Fearless Creative Leadership

A five minute highlight of our full conversation.   Recorded at Eurobest in London.

'The Producer'. Ash is one of the UK’s best known comedy producers, responsible for, The Office and the IT Crowd. He has won five BAFTAs and a Golden Globe. In 2007, he co-founded the independent production company, Roughcut TV with Tim Sealey and over the last decade the company has established itself on both sides of the Atlantic with deals with the BBC, NBC and HBO.

A five minute highlight of our full conversation.

'The Influencer'. Tom Goodwin is the definition of a disruptive thinker. He was recently named one of LinkedIn’s most influential contributors and brings to any conversation a natural unwillingness to accept the status quo. I talked to Tom about the importance of embracing difference in others, about the power of trust and about the freedom of being wrong.

A five minute highlight from our full conversation.

“My hope, as this podcast begins its own journey, is that Fearless will become a place where the people that are best at unlocking creativity in their business, and in themselves - leaders I’ve known for some time, and leaders that I’ve never met before - will come and share their stories, their hopes and their fears. My goal is to have them tell us what inspires them, what they’ve learned and what gets in the way.” Back in May when I launched Fearless, I laid this out as my ambition. To say that it has exceeded my every expectation would be an understatement. 31 episodes in, and the response has been incredible. So thank you for being part of this and there is much more to come. In the spirit of creativity and innovation, we’re going to evolve Fearless in the coming weeks.  In addition to the regular full-length episode, each week we’re also going to produce ‘Fearless in Fifteen’ - a fifteen minute highlights version of each episode. And for those of you who believe less is more, you’ll be happy to hear that we’re also going to produce ‘ Fearless in Five’ - a five minute snapshot of each episode with one or two key thoughts. If both of these versions take off, we’ll keep them both going. If one seems more valuable than another, we’ll adapt and evolve again.  Creativity at work. Where it’s happiest.  

'The Connector'.  Michael Kassan is perhaps the best connected person in the creative industries. As the founder Chairman and CEO of Medialink, he creates and unlocks relationships at the intersection of advertising, entertainment, technology and finance. Put another way he connects Silicon Valley, Madison Avenue, Hollywood and Wall Street. I talked to Michael about the criteria he looks for in people he wants to interact with, about what he’s learned about doing deals on the back of a napkin and about what he loves about being in the room when it happens.

A five minute highlight from our full conversation.

'The Director'. Neil Tardio is a hall of fame film director, responsible for some of the most iconic advertising ever created. His 1977 Xerox commercial, "Brother Dominic", is part of any list of the greatest Super Bowl commercials of all time. I talked to Neil about working with some of the most legendary creative figures of the last fifty years, about the challenges of marrying art and commerce in one of the most pressurized environments, the film set, and about the lasting power of creating simple human connections.

'The Non-Linear Person'. The most meaningful and actionable definitions of success are your own. The ones that you are self-aware, intentioned and brave enough to establish for yourself.  These personal KPI’s are the ones that drive Fearless leaders when the rubber hits the road. For those leaders, the ability to look themselves in the eye and know that they held themselves to their own standards is the most meaningful definition of success. For those leaders, the future is built on two words that begin with i. Intention and integrity. They also happen to be two of the conditions in which profitable creativity flourishes. That’s what’s known as a win-win.  Colleen DeCourcy is the co-Chief Creative officer of Wieden & Kennedy. During her career she has been at the heart of some of the most original and disruptive thinking of any of the creative industries. She has experienced life as an employee of a holding company, an employee of her own company and of an independent company. She has been described by Dan Wieden as “the real deal.” As she approaches the end of her fifth year at Wieden, I talked to her about discovering that months don’t always start on Mondays, about her role as a change agent, and about the one thing she wishes she had more of.