Building Brand Gravity: Attracting People Into Your Orbit

AI is no longer just a productivity tool. It is a channel, a leadership competency, and a pressure test on whether your story holds up across every part of your brand. Steve Halsey sits down with Hailey Driscoll, SVP of PR and Managing Director, Boston at Walker Sands, and Jon Woods, partner at Ground Floor Media, to unpack what is actually working in AI adoption and where leaders are getting stuc...

Good leaders were trained for stable times. The problem is the times are no longer stable, and “good” is no longer good enough. Anne Green sits down with David Grossman, founder and CEO of The Grossman Group and author of the new book The Heart Work of Modern Leadership: 6 Differentiators of Exceptional Leaders. Drawing on research conducted with The Harris Poll, David unpacks the three invisible...

In a crisis, facts sometimes win arguments. But trust wins you the benefit of the doubt, and the benefit of the doubt is what saves you when the story moves faster than the facts. Anne Green sits down with Bradley Akubuiro, partner at Bully Pulpit International and author of the new book Faster, Messier, Tougher: Crisis Communication Strategies in an Era of Populism, AI, and Distrust. Bradley unpa...

The agencies performing best right now are not always the biggest or the most specialized. They are the ones figuring out how to evolve alongside their clients, lead with conviction, and build something that lasts. And that includes actively reflecting on the lessons of leadership learned along the way. Anne Green sits down with Beth Cleveland, CEO of Praytell, and Laura Tomasetti, CEO and founder...

Doing the work is not enough anymore. Companies have to prove it, explain it, and make it visible, or it will not land with the people who matter. Steve Halsey sits down with Dr. Rochelle Ford, CEO of the Page Society, to dig into the latest Page and Harris Poll Confidence in Business Index. Rochelle breaks down why the confidence curve is breaking globally, how only 29 percent of consumers see bo...

AI isn’t the disruption. It’s the pressure test. In this first mailbag episode of 2026, Anne Green and Steve Halsey revisit the predictions, questions, and themes shaping the year so far, and what they reveal about leadership, value, and alignment inside organizations. From narrative as an operating system to the limits of “human in the loop,” the conversation challenges conventional thinking on p...

While AI’s impact and opportunity are top of mind for all integrated communications and PR agency executives, there is a wider disruption happening across agency business models, talent systems, and trust. The firms that evolve with and win in this next chapter will be the ones that make time to relentlessly learn, define value clearly, and keep human capabilities at the forefront – even as they a...

In an era of AI acceleration, channel fragmentation, and constant crisis, brands don’t fail because they lack tools. They fail because their narrative systems are outdated. In this episode, Anne Green and Steve Halsey unpack a core premise they have been pressure-testing with clients and inside their own business: narrative is not just what you say about the business, it is how the business runs....

Productivity is not just about speed and output. In a world of burnout, constant pings, and emergent AI, the real advantage is learning how to do less better. Anne Green welcomes author, public speaker and creativity catalyst Natalie Nixon back to Building Brand Gravity to unpack her new book, Move. Think. Rest. along with the big question it asks: how can we understand “productivity” differently?...

AI is just a new tool. It a shift in how work gets done, how brands show up, and how agencies prove value. Anne Green sits down with Aaron Kwittken, Partner and Global Head of AI + Innovation at FGS Global, to trace arc from agency builder to SaaS pioneer to enterprise AI operator. Aaron breaks down why the agentic revolution changes the game, how multi-model systems and “second screen” workflows...

Predictions are everywhere, but the real question is what is changing underneath them. In 2026, the pressure is stacking, the signals are getting noisier, and leaders will be judged on clarity and trust. Anne Green and Steve Halsey share their 2026 predictions and use them as a way to talk through the forces reshaping how brands operate and communicate. They cover the volatility “pressure stack,”...

From courtroom advocacy to the C-suite, Benjamin Thiele-Long shows why great speaking and presenting is a system, not just a script. If you want to build trust, clarity, and real influence, you need to learn fundamentals that you can use anywhere. Anne Green talks with Benjamin about his new book on public speaking, presenting, and talking to the media, and why these skills must be viewed – and cu...

What separates integrated communications and public relations agencies that grow from those that stall? Part of the answer lies where strategy meets serendipity and where chance favors those that are prepared. Anne Green sits down with Michael Lasky, chair of the public relations practice at Davis+Gilbert, to unpack the gap between aspiration and execution found in D+G’s 13th Annual Public Relatio...

When everything feels urgent, clarity wins. Trust, structure, and focus are core to who gets heard. In this mailbag edition, Steve Halsey and Anne Green take on this podcast season’s most asked questions from communicators, marketers and other leaders. They revisit the communication function’s “seat at the table” debate through the lens of reputation as a business asset, and explore how values ali...

Structure sends signals. In an AI-driven attention economy, how a company organizes its communications function can sharpen its corporate narrative or splinter it - and this has big implications for trust both inside and outside an organization's walls. Anne Green sits down with seasoned communications leader Chrissy Jones to unpack centralized and decentralized models, the real risk of fragmentat...

AI is rewriting the map of attention, and it isn’t reading your ads. To show up in answers, brands need earned authority that both people and machines trust. In this episode, Steve Halsey is joined by Muck Rack’s Head of Data, Matt Dzugan, and Loren King of MorganMyers to unpack what AI is actually citing and why it matters. They break down fresh findings from a large-scale look at ChatGPT, Claude...

Traffic is tanking. Search is splintering. And what used to count as a “PR win” may no longer be strategic. In a landscape where AI overall and large language models specifically are reshaping discovery, attention is no longer just a side effect of good content—it’s the point. But how do you earn it when the rules keep shifting? In this week’s episode, Anne Green and Steve Halsey kick things off w...

Somewhere along the way, a movement became a minefield. Ideally rooted in clear principles and purpose, the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion has morphed into a haze of acronyms, assumptions, and acrimony—and many leaders are quietly backing away. But what if the problem isn’t necessarily the work itself, but is rooted in how we talk about it and connect it with real people’s real exper...

The hype around artificial intelligence is loud, but the real story is unfolding quietly in the daily workflows of marketing and digital strategists. It’s not just about ChatGPT or flashy tools. It’s about what happens when AI meets persistent pain points, hidden frictions and fresh opportunities in real work. To kick off part two of their series on how AI is reshaping integrated marketing communi...

AI has moved from experiment to infrastructure in the world of PR—reshaping workflows, enhancing research, generating content, and becoming an essential part of the professional toolkit. But with adoption accelerating, many teams are moving faster than their policies, slower than their tools, and without a shared understanding of what this shift means for the future of the craft. Part one in our s...

Business confidence is no longer just a reflection of quarterly results—it's a barometer of public trust, strategic clarity, and leadership alignment. Yet, according to new global research from The Page Society and The Harris Poll, only 1 in 4 people believe companies can positively impact the issues that matter most. Even fewer see both the action and context that build lasting confidence. In thi...

In today’s workplace, the relationship between companies and their employees has never been more complex—or more fragile. The pressures of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world are reshaping how we work, how we lead, and how we navigate the space between personal and corporate values. For this week’s guest, Ethan McCarty , CEO & Founder of Integral , this isn’t just an aca...

What will it take to succeed in 2025? In this episode, Steve Halsey and Anne Green share their predictions for 2025, diving into the trends and strategies shaping leadership, culture, innovation, and communication. From navigating a VUCA world to leveraging AI for trust-building and empowering teams to cultivate their resilience, this conversation offers actionable insights to help leaders and bra...

The future of work is clearly no longer about clocking in at a desk. For this episode’s guest, it’s more about creating a whole new rhythm of leadership and engagement that makes work more human. Speaker, author, coach and consultant Eryc Eyl shares his unique perspective on the evolving dynamics of the workplace and challenges with how "employee engagement” is understood today. We dive into the g...

Want to know the secret to thriving in a world full of marketing buzzwords? It’s all about mastering the right blend of authenticity, technology, and real human connections to make your brand not just heard, but truly relevant and memorable. This week, host Anne Green opens up our listener mailbag to answer questions on compelling guest conversations from Season 2 episodes. This includes exploring...