Fearless Creative Leadership

'The Servant Leaders'. In 2018, KFC was named marketer of the year. Wieden + Kennedy were named agency of the year. And their partnership produced the Campaign of the year. Their partnership is driving business results and changing culture. It's also the embodiment of the Wieden + Kennedy philosophy that Jason Bagley and Eric Baldwin described in our podcast last year - a philosophy they describe as 'branded everything'. George Felix and Jesse Johnson are the two people at the heart of this very modern creative partnership.

'The One-of-Many Leader'. This is my conversation with Mohan Ramaswamy - one of the partners of Work & Co. Mohan and I recorded this conversation at the Cannes Creativity Festival in June. Work and Co is unusual because they have 14 partners - all of whom are involved in all the major decisions of the company. For a business whose reputation and success has grown rapidly, that kind of community leadership is rare.

'The Empowering Leader'. This is my conversation with Avery Baker - the Chief Brand Officer of Tommy Hilfiger. It was recorded live on stage as part of this year's Cannes Creativity festival. Over the last two years, Avery has been instrumental in changing how Tommy Hilfiger shows up in the world. From a business that required five months to take clothes from the runway to the consumer, she led an internal and external revolution that produced a brand capable of delivering 'see now buy now' fashion. I wanted to talk to her about how she encouraged so many people across the organization to take the leap with her, and how she learned to push herself out of her own comfort zone in the process.

'The One-Company Leader'. I first met John Seifert in 1983. We were both working at Ogilvy & Mather in New York on the TWA business. The world was very different back then. What hasn't changed much is John. John and Ogilvy always seemed to fit together. You couldn't imagine hime working anywhere else. Thirty nine years later, he still hasn't. Today he is the company's CEO. In an era and industry defined by upheaval, I wanted to talk to John about why he has stayed at one company for so long.

'The Son'. This conversation with Thomas Benski - the founder of Pulse Films - is the second of my interviews from the Cannes Creativity festival and was recorded in front of a live audience. Vice is an award winning modern-day content studio, which two years ago was bought by Vice. Thomas is charming and charismatic. He is relentlessly energized and filled with original ideas. He is engaged. Interesting. And Interested. He is driven in large part by what happened to his family when he was growing up. So this episodes is called, "The Son."

'The Preacher, The Teacher, The Weird Kid and The Absurdist'. This is my conversation with the four people at the heart of over the last 14 years. The two initial founders: John Boiler and Glenn Cole. And the two people they added soon after to help build the business. Evin Shutt and Matt Jarvis. Rarely - too rarely - do I see partnerships that - both in their intention and in their casting, have been formed on lasting foundations. Ego, insecurity and yes, fear get in the way. Common sense and win-wins leave the building. Replaced by missed opportunities, broken promises and in some cases life long resentment. But when you get it right, it sounds like this conversation.

'The Pace Setter'. This week, my conversation with Chris Weil - the CEO of Momentum. Chris has always struck me as clear, confident and charismatic. He welcomes people into his world and puts them at ease. And he relishes change. I wanted to talk to Chris about where his confidence and openness comes from.

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Instinctive Leader'. This is my conversation with Robin Domeniconi - CEO/Founder of Threaded Tales and one of the founders of Real Simple magazine. I was struck by Robin's history. By the diversity of things she has done. Of the size and significance of the organizations she has led. And during our conversation - as she talked about what she has overcome and how she has overcome it - I was reminded again of how even the best of the best are human. And that it is their ability to use that to their advantage that separates them from other leaders.

'The Gymnast'. My conversation with Kat Gordon - founder of the 3% Percent Conference and CEO of the 3% Movement. Kat started 3% in 2008, to highlight the fact that only 3 percent of creative directors at major ad agencies were women Kat is a change agent, moving into previously unoccupied spaces, doing things that hadn't been done before. A revolutionary in a time of revolution. I wanted to understand where that willingness to take on the status quo in such a public and sustained way comes from.