The Creator's Journey tracks

Jean Freeman_Building A Business with Focus and Intent #69

Jean Freeman is the CEO of Zambezi, one of the largest female-owned businesses in the advertising industry, and has been twice named Small Agency of the Year by the industry publication, AdAge. She has been recognized as a leading advocate for the advancement of women in the advertising industry. In addition, she’s been named to Adweek’s Disruptors List, included in the “100 People Who Make Advertising Great” by the 4As, received the 3 Cheers Award from The 3% Conference, and named a Working Mother of the Year by She Runs It. Jean has also been a frequent contributor to trade publications and a respected voice on a number of issues including women in the workplace, leadership, and building a sustainable business.

Ryan Berman_Building Your Capacity for Courage #68

Ryan Berman likes to help stuck people get unstuck. As the founder of Courageous Brands, a consulting firm that encourages and helps companies develop more courageous brands and branding – as well as before that, a branding agency called i.d.e.a. - Ryan has spent a career developing meaningful stories for household brands including Hilton, Major League Baseball, PUMA, Subway, and UNICEF. He works from the foundation of belief that courage can be the ultimate competitive advantage, regardless of who you are or the business you’re in. His book ‘Return on Courage’ dives into the process of drawing on courage to do more impactful work, both personally and in your business. Using the methodology unveiled in his book, Ryan also launched Sock Problems: a charitable sock company that allows people to address various problems in the world when they purchase their themed socks. He’s a man of many talents, interests, and even more enthusiasm!

ChrisDenson_Using Curiosity and Micro-Failures to Crush the Innovation Box #67

Chris Denson is a man of many talents and interests. After earning a degree in packaging engineering and working for a few years as an engineer for Daimler-Chrysler, he packed up his Isuzu Rodeo and moved to LA based on a passing invitation from a TV executive who invited Chris to meet with him if he ever came to LA. Although the meeting never materialized, Chris stayed and began his illustrious career riding life’s roller coaster as an innovator in the marketing world. While still in college, Chris began doing stand-up comedy in clubs, a pursuit that he continued for a number of years into his career. Most importantly, it was that work that built his skills and confidence in writing, developing a sense of timing, and dealing with rejection from others. He then carried those gifts into screenwriting, production, and building an expertise in marketing based on thoughtful innovation. In 2014, Chris launched his podcast, Innovation Crush, where he hosts conversations with leaders in the world of innovation. This year, he also released his book, Crushing the Box, 10 Essential Rules for Breaking Essential Rules. In our conversation, we dig into several areas that we share in common: persistence in the face of adversity, curiosity and asking more effective questions, a willingness to live in a moderate amount of uncertainty, constantly learning through an abundance of ‘micro-failures,” and the positive and negatives of being multi-hyphenated polymaths.

Nicole Ogoff_Power of Stories to Build Deep Connections #66

Nicole Ogoff is the Chief Marketing Officer and a Managing Partner at Story Worldwide in New York, a creative branding agency known for authentic story-making on behalf of its clients. Nicole has built a reputation around her relentless pursuit of effective solutions for her clients which she does by giving enormous attention to details and setting high expectations for both her team and client relationships. Although I highly value intelligence, there are a lot of brilliant people out there, especially in the world of advertising and branding. Finding people like Nicole who are smart and excel at building deep human connections with their teams as well as clients is much rarer to encounter. As much as I’m obsessed with the story-making process and the impact that narratives have on our lives, I’ve found very few ways to measure their effectiveness for a business that uses engaging stories to connect with its audience and customers. Listening to a presentation at the 3% Conference by Nicole and Jacqueline Lieberman, the Managing Director at Story Worldwide, got me excited about sharing their approach with you on this episode. They talked about their process of business story-making and, more importantly, of measuring impact for their clients using an assessment process that I’ve not experienced. One of the insights was the way they use the twelve archetypes of narrative character development to identify a brand’s personality.

Kate Baynham_Using Humor to be More Human in Advertising #65

Humor is REALLY challenging to get right, and it doesn’t take much to have an advertising message fall far off the mark and turn people away from it altogether. Kate Baynham is an Associate Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco and has created work for clients such as Frito Lay, Adobe, Nintendo, Sonic and the Ad Council. For her work on an AD council campaign to curb bullying called, I Am A Witness, she's won awards at the One Show, the Art Directors Club, a yellow pencil at the Design & Art Directors Awards as well as a Cannes Lion. And most recently, Kate, along with her creative partner, Hanna Wittmark, was named one of the Next Creative Leaders by the One Club and 3% Movement. We talk about the importance of taking a strong point of view and her deft use of humor in the work she creates.