Fearless Creative Leadership

'The Teacher'. Gerry Laybourne has spent her life unlocking the creativity of others. From her early beginnings as a teacher and film-maker, she created not one but two game-changing networks. First, Nickelodeon, which placed the care and nurturing of children at the heart of its DNA. And then the Oxygen network, a revolutionary and innovative commitment to the voice and needs of women. Along the way, she was named the most influential woman in the entertainment industry and one of the 25 most influential people in America by Time magazine. She is a visionary, a business builder and an audience advocate. I talked to Gerry about calling out the strengths of people, about the importance of giving yourself credit for the things you do well, about the challenge of hiring 750 people all at once, and about the management approach she’d use building a company today.  

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Partners'. Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs are the co-founders of Food52.com. Their goal was to create the first crowd sourced, online cook book. As you will see if you visit the site, they have already achieved much, much more than that - a fully realized food, cooking and lifestyle community and ecommerce destination.  I talked to Amanda and Merrill about the birth and evolution of their partnership, about why they spent 5 years testing 1400 recipes and about the existential challenge of auditioning to play the part of you.

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Dancer'. Rosemarie Ryan has been leading creativity most of her life. She has helped to build some of the most famous and effective creative companies of their time, leaving behind her a wake of improved businesses and more thoughtful people. Today, she is the  co-founder of CO Collective, a strategy and innovation company based in New York. I talked to Rose about the role her family played in unlocking her leadership at a very early age, about the importance of hard conversations when you’re the leader, and about the role of generosity in her leadership philosophy.

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Optimist'. Technology is increasingly the platform on which fearless creative leadership sits. The challenge of this is twofold. First, we need the capability to get the answers to the questions that we know. How do I solve these known problems, and what role does technology play in that? And second, we need the courage to ask questions that until now have been unimaginable or inconceivable. Today, like never before, real-world technology can take us to places that used to be the stuff of fantasy - ideas that existed only in the recesses of our imagination and were never allowed past our office building’s security guard once we got to work in the morning. Today, leaving those ideas at the door can be the difference between success and failure. Rewiring ourselves to expand our own curiosity and understanding of what might be possible is a fundamental requirement of successful modern leadership. It's no longer enough to think that a linear progression based on what we know today is anything like enough to figure out what will be needed tomorrow. The best leaders are constantly provoking conversations and exploration about what the future could look like - and should look like - so that they can light the trails and take the leaps required of companies as they reach the top of their current S-curve, and stare into what comes next. Those conversations and that exploration is literally impossible without exposing ourselves to the outer limits of what technology will be capable of in 5-10 years. If, as leaders, we don't stretch our own imagination, we cannot hope to make decisions in the short-term that will maximize the possibility that this company will still be relevant in the long-term. The day-to-day demands of leadership require we place one eye firmly on the ground directly in front of us. But the speed with which the future is coming at us, requires that we train our mind’s eye to see beyond the unlikely, and instead help us imagine a world in which the impossible becomes the inevitable. As the Global Design Practice Director at IBM, Elizabeth Kiehner applies some of the world’s most powerful technology to solve the problems of today and tomorrow. I talked to Elizabeth about the expansion of natural language technology in our daily lives, about a machine’s ability to edit tennis highlights without human involvement and about how to design solutions for problems that will exist 5 years from now.

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.

'The Difference Maker'. Over time and with experience, the best leaders are able to quiet the internal noise. The voice in their head becomes less critical and more confident - more certain and more consistent. That’s when things really start to happen. When it really gets interesting. For them. And for the people around them. It requires a willingness to look within. To ask the questions and face the answers.That ’s where the journey towards being a Fearless Creative leader begins. Where it finishes is up to you. Nils Leonard is the definition of a self-made success. As you’ll hear, his journey carried him from humble roots to becoming the chairman and chief creative office of one of the most celebrated ad agencies in London before he turned 40. Today, he is the co-founder of Uncommon, a company that builds brands that people wished existed in the world. He is a disruptive and somewhat controversial figure.  I met Nils on a recent trip to London in Uncommon’s offices, and we talked about why tattooing played a critical role in his early life, about what he’s learned about unlocking creative talent,  and about his own personal evolution and understanding of what matters most.

A five minute edited highlight of our full conversation.