Fearless Creative Leadership

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Avery Baker is the former President and Chief Brand Officer of Tommy Hilfiger. Six months after she stepped down from her position at Tommy, we talk about her desire to empower others and why it's an essential skill to demonstrate as a leader.  We also discuss the new leadership paradigm that we have developed together for creative and innovative busines...

Who lit the fire in your life? Dr. Jerry Gustafson  is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Beloit College and the Founder of the Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit, known as CELEB . Jerry was also my faculty advisor when I was an undergrad, and the person who, without question, lit the fire in my life. CELEB is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The difference that...

What do you think needs doing? And are you doing it? This episode is a re-publication of my interview with Cecile Richards from March 2020. It was the last in-person interview I recorded before the world shut down two days later. Forgive me, for a moment. I want to take you on a short journey. For those of you that don't know her, Cecile Richards is one of the most extraordinary leaders of our tim...

Are you waiting for someone else to give you permission? Greg Hahn is the Co-Founder & CCO of Mischief USA . This is Greg's third appearance on the show. His first was two weeks after being fired by BBDO. His second was two years ago, a few days after Mischief were named Agency of the year by the Ad Age A List Awards. Last year, they were named Adweek's Agency of the year. Towards the end of this...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Are you waiting for someone else to give you permission? Greg Hahn is the Co-Founder & CCO of Mischief USA . This is Greg's third appearance on the show. His first was two weeks after being fired by BBDO. His second was two years ago, a few days after Mischief were named Agency of the year by the Ad Age A List Awards. Last year, they were named Adweek's...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Are you waiting for someone else to give you permission? Greg Hahn is the Co-Founder & CCO of Mischief USA . This is Greg's third appearance on the show. His first was two weeks after being fired by BBDO. His second was two years ago, a few days after Mischief were named Agency of the year by the Ad Age A List Awards. Last year, they were named Adweek's...

I met Alain Sylvain only once. We recorded a podcast at the very end of October in 2018.  I remembered it long after, and looking back, was conscious that my own thinking evolved as a result of our conversation. The news of his tragic death last month has had a profound impact on many people I know. I debated whether it was helpful or not to reload this conversation.  After listening to it again,...

What do you have a responsibility to? Marty Baron is the former editor of the Boston Globe, and the former executive editor of the Washington Post. The newsrooms under his leadership won 17 Pulitzer Prizes. At the Globe, he instigated the investigation into the sexual abuse conducted by the Catholic Church in Boston, and which was turned into the Academy Award winning movie, Spotlight .  The list...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What do you have a responsibility to? Marty Baron is the former editor of the Boston Globe, and the former executive editor of the Washington Post. The newsrooms under his leadership won 17 Pulitzer Prizes. At the Globe, he instigated the investigation into the sexual abuse conducted by the Catholic Church in Boston, and which was turned into the Academy...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What do you have a responsibility to? Marty Baron is the former editor of the Boston Globe, and the former executive editor of the Washington Post. The newsrooms under his leadership won 17 Pulitzer Prizes. At the Globe, he instigated the investigation into the sexual abuse conducted by the Catholic Church in Boston, and which was turned into the Academy...

Can you hear yourself think? DeEtta Jones  is the founder of one of the world's leading EDI training and strategy consultancies. She's seen leadership and leaders through many lenses. And she's learned that the best of them are not necessarily the ones making the most noise. Leadership is changing in real time. I see evidence everywhere, every day. The beliefs we have grown up with about leadershi...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Can you hear yourself think? DeEtta Jones  is the founder of one of the world's leading EDI training and strategy consultancies. She's seen leadership and leaders through many lenses. And she's learned that the best of them are not necessarily the ones making the most noise. Leadership is changing in real time. I see evidence everywhere, every day. The b...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Can you hear yourself think? DeEtta Jones  is the founder of one of the world's leading EDI training and strategy consultancies. She's seen leadership and leaders through many lenses. And she's learned that the best of them are not necessarily the ones making the most noise. Leadership is changing in real time. I see evidence everywhere, every day. The b...

Are you taking care of yourself? Nancy Hill is the CEO of  Marcus Thomas , and the former CEO of the 4As. She was named by Advertising Age as one of the '100 Most Influential Women in Advertising History'. Nancy recently wrote an article for AdAge. The link is in the show notes for this episode. In the piece, she describes discovering that she was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Lea...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Are you taking care of yourself? Nancy Hill is the CEO of Marcus Thomas , and the former CEO of the 4As. She was named by Advertising Age as one of the '100 Most Influential Women in Advertising History'. Nancy recently wrote an article for AdAge. The link is in the show notes for this episode. In the piece, she describes discovering that she was sufferi...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Are you taking care of yourself? Nancy Hill is the CEO of Marcus Thomas , and the former CEO of the 4As. She was named by Advertising Age as one of the '100 Most Influential Women in Advertising History'. Nancy recently wrote an article for AdAge. The link is in the show notes for this episode. In the piece, she describes discovering that she was sufferi...

What triggers you? Kate Rouch is the Chief Marketing Officer at Coinbase . October was Mental Health Month. But the truth is, every month should be. And when you're the leader, every month is. Leadership, at its best, is a selfless act. A desire to help others reach a future that is better than the present. Many, many things can get in the way. Most of them we know about before we start. A few oth...

What triggers you? Kate Rouch is the Chief Marketing Officer at Coinbase . October was Mental Health Month. But the truth is, every month should be. And when you're the leader, every month is. Leadership, at its best, is a selfless act. A desire to help others reach a future that is better than the present. Many, many things can get in the way. Most of them we know about before we start. A few oth...

This week, we're re-airing a conversation I had with Tiffany Rolfe early in 2022. In the eighteen months since we published this episode, the world has grown even more complicated and uncertain. And the line between work and home even more blurred.  Tiffany has added the responsibilities of Global Chair of R/GA to her Global Chief Creative Officer role.   What we need from our leaders is increasin...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. This week, we're re-airing a conversation I had with Tiffany Rolfe early in 2022. In the eighteen months since we published this episode, the world has grown even more complicated and uncertain. And the line between work and home even more blurred.  Tiffany has added the responsibilities of Global Chair of R/GA to her Global Chief Creative Officer role....

What do you know about who you want to be? Rick Brim is the Global Chief Creative Officer at adam&eveDDB . Rick was on the podcast four and half years ago in early 2019. I called that episode, "The 'I Don't Know' Leader", to highlight Rick's point that it's okay for leaders not to know the answer every time. I suspect, if you asked him today, he'd feel the same way. As would I. Leaders are not sup...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What do you know about who you want to be? Rick Brim is the Global Chief Creative Officer at adam&eveDDB . Rick was on the podcast four and half years ago in early 2019. I called that episode, "The 'I Don't Know' Leader", to highlight Rick's point that it's okay for leaders not to know the answer every time. I suspect, if you asked him today, he'd feel t...

What do you know about who you want to be? Rick Brim is the Global Chief Creative Officer at adam&eveDDB . Rick was on the podcast four and half years ago in early 2019. I called that episode, "The 'I Don't Know' Leader", to highlight Rick's point that it's okay for leaders not to know the answer every time. I suspect, if you asked him today, he'd feel the same way. As would I. Leaders are not sup...

What makes great happen? Robert Brunner was the Director of Industrial Design for Apple, a Partner at Pentagram and the Chief Designer of Beats by Dr. Dre, before becoming the Founder of Ammunition . They describe themselves as a design studio dedicated to bringing products and services that matter to market. He was named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business," and his work is in...

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What makes great happen? Robert Brunner was the Director of Industrial Design for Apple, a Partner at Pentagram and the Chief Designer of Beats by Dr. Dre, before becoming the Founder of  Ammunition . They describe themselves as a design studio dedicated to bringing products and services that matter to market. He was named one of Fast Company's "Most Cre...