Fearless Creative Leadership

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Open Leader'. This week, my conversation with Cheryl Abel-Hodges, the Group President of Calvin Klein North America and The Underwear Group. Cheryl welcomes debate and exploration and new ways of looking at things. She welcomes it whether the conversation is about her business or about her leadership. So, this episode is called, "The Open Leader." I was struck by Cheryl's clarity, her openness and her generosity. And by the environment she creates for real give and take. I'm curious what you think.

A five minute edited highlight of our full length conversation.

'The Young Leaders'. Adolescent Content is the idea of the filmmaker Ramaa Mosley, and is based on the simple insight that content intended for youth would be more impactful if it was conceived and created by youth. Their creators, directors and photographers are as young as 11. They have developed marketing concepts and content for iconic brands, shot feature films and given TED talks. Ramaa and I were joined by one of her directors, sixteen year-old Aniya Wolfe. Aniya is a member of Gen Z, which, as she reminds us, is the largest generation in history. The oldest member of Gen Z is 21. As Aniya shows in our conversation, this generation is coming of age much much earlier than that.

A five minuted edited highlight of our full-length conversation.

'The Teacher'. I've known David Slocum for a decade or so and he's been kind enough to invite me to speak to his executive MBA class at the Berlin School in Cannes for the last several years. He has a rare gift for combining the theoretical with the practical, and I've watched scores of his students become more thoughtful and intentioned leaders as a result of his teaching. One of the areas we talked about was why talented people are willing to work for demanding leaders. 'Demanding' sometimes being a euphemism for rude or worse. Let me know what you think at charles@fearlesscreativeleadership.com

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Cultural Anthropologist'. This week, my conversation with Kim Wijkstrom, the CMO of One Main Financial. He has seen the world of creativity through an extraordinarily diverse set of lenses. He has been in the room with Steve Jobs. He has touched the work of Vincent Van Gogh. He has worked with dynamic companies and rebuilt tired brands. Through it all he has used creativity as a language for change.

'The Millennial Leader'. This is the one year anniversary episode of 'Fearless'. I'm inspired by so many of the people I've spoken to. Some I knew before 'Fearless'. Some I've met as a result. With each conversation, I find out more about what makes the best leaders the best. More about how they overcome the obstacles that are part of being human. More about their ambition to make a difference. This week, my conversation with Chris Sojka. the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Madwell. I was interested in talking to Chris because he's already owned his own business for eight years and he's still only 32. And I wondered what he'd learned about himself along the way and how leadership has changed him.

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.