On Brand with Nick Westergaard

The brands we build are shaped by the cultures we build around them. But what happens when the culture tells you that parts of who you are don't quite belong? Arturo Nunez has worked inside some of the world's most influential brands, from Nike and Apple to the NBA and New Bank, and his new book, The Culture Compass, explores what it really takes to lead without leaving yourself behind. We talk ab...

What happens when a brand that once mattered stops mattering? Joey Shamah has spent more than two decades answering that question, from co-founding e.l.f. Cosmetics to building AS Beauty Group through the acquisition and reinvention of brands like Laura Geller, Bliss, CoverFX, and Julep. This week, we're talking about what makes consumers genuinely connect with a brand, how to scale without losing...

What happens to an organization when people stop believing in themselves? Dr. Cindra Kampoff is a confidence researcher and performance psychology expert who has worked with Minnesota Vikings players and Olympic athletes. Her new best-selling book, The Confidence Habit, explores the surprising connection between confidence, performance, leadership, and even employee retention. On this episode of O...

What happens to your voice when everyone has AI helping them find the right words? Gina London, an Emmy-winning former CNN correspondent and author of Amplify You , has coached tens of thousands of professionals around the world on communicating with greater intention. Her message is simple: great communication isn't about becoming louder or becoming someone else. It's about making who you are on...

Before the first Apple Store opened, the experts said it would fail within a year. But Ron Johnson saw a different story. As the retail pioneer who worked directly alongside Steve Jobs to build the Apple Store from scratch, Ron transformed retail from a simple transaction into an immersive experience. He also pioneered Target's famous high design partnerships and founded Enjoy. In this episode, we...

What if the biggest threat to your organization isn't disruption from the outside, but the way you operate inside? Tom Dennis argues that many companies have become overcontrolled and disconnected from the things that make organizations resilient: trust, adaptability, and human connection. A former Royal Marines officer, he's the founder and CEO of Serenity and Leadership and author of Rewilding t...

AI may be everywhere, but Brian Herr says the technology itself isn't the competitive advantage. The real moat, he argues, is data, distribution, and trust. As founder and CEO of Starting Blocks and managing partner at HHI Advisory Group, Brian helps startups, scale ups, and portfolio companies grow while also advising organizations on secure adoption. What You’ll Learn in This Episode How data di...

Leaders have more advice, tools, and resources than ever. So why are so many still overwhelmed? Don Gregori says we've been missing the bigger picture. He's the COO of First Factory and author of The Emergent Leader, a book about leadership, self-mastery, and building a strong brand. We're talking about what it takes to become a leader and build something that really lasts. What You’ll Learn in Th...

What can happen in 30 seconds? For Linda Kaplan Thaler, quite a lot. She’s the creative force behind some of the advertising world’s most unforgettable ideas, from the Aflac duck to “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid.” Now, in her new book, My Life in 30 Seconds, Linda looks at the small moments that can change a career or even a life. She’s here to talk about creativity, resilience, le...

Most conversations about AI focus on the technology. David Dean thinks we're looking in the wrong place. In his new book, An Inbox Between Us, AI and the Reality of Modern Work, he argues that AI is acting like a mirror, revealing the hidden workarounds, decision-making, and human judgment that have always kept organizations running. Today, we're talking about what leaders can learn from that refl...

What does it really take to turn expertise into influence? My guest this week has spent the last two decades answering that very question. Bill Sherman is the COO of Thought Leadership Leverage and co-author of the Thought Leadership Handbook. His journey into thought leadership began with a simple question from a Fortune 500 executive. How do I scale the ideas in my book? Since then, he's helped...

What if AI isn't just changing marketing, but changing what a brand actually is? Melissa Jackson-Parsey has spent her career helping some of the world's most recognizable organizations reinvent themselves at the intersection of strategy, creativity, technology, and experience. As Global Chief Strategy Officer at RGA, She leads a worldwide team shaping brands for the intelligence age, from rebootin...

What if the qualities we call “uncommon leadership” are actually the ones that should be ordinary? After leading at IBM, AT&T, Pitney Bowes, SuperValu, and Walmart through decades of transformation, Keith Wyche argues that the leaders who endure aren't simply the smartest or the most innovative—they're the ones who consistently lead with integrity, humility, and trust. His new book, Uncommon L...

How do you go from producing Dirty Dancing to building the global Mortal Kombat franchise? Today’s guest, legendary producer Larry Kasanoff, has raised over a billion dollars by embracing what others call a little bit crazy. He has shaped the entertainment landscape by constantly fighting the current of mediocrity. Today, we are breaking down how to lead through massive industry shifts and build b...

What makes you different? Do you have a concise and compelling answer to that question? When it comes to positioning, less is more. But too often, companies get wordy and convoluted, losing the plot in a sea of text. Emma and Adam Ketterer argue that true clarity comes from radical constraints. In their new book, Eight Words or Fewer, this marketing duo shares how to distill your difference into a...

Your team isn’t trying to sabotage your new corporate strategy—their brains are just wired to fight it. In this episode, Salesforce change leader and neuroscience expert Travis D. Hahler shares insights from his new book, Rethink Resistance. Discover the biological reasons why 70 percent of corporate transformations fail, and how leaders can stop fighting human nature and start working with it. Wh...

We like to think our buying decisions are completely rational and deliberate. The truth is that most consumer behavior is driven by subconscious perception and invisible mindstates that leaders completely miss. When we design brand strategies for the logical mind, we miss the actual human experience. Our next guest spent years inside PepsiCo unlocking how consumers really think. Now he is helping...

When Addison Rae headlined Coachella this year and the crowd lost it to “Fame Is a Gun,” the cultural momentum felt instant. But the social infrastructure behind that track was built months in advance, one creator at a time, by Griffin Haddrill and his team at LV8. By moving past the standard 48-hour launch spike and focusing on an always-on creator strategy, they drove over 80 million views and a...

The perk trap is costing organizations thousands while leaving teams burned out. Yolanda Fraction, author of the book Joyful Workplaces, joins us to share how leaders can move past surface-level culture and design systems that deliver both joy and results. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why multi-billion dollar corporate perks like unlimited PTO and cold brew fail to fix the root causes of team...

Branding is losing its personality. In the race for digital efficiency, the world has succumbed to “blanding”—clean, neutral, and entirely safe design built for algorithms instead of people. Mark Nichols, Creative Director and Co-Owner of WMH&I, joins the show to challenge this rise of system-friendly simplicity. He shares why the brands that truly matter must push against global scalability, embr...

What if the secret to a high-performing team isn’t found in a pep talk or a personality test but in the cold, hard data of behavioral science? Today we are joined by Dr. Ron Friedman, an award-winning psychologist and author of the new book Superteams. We dive into the science-backed strategies that transform a group of individuals into a cohesive powerhouse, challenging the myths of traditional m...

Building a brand that lasts requires a bundle of promises, an uncompromising dedication to craft, and a healthy dose of grit. Monica Nassif, the force behind Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, didn’t just disrupt a tired $30 billion category—she bottled a legacy. From raising capital to fueling creative muscle, she knows exactly what it takes to turn an authentic story into a market-shifting powerhouse. What...

How does a brand move from being a commodity to being a community? Scott Woodward joins the show to discuss why kindness is no longer a "soft" marketing line but a high-leverage strategic advantage that drives everything from customer acquisition to 76% higher employee engagement. What You’ll Learn in This Episode - The secret history of Ray-Ban's cultural dominance through product integration - W...

Personal branding isn't about the perfect headshot or a polished LinkedIn bio anymore. In an AI-saturated world, the leaders who stand out are the ones brave enough to lead with intuition rather than just data. Elizabeth Rosenberg is helping the C-suite find their unfiltered voice and reclaim their spiritual health before they hit a wall. What You’ll Learn in This Episode How to harness intuitive...

We all claim to have values, but do we actually know how to use them when the stakes are high? Paul Ingram, the Kravis Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and author of What Do You Really Stand For?, joins us to dismantle the “corporate poster” approach to values. He shares a research-backed framework for identifying your true North Star and, more importantly, how to turn those abstr...