What Is Your Leadership For?
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is the Junior Senator from the State of New York.
Running for public office places you in a spotlight that is white hot. Being clear why you’ve made the choice to run in the first place is table stakes for creating the life you want to live and the legacy you want to leave behind.
What Do You Think And Why?
Tom O’Keefe and Jeff King are two of the four partners who have just merged their respective businesses, OKRP and Barkley.
When we are clear about why we think what we think, when we are free of insecurity or hubris or ego, then we can assess an alternative path with an open mind.
Mergers provoke the need to lead through this lens.
How Vulnerable Is Too Vulnerable?
Anselmo Ramos is the Co-Founder and Creative Chairman of GUT, a global independent creative agency that’s headquartered in Miami, and with six other offices around the world.
How vulnerable is too vulnerable?
The answer, of course, depends on the culture that you have created. If your culture is based on deep and enduring emotional trust, you give people the ability to show up as complex, multifaceted humans, to show up as whole beings.
Are You Conscious Of Your Choices?
Kara Swisher is the most effective and successful tech journalist of our lifetimes.
In a world of white men with giant bank accounts and even bigger egos, how did this 5 feet 2 inch, self-described, liberal lesbian mother of four, end up as the most influential and insightful reporter of the technology age?
As you’ll hear, Kara puts it down to curiosity, confidence, and understanding the choices available to her.
This week’s guest is Avery Baker. She’s 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 businesses. We call it 'Partnership Leadership'.
Nils Leonard is the co-founder of Uncommon.
Nils describes the role of leaders in moments like this as dealers in hope.
We also talked about recognizing the energy that different people bring and tapping into that. About the benefit of giving people time to focus. About what’s going to happen to society’s complacency. And why, to quote Virginia Wolf, “you can’t find peace by avoiding life”.
Mindy Grossman is the CEO of WW - formerly Weight Watchers.
Mindy is one of the clearest, and most effective leaders I’ve ever met.
We talked about hiring for culture, about practicing offense versus defense in times of crisis and about empowering other people to lead.
With this episode, we’re launching Season 2 - which we’ve sub-titled, “Leading In the Time of Virus”.
These are shorter, focused conversations in which we discover how some of the world’s most innovative and creative leaders are adapting their leadership to our new reality.
Karim Bartoletti is a partner in Indiana Production - a multimedia production company. He is living in Milan at the epicenter of the region hardest hit by the virus so far.
I recorded this episode just over 2 week ago. Before the world changed. It’s a conversation with Madeleine Grynsztejn - the Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Over the last few days, I’ve thought a lot about whether to publish this episode because so much of what we talked about seems at first glance to be from a different reality.
But I think, it’s an important interview for a couple of critical reasons.
Madeleine talks about the role of art and the role of museums in both reflecting and shaping society. About the importance of constantly looking for the things that we don’t know, for breaking our own assumptions of what happens next.
Suddenly, that feels like the most important question for us to start raising as leaders.
Cecile Richards is the co-founder of Supermajority, which describes itself as a new home for women's activism that is fighting for gender equality. Before that, she spent 12 years as the President of Planned Parenthood, a that provides to 2.5 million women annually.
Public service and activism are part of Cecile’s DNA.
Her mother — Ann Richards — shattered conventional wisdom when, as a woman and a Democrat, she was elected Governor of Texas in 1990.
In the seventh grade, Cecile was taken to the principal’s office for wearing an armband in protest of the Vietnam War.
In the eighth grade, she brought food to the strikers on a picket line in her hometown of Austin.
Her first job after college, was as a union organizer in New Orleans, helping hotel workers trying to get by on minimum wage.
Cecile has been called “the most badass feminist EVER” and “The heroine of the resistance”.
Anne Devereux-Mills is the founder of Parlay House, which describes itself as a modern salon for women. Their mission is to provide a safe and supportive environment in which women can have authentic conversations and build meaningful relationships.
Anne has been the CEO of multiple companies. She’s also a wife, a mother and a four-time cancer survivor.
This episode is called, The ‘How Do I Spend My Time’ Leader.
Carter Murray is the global CEO of FCB. He is 6’7” and shows up larger than that. In his own words, he lives on the front foot, charging forward.
But the truth is more complex.
When he took the job 7 years ago, the agency was named DraftFCB and was seen by most observers as a turnaround. Others wondered if the world needed FCB anymore.
But some people had a different view. The people that still worked there.
This episode is called “The Listening Leader”.
Sarah Moffat is the Global Chief Creative Officer of Turner Duckworth - a design company that was formed in London in 1992 by David Turner and Bruce Duckworth.
Bruce and David are still around, but they don’t run the business any more. In late 2018 they handed over the reins to two long-term employees - Joanne Chan who became CEO and to Sarah.
New title, new responsibilities, new expectations. How do you make that transition successfully?
This episode is called “The ‘Do You, Boo’ Leader”.
Brad Hiranaga is a disruptor and a change agent. Working inside one of the world’s most storied and established companies, he is bringing about systemic change to the way General Mills shows up in the world.
Unlocking creative and innovative thinking at scale requires not just an ability to take risks but a willingness to search for them.
Marc Maltz describes himself as an organizational clinician, and he’s brilliant at getting the CEOs of tech companies and their senior teams to work together more effectively.
Marc has become a good friend and I have huge respect for his work and how he does it and I thought it would be invaluable to hear his thinking on some of the issues I see every day in my own work.
Whether you’re writing code or ads, whether you’re building platforms or teams, the need to unlock creative and innovative thinking sits at the heart of the world’s most valuable businesses.
And what makes that heart beat is trust.
This podcast has listeners in 84 countries. Most of those are pretty open, democratic societies where freedom of thought and movement are both expectations and rights.
Born and raised in Russia, Leonid Sudakov had neither in his formative years. His father was not allowed a passport until he was 50. Leonid didn’t meet a foreigner until he was 16, when he moved to Moscow carrying with him a bag of potatoes and his wits.
From these beginnings he has become an exceptionally creative and thoughtful leader, unlocking innovative and creative thinking at every stop, including 3 years as the global CMO for Mars Petcare, a $20 billion global business.
We are all heavily influenced by our upbringing. Whether we use those experiences as catalysts or obstacles depends on how we see them.
I’ve learned a lot in the three years since I started this podcast.
Carl Johnson was my second interview. I was re-reading the transcript the other day and was struck by the fact that so much of what Carl said was timeless. The insights and understanding he offered haven’t decayed. In fact, I find that they are more valuable than ever. So I’m going to replay that interview. Whether you’ve listened to it before or not, I’d encourage you to hear what he has to say.
This episode is called, “The Unreasonable Man”.
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI represents 190,000 British businesses, and campaigns the government for policies that support the needs of companies up and down the land.
When Dame Carolyn took the job in the summer of 2015, a vote on whether Britain should leave Europe was a David Cameron election promise. A year later, Brexit had become the greatest driver of uncertainty and hostility in the British economy. Almost four years after that, it still is.
It’s much easier to lead when things are going well, the future is clear and results are trending up.
It’s a different story when you’re faced with endless uncertainty and personal attacks. In those conditions, staying the course and showing up every day requires something more than short-term goals. Something more than quarterly earnings reports or the next industry award.
You’ve got to be clear of the difference you want to make.
Caroline is one of the co-founders of Have Her Back Consulting. They describe themselves as a culture consultancy, and they work with brands and companies to advance gender equity for women while driving business outcomes.
Have Her Back was formed in the slipstream of Times’s Up and MeToo. For many, the realization that systemic harassment has been going on every day for years has hit like a tidal wave.
In that tsunami, I’ve found it easy to understand the issues intellectually. But, I’ve sometimes found it difficult to fully feel what it is like to be someone who has experienced them first-hand. My conversation with Caroline changed that.
This episode is called, “The Female Leader”.
“You can't believe it happened, except it happened. I think they thought they were being complimentary at the time. I have been told that I am fuckable by people that I work with. I could go on and on and on. I think what startles people is at least two of those examples happened within the last two years.”
Marc Pritchard is the CMO of Procter & Gamble -- the largest advertiser in the world. Over 4 billion people buy P&G brands which means the choices the company makes have staggering human, as well as business, implications.
Marc’s leadership journey has brought him to a position of enormous influence. As you’ll hear, that journey has been marked by his willingness to look at himself honestly. To listen to other people’s observations about his leadership, and to consistently raise his own expectations of himself.
This episode is called, “The Vulnerable Leader”.
Simon Cook is the Managing Director of Cannes Lions. In my experience, it is the most valuable business week of the year, the convergence of people and ideas creating new networks of both the neural and personal kind.
Simon and the Cannes Lions team believe that creativity is a catalyst for business and personal growth. If you’ve listened to this podcast before you know that I do too. Passionately.
In fact it’s why this podcast exists. To unlock the most powerful fuel available to the business world - creativity - through the most valuable levers - business leaders.
This is not an easy challenge. It is not a straight line. For the simple reason that creativity confuses people.
Marcel Marcondes is the U.S. Chief Marketing Officer for Anheuser-Busch.
He wants to make a difference. He’s clear about what that looks like. And he’s deliberate about bringing others into that journey.
This episode is called, “The Focused Leader”.
This is my conversation with Trey Laird - the founder of Laird and Partners. His company works with many of the world’s most iconic fashion, beauty, and luxury, brands.
Trey is a pioneer. And as you’ll hear, he steps in to possibility.
"The Creative Leader"
Sir Martin Sorrell has been called many things in the 34 years since he founded WPP.
Some people have described him to me as the most supportive and insightful leader they’ve ever worked for.
Others have been much less charitable. Much less.
I wanted some insight into the complexities of a leader who drives so much opinion. To better understand how he sees himself.
What I learned surprised me.
This is the 100th episode of ‘Fearless Creative Leadership’.
So what stands out 100 episodes in? What makes fearless creative leaders successful? If you’ve listened to even a few of these conversations you’ll know there are many themes. But, two show up over and over again.
The best leaders are hopeful.
And the best leaders listen.
And that’s a real change in how the role of leadership has been defined for the last fifty years.
In this episode, I sit down with my guests from Episode 1 - Justin Stefano and Philippe von Borries, the founders of Refinery29 - about what they've learned in the two years since our first conversation.
Note: We talk about Zappos management structure and philosophy. It's called Holocracy.
