Explore every episode of the podcast Fearless Creative Leadership

Do you know yourself well enough to love yourself?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day speaks with Ndidi Oteh, CEO of Accenture Song — the $20 billion digital, creative, and technology transformation arm of global consulting firm Accenture. Named successor to founder David Droga, Ndidi brings to the role a lifelong creative sensibility, a deeply rooted leadership philosophy, and a belief that nothing great is ever accomplished alone.

She traces her relationship with creativity back to childhood — to a four-year-old girl in St. Louis who knew exactly what she wanted to wear and why — and reflects on how growing up as the eldest of seven, with significant family responsibility from a young age, quietly shaped her instinct for leadership. Ndidi discusses what it means to lead as an introvert, how a five-point personal ethos (developed over 20 years) guides her decisions daily, and why she approaches her role not with fear, but with a profound sense of honor.

She and Charles also explore the evolving definition of creativity in business, the myth of the leadership playbook, what it takes to build cultures that don't just tolerate mistakes but learn from them, and why Ndidi believes the most powerful legacy a leader can build is one that gets better after they're gone.

This is a rich, grounded conversation about servant leadership, self-knowledge, and what it truly means to make things better for the people around you.

00:00 — Opening Question: Do You Know Yourself Well Enough to Love Yourself? 
The question that frames everything.
03:57 — Guest Introduction: Ndidi Oteh, CEO of Accenture Song
Stepping into a $20 billion role and what it demands of a leader.
04:10 — Creativity's Early Roots
A four-year-old with a vision, growing up one of seven in St. Louis.
07:39 — Nature vs. Nurture
Where does the instinct to make things better come from?
09:54 — Creativity as Culture
Music, food, sports, and what brings people together.
11:12 — Self-Expression Through Making
Sewing, jewelry, and learning the difference between appreciation and practice.
13:37 — Do You Think of Yourself as Creative?
On being a creative thinker versus a creative — and why both matter.
14:08 — Redefining Creativity in Business
Is the word too narrow, or do we need to educate people about what it really means?
18:19 — Was Leadership Always Part of the Plan?
On introversion, responsibility, and learning to lead without being the loudest voice in the room.
21:14 — The Weight and Honor of Leadership
Why Ndidi doesn't find the role terrifying — she finds it inspiring.
23:33 — Putting the Role On Every Morning 
Early rising, journaling, movement, and the centering practice that starts every day.
29:16 — A Conscious Leadership Ethos
Five principles, 20 years in the making, that guide every decision.
34:41 — Spirituality and Intentional Leadership
The faith practice behind her grounded, forward-looking style.
35:44 — Distributing Intention Through an Organization
Knowing what you stand for — and making sure your team does too.
38:07 — Who Thrives Working for Ndidi?
On surrounding yourself with people smarter than you, and the non-negotiable of treating people well.
40:44 — The Conditions That Unlock Creativity
Creating the right environment — not putting creatives in a corner.
43:52 — The End of the Leadership Playbook
Why the checklist never really worked, and what today's leaders actually need.
46:32 — Imposter Syndrome
On never feeling alone going into a room, and where real confidence comes from.
50:24 — The Founder Transition
Taking over from David Droga and building a legacy that belongs to everyone.
57:07 — Defining Success
Learning every day, creating space for others, and driving value for clients.
58:49 — What She Wants to Leave Behind
Great leadership creates infrastructure that excels even when you're gone.
01:00:07 — Advice to Her Younger Self
Work a little less. Have more fun. Say "I love you" more.
01:01:50 — What Else Do You Want to Find Out About Yourself?
Why Ndidi's answer turns outward, not inward.
01:02:21 — Hope for the Future
Human ingenuity, connection over separation, and believing the arc bends toward good.

Do you know what you're doing — and why you're doing it?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day speaks with Erin Riley, CEO of TBWA, about leadership in an industry undergoing profound change. As consolidation reshapes the advertising landscape and creativity faces new pressures from data and AI, Erin reflects on the qualities leaders need most today: self-awareness, integrity, and the courage to make decisions when certainty doesn't exist.

She shares how storytelling shaped her leadership style, why creative cultures depend on vulnerability and trust, and what it means to protect the "soul" of an organization while integrating new teams and histories. Erin also discusses imposter syndrome, the hidden power of micro-behaviors, and the tension leaders must balance between empathy and decisiveness.

This is a thoughtful conversation about honorable leadership, creative courage, and the responsibility of guiding people and ideas through uncertain times.

00:00 — Opening Question: Do You Know What You're Doing?
Leadership without a clear playbook.

03:43 — Creativity, Storytelling, and Family Influence
Growing up in a culture of conversation and narrative.

08:30 — Storytelling as Leadership
How leaders use narrative to inspire belief.

10:25 — External Processing and Leadership Style
Thinking through conversation and collaborative decision-making.

12:50 — The Power of Micro-Behaviors
How small leadership actions shape culture.

14:30 — Overcoming Self-Doubt
Confidence through action and team support.

21:20 — Entrepreneurship and Leadership Risk
Why starting a business still holds appeal.

27:40 — The Reality of Leadership
Responsibility, complexity, and the myth of autonomy.

30:00 — Balancing Empathy and Excellence
Making difficult decisions while protecting the organization.

35:40 — Creativity and Commercial Success
Why great creativity is the best business strategy.

40:20 — Integrating Agency Cultures
Navigating mergers while preserving identity.

46:30 — Custodianship of Bill Bernbach's Legacy
Honoring advertising history while evolving forward.

52:10 — Advice to Her 20-Year-Old Self
Trust your instincts and enjoy the journey.

Does someone else have to lose for you to win?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day speaks with Amy Martin-Ziegenfuss, Chief Marketing Officer of Carnival Cruise Line, about redefining success — and rejecting the zero-sum mindset that often drives ambition.

Amy reflects on her journey from a small-town theater kid to leading one of the world's most recognized travel brands. She shares how creativity fuels business strategy, why leadership is about creating emotional safety, and how brands must balance long-term vision with real-time responsiveness in a volatile world.

They explore imposter syndrome, the power of preparation in earning a seat at the table, and why the best leaders see winning as collective, not competitive.

This is a conversation about impact, humility, courage, and the evolution from racing others to rising together.

00:00 — Opening Question: Is Winning Zero-Sum?
Reframing leadership beyond competition.

02:53 — Early Creativity & Storytelling
Books, theater, and the foundations of expression.

08:15 — From Literature to Marketing
Discovering consumer behavior and business impact.

12:20 — Earning a Seat at the Table
Preparation, sponsorship, and strategic credibility.

19:50 — Asking for Help as Leadership Strength
Building influence through curiosity.

22:30 — Defining Creativity in Business
Strategy as the unlock for innovation.

27:10 — Creating Emotional Safety
Supporting fragile ideas in high-stakes environments.

33:00 — Leading a Global Brand
Balancing long-term planning with rapid response.

38:30 — Imposter Syndrome & Personal Boards
Why no leader should navigate alone.

44:40 — Moving Beyond the Race
From guarded ambition to collective success.

45:50 — What Are You Hopeful For?
Impact, legacy, and rising together.

What does courage actually look like in leadership?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day speaks with Rocky Novak and Brad Surcey, co-CEOs of Zeus Jones, about partnership, independence, and leading through uncertainty — both inside business and outside it.

They discuss why independent companies can invest ahead of clients, how curiosity and optimism shape hiring, and why great creative cultures run on principles rather than rules. But this conversation goes far beyond business. As events unfold around them in Minneapolis, Rocky and Brad share how leadership changes when your responsibility shifts from performance to protection — caring for people first, then the company, then the community.

This is a candid discussion about partnership, resilience, and humanity. It reveals how courage shows up in everyday decisions: investing before certainty, standing by your values, and supporting others when there's no playbook.

00:00 — Opening: Courage and Partnership
Leadership and the role of courage in creative companies.

01:20 — Investing Ahead of Clients
Why independence enables experimentation and learning.

03:25 — Leadership During Crisis
Prioritizing employee safety and emotional wellbeing.

05:20 — Creativity Origins
Rocky's dance background and Brad's early design influences.

12:30 — The Value of Independence
Speed, decision-making, and long-term thinking.

19:45 — Continuous Evolution
Why agencies must constantly reinvent themselves.

24:15 — Building a Culture of Risk
Making investment a real budget line item.

27:05 — Client Partnerships vs Vendor Relationships
Solving problems together rather than presenting solutions.

30:30 — Hiring for Curiosity and Optimism
The qualities that sustain creative environments.

34:50 — Principles, Not Rules
How culture becomes structure.

41:20 — Leading Through Social Upheaval
Supporting people during uncertainty and fear.

47:30 — Creativity Serving Community
Using communication to help local businesses.

53:40 — Supporting Each Other as Leaders
The role of partnership in resilience.

56:00 — Hope for the Future
Nuance, empathy, and rebuilding connection.

How much freedom do you give your people?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day speaks with Cat van der Werff, Executive Creative Director of Canva, about the paradox at the heart of modern leadership: setting clear standards while letting go of control.

As Canva has grown from hundreds to thousands of employees, Cat's own evolution as a leader has mirrored that scale. A self-described perfectionist, she discovered that perfection can quietly suffocate creativity — and that excellence is only possible when leaders trust others to find their own way.

They explore creativity as a human birthright, why empowering everyone to design elevates professional designers, how AI can expand imagination rather than replace it, and what it takes to build cultures rooted in trust, playfulness, and shared ownership.

This is a thoughtful, deeply human conversation about freedom, responsibility, and what it really means to unlock creative potential at scale.

00:00 — Opening Question: Freedom & Leadership
How much autonomy leaders truly give their people.

01:20 — Introducing Cat van der Werff & Canva
Creativity, scale, and empowering the world to design.

03:10 — Creativity at an Early Age
Drawing, observation, and imagination as instinct.

06:45 — Craft, Photography, and Self-Care
Why leaders need creative practices of their own.

08:40 — Why Business, Not Fine Art
Problem-solving, briefs, and applied creativity.

10:00 — Becoming a Leader
From individual contributor to leading through others.

11:35 — Creativity as an Organizational Act
Why org design and team structure are creative work.

14:30 — Vision, Scale, and Big Goals
Operating from the future to guide growth.

17:10 — Creativity, Belonging, and Self-Actualization
Why empowering creativity meets a fundamental human need.

21:35 — If Everyone Can Design, What's the Designer's Role?
How democratization elevates strategic creativity.

24:15 — Building Empowered Cultures
Small teams, trust, and shipping fast.

26:25 — Letting Go of Perfection
Why perfectionism is selfish — and excellence is shared.

31:55 — Trust, Brand Integrity, and Boundaries
How leaders intervene without controlling.

35:05 — Casting the Right People
Playfulness, humility, and continual learning.

37:00 — AI, Imagination, and Confidence
Why technology can't replace human creativity.

42:15 — Parenting, Creativity, and Presence
Teaching creativity through doing, not instruction.

45:30 — Leading at Scale
The tension between outward visibility and internal connection.

50:35 — Advice to Her 20-Year-Old Self
Fun, creativity, and releasing pressure.

52:20 — Hope for the Future
The coming "imagination era."

What kind of box are you building for your people?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day sits down with Aaron Starkman, Chief Creative Officer of Rethink and one of Adweek's 100 Most Creative People in the World. But this is not a conversation about freedom from structure — it's about why the most creative environments are built on the most thoughtful processes.

Aaron shares how creativity first became his refuge as a child, how anxiety and leadership collided early in his career, and why embracing structure, clarity, and guardrails is the fastest way to unlock originality. He explains how Rethink's disciplined systems remove friction, protect ideas, and give creative people the oxygen they need to do their best work.

This is a deeply human conversation about creativity, leadership, vulnerability, and designing environments where people — and ideas — can truly thrive.

00:00 — Opening: The Box You're Building
Creativity, structure, and the environments leaders create.

01:00 — Introducing Aaron Starkman
Why discipline, not chaos, fuels great creative companies.

03:20 — Creativity as a Safe Place
Childhood, adversity, and discovering creativity as refuge.

07:00 — Validation, Anxiety, and Self-Worth
How early experiences shape creative drive.

13:10 — Do Creatives Need External Validation?
Art, commerce, and the difference between personal and commercial creativity.

18:00 — Becoming a Leader (Reluctantly)
Social anxiety, false confidence, and finding an authentic leadership style.

25:50 — Designing the Rethink Environment
Why structure "murders hurdles" and protects ideas.

30:00 — CRAFTS and Creative Guardrails
Process as a catalyst, not a constraint.

38:40 — Talent, Culture, and Casting
Why not everyone thrives in every creative environment.

42:30 — Advice to His 25-Year-Old Self
Mental health, therapy, and learning to smell the roses.

47:15 — What's Next
Curiosity, relationships, and redefining success beyond titles.

What impact are you having?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day speaks with Andrés Ordóñez, newly appointed Global Chief Creative Officer of McCann. When this conversation was recorded, Andrés didn't yet know his future — which makes this a rare portrait of a leader reflecting not on a title, but on who he is.

Across a deeply personal conversation, Andrés describes the forces that shaped him: a childhood surrounded by creativity, a mother whose illness forged his sense of responsibility, and a career built on connection, curiosity, and generosity. He talks about leading with humanity, navigating the upheaval of AI, and the responsibility that comes with carrying the torch for thousands of people across a global organization.

This is a conversation about impact — the kind you have on work, on people, and on the world.

00:00 — Opening: The Impactful Leader
Charles introduces the theme: leadership as responsibility and impact.

03:00 — Andrés's Creative Origin Story
Family, Colombia, motorcycles, and the early spark of advertising.

07:00 — Childhood, Parents, and Identity
Emotional bonds, choosing to live with his mother, and lessons that shaped him.

12:00 — Becoming a Caregiver at 18
Responsibility, work ethic, and how caring for his mother changed him.

16:30 — Defining Leadership & Creativity
Connecting people, solving problems, the spark of creativity.

22:00 — AI: Partner, Tool, and Test of Humanity
The future of creativity, trust, and why machines can't feel goosebumps.

28:30 — The Business Model of the Future
Time, efficiency, and rethinking how creative value is measured.

32:00 — Casting People & Building Culture
Human connection, belonging, and why team energy matters more than résumés.

37:45 — Responsibility Without Control
Leading collaboratively while carrying the weight of outcomes.

41:00 — The "And" Philosophy
Why mixing magic and logic changes everything.

46:00 — Change, Uncertainty, and the IPG–Omnicom Merger
How Andrés holds ambiguity and stays grounded.

50:00 — Fear, Evolution, and Personal Growth
The dangers of fear, staying curious, and the need to evolve.

54:00 — Defining Success
Helping others realize their dreams — and the power of not putting yourself first.

59:00 — Closing Reflections
Legacy, hope, and carrying the torch for ot

How alive do you feel as a leader?

In this episode of Fearless Creative Leadership, Charles Day sits down in London with the newly announced founders of Ace of Hearts — Rick Brim, Martin Beverly, and Polly McMorrow — for their first recorded conversation as partners. Over the past seven months, Charles has interviewed them individually while they prepared to build something of their own. Now, you'll hear what happens when belief meets reality.

They discuss why they started the company, the chemistry that binds them, what they're learning about themselves, and how creativity must be valued differently if the industry is going to survive disruption — including AI.

This is a rare, unpolished look at the emotional and practical journey of starting a business. It reveals how fun, fear, optimism, and ambition shape founding teams — and why starting a company may be the most alive a leader ever feels.

00:00 — Opening: How alive do you feel?
Welcome, framing creativity as the only scalable advantage.

01:03 — Introducing Ace of Hearts
A glimpse into aliveness, excitement, and possibility.

03:30 — Why start a company now?
Martin on timing, intuition, and the pull of founding.

07:30 — What founders want to find out about themselves
Uncertainty, relearning, and stepping into the unknown.

12:00 — What kind of business are they building?
Pride, impact, fun, culture — and why it matters.

15:00 — How thinking has evolved over the past months
Confidence, experimentation, redefining where they play.

19:30 — The future of creativity and value exchange
Human creativity, AI, commercial models, risk-taking.

24:00 — From clients to partners
Trust, alignment, value creation — and saying no.

31:30 — What they're truly good at
Finding the soul of brands — and owning it.

45:00 — The name revealed: Ace of Hearts
Meaning, emotion, optimism, and brand potential.

52:00 — Closing and next steps
Looking ahead — meeting at Cannes and bonus episodes.

How do you react when people make mistakes?

Patricia Corsi is the Chief Growth Officer of Kimberly-Clark. Patricia has been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential CMOs of the World by Forbes in 2024 and 2025.

She has very clear beliefs about how to unlock creativity and innovation in her business, and the kind of leadership that requires.

Creativity and innovation are unpredictable. They demand uncertainty and depend on failure. Failure is how we learn and without it, creativity dies.

Modern society isn't good on failure. We look for likes and follows and success, defined across as many metrics as possible. Childhood is a celebration of attendance, not attempt. Break the rules, and punishment ensues. Conform, and be confirmed as a trusted member of society.

The world is unstable. Politics is unpredictable. Technology is rampant. We can no longer believe our own eyes. Or ears.

When we can no longer rely on our senses, those attributes that helped us survive the last 3,000 years, it's not a surprise that avoiding mistakes has become the currency of choice for many businesses. Plan and execute. A sea of grey in a world looking for hope.

Leadership is the single greatest opportunity most of us will have to make a difference. I've said that before. Today, it's truer than ever.

It comes with a responsibility which is to decide what that difference is. If you measure it in titles and awards, I promise you will be soon forgotten. Your name on a plaque at the bottom of a recycling bin or a landfill.

But if you measure the difference you make in terms of how you react when people make mistakes, you will have established the foundations on which their creativity is unlocked.

And that opens the door to ideas that no one has ever thought of before and to businesses that no one has ever seen.

So, how do you react when people make mistakes? And what might you do differently?

Are you creating trust?

David Rolfe is the Head of Production at WPP. When David and I debated last year, whether one person could someday make a Super Bowl ad, it felt like a provocation.

This year, we both agreed it's an inevitability. Which brings with it a bigger question. How will we tell the difference between what's real and what's synthetic? And will it matter?

And that's the moment when trust becomes everything. Trust in the makers, when we can no longer believe our own eyes. Trust in the curators that they'll tell us what we're looking at. And trust that technology can expand what's possible without stripping away the humanity that makes creativity matter.

Trust is the fuel of the human journey, the thing we yearn for as we search for our tribe, for where we belong. And trust is the new currency. As Scott Galloway wrote in a recent newsletter, the Next Big Crisis in Confidence will come from our inability to distinguish human Intent. In a world optimized for optics, trust is the next scarce resource.

And that's why trust is one of the 13 dimensions that we measure with our FORM Creativity Diagnostic. Why it shows up as a cornerstone of so many of the world's most innovative and creative companies.

Because without trust, creativity shuts down. People won't share fragile ideas. They won't take risks, and they won't challenge the status quo. But when trust exists between leaders and teams, between companies and their audiences, then creativity is unleashed. It becomes safer to experiment, easier to collaborate, and becomes possible to build the kind of culture where bold ideas thrive.

David Rolfe has always been one of the most thoughtful voices on production. Trust him when he tells you that we are barely scratching the surface of what is possible. And then make sure that you know whether trust is the currency at the heart of your organization. Or what you need to do to make sure that it is.

How connected do your people feel?

Phil Thomas is the Chief Creative Officer of Informa Festivals. They're the company that owns Cannes Lions. And Phil has recently been named as Chairman of Comic Relief.

One of the things that I've learned hosting this podcast is that the most powerful leaders rarely get remembered for their titles. They're remembered for how they made people feel.

In this conversation with Phil, what stood out most weren't his achievements. It was his perspective on making people feel connected. As you'll hear, when you emphasize connection in your leadership, kindness, challenges, accomplishments, language shapes the culture, and the trust that follows becomes invaluable currency that maximizes creativity.

Connection is also one of the 13 conditions that's measured by FORM, the creativity diagnostic that I've been developing. Because in every organization that I've studied, when people feel seen, heard, and respected, creativity is unlocked and businesses grow faster.

And, memorably, this conversation with Phil is a reminder that connection isn't a soft skill, it's the foundation of creative leadership and the impact that that leadership leaves behind.

How connected do your people feel to your organization? Do they feel seen, heard, and respected?

What's the 'this' in your business?

Neil Waller is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Whalar Group. They're a global creator company. Whalar have done as much as anyone, and more than most, to catalyze the creator economy. And as you'll hear, it was inspired by a conversation with and an unforgettable provocation from Sir John Hegarty. But behind their success lies a characteristic that I find is often underappreciated and therefore in short supply, among most creative leaders. Commitment.

I've mentioned before on this podcast that we've developed a diagnostic tool that can tell, is your company deliberately unlocking creativity or just hoping that it shows up? One of the gaps that shows up over and over again is a leader's commitment to the company's goals.

Companies and leaders say one thing and then often do another. But when you find leaders that are truly committed to building a business that delivers world class creative thinking and answers, then how fast they can do that suddenly becomes an incredibly valuable conversation

To create is to learn. And the faster we can do both, the better your business and the world becomes.

So what's the 'this' in your business? And how committed are you to making it happen?

Jill Cress is the Chief Marketing and Experience Officer for H&R Block.

She also serves on the board of the AdCouncil, and she's been recognized on Forbes' list of the World's 50 Most Influential CMOs.

Before H&R Block, Jill spent 20 years at MasterCard. Now, a leader who spends most of their professional life working in financial institutions could easily build their success around the study of data, but the foundations of Jill's leadership are based on the most valuable investments of all.

Delivering results has always been table stakes when you're stepping into a leadership position, and money will and should sit squarely on that table as one essential definition of success.

But enduring financial success is a consequence of your willingness to take your eyes off the financial prize and fix them squarely on your most valuable assets:

The people that work for you. And what matters to them are two things.

First, that they matter. And second, that what they're doing makes a difference.

During our conversation, I talked to Jill about the creativity diagnostic tool that we've developed. It measures when leaders are creating the conditions that maximize the creativity of their people.

One of the critical insights that shows up time and time again is that the very best leaders are fully invested in creating a culture that ensures that everyone feels seen and heard and respected. Now, this investment carries personal risk, because it can make you as the leader feel vulnerable, and it is time consuming. But the ROI is through the roof.

So what are you investing in?

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 talent that she is linked to. Both of those are in the show notes.

And if you've watched 20 Feet from Stardom, then you already know that Lisa is one of the greatest background singers that the world has ever heard. For most of us, those 20 feet might as well be the length of a trip to Mars. For Lisa, who won a Grammy in 1991 and then decided not to take center stage, those 20 feet were a choice. A choice that brings her joy.

Lisa is a rare spirit who's had enormous influence and impact. If you see her perform, you're left with a belief that she has a direct connection with your soul. In those moments, she is alive in ways that stretch our understanding of what the word means.

Leadership at its heart is the ability to unlock the potential of others, to make them feel more connected. The very best leaders do that by helping us to understand ourselves better, by helping us feel what we had never felt before.

Lisa is proof that you don't have to stand center stage to do that. You just have to be honest with yourself about where you get your energy from, and then let that energy flow.

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, the confidence that creativity thrives on.

Life is a journey that at the end will only be judged by the one person that matters, you. And the sooner we discover who we are, the sooner we can discover what we're capable of.

Please come as you are. Words to live by.

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 range of skills and talent. It requires managing down and up, reacting and adapting. And in the process, we learn a lot about ourselves and when we're at our best. That's information that will be helpful to others.

And yet, for many reasons, I think, most leaders don't share it.

So, take a moment, and write down three things that you expect of the people that work for you. Then write down three things that they can expect from you.

Tomorrow morning, share them.

You'll be surprised, I think, at the confidence it gives them, and you.

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 personal and collective, are being recorded, analyzed and critiqued in real time, requires a range of rare skills and temperament.

Unlocking the potential of others while taking responsibility for the outcome is at the heart of the attributes required for the job.

Andrew and I met in London a few days ago, and as you'll hear, our conversation covered a lot of ground, both professional and the deeply personal.

From his achievements to the loss of his wife.

By the time Andrew Strauss turned 33, he'd achieved what every cricket fan in England grows up dreaming of. Captaining your country to victory in Australia. In my lifetime, it has only happened three times.

Seven years later, he lost his wife to cancer.

Most of us do not achieve so much so young. Nor lose so much so early.

For Andrew, the combination has encouraged him to ask questions of himself earlier in his life than most people do.

Unlocking creativity in others means building trust with those around us. They want to know who we are and what matters to us.

Fulfilling our own potential means answering those same questions. And in my experience, that happens when we ask ourselves this. What else do I want to know about myself?

Most leaders strive for success relentlessly, head down, and only later do we take stock of the choices we've made.

How will you judge if you've lived a good life or not? What else do you want to know about yourself?

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 thinking usually comes when you have confidence in yourself and trust in the environment around you.

Now, it's impossible for any of us to predict with any certainty what the next four years are going to look like. What's reasonable to expect is that they will not be "normal." So in these circumstances, it's very likely that some of the people around you are going to feel a lot less safe than they have before. As leaders, creating an environment that people can trust, regardless of what's going on in the world, will be more critical than ever before. And that starts with giving people reasons to trust you.

Establishing trust is a simple equation. Say what you mean, then do what you say, and do it consistently.

So what do you stand for? And what will you stand for when the chips are down, and the pressure is on? Why should people trust you?

Get that right, and I promise you, you'll change your corner of the world for everyone around you.

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.

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. And to the possibility that being criticized is much more desirable than being ignored.

These criteria are at best challenging for most leaders to accept. Control and predict are much more natural. But predictability and conformity are creative kryptonite.

To unlock creativity and unleash its power to maximum effect, you have to be willing to break the norms, to encourage the irrational and sometimes even the absurd.

You have to reject predictability for possibility.

And when you're yelled at, because no one has ever done it like that before, you have to be willing to shrug.

You'll hear all that and more in my conversation with Karl.

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… If what we end up sacrificing is a road to realizing that the best version of who we are can help others become the best version of themselves…

If that is what we are compromising, then the cost of that will be the realization that we behaved as others wanted us to. And when they are a part of our past, remembered or forgotten, what we will be left with is a journey that is not the one we started out on. A destination that is not where we wanted to go. And a dream that is always around the corner.

We can be what others want, or we can be who we want to be. We always have that choice. 

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

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… If what we end up sacrificing is a road to realizing that the best version of who we are can help others become the best version of themselves…

If that is what we are compromising, then the cost of that will be the realization that we behaved as others wanted us to. And when they are a part of our past, remembered or forgotten, what we will be left with is a journey that is not the one we started out on. A destination that is not where we wanted to go. And a dream that is always around the corner.

We can be what others want, or we can be who we want to be. We always have that choice. 

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 lonely.

And leadership is stressful. Much, much more so than many are willing to admit publicly.

The old-world view is that leadership demands that you project strength, certainty, invincibility. Even in the face of threats that can feel like they are existential - because these days, for many businesses, they might be.

If some days that means you feel like you're a leader in a fight for survival, well, that's not surprising. Because that's exactly how your brain responds to that set of circumstances. 

And under that kind of stress, the part of your brain that's responsible for executive function, for risk assessment, and problem-solving, and for planning, suddenly starts to develop tunnel vision. And at the same time, our amygdala kicks in and suddenly survival gets added to the emotional maelstrom, and then finally comes the impulse to hurry up and do something. Anything. 

Being centered is the shelter in that storm. It's held up by a strong sense of self, by awareness and honesty about how you respond under stress, and it's helped by having a clear and multi-faceted definition of success. 

Those foundations, when combined with a willingness to take a little time to turn down the short term noise, and dilute the adrenaline fueled feelings of urgency, will give you the ability to lean on yourself and think things through.

Leadership is sometimes about taking action and it is sometimes not.

But it is always about being centered.

So, how well do you know yourself? 

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

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 lonely.

And leadership is stressful. Much, much more so than many are willing to admit publicly.

The old-world view is that leadership demands that you project strength, certainty, invincibility. Even in the face of threats that can feel like they are existential - because these days, for many businesses, they might be.

If some days that means you feel like you're a leader in a fight for survival, well, that's not surprising. Because that's exactly how your brain responds to that set of circumstances. 

And under that kind of stress, the part of your brain that's responsible for executive function, for risk assessment, and problem-solving, and for planning, suddenly starts to develop tunnel vision. And at the same time, our amygdala kicks in and suddenly survival gets added to the emotional maelstrom, and then finally comes the impulse to hurry up and do something. Anything. 

Being centered is the shelter in that storm. It's held up by a strong sense of self, by awareness and honesty about how you respond under stress, and it's helped by having a clear and multi-faceted definition of success. 

Those foundations, when combined with a willingness to take a little time to turn down the short term noise, and dilute the adrenaline fueled feelings of urgency, will give you the ability to lean on yourself and think things through.

Leadership is sometimes about taking action and it is sometimes not.

But it is always about being centered.

So, how well do you know yourself? 

What is your pain for? 

Taban Shoresh is the Founder of The Lotus Flower, a UK-based charity that supports women and girls that have been displaced by conflict, and helps them to build sustainable futures. Since 2016, the charity's projects have impacted more than 60,000 women, girls, and community members. 

Every now and then, you meet someone whose story stops you in your tracks. Taban's story starts with her being arrested in Iraq at the age of four. Three weeks later, she's ordered onto a bus that will take her to the place where she and other members of her family will be buried alive.

At the end of 2021, before Russia invaded the Ukraine or the war in Gaza, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide stood at 89.3 million. There were 27.1 million refugees globally, half of whom were aged under 18, which makes Taban's story one of millions and completely unique. 

She has experienced staggering trauma, she has known realities that I'm sure I would not have survived, and she has taken all of that pain and turned it into creative leadership of the most consequential kind. As you'll hear, for reasons both global and personal, she's in a hurry. 

All of us have suffered pain. What we use it for is a question that will stay with me for a long time after this conversation. 

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What is your pain for? 

Taban Shoresh is the Founder of The Lotus Flower, a UK-based charity that supports women and girls that have been displaced by conflict, and helps them to build sustainable futures. Since 2016, the charity's projects have impacted more than 60,000 women, girls, and community members. 

Every now and then, you meet someone whose story stops you in your tracks. Taban's story starts with her being arrested in Iraq at the age of four. Three weeks later, she's ordered onto a bus that will take her to the place where she and other members of her family will be buried alive.

At the end of 2021, before Russia invaded the Ukraine or the war in Gaza, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide stood at 89.3 million. There were 27.1 million refugees globally, half of whom were aged under 18, which makes Taban's story one of millions and completely unique. 

She has experienced staggering trauma, she has known realities that I'm sure I would not have survived, and she has taken all of that pain and turned it into creative leadership of the most consequential kind. As you'll hear, for reasons both global and personal, she's in a hurry. 

All of us have suffered pain. What we use it for is a question that will stay with me for a long time after this conversation. 

Is that good?

Heather Freeland is the Chief Brand Officer at Adobe, a business that, as Heather describes, is undergoing significant change to prepare itself for the future to come, and the one that is already here.

In a company long known for providing powerful tools to creative people, the advent of Generative AI is both a threat and an opportunity. How human beings maintain our relevance sits at the very heart of that tension.

Is that good?

In the quest to become leaders that make a difference, there are many powerful questions to ask ourselves.

What do I want to find out about myself?

What is success?

Both of these are intensely personal, and can be answered, albeit with some serious and honest reflection, from within.

But, "Is that good?" usually stretches us out into the world. We are inclined to ask, through what lens? Against what criteria? Measured by what result? Based on whose experience?

But at the end of that journey of data collection, consultation, and analysis, the answer to, "Is that good?" is still waiting for someone to decide.

Michelangelo, when asked how he had created such perfection from a piece of rock said, "I simply removed everything that wasn't the David."

If human beings are to create a dividing line that AI can not cross, the question, "Is that good?" may be the beating heart on which that barrier depends.

"Is that good?" is heavy lifting. It requires clarity and confidence.

Muscles we should probably start building today.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

Is that good?

Heather Freeland is the Chief Brand Officer at Adobe, a business that, as Heather describes, is undergoing significant change to prepare itself for the future to come, and the one that is already here.

In a company long known for providing powerful tools to creative people, the advent of Generative AI is both a threat and an opportunity. How human beings maintain our relevance sits at the very heart of that tension.

Is that good?

In the quest to become leaders that make a difference, there are many powerful questions to ask ourselves.

What do I want to find out about myself?

What is success?

Both of these are intensely personal, and can be answered, albeit with some serious and honest reflection, from within.

But, "Is that good?" usually stretches us out into the world. We are inclined to ask, through what lens? Against what criteria? Measured by what result? Based on whose experience?

But at the end of that journey of data collection, consultation, and analysis, the answer to, "Is that good?" is still waiting for someone to decide.

Michelangelo, when asked how he had created such perfection from a piece of rock said, "I simply removed everything that wasn't the David."

If human beings are to create a dividing line that AI can not cross, the question, "Is that good?" may be the beating heart on which that barrier depends.

"Is that good?" is heavy lifting. It requires clarity and confidence.

Muscles we should probably start building today.

Why are you doing what you're doing?

Gabriel Schmitt has just celebrated his one year anniversary as the Global CCO of Grey.

Grey's proposition is that they have been coming up with famously effective ideas since 1917.

Gabriel is somewhat younger than that, but over his career, has learned one of the most important leadership lessons that I think often gets overlooked.

The importance of context.

A few years ago, I wrote an article for Fast Company called The Four Weapons of Exceptional Creative Leaders.

I got some pushback on using the word "weapons" in the context of creativity. My response was that if you've ever done battle with the status quo, then you already know that you need to bring some serious weapons to that fight.

Context is the beginning and the end of the leadership journey. Without it, you have no ability to answer critical questions, like where are we on our journey? How much further do we have to go?

Context is the reason why you are trying to make that wild idea.

It is why you hire that person.

It is why you invest in that technology.

It is why you make that decision.

It is why you come up with the answer.

It is why people follow you.

And without it… everything else is just a guess.

So why are you doing what you're doing?

And are you sure?

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

Why are you doing what you're doing?

Gabriel Schmitt has just celebrated his one year anniversary as the Global CCO of Grey.

Grey's proposition is that they have been coming up with famously effective ideas since 1917.

Gabriel is somewhat younger than that, but over his career, has learned one of the most important leadership lessons that I think often gets overlooked.

The importance of context.

A few years ago, I wrote an article for Fast Company called The Four Weapons of Exceptional Creative Leaders.

I got some pushback on using the word "weapons" in the context of creativity. My response was that if you've ever done battle with the status quo, then you already know that you need to bring some serious weapons to that fight.

Context is the beginning and the end of the leadership journey. Without it, you have no ability to answer critical questions, like where are we on our journey? How much further do we have to go?

Context is the reason why you are trying to make that wild idea.

It is why you hire that person.

It is why you invest in that technology.

It is why you make that decision.

It is why you come up with the answer.

It is why people follow you.

And without it… everything else is just a guess.

So why are you doing what you're doing?

And are you sure?

How well do you know yourself?

Lisa Smith is the Global Executive Creative Director at JKR.

Fast Company have called her a visionary designer, citing in particular her work for Burger King, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Chobani and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They described her work as unique because "it has consistently changed the visual landscape, disrupted popular aesthetics, and started trends of its own."

When you meet Lisa, her energy is infectious. As you'll hear in our conversation, she wants to make a difference.

She also knows herself well enough to have learned that her energy sometimes needs an adapter.

We are driven by instincts, starting with the genetic code that we must survive. 

Against that context, self awareness comes second and is usually filtered and diluted by other impulses. 

The ability to stand back and accurately reflect on the impact we are having in real time, is a lifelong quest for most of us.

But when you meet someone who has learned to understand themselves multi-dimensionally, who sees themselves in mirrors that reflect all angles, the good and the works in progress, our trust in that person rises like the proverbial tide - predictably and visibly. 

That remains true even if, especially if, they show up as less than their best selves but can acknowledge or forewarn us that they can see, and feel and acknowledge that - sometimes preemptively.

Lisa is not alone in her ambition sometimes turning her into a bulldozer.

She is rare in her ability to see it happening before it happens and to warn those around her that her form of leadership encompasses all the elements of "lead, follow or get out of the way." 

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

How well do you know yourself?

Lisa Smith is the Global Executive Creative Director at JKR.

Fast Company have called her a visionary designer, citing in particular her work for Burger King, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Chobani and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They described her work as unique because "it has consistently changed the visual landscape, disrupted popular aesthetics, and started trends of its own."

When you meet Lisa, her energy is infectious. As you'll hear in our conversation, she wants to make a difference.

She also knows herself well enough to have learned that her energy sometimes needs an adapter.

We are driven by instincts, starting with the genetic code that we must survive. 

Against that context, self awareness comes second and is usually filtered and diluted by other impulses. 

The ability to stand back and accurately reflect on the impact we are having in real time, is a lifelong quest for most of us.

But when you meet someone who has learned to understand themselves multi-dimensionally, who sees themselves in mirrors that reflect all angles, the good and the works in progress, our trust in that person rises like the proverbial tide - predictably and visibly. 

That remains true even if, especially if, they show up as less than their best selves but can acknowledge or forewarn us that they can see, and feel and acknowledge that - sometimes preemptively.

Lisa is not alone in her ambition sometimes turning her into a bulldozer.

She is rare in her ability to see it happening before it happens and to warn those around her that her form of leadership encompasses all the elements of "lead, follow or get out of the way." 

Which direction are you going?

Nils Leonard, one of the co-founders of Uncommon - the award winning global creative studio - has been a regular guest on this show since I started Fearless seven years ago.

In all of that time, I've wondered abut his partnership with his two co-founders, Natalie Graeme and Lucy Jameson.

Why did they decide to go into business together? How does it work and what might get in the way?

And what makes the Uncommon partnership particularly worth understanding is the extraordinary consistency between what they said mattered to them when they started, and how they show up today.

This conversation, on a wet, rainy Thursday morning, at an outdoor restaurant in Cannes, shows why this partnership has worked so successfully so far and raises some questions about how it will need to evolve to guide the company's next stage of evolution.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

Which direction are you going?

Nils Leonard, one of the co-founders of Uncommon - the award winning global creative studio - has been a regular guest on this show since I started Fearless seven years ago.

In all of that time, I've wondered abut his partnership with his two co-founders, Natalie Graeme and Lucy Jameson.

Why did they decide to go into business together? How does it work and what might get in the way?

And what makes the Uncommon partnership particularly worth understanding is the extraordinary consistency between what they said mattered to them when they started, and how they show up today.

This conversation, on a wet, rainy Thursday morning, at an outdoor restaurant in Cannes, shows why this partnership has worked so successfully so far and raises some questions about how it will need to evolve to guide the company's next stage of evolution.

What lessons have you learned?

This episode features the return visit of Jon Cook, the Global CEO of VML. I interviewed Jon for the first time a year ago, eight months after he had died while going for a run in his neighborhood.

Today, he is the CEO of the world's largest advertising agency. We covered a lot of topics during our latest conversation, from the qualities that he brings as a leader, to navigating mergers, to the impact of AI. We also talked about a simple but powerful truth that I think a lot of leaders have a hard time remembering when they're facing stressful situations - that we are already better than we think.

Leadership is lonely. It's a cliche because it's true. Those feelings of isolation usually leave our doubts and insecurities to wander through the garden of our minds, unchaperoned.

Given enough time and enough space, those insecurities can become a permanent part of our self-image and self-beliefs.

Talking to someone who can help us to fully see ourselves is always helpful. Of course, I'd say that. I'm a leadership coach. But we have ways to help ourselves that can be powerful, too.

One of the simplest is to look back and to see our past achievements for what they are. Achievements, experiences, skills, and wisdom.

And if you take a few moments and you write that list of achievements down, you'll be better prepared, not only to meet this moment, but you'll also be able to quiet the part of you that thinks that nothing you do is ever good enough.

Self-awareness is the most powerful asset that any leader can develop. So, make that list right now.

What will be the impact of AI on the creative industries, and how can we meet this moment?

This is the final episode of my series of interviews over the last few weeks leading up to and through the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

It offers a map for the future based on those conversations, and observations of the speed of change. If you haven't seen it, look up the Volvo ad that was just published on social media. It took one person, 24 hours to create.

This ad could not have been made in May, when I started this series of interviews.

Creativity and innovation are oxygen for the world's best businesses. Increase the flow and they soar. Limit the supply and they wither and ultimately die.

That has been true for longer than anyone reading this has been alive.

What is also true is that until now, that creativity, that ability to come up with original ideas that solve problems has been limited to human beings.

With the arrival and advances in AI, will that still be true five years from now? Two? Tomorrow?

Over the last few weeks, I've interviewed ten different leaders from across the creative industries. Brand leaders, agency founders, global agency heads, global client leads, production experts, creator community experts, consultants, and an advertising industry legend.

And while I was at Cannes, I talked to two dozen more about where the creative industries are headed and what they need to do to ensure their future.

These industries are a complex eco system of competing and contradictory forces built on what I believe is the worst business model in the world: selling original ideas based on how long it took to conceive and deliver them, and then giving up the ownership and the economic benefit of those ideas forever.

It is the equivalent of pricing a Picasso based on how long it took him to paint it. It is selling every patentable idea based on the cost of the labor, while ignoring the impact on people's lives.

According to some reports it takes 24 hours to build an iPhone. Imagine if Apple broke that down into a scope of work and then sold each iPhone for the cost of that scope and, with it, the ownership of the IP. For how long would they remain the most valuable business in the world?

The daily advances of AI challenge every aspect of the creative industries. From defining and articulating the problem, to conceiving, creating and delivering solutions. Every part of the process is being radically changed. And the extent of that change is limitless.

So what should we do about that?

Where does ideation end and production begin?

This episode is part of a series of conversations I've been having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. Over the last few weeks, I've been focusing my study of leadership through a single lens, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries.

This final interview is with David Rolfe, the Global Head of Production at WPP. Dave and I have known each other for more years than we care to acknowledge, and he is the most provocative and disruptive thinker about production that I know.

As the week at Cannes unfolded, it became clear that this series wouldn't be complete without a conversation about production.

So I asked Dave late in the week if he would sit down with me and talk about the impact of AI on production. As you may have heard in my interview with Adam Tucker, WPP has made a large investment in AI. That wasn't the reason I wanted to include Dave in this series, but it does, again, add a dimension to the conversation that helps to establish reference points as the industry navigates the disruption that AI is already bringing.

I started the conversation with Dave from a simple premise. Is production dead? As you'll hear, it is most definitely not, but it will look very, very different in a very short space of time, and that change has already begun. So if any part of your future thinking about production is based on how production looked and worked a year ago, you probably need to challenge that perspective to make sure that it stands the test of time, which in today's world, we can probably define as somewhere between 12 and 24 months, I suspect.

In the next episode, I'll sum up everything I've heard and seen since we started this series. In the meantime, thank you for listening.

Does your AI do what you need it to do?

This episode is part of a series of conversations I've been having in partnership with the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Over the last few weeks, I've been focusing my study of leadership through a single lens, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. I'd planned on ending the series with my interview of Sir John Hegarty, but I recorded two bonus episodes during Cannes that I felt were an important part of the conversation.

Adam Tucker is the Global Account Lead at WPP for Mondelez, and he reached out to me after listening to the first few episodes in this series. He pointed out that while we were focusing on how AI will impact the process of how the creative industries work, we hadn't talked about how it is already changing the work itself. WPP has made a significant investment in AI. The press reports that it's spending about $318 million annually in WPP Open, a set of AI capabilities that are now available to its 35,000 employees around the world. Adam explained why from his perspective, this investment creates a competitive advantage.

I'm not an AI expert, nor have I seen WPP Open firsthand, to pass any judgment on its capabilities, and whether it is in fact superior to other forms of AI that are publicly available. This conversation is not intended to convince you whether WPP has created a competitive advantage or not. What it does establish is one clearly differentiated benchmark in the ecosystem of AI that are now springing up across the creative industries, and therefore, it provides one measurement against which to evaluate your own relationship with artificial intelligence.

I'll wrap this series this week with one more bonus episode and then a recap. In the meantime, thanks for listening.

Are you willing to dare? 

This episode is the last in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes and during Cannes, we focused 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? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner.

This episode's guest is Sir John Hegarty. He's the Co-Founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and one of the most original thinkers of the last 40 plus years. Sir John is a reference point for an industry that has changed a lot, and also not very much over those four plus decades.

The through lines that mattered, then still matter today. Confident, disruptive thinking.

At a time when the future is waiting to be invented, like never before, Sir John's description of the atmosphere that leaders need to create is time tested. Only time will tell whether it is timeless.

Next week, we'll have a couple of bonus episodes before I wrap up the series, and give you my thoughts on the impact of AI on the creative industries, based on the conversations that I've been having. In the meantime, thanks for listening.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

Are you willing to dare? 

This episode is the last in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes and during Cannes, we focused 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? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner.

This episode's guest is Sir John Hegarty. He's the Co-Founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and one of the most original thinkers of the last 40 plus years. Sir John is a reference point for an industry that has changed a lot, and also not very much over those four plus decades.

The through lines that mattered, then still matter today. Confident, disruptive thinking.

At a time when the future is waiting to be invented, like never before, Sir John's description of the atmosphere that leaders need to create is time tested. Only time will tell whether it is timeless.

Next week, we'll have a couple of bonus episodes before I wrap up the series, and give you my thoughts on the impact of AI on the creative industries, based on the conversations that I've been having. In the meantime, thanks for listening.

What is it?

This episode is the seventh in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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? Or do we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Before we jump into this conversation, a couple of programming notes.

I had originally intended to finish this series of conversations with this episode, and then to do a wrap up episode on my takeaways from the series. But I've got a chance to interview an industry legend at Cannes, and so I'm going to extend the series by one more. You'll hear that conversation at the end of Cannes next week. And then, the week after, we'll wrap up the series.

Tiffany Rolfe is a mother, as well as the Global Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. I asked Tiffany to come back on the show because she is, as you'll hear, a self described tech optimist. She's also one of the most original thinkers that I know.

Her professional journey has taken her from Executive Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to Chief Content Officer and Partner at one of the first agency consultancy hybrids, Co:Collective, to her role at R/GA. If you haven't heard our earlier episode in which she talks about the challenges of combining a demanding career with being a mother, it's a really powerful listen.

In this conversation, one of the first questions that came up was, how should we think about AI?

Stay tuned next week for our final conversation in the series. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What is it?

This episode is the seventh in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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? Or do we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Before we jump into this conversation, a couple of programming notes.

I had originally intended to finish this series of conversations with this episode, and then to do a wrap up episode on my takeaways from the series. But I've got a chance to interview an industry legend at Cannes, and so I'm going to extend the series by one more. You'll hear that conversation at the end of Cannes next week. And then, the week after, we'll wrap up the series.

Tiffany Rolfe is a mother, as well as the Global Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. I asked Tiffany to come back on the show because she is, as you'll hear, a self described tech optimist. She's also one of the most original thinkers that I know.

Her professional journey has taken her from Executive Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to Chief Content Officer and Partner at one of the first agency consultancy hybrids, Co:Collective, to her role at R/GA. If you haven't heard our earlier episode in which she talks about the challenges of combining a demanding career with being a mother, it's a really powerful listen.

In this conversation, one of the first questions that came up was, how should we think about AI?

Stay tuned next week for our final conversation in the series. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What is it?

This episode is the seventh in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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? Or do we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Before we jump into this conversation, a couple of programming notes.

I had originally intended to finish this series of conversations with this episode, and then to do a wrap up episode on my takeaways from the series. But I've got a chance to interview an industry legend at Cannes, and so I'm going to extend the series by one more. You'll hear that conversation at the end of Cannes next week. And then, the week after, we'll wrap up the series.

Tiffany Rolfe is a mother, as well as the Global Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. I asked Tiffany to come back on the show because she is, as you'll hear, a self described tech optimist. She's also one of the most original thinkers that I know.

Her professional journey has taken her from Executive Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to Chief Content Officer and Partner at one of the first agency consultancy hybrids, Co:Collective, to her role at R/GA. If you haven't heard our earlier episode in which she talks about the challenges of combining a demanding career with being a mother, it's a really powerful listen.

In this conversation, one of the first questions that came up was, how should we think about AI?

Stay tuned next week for our final conversation in the series. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.

What do the artists think?

This episode is the sixth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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 redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner.

Jamie Gutfreund has seen the creative industries from many vantage points. She's the former Global Chief Marketing Officer for Hasbro and MGA Entertainment.

She was Chief Growth Officer at Whalar and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs.

Today, she's the Founder of Creator Vision, a company that she describes as helping brands bridge the gap between the practice and the promise of the creator economy. At a time when the future is coming towards us faster than perhaps at any period in human history, gaining some advanced warning about what will happen next, would be welcome. To put it mildly.

Is it conceivable that AI itself might give us the clues to how AI is going to change the world as we know it? Jamie thinks it's possible, if we look at it through the right lens. The artists' lens.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here.

In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What do the artists think?

This episode is the sixth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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 redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner.

Jamie Gutfreund has seen the creative industries from many vantage points. She's the former Global Chief Marketing Officer for Hasbro and MGA Entertainment.

She was Chief Growth Officer at Whalar and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs.

Today, she's the Founder of Creator Vision, a company that she describes as helping brands bridge the gap between the practice and the promise of the creator economy. At a time when the future is coming towards us faster than perhaps at any period in human history, gaining some advanced warning about what will happen next, would be welcome. To put it mildly.

Is it conceivable that AI itself might give us the clues to how AI is going to change the world as we know it? Jamie thinks it's possible, if we look at it through the right lens. The artists' lens.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here.

In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What do the artists think?

This episode is the sixth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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 redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner.

Jamie Gutfreund has seen the creative industries from many vantage points. She's the former Global Chief Marketing Officer for Hasbro and MGA Entertainment.

She was Chief Growth Officer at Whalar and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs.

Today, she's the Founder of Creator Vision, a company that she describes as helping brands bridge the gap between the practice and the promise of the creator economy. At a time when the future is coming towards us faster than perhaps at any period in human history, gaining some advanced warning about what will happen next, would be welcome. To put it mildly.

Is it conceivable that AI itself might give us the clues to how AI is going to change the world as we know it? Jamie thinks it's possible, if we look at it through the right lens. The artists' lens.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here.

In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

What are you fed by? 

This episode is the fifth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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, or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities, and risks, around every corner.

Nils Leonard is the Co-founder of Uncommon, a global creative studio based in New York, London, and Stockholm. I invited Nils into the series because I suspected he would have a strong point of view about what AI is, and isn't, when it comes to creativity.

Nils has strong beliefs about many things, which is why I ask him back on the show regularly. One of those is the emotional leap of faith that every creative act demands. It's a deeply and uniquely human investment.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here. In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What are you fed by? 

This episode is the fifth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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, or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities, and risks, around every corner.

Nils Leonard is the Co-founder of Uncommon, a global creative studio based in New York, London, and Stockholm. I invited Nils into the series because I suspected he would have a strong point of view about what AI is, and isn't, when it comes to creativity.

Nils has strong beliefs about many things, which is why I ask him back on the show regularly. One of those is the emotional leap of faith that every creative act demands. It's a deeply and uniquely human investment.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here. In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation.

What are you fed by? 

This episode is the fifth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion 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, or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities, and risks, around every corner.

Nils Leonard is the Co-founder of Uncommon, a global creative studio based in New York, London, and Stockholm. I invited Nils into the series because I suspected he would have a strong point of view about what AI is, and isn't, when it comes to creativity.

Nils has strong beliefs about many things, which is why I ask him back on the show regularly. One of those is the emotional leap of faith that every creative act demands. It's a deeply and uniquely human investment.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here. In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Are you aiming high enough?

This episode is the fourth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing on a 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? Or should we adjust and iterate slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner.

Yasu Sasaki is the Global Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu. His company has a presence in over 145 countries and regions, and they've been working with artificial intelligence, in one form or another, since 2011.

One of the main questions facing the creative industries is which companies will see AI as an opportunity to stretch the boundaries of human creativity. To recognize that the limitations in our creativity are no longer practical, financial, or time-based, but are, in fact, our own confidence in our capacity to think originally.

We can also use this opportunity to create greater efficiency, a worthy ambition in a world in which resources are scarce and a life in which the time available to us is finite.

In theory and in practice, we can both raise the bar and lower cost.

But we must be careful how we do it.

At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned and where we might go from here.

In the meantime, thanks for joining us.