DesuckifyWork®

I’ve been trying to embrace the idea of experiments lately. Treating decisions as test and learn opportunities instead of my usual m.o. of assuming I’ll be stuck with the consequences of every decision for eternity. I recommend this approach to a lot of my clients. Figured I might as well take my own medicine. So, here’s my latest experiment. A new podcast format I’m calling “MicroPods.” Each one...

To bee or not to bee. That is the question. Siobhan McHale —author, influencer and change leader—has the answer. To be the best humanity can be, we should be more like bees. How can that be? The hive mind is key. Embracing this bee-like way of being can help us solve the biggest challenges we face as humans. We’ll be a lot better off if we can learn to follow the LENS model of bee behavior: 🐱 Loo...

The squeeze is real. We all feel it. Faster, faster, faster. More, more, more. React, respond. React, respond. React, respond. The machinification of humanity is in full force. And we feel powerless to resist. What if we stopped resisting and started delegating? Feeding our most hated work to the machines, creating process for the stuff that saps our soul, leaving more room for what makes us truly...

NOTE: We shared this post earlier in the week without the podcast audio link. Apologies for the mistake. Here is the updated post with the embedded episode. Her name is Renee,  which rhymes with play,  which is something she believes we should do every day.  She’s this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast guest.  She knows when we play, we’re at our best.  We’re creative and alive, energetic and wise We...

Is Rex Sikes the most interesting man in the world?  He’s in the running, in my book. He’s a true renaissance man—an actor, author, educator, master hypnotherapist and a seemingly endless source of insight about the human condition.  And lucky for us, he is this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.  We talked about how we can embrace our humanness more fully in the workplace to create the k...

Some of the world's best communications companies have some of the worst internal communication you'll ever witness. I spent over 25 years at ad agencies and have experienced this not so delicious irony firstand, many times. We make assumptions, seeing our peers as avatars for what we need done instead of as beautifully flawed human beings working towards a shared goal. We sit in silos and judge t...

We need more joy in the world.  And despite what some may think, there is no joy fairy waiting in the wings to spread that beautiful feeling over all of us like pixie dust.  Joy is an act of creation. And it’s on each of us to do the creating. A smile here, an atta boy there, a joke in the middle of a dreadful meeting there.  It can also come from reliable WiFi, a well brewed cup of coffee or a ro...

Bob Dylan. Taylor Swift. Sam Cooke. Klaus Meine. And now, Kristen Lisanti . What unites these four songwriters and this one executive coach, speaker and trainer? Change. From the personal to the political to the cultural and corporate, change is a constant theme in our our lives. And we don’t always like it. (He says, as he prays to the gods of gravity to delay the inevitable melding of face and t...

Two thirds of the global workforce is disengaged. That’s about 2.3 billion people feeling “meh” or much worse about their work. The cost of that disengagement is about $9 trillion, annually.  Good thing we don’t have any significant problems to deal with that could benefit from some of that lost cash.  If we did, we might pay more attention to those engagement numbers. Maybe even make a big deal o...

You can’t spit on LinkedIn without hitting at least ten coaches.  But how many of them actually know what they’re doing? The best way to learn is to observe them in the wild. Noting their presence. Scrutinizing their questioning skills. Detecting their ability to unearth insights and share them generously, without attachment. Seeing how well they listen.  That’s a big one.  I had the opportunity t...

What’s the purpose of your ad agency? And don’t tell me it’s to make great work. That’s table stakes. Or in some cases, total BS. What’s your point of view. What are you trying to change? What impact do you want to have?  I’ve worked at agencies for over 25 years and I’m not sure I was ever clear on what any agency was really all about. And we wonder why so many clients feel the same thing.  Now,...

Your success is killing you.  Sacrificing yourself for the chase. The money, the awards, the status. Making your parents proud. Making your friends envious. Making yourself sick.  Because you are getting lost in the process.  This is what happens when we achieve without a well defined purpose. And it’s at the source of so much pain we see every day. Burnout. Substance abuse. Failed relationships....

What if I told you that you could spell resilience with three letters. And an umlaut.  Meet Zoë.  Zoë Dalton is this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast. And her story will impress, inspire and invite you to look within and see what you’re really made of.  With $30.28 to her name, newly unemployed, coming off an abusive marriage and with two young kids in tow, Zoe was literally starting ove...

Work sucks when it’s harder than it has to be.  It’s even worse when we’re the ones making it harder.  As creatives, we resist structure. It’s confining. It’s corporate. It’s boring.  It will also blow up your career in the best way possible. Just ask Dan Nelken , today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast.  Dan is a best selling author, has over 40,000 LinkedIn followers and has created courses,...

You’re a selfish b*****d.  You spend all day doing things. Work things. Family things. Community things. You’re busy as hell. Impacting people everywhere you go.  But you’re not making time for you. You know, that dude or dudette in the mirror who stares back at you pleadingly, begging for some relief.  Maybe tomorrow, you think as you run off to do more stuff. Important stuff! People are counting...

If agencies are from Mars, where are clients from? Don’t answer that.  Instead, listen to Leesa Eichberger , today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast. Leesa has been leading marketing at large brands for a while now, including stints as a CMO at Jenny Craig and Head of Brand for Farmer’s Insurance. Full disclosure, we also worked together while I was at Chiat years ago and she ran marketing for...

Chris McMahon may just be the most thoughtful human in advertising.  Everything about him, from his presence and demeanor to the way he connects the dots between each facet of his life to develop and hone his approach to leadership, is inspiring and illuminating.  Now, if you’ve spent more than a minute in advertising, you know that for every Chris, there at least a few (hundred) not Chris-es.  On...

NOTE: We had some technical difficulties with the recording of this episode and apologize for any quality issues. You’re getting very, very, emotionally healthy. Very, very, emotionally healthy… This is the power of combining coaching with hypnotherapy. Something today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast does quite well. She also does a great job busting the myths and misconceptions around hypno...

If you get a chance to bring George Tannenbaum on your podcast, you do it. And if you’re smart, you keep him on the line for as long as possible.  I’m feeling pretty wise right about now. And you will too after watching or listening to this nearly 2-hour conversation with the most prolific human in advertising.  George has opinions on a lot of things and he shares a bunch during this episode.  🐱...

What does the ad agency of tomorrow look like? If you think you know, you’re probably wrong. If you think you’d like to help figure it out, you should talk to Jordan Atlas , today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast.  Jordan’s been figuring stuff out before most of us, for the past 20+ years. He got curious about digital, before digital became everything. He moved across the country with his wif...

Has the ad industry lost its swagger?  All indications say yes. We devalue our product (commodity pricing), we struggle to differentiate our agencies (most seem interchangeable) and we have spent so many years chasing so many trends it’s not even clear what we actually do anymore.  It’s tough to show up with any level of confidence when those things are true.  But what if we could get our swagger...

Can writing a book make you a better leader? A better employee? A better human? Vicky Quinn Fraser thinks so. Vicky is this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast and she believes writing can help each of us uncover the deeper meaning in our work, even in the seemingly mundane tasks.  Imagine that.  Writing as a tool of self discovery. To stem the swirl inside our skull. And help us find joy i...

There are 8 billion people in the world. And sometimes we feel like we’re responsible for all of them.  This is the curse of social media. We know everything. We see a world on fire. And we want to fix it. But we can’t. Not all of it.  We need to resist this urge to take it all on and instead do our part.  Our 1/8,000,000,000th share.  This wisdom comes courtesy of Nell Derick Debevoise , today’s...

The return to office movement is BS.  Not because going back to the office is a bad thing. It can be wonderful. But because leaders have gaslit their teams, saying it’s all about creating community and connection.  Sorry, but putting people side by side answering emails all day is not community.  That’s just one of the many brilliant bits of insight from today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast...

We’re all gonna die.  This is the good news brought to us by Jodi Wellman , today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast.  Jodi is an author, speaker and all around fascinating human. And she’s here to tell us why the grim reaper is your new best friend. When you let Mr. Reaper into your life, everything gets better. You live more deeply, with more purpose, have more fun, try new things.  You embra...