Fearless Creative Leadership

"Owned By No One - Part 1". I'm just back from the Cannes Lions festival of creativity and recorded some podcasts while I was there. This is the first of them. The topic is the idea of Nils Leonard - founder of Uncommon and a guest on "Fearless" a couple of years ago. Creativity requires risk and uncertainty. Two attributes that the business world has developed powerful resistance to. Want to try something new? In a publicly traded company, you've got to convince the c-suite, the board, the analysts and the shareholders. That's a lot of institutional antibodies. What then of the flip side of ownership? When you own the company yourself? Does that more easily produce the conditions in which creativity and innovation can thrive? In this conversation I'm joined in the Vice Penthouse overlooking the Croisette in Cannes by three people who have previously been guests on ˜Fearless' - Nils Leonard of Uncommon, Alex Goat of Livityand Mohan Ramaswamy of Work & Co. And by Spencer Baim, who is the Chief Brand Officer of Vice Media.

"Owned By No One - Part 1". A 15 minute edited highlight of our full-length conversation. Creativity requires risk and uncertainty. Two attributes that the business world has developed powerful resistance to. What then of the flip side of ownership? When you own the company yourself? Does that more easily produce the conditions in which creativity and innovation can thrive? In this conversation I’m joined by Nils Leonard of Uncommon, Alex Goat of Livity and Mohan Ramaswamy of Work and Co. And by Spencer Baim, the Chief Brand Officer of Vice.

"The Legacy Builder." Josh Wyatt is the CEO of Neuehouse. I've been producing this podcast for over two years and have interviewed almost a hundred leaders. In my role as a confidant and advisor to some of the most creative leaders in the world, I've gotten to know many more. This conversation with Josh Wyatt has stayed with me in the days since we recorded it, as much as any of them. Josh wants to make a difference, for his family, his friends, his partners and his talent - his description for the people that work for him. Josh's desire and determination to make a difference are not unique. The circumstances of his life, the environment that created that desire and determination, are. His is an extraordinary story. Of Leadership. Of legacy. And of life.

"The Legacy Builder". A 15 minute edited highlight of our full-length conversation. Josh Wyatt is the CEO of Neuehouse. He wants to make a difference, for his family, his friends, his partners and his talent - his description for the people that work for him. Josh's desire and determination to make a difference are not unique. The circumstances of his life, the environment that created that desire and determination, are. His is an extraordinary story. Of Leadership. Of legacy. And of life.

"The Honest CEO". A 15 minute edited highlight of our full-length conversation. Joanne McKinney is the CEO of Burns Group- an advertising brand consultancy and innovation company. She's worked on the agency and client side. She's lived and worked in the US and in Europe. She's started her own company, been named one of 24 global agency innovators by The Internationalist, and has succeeded at every step of her career. And while doing all that she's been a wife and a mother to two children. She's a year into being a CEO. She's smart, self aware and honest.

"The Honest CEO". A 15 minute edited highlight of our full-length conversation. Joanne McKinney is the CEO of Burns Group- an advertising brand consultancy and innovation company. She's worked on the agency and client side. She's lived and worked in the US and in Europe. She's started her own company, been named one of 24 global agency innovators by The Internationalist, and has succeeded at every step of her career. And while doing all that she's been a wife and a mother to two children. She's a year into being a CEO. She's smart, self aware and honest.

"The Boy Scout". I first interviewed Eric Baldwin two years ago when he and his new partner Jason Bagley came on the show, 6 months after they had been named to run Wieden + Kennedy Portland. I wanted to talk to him this time about what he's learned about leadership two years later with two agency of the year titles under their belt as well as being named Fast Company's most innovative marketing company of the year and just this week being named agency of the year by the One Show. We've worked together closely over those two years and Eric Baldwin is one of the most honest people I know. But even he lies. Which in his case is particularly surprising. Because Eric is a Boy Scout. Literally.

"The Boy Scout". A 15 minute edited highlight of our full-length conversation. I first interviewed Eric Baldwin two years ago when he and his new partner Jason Bagley came on the show, 6 months after they had been named to run Wieden + Kennedy Portland. I wanted to talk to him this time about what he's learned about leadership two years later with two agency of the year titles under their belt as well as being named Fast Company's most innovative marketing company of the year and just this week being named agency of the year by the One Show. We've worked together closely over those two years and Eric Baldwin is one of the most honest people I know. But even he lies. Which in his case is particularly surprising. Because Eric is a Boy Scout. Literally.

"The Dancer". Julie Kent has not always been Julie Kent. The Kent name was suggested to her by Mikail Baryshnikov when he asked her to co-star in his film The Dancers just after he had watched her audition for the American Ballet Theatre in New York. Julie went on to become the longest-serving ballerina in American Ballet Theatre's 75-year history, and performed as a principal dancer for 23 years. She has danced in well over 100 ballets, been named one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People", and in 2016, she became the Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet. She is a world-renowned star by any definition.

"The Dancer". A 15 minute edited highlight of our full-length conversation. Julie Kent has not always been Julie Kent. The Kent name was suggested to her by Mikail Baryshnikov when he asked her to co-star in his film The Dancers just after he had watched her audition for the American Ballet Theatre in New York. Julie went on to become the longest-serving ballerina in American Ballet Theatre's 75-year history, and performed as a principal dancer for 23 years. She has danced in well over 100 ballets, been named one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People", and in 2016, she became the Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet. She is a world-renowned star by any definition.