When do you stop and take a breath? If you've listened to Luther Vandross or Tina Turner, or Sting, or Chaka Khan, or Teddy Pendergrass, or Roberta Flack, then you've heard Lisa Fischer sing. If you went to a Rolling Stones concert between 1989 and 2015, you saw Lisa as the band's lead female singer join Mick Jagger on stage. If you've seen her in person, as I've been fortunate to have done so twice, or if you've seen her on YouTube, take over the stage from Tina Turner during It’s Only Rock and Roll, or the clips of her on stage with Mick Jagger, you already understand the extraordinary ..read more

Do you welcome the sounds of silence? Shu Hung is the Global Chief Creative Officer of AKQA. In a complicated world, Shu has learned that knowing who you are is the foundation on which leadership success is built. Please come as you are. There is such profound truth in that request, and such enormous challenge. We spend so much of our lives wondering if we measure up, if we're doing things the right way, if we have approval from the right people. And the energy that's required in all of that self doubt is not just exhausting, but it denies us access to the instincts, the consciousness, th ..read more

What should we expect from you? Nicole Parlapiano is the Chief Marketing Officer at Tubi. When she arrived two and a half years ago, Tubi was an eight year old business that had no brand recognition. Today, with the help of their ad agency, Mischief, the streaming service has 97 million active monthly users, up from 20 million in 2019. Leading a challenger brand works best when you're willing to move fast and break things. And if you want the people that work for you to act with the same confidence, then they have to know who you are. Reaching a senior leadership position takes a wide ran ..read more

Sir Andrew Strauss is the former Captain of the England cricket team which he led to become the number one team in the world for the first time in England's history. He then became England's Director of Cricket and he's recognized as the architect of the country's first ever one day World Cup victory. In 2019, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to charity, sport, and cricket. Being captain of a cricket team requires the same skills needed to run a business. Amplified. Managing world class talent while your work is being broadcast, and your success and failures, both persona ..read more

Who do you trust? Jim Stengel is the former CMO of P&G, and he's now a hugely successful author, speaker, coach, consultant, and advisor. He's also the host of the brilliant CMO Podcast. In our conversation, Jim and I started to lay the framework for how we think that leadership is going to have to evolve as the confidence in most institutions, including government, continues to deteriorate. Being creative on demand is perhaps one of the hardest things that we ask any human being to do. Because every act of creativity requires an emotional leap by its creator. That's why the best creative ..read more

Welcome to the first episode of 2025. A year that promises to be unlike any other on so many levels. This episode is designed as a provocation, an inspiration, and a roadmap for the leaders of businesses, for whom unlocking creative thinking is critical. Over the last four weeks, I've talked to 12 exceptional leaders from a diverse set of experiences and perspectives. I've asked them how the best leaders will lead in 2025. From those conversations, I've identified the three leadership practices that will be critical to leaders of creative businesses this year ..read more

What does your company reject? Karl Lieberman is the Global Chief Creative Officer of Wieden + Kennedy. Wieden is a reference point among creative companies in many industries. For almost 45 years, they'd been impacting culture and driving business for their clients by unlocking the creativity of their people. . Creating the kind of environment in which people feel safe to put all their ideas on the table is the easiest thing to aspire to. And the hardest thing to do, in my experience. It means giving people a voice. It means being open, genuinely open to another way of looking at the world. A ..read more

Can you imagine? This episode is the second in a series of conversations I’m having in partnership with the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we’re focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to fundamentally redesign the creative industries? Do we follow the puck or skate to where it’s going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. PJ Pereira is the Founder and Creative Chairman at Pereira ..read more

What are you willing to compromise? Lina Polimeni is the Chief Corporate Brand Officer at Eli Lilly and Company. This is a business whose work is often the difference between life and death, where they are trying to cure cancer, and where the outcome is very personal. In the middle of that reality, your own leadership journey is fueled by a lot of food for thought. No one can lead effectively without compromise.  But what we choose to compromise has a huge part to play in whether we’re successful. If what we end up sacrificing is a pathway to discovering that we are already enough… I ..read more

Are you centered? Kerry Sulkowicz is the Past-President of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the Founder and Managing Principal of Boswell Group. They provide leadership advice to boards and CEOs. Kerry and I have been friends for a long time, and he has taught me much about the psychodynamic aspects of leadership. Whenever we talk, his advice strikes me as clear and straightforward, and always very human. Being centered doesn’t happen through accident, chance, or hope. It happens by intent.  And that intent is driven by recognizing two obvious truths.  Leadership is ..read more