newspaperconnected to media and I was an
RA.
Yeah, you have this episode.
I always say, and if you canmax it, I prefer that than
sitting there staring at thewalls absolutely.
Rich (11:58):
I'd actually like to follow that up.
I was going to save it forlater, but if I'm hearing this
and I'm starting off in mycareer I am hearing almost about
an overachiever.
It reminds me of when I readRichard Branson's biography and
thought there is no way I coulddo half this stuff.
(12:18):
How am I motivated by it?
So I'll ask the question howhave you dealt with setbacks and
failure?
Dominick (12:26):
Since I turned 52, was it a week and a half, two weeks
ago I've literally had, withoutexaggeration, something
ridiculously horrific happenevery day.
I'm laughing about it, I don'tdeal with it.
Well, I said by accident to agood friend of mine all I do is
stumble forward.
I try not to stumble backwards,I just stumble forward as much
(12:49):
as I can.
But I also think there's amislabel when we say like
overachiever or not, because Ifeel like overachiever is to me
that person who's always pushingtowards working out, let's say,
and pushing the heavier weightthan they did the last time.
I'm more conscious and I thinkthat's just it.
(13:12):
If you have it in front of you,I always tell people take
whatever opportunities are outthere.
If someone has a question I dothis often I'll be like hey,
rich, I have a question, I justneed to pick your brain on this
for 30 minutes.
I'd rather that than stew overit.
So whenever I have that failure, I try to remind myself Cron, I
(13:32):
need to call Rich this and I'vedone like.
Last night I was having thisone issue with conferences in
general.
I realize when you say thisquestion, I probably called six
people Not to vent to say I'mhitting this challenge.
I'm hitting this failure.
Where am I wrong on this?
How can I solve this?
What can I do to better orlearn from this circumstance?
(13:56):
And I always find it funny,just mentoring.
People will say coaching.
People will say asking a friendfor advice, maybe within your
world, wherever they may beConnecting with other humans to
bring it full circle and sayingwhat can I do?
I just need to understand thisbetter.
We're surrounded by experts,we're surrounded by people and
(14:16):
they're right there.
I bet you a dollar.
I mean, I think I realize Paul.
I think this is the first timewe met and I sent you a message
in two months saying I'm dealingwith XYZ.
I just want to pick your brainfor 15 minutes.
It's not likely.
Paul just met me.
He's going no.
So the way I try dealing withit is purely reaching out to
those resources with it.
Rich (14:38):
I love that answer and it's something that I try to
coach my daughter on, so if shelistens to this episode, I think
it's great advice and we try tocoach others on it.
It took me a while to get tothat point, so I'm going to
pivot a little bit to the lesson.
So you, many of us in retail,this was an accidental career.
You've come into this aftermany years of experience in
(15:00):
digital startups and onlinepublications, and so you truly
are for lack of a betterdescription a newbie within the
retail industry.
So tell us, what are youfinding fascinating?
What are you findingchallenging?
What keeps you coming back?
Dominick (15:16):
There's two parts to your question the newbies
entering it, and I had thisquick conversation this morning.
I think we view, on the surface, retail as owning a fashion
store and selling jeans.
But retail is not that.
Retail is business, it'stransaction, it's commerce, it's
(15:38):
almost the direct commerce to aconsumer relationship, right,
which is a lot, which is big,which is more than the initial
surface.
And I say that because when wehave these newbie in retail
experiences well, I guess I'vebeen in retail.
(15:58):
I was on the media side sellingads to the guy selling the jeans
on the rack.
Almost everyone at some point.
If you're living in America, acapitalistic society, you are
somewhat involved in retail.
Now, the second answer, thenewbie entering this all the
(16:18):
answer is being conceptuallyaware of it.
I don't know why.
I think it's actually more of alinguistic issue.
The word retail means, like wesaid, selling the jeans on the
rack.
But is that retail?
Um, how have you been involved?
Who do you know?
Uh, but one of the things I dois I just constantly say I know
(16:42):
nothing, I'm okay, no, knowingnothing, how can I learn
immediately?
Uh, one of the first things Idid with RetailWire is I met
with every senior statesman andwe have conversations.
Our conversation you, rich, istruly one of many I've had and
(17:03):
you're just constantly adding toyour knowledge database and
just connecting the dots andconnecting to your previous life
experiences.
Retail is relationships.
Business is relationships.
I think that products in and ofthemselves you can have the
(17:25):
best product and if there's zerorelationship, the product dies.
If there's zero leadership, thecompany can die.
Um, if there's zero uhleadership, the company can die.
And I enjoy so much in this, inbeing see of retail wire,
seeing all the people, uh,whether my own team, which I,
they they don't know by now howmuch I adore them they I'll
repeat it again um, because thepeople you're meeting, um, it's
(17:48):
very different than otherindustries retails,
relationships, that's it thismay be a great answer.
Rich (17:57):
No, I'm not asking it, but I'm.
I'm, you know, I'm gonna goahead and throw it out.
Do you think that sometimes theextensive knowledge that some
retailers may have actually 100?
Yes, innovation?
Dominick (18:10):
or moving forward.
I'm not 90% and I say thatbecause the frequent.
If you ask me a differentquestion which is going to
answer this one was there anycommon thread of all the
startups you've mentored and allthese companies you mentor,
yeah, the common thread becomes,especially in that startup
early phase.
We get in that rut of success.
(18:31):
Maybe it's this podcast.
Oh, my goodness, we're reallygood at this podcast.
We know how this podcastoperates on Spotify.
And then you're not reinventing.
At times it was.
You're really doubling down onthat.
Success does beget success andI always advise this diversity
there.
So I find that deepencyclopedic knowledge will
(18:53):
cause people times to doubledown on success, which is smart,
it's instinct, it's the correctresponse.
But not also take that step backand say but are there other
avenues we should be exploringthis time?
Are other avenues we should beexploring this moment in time?
(19:13):
And I frequently have haddoubters for the moment, so to
speak, saying why are you doingthis on the side if that's not a
revenue-generating activity?
Paul is nodding in the key, youhave that moment.
Oh, that's notrevenue-generating.
And I'll say because it isn'trevenue-generating now.
But I have to make thatprediction in case the thing
that we're doubling down on withthat encyclopedic knowledge
(19:35):
possibly goes wrong.
And you know, I live by themantra of.
My great-great-grandfather was afisherman and I said he never
went out to the ocean assumingthere wouldn't be a wave.
I guarantee you he knew theocean would have waves, there
would be a storm.
He was up in Newfoundland,canada, where there was icebergs
.
I'm sure he never said, oh, mygoodness, there's an iceberg,
(19:58):
how could that happen?
But why in business do we havethis encyclopedic knowledge?
We continue forward saying,whoa, something changed in the
model, and you see evidence ofthat in retail Sears.
There's so many stories wherethey become super good at it.
Something happens in theuniverse and then there's a
shock Fighting.
(20:19):
That natural instinct is sayingmaybe we have to also be
consciously aware of that.
There's something else and wehave to balance this all.
Rich (20:29):
So I'll ask the question without expecting you to name
names, because I don't want toput you in a position where you
are calling out the retailersthat right now you've got
relationships with.
But what you're talking aboutis approaching an ever-changing
business with a sense ofcuriosity and not arrogance.
(20:52):
In your conversations, in yourinteractions, are you seeing
those retailers that have moreof a stayed?
Dominick (21:19):
this is the way we've done it and it's going to work
versus those that areintentfully curious.
Are you intentfully curiousthat my daughter's grammar
school was a progressive schooland very focused on teaching the
kids a growth mindset?
It probably taught me more thanit might have taught the kids
at that point.
That's the biggest mistake.
In fact, if you ask me a verydifferent question, when it
(21:39):
comes to growth mindset of the100-plus companies e-commerce
companies you've scaled Dominic.
Is there any common thread?
Yes, they get really good at onething and they screw up
everything else, and it'spartially growth mindset, it's
partially the reward, especiallyonline, a singular success.
You might have a really greatTikTok account and then,
(22:02):
magically, tiktok gets bannedand then, or Vine or Instagram,
you get really good at thatthing and then that thing
changes and, generally speaking,I've seen so many leaders go
but wait, I was really good atthat thing.
What's wrong?
Because that thing rewarded you.
If you become the topinfluencer on Vine and you do
(22:23):
not figure out something else,that's wonderful, but you're
dead the next day.
Now we're talking TikTok banand everything else and that
directly impacts and I'm justusing the social media as an
example yahoo to google, or mapquest, or there's so many
stories online of that thingthat you could have been number
one at die, and we come withthat hubris of saying I know
(22:45):
this thing, I'm gonna doubledown on it, and then it dies no,
I was an investor in palm pilotand I bought it at 40, 20, 10,
5 250.
I think my last purchase was at41 cents yeah, and I love and
that's a great example palmpilot's a great example.
I was one of the first users ofthem too, and, uh, I loved my
palm pilot.
I thought it was genius, Ithought it was well designed.
(23:07):
It doesn't exist, so it wasn'teven.
To make it worse, it, you wouldargue the darwinism of business
would have killed it.
But it's not always that, it'sjust sometimes.
And here's the iphone.
It's better.
Pop out should have been aboutsome sense.
Rich (23:22):
If you just isolated the product, maybe it should have
existed to this day in someformat thereof, maybe it should
have, but it does and it's not,uh, isolated to no reason, so to
speak well, maybe it's time forand I'm gonna date myself and
I'm probably going to assumethat you know the uh the player,
the movie but maybe it's timefor alec baldwin to change the
(23:46):
abc from always be closingtoious.
Dominick (23:50):
Oh, I do know the reference, I do know the movie
and I do think you're alwayscurious, you're always growing,
you're always learning.
I could confidently say I'velearned more, of course.
I mean, I think everyone shouldlearn more post-college than at
college.
Not that college is thatfoundation, but I think we do
(24:10):
look at it as an endpoint.
And then there's a high shockfactor, thinking speaking to
students.
Now, you know, I entered thisindustry and I thought I knew
everything.
There's no way you're going toknow everything.
You have to encounterchallenges.
And then, by the way, what Iusually, when I lecture with the
(24:37):
students, I'll everything I'mtelling you is accurate as of
this moment in time, and when Ileave the room it's not accurate
anymore.
I just want to be clear becauseit's true.
And five minutes later andwe're recording this podcast on
day X and day Y, everything I'vesaid has had to have a variant
because of the nature of time,the nature of business, the
nature of life.
Things change.
Gautham (24:54):
I want to ask something that's closer to my heart,
which is on the domain ofinnovation.
You talked about successbegetting success, leading to
failure.
Right, and you come from anoutsider into retail.
What do you see as retail'sinnovation path moving forward,
especially when it comes todealing with the changing needs
(25:15):
of the customers?
Dominick (25:17):
You know, innovation, ai conversations, changing needs
.
I always think we get theseinnovation moments in tools
which are very beneficial AI issuch a good example, of course
which are very beneficial.
Ai is such a good example, ofcourse, but I'm also I always
laugh.
My maternal grandfather was oneof the head sales guys Abraham
and Strauss, a predecessor toMacy's and those fundamentals
(25:46):
connect to the customer stillexist.
I feel like and maybe this alsoillustrates it we get a tool,
an innovation AI.
I remember last year at NRF, Iwas losing my mind.
Like what do you have?
I have AI or unified datasolution.
Oh my God, unified data.
I get you.
That's amazing.
You're the 33rd booth in thisone aisle to tell me the same
story, and I think, though, whatessentially is retail is truly
saying connecting with anotherhuman going.
(26:08):
Do you like this?
That's retail Like to withanother human going.
Do you like this?
That retail like.
To me, that's the core story issimply facilitating that
product transaction to human,and I think, as long as we can
keep that within a core,innovation will accelerate that.
I've seen companies accelerateit, like use unified data to
identify their customers better,connect with the customers in
(26:31):
mass, and where they might gowrong is the hardware store.
You're connecting in mass butthen you're sending e-blasts
that are so impersonal thateveryone's not connected.
At the core is do you want tobuy this?
Is it right for you?
Because ultimately, if thatcore message to me is lost, you
have an angry customer, you solda terrible product and I think
everything with innovationsometimes can, uh, drive the car
(26:53):
too fast, not too fast.
I'm very pro speed off the road,that is I love the answer um I
hope you do, because I Iimprovised it completely no, and
you're gonna improvise on thisquestion too.
Gautham (27:06):
Looking at your bio, you've worked with a lot of
startups, right, and as amarketing professor, where my
focus which I love thisconversation is on the customer.
Now, as you grow your customerbase, so does customer
heterogeneity right.
Different customer, differentneeds and so forth, or a company
(27:27):
in general.
Maintain that balance betweengrowth as well as staying true
to each customer, and build thatconnection with the customer.
To me, there seems to be atrade-off right, and data can
play a role in building thosebridges.
But what are your thoughts?
Because, ultimately, if thereis no customer, if there is no
need, there is no company.
Dominick (27:48):
Okay.
So the concern in the way ishere's this new, exciting
product.
Can we do it?
And I will say that product'samazing, it will change our
lives, it will 100% benefit thebusiness.
But we cannot do it.
And the paradox to me becomes wecan't handle the bandwidth of
what we got.
So I kind of, when you sayconnect with the customer, I
(28:11):
keep that relationship alwaysforefront in the mind.
And yes, in the past week I'vebeen presented with concepts.
My investor group called mewith RetailWire and had some
ideas and I was like yep, 100%,brilliant, absolutely love the
idea, it is perfect.
(28:32):
So we're going to implement it.
No, and that's the toughest isyou have to say this idea will
change the world, it is going tosave us, but our bandwidth is
only X and it pains me to say Ican't.
But it's almost the same as ifwhen the cardiologist says, hey,
you got to do your 5K run, it'ssnowing out, I can't do it
(28:58):
today.
So sometimes, in that,describing your answer to me,
once you're presented with thatadditional thing, if the team's
bandwidth, your own bandwidth,cannot process it, it might be
perfect, it might be the productof the century, it might be the
technique of the century.
But if you can't implement itwith all other factors, keeping
(29:18):
that relationship in mind, itsucks.
You just can't implement itwith all other factors, keeping
that relationship in mind, itsucks, you just can't do it.
Gautham (29:23):
I love the focus on constant contact with the
customer, even if it's in theairport, and also the notion of
prioritization.
We have limited resources andyou have to prioritize, and some
things get under the wing.
Dominick (29:39):
I want to interject because it's not even constant
to the customer.
It's constant to the person,whatever that person may be Like
.
Recently, on one of my team noone, third of my team got sick.
I can't control that.
I can't reach out.
Their kids are sick, they'resick.
We don't have the bandwidth.
Those are the people I wascalling in the airport.
(30:01):
Are you OK?
What do you need?
How can I help you on thissituation?
The people in the whole system,whether it be the customer,
your team, your clients, yourenemies, your friends.
You have to be aware of allthat.
(30:24):
Sorry to interject, but I justrealized that point is just
always the person, no, it's agreat point.
Gautham (30:30):
Retail I think you said this.
Retail is a human business andwe have to maintain a connection
, irrespective of what yourforesight is.
Let me ask one last questionnow before I pass it back on,
which is that you're now the CEOof RetailWire, right?
What kind of trends do you seeinfluencing retail?
(30:50):
You also are on the Retail AICouncil, so I'm not asking you
to talk specifically about AI,but in general, what do you see
are the trends that retail willconfront in 2025 and moving
forward?
Dominick (31:04):
AI, everyone, of course, is talking about.
You know, it's almost the AIanswer.
By the way, just so parallelswhen social media came out, I
remember when Google came out,streaming came out oh my
goodness, people like this out.
Streaming came out oh mygoodness, people like this.
And then everyone doubled downto this.
Streaming platforms we couldlist no one's heard of, or
(31:24):
social media platforms no one'sheard of.
Election is not me gettingpolitical.
It's that uncertainty.
If we're discussing tariffs andwe're discussing a global
economy, unless we know, youknow, I think that's going to be
the story of the year.
Maybe this and this plan worksperfectly, maybe not.
And whenever the universitiesand retails, business and all
(31:48):
said and done, and whenever anybusiness encounters uncertainty,
we, like humans, love stabilityin general in general.
Rich (32:07):
So let me double down on that point.
In a forward trend ofinstability which you could
argue, retail has been headingdown that path for quite a while
.
We used to be able to predict10 or 20 years ago, down to the
day, how you would do, and andnow it becomes much more
challenging.
How do you see the consumerchanging and what do you think
is critical for the retailer tobe able to do?
Dominick (32:28):
I think you can never discount the direct impact on
the consumer of covid.
We became a world of loaded inmy trunk and I don't even want
to talk to you anymore.
I love the concept.
Even last night I, at two inthe morning, woke up and said oh
, I forgot to take I need X, yand Z.
And is at my doorstep at 6 am,four hours later.
(32:50):
That's insane and the truth isI don't.
Who needs a product within fourhours?
That's mind boggling.
But I think that was, to me,one of the biggest societal
shifts.
The internet, covid A, theinability to transact digitally.
And then the consumer with giveit to me now from anywhere in
(33:11):
the world.
So, yeah, I think theconsumer's perception is that
give it to me now, anywhere inthe world.
Rich (33:19):
Nobody has predicted that the drones over the east coast
or amazon or walmart deliveringholiday packages.
But how do retailers now adapt?
Dominick (33:28):
well, and that leads to the thing you have, this
consumer expectation.
Give me it today.
Maybe drones should deliver mycandy bar for christ tonight, in
four hours.
But then you have anoperational, human, cultural
reality in running a business.
You know, when it comes topredictions, I always laugh
(33:50):
because I get that especiallyend of the year what are your
predictions for 2025?
What are your predictions for2030?
And now that we have five yearincrements coming up, I don't
know.
And I think I go back to thatmetaphor of the sailing on the
boat.
It would be to me.
I always use that because mygreat-grandfather on the boat I
can't imagine someone said howmany icebergs will you see today
?
12.
I'll see 12.
He doesn't know.
(34:10):
He's sitting on the dock.
But I think the question to mebecomes yeah, there's icebergs
In terms of retail.
Who would have predicted AI,drones, election, covid?
And this is the past four years.
So why are we interpretingthese events as if they are
shocking moments?
That's normal.
Maybe it's normal to have asocietal.
(34:31):
It doesn't mean I enjoyed COVID, any deviations, but it's very
tough because I think we wantall stability and the reality is
life is unstable.
Paula (34:41):
Let's talk about the advice.
All right, so this is one of myfavorites, because I get to
learn from some of the best.
What's the best advice you'veever gotten?
Dominick (34:49):
Don't worry, that was it, don't worry.
Paula (34:52):
I thought for a second, I had you speechless there.
Dominick (34:54):
We did because there's been moments.
But don't worry, it's certainlyit.
I think um a friend of minealways says the line uh, these
are simply events going on andthey're not, um, emotionally
impactful events, they're justevents.
If you're sailing on a boat andthe boat hits a little rock in
(35:14):
the river, it's not like therock intended to hit you.
The rock's a rock and I think,just remind of the.
Not to worry.
These events in the universe dohappen and there might not be a
causality or anything you cando about it.
At times, it's a tough reminderand one of which you just
strive to always get to.
Paula (35:32):
You're absolutely right about shifting and change and
dramatic change and stuff likethat.
Something that I love aboutchange, even dramatic change,
regardless of if I was for it oragainst it, like covid right,
like but there's alwaysopportunity regardless.
Dominick (35:48):
It's like the phoenix rising up, yes, so it's, and you
find that opportunity in myonly.
When you rise above that momentand have clarity, which is so
much easier said than done, andI know any.
The friend who gave me theadvice will look at me like you
never do that, dude.
You get wrapped into your ownmania, just stop.
Gautham (36:09):
Don, let me ask a follow-up question.
Not a follow-up question, but aquestion that I wanted to ask.
When you started talkinginitially, you talked about
lecturing on personal brands.
When you started talkinginitially, you talked about
lecturing on personal brands.
As a faculty professor, I startevery semester talking about
brand you and how to build brandyou.
I think it's critical in aworld where you have to stand
(36:30):
out.
What advice would you have toour audience on how to build
brand you while being authenticto yourself?
Any tips?
Dominick (36:40):
You could definitely go to miserandinocom and watch
some of the lectures I've givenon this.
They're wonderful YouTubestreams under my speaking tab.
But besides the shameless plug,I do enjoy very much when I
speak about it.
I'm always telling stories frommy own life and we connect as
people to stories and I thinkit's finding, when it comes to
(37:01):
personal brand, painting thatpicture of who and what you are.
I'm always looking and saying,well, what is this thing?
But I think it's alwayspainting that story, figuring
out the story and then paintingthe picture to appropriately get
to the story.
Rich (37:17):
And in that maybe that's one of the discoveries is that
oftentimes technology innovationis great AI, streaming, social
media but often we get sowrapped up in the technology
that we forget the story and weforget the humanity of the
customer 100% and beyond thecustomer, the person.
Dominick (37:40):
I have seen companies live and die based upon who the
people are on the team you haveto.
It's the customers, the people.
Why you know?
Ultimately there's no.
I was about to think.
The only business that does notinvolve people is like Bitcoin
mining, but even that involvespeople, because you have
electricity affecting the globaleconomy.
(38:01):
There is nothing in a box wethink there is when you trade
stocks or something, but no,everything does, at the end of
the day, does involve people.
Maybe solar panels, I guess,like you sit passively on your
roof and you get electricity.
But ultimately there's a personin this equation somewhere,
whether it be the customer, theclient, the coworker.
(38:22):
That's where it is.
It's not the humanistic elementof it, it's just the reality.
Why are we on this planet Earth?
We're not isolated to theuniverse.
Rich (38:36):
All right.
So here's where we're going totransition to the rapid fire
round, the relatable rapid fireround, where we're going to test
your agility, and I'm not goingto pretend that you don't have
AI working in the background togenerate these answers, but I
think we've developed enoughtrust for you that this is going
to be you and you alone, Allright.
(38:56):
So my question you are anaccomplished musician.
I do want to know whatinstruments, but my rapid fire
question is what is yourfavorite?
Dominick (39:08):
walk on.
I actually have never thoughtof that.
I actually just normally, whenI'm walking on a stage, I'm
usually talking to the crowd, soI almost tune it out.
To be honest, I know it soundsweird.
I don't have like, I just enjoytalking to the crowd, so I
almost tune it out.
To be honest, I know it soundsweird, I don't have like, I just
enjoy talking to everybody andI will put the headset on and
literally address the crowd.
I just was at ETL Canada.
(39:28):
We did this and people seem toenjoy just having that
five-minute conversation beforewe got into it all.
So do you want an audible andyou plan a walk-off song?
I need to.
It's one of those things I haveto really contemplate now.
Rich (39:45):
Yeah, see, on the stand.
So with the hands up, nokeyboard.
No, I all right.
So I have to ask whatinstruments do you play?
Dominick (39:49):
piano and guitar, uh, but I actually studied, of all
things, harpsichord because Iwent in college.
I went to the piano auditionsand there was three seats and 30
people sitting there and I wasready to play Billy Joel and
Bruce Horn to be for theaudition and they were like
Tchaikovsky and I went I'm fromBrooklyn, we don't got no
Tchaikovsky and then down thehall was harpsichord and no
(40:13):
kidding.
I walked up, looked in the roomand again Flapper Avenue,
brooklyn.
I said, okay, I'm going to needa little more information.
What's a harpsichord?
How does it work and how do Iplay it?
I need to learn quickly and Ihad someone give me the concepts
and I played Stairway to Heaven.
I transcribed quickly for theharpsichord as all arpeggios
(40:35):
flowing notes, and I studiedharpsichord for four years
because it was the one I knew Icould get into as opposed to
piano.
Well, you realize that is verygood.
Harpsichord rendition ofstairway to heaven.
Yeah, it would be very surreal.
Our way to heaven very nice,all right.
Paula (40:53):
So if you could transport yourself anywhere in the world,
where would you go?
Dominick (40:57):
I love to travel and there's moments like I do say,
oh, I really want, like I wasthinking this morning I want to
get coffee at Cafe du Monde inNew Orleans and I would love.
I go to Quebec City frequentlyand I'd love to have dinner in a
nice French restaurant inQuebec City, which are all the
sides of the French empire.
Logistically it's, I guess,possible, but transporting would
(41:20):
make life beautiful and I wouldlove a Christmas.
Oh my God, it's all foodrelated.
I want the Christmas burritofrom Santa Fe.
Those are probably my top three.
I would jump between whichwould be completely illogical
and not logistical, but I wouldtransport.
Gautham (41:35):
All right, so for music and food to transport to now
the last question if you werehaving a dinner party, who are
three people that you wouldinvite to, living or dead?
Dominick (41:49):
Oh, I just would invite my closest friends.
That's easy, that was so easy.
Yeah, I enjoy the most.
Actually, my favorite ever wasmy 40th birthday.
We rented a house on the NorthFork, long Island, and we just
had our two closest friends andthe families and it was
wonderful.
It was just a weekend ofeveryone talking, making dinner.
(42:11):
It was great.
You know, we all cookedtogether.
I didn't cook, that's beyond myabilities.
Rich (42:17):
Dom, thank you very much for joining us today.
This was fantastic.
Dominick (42:21):
This was an amazingly wonderful conversation and nice
meeting you, little buddy.
Gautham (42:31):
But I am so glad I had you guys.
You guys had me on.
Well, that was definitely avery interesting conversation.
You know you started off bysaying it might be an out.
You were interested in what anoutsider's perspective was, and
I think there were multiplepoints where you could see that,
where the outsider's insightinto retail was truly
fascinating.
Rich (42:46):
Yeah, it was.
I mean, first of all, what aninteresting person.
I am going to have to see if Ican find a rendition of Stairway
to Heaven on the Harpsichord.
I don't know that it exists.
I might have to ask him torecord it.
He very effectively talkedabout how, in his media
businesses, how he has alwaysbeen part of the retail industry
(43:08):
, just from a differentperspective, and now being a
little bit more closely alignedto it and engaging with all
these different brand and retailleaders, how much he's learned
and this is the word that comesup a lot is how curious he is,
and you can just see him beingnaturally curious about
everything.
I'm trying to figure out whatlanguage he's going to learn
next.
Gautham (43:27):
Yeah, I will say like.
I think for me that was thething that stood out the most
was how multifaceted he is, andhis ability to switch between
topics and bring stories intothe conversation was really a
lesson, I think, for ourlisteners, as a way to captivate
audiences.
Rich (43:48):
Macy's and the Harry Selfridges and the retail
theater and the narrative andthe storytelling that they
created.
There is some of that and Idon't want to say it's missing,
because there's obviously verysuccessful retailers creating
(44:08):
very good stories, but not tothe extent that there was years
ago and you can see him kind ofcapturing that or talking about
that element.
Gautham (44:18):
Retail is about storytelling, right.
Ultimately, it's about makingthose movements that connect,
and you do that with stories.
Maybe it's in the physicalstore, maybe it's through actual
storytelling, but everythingboils down to that connection,
and stories are the best way tomake those connections, in my
opinion.
Rich (44:36):
Yeah, and I thought you know it was interesting because
when we were asking abouttechnology, you and I have said
we're both fascinated bytechnology and the advances.
You know we want to dive in andtalk about what the latest
technology is and then at theend we'll say but it's about
people.
When you know he sits on the onthe AI council and almost
immediately went to, it reallydoesn't matter what the tool is.
(44:57):
You've got to figure out whatthe story is, what the
connection is, what therelationship is, and the tool is
secondary.
So he really just kind ofjumped right to the point on
that one.
I will tell you what the mostsurprising answer to a question
was.
When you asked him who he wouldwant to invite for dinner, I
expected a laundry list of themost eclectic group of people
(45:22):
and for him to say I just wantto go home and have dinner with
family and friends and spend theweekend and you could see where
somebody with his energy andintellect and how engaging he is
, that he would want to justunplug and do that.
So but I will admit I wassurprised by that answer.
Gautham (45:38):
Yeah, I was too unplug and do that, so, but I will
admit I was surprised by thatanswer.
Yeah, I was too, but at thesame time it gives us a peek
into who he really is andinsight into how he operates and
what's important to him.
It came out of left field.
That was the highlight.
Rich (45:50):
Yeah, and I think that's where asking some of the uh, the
, the the less obvious questionscan can be funds.
Well, as always, it's good tosee you.
I know Paula had to, uh, had tojump off, but it was great to
see Riker, as always.
Gautham (46:05):
Yes, indeed, we should make him a member of our podcast
team.
You know, actually a lot abigger audience for us.
Rich (46:11):
It would actually, you know what.
We could get them a smallermicrophone I could try and find
one on on Amazon and, and youknow, maybe if, since we haven't
been able to convince Paula togo into retail, we could start
young with him, take himshopping, get him acclimated to
it, start him off in the stockroom.
Gautham (46:28):
There you go.
That's hope then.
Rich (46:30):
All right, great to see you, as always.
Thank you on behalf of allthree of us and a final shout
out to Dominic for joining ustoday and to all of you for
joining us on Retail Relates.
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