The Mindful Marketer

"Burnout to Balance: Prioritize and Thrive in '25" Today, executives face a mandate: "Grow revenue while reducing costs." This mantra permeates the US government, public and private companies.   Random tactics and endless “to do” lists lead to burnout and loss of your top performers—costing millions in lost brand repute, revenue, workers compensation, and indefinite medical leave.   If you're feeling the sting of burnout, give a listen to this episode. You will learn:

"Avoid These Costly Transformation Traps in 2025" #86   In this AI-powered age and impatient investor climate, growth leaders often struggle with avoiding transformation traps and tribulations. This session will help you avoid today's costly career and company moves. Here's what you'll hear in this episode:   * 5 transformation types every leader needs to navigate (the Transformation Tree) (8:40) * Contemporary transformation trap examples, including Starbucks, IBM, and Nike (15:00-23:10) * The trap that leaders often underestimate (11:05-15:00) *  Lisa's five favorite strategy accelerators (23:00)   Don't miss our next show. Join our “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com. A hearty thanks to our production team: Steffen Kaplan and Alexander and Bill Connolly.

"Fight Fake News, Protect Your Brand: Lessons from an AI Experiment" with Jack Brewster (#86)   It can cost bad actors less than $150 to create a fake (or "pink slime") news site and mess with your company's brand. We're deep into the USA election season, and we're watching this train wreck unfold.   Don't let misinformation ruin your hard-earned reputation. Listen to this episode, where we welcome Jack Brewster of NewsGuard. They are committed to providing transparent tools to counter fake news for marketers, leaders, and democracies.   Summary:   Here's what you can do to protect your brand:   1. Practice “pre-bunking” across the company. Jack recommends that "readers should be informed about sources that often share misinformation so they can critically evaluate the information they encounter." 2. Before you take the content seriously, copy the story into Google. See the source. Are they a Tier 1, credible site? 3. Embrace a healthy media diet. Cut your social media consumption by just five minutes a day (please avoid using Facebook, Instagram, and X as your "go-to" news feeds). Divert that energy to Tier 1 sources. 4. Refine your critical thinking skills. A lot of my CEO and CMO clients have young, inexperienced team members running their content and communications strategies. It's incumbent on their leaders to help them build critical thinking and strategic muscles. Invest in courses, such as "Developing Critical Thinking Skills" by my fellow LinkedIn Learning instructor Becki Salzman. 5. When using generative AI tools to brainstorm or summarize, ask the tool for exact sources and the URL to that source. Then test that URL. Some will not work!   Show Links: Follow Jack Brewster's work, and subscribe to NewsGuard's free “Reality Check” e-news:https://www.newsguardtech.com/about/ Facing company or career transition? Join us October 17-20 for “The Midlife Innovator” Retreat at MEA Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA). Details and registration:bit.ly/clic24santafe Want to overcome career isolation and propel growth? Apply to the Marketing Growth Leaders peer community: marketinggrowthleaders.com Don't miss another episode. Register for our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com. Like what you heard? Please leave us an Apple Podcast review. Spread the love! Meanwhile, we're sending love to our production team: Alexander Connolly,  

Full Time vs. Fractional? The CMO Career Debate   Guests: Scott Kabat, CEO, 621 Consulting and Michael Taylor, CEO, SimpleMind Inc.   SUMMARY: It's our job as leaders to present cost-effective and strategic alternatives to old traditional CMO roles and responsibilities. Why now? Because generative AI is rapidly streamlining how we build content, go to market, engage with customers, and design our demand gen strategies. These are common requirements to be a “full stack” CMO.   Here's the challenge. Thanks to AI, information has become commoditized, and knowledge (skills) are table stakes.   On the other hand, wisdom, the pinnacle of human understanding, comes from the marriage of knowledge and experience. In the future, boards and CEOs will need more wisdom than information. And a fractional CMO just might be the wisdom well you need as you face this stage of growth.   If you are curious about hiring a fractional CMO, or you are a CMO considering a fractional career path, listen to this show.   We welcomed Scott Kabat, CEO of 621 Consulting in San Francisco. He leads a team of fractional CMOs and hands-on marketing operators. A recovering CMO himself, Scott has worked with brands such as Apple, Lyft, and Target.   Our other panelist – a returning favorite and BFF-- is Michael Taylor, founder of Simple Mind Inc. He works with top firms such as AARP, IHG, and Great Dane and has been a fractional CMO, creative director, and startup founder and builder of a top digital agency.   Listen and learn:   Why fractional CMOs are currently in high demand The distinctions between fractional and interim CMOs   The reasons why CEOs hire fractional CMOs.   Key questions you need to ask to ensure success and client alignment.   A 10-point checklist for CEOs to assess fractional CMO needs. (see show link).   Show Links: “The Midlife Innovator” Retreat, October 17-20, 2024, at MEA Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA). Details and registration:bit.ly/clic24santafe Scott Kabat: www.621consulting.com. “Is Hiring a Fractional CMO Right for You?” Checklist: www.simplemindinc.com/cmo Want to overcome career isolation and propel growth? Apply to the Marketing Growth Leaders peer community: marketinggrowthleaders.com Want to build your fractional CMO role and brand? These are some favorite marketing and business development resources from Alan Weiss:https://alanweiss.com/store/books/ Don't miss another episode. Register for our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com.   Like what you heard? Please leave us an Apple Podcast review. We love our listeners!  

“Four Big Customer Growth Unlocks” with HomeServe USA's CMO, Andy Yost   There has never been a better time for marketers to lead growth initiatives--yet many are mired in overwhelming and misaligned priorities. That clouds their ability to design new futures and test growth hypotheses.   Hear how Andy Yost is testing and discovering new revenue streams without alienating teams at this 20-year-old brand. HomeServe USA offers nearly 5 million homeowners affordable emergency service plans and protection from expensive and unexpected repairs. We cover simple ways to make trust tangible, building hypotheses, setting clear priorities, picking metrics that matter, and more. You will also hear details on CLIC '24: Digital Innovation Day. This marks our 8th innovation cohort in NYC (May 1-2).   Thank you for being a loyal listener.   A hearty THANK YOU to our superstar production team: Alexander Connolly,  

Episode 82 dives into the power of community in marketing, featuring a special book giveaway of "Rising Together" by Sally Helgesen. We cover the nuances of community-building among marketers and CMOs, and learn how to navigate the challenges that often hinder the formation of strong employee, stakeholder, and customer communities.  This episode outlines three common obstacles to community success: fear of self-promotion, the “overconfidence versus competence” dilemma, and the “network versus grapevine” distinction.   **Show Highlights & Resources**   - Join our 8th CMOs Leading Innovation Conference "Digital Innovation Day" happening on May 1-2 in New York City. Visit bit.ly/clic24nyc   - Order "Rising Together" by Sally Helgesen on Amazon tinyurl.com/risingsallybook   - Stay ahead of the curve by registering for our "know ahead" list at themindfulmarketer.com, ensuring you never miss an episode.   A big thank you to our dedicated production team: Alex Connolly, Marisa Cali, and Bill Connolly, for their exceptional work.    Like what you heard? Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and share the love.

“Smart Recruiting Strategies in an AI Powered World” with CoStar Group's Kirstine Wilson The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 85% of 1,000 U.S. professionals surveyed are thinking about changing jobs this year. This represents an 18-point surge from 2023. Why do this report (and episode) matter? Because promotions and job searches have become even more competitive. With AI vying for certain jobs, we need to be more articulate, strategic, and connected than ever. A high-quality network gets you interviews, not an assembly line of AI-generated cover letters. Episode 81 show highlights include:   New ways that CoStar is hiring creative talent (and you can, too). Messaging and outreach methods that help you get attention. Why AI cover letters fail to captivate recruiters. How to request strategic introductions—and skip the resume blasting.   The pros and cons of the “executive profile on a page.”   We went live in Washington, DC with CoStar Group, Inc.'s VP of Talent Acquisition, Kirstine Wilson. In her role as lead recruiter, Kirstine has spearheaded more than 3,000 hires for this public global company with a current market cap of $33.3B. During this episode, we hope you discover a new idea to land that important interview! Join our 2024 “know ahead” show and retreat list now—register at themindfulmarketer.com.   Thank you for being a loyal listener. Join us for the next show on March 1 with return guest, seven-time leadership author Sally Helgesen. March is book giveaway month!   A hearty THANK YOU to our superstar production team: Alex Connolly,  

Reflect and Refresh: Six Mindful Questions for 2024   Before you start this show, grab a nice cup of hot tea or cacao. Find a quiet spot where you do your best dreaming and thinking. Bring your presence, pen, and paper. Then press “start.”   We skipped the “fast start/out of the gates” approach to the new year. Instead, we designed Episode 80 to help you design a fulfilling 2024.   The 6 Mindful Questions will help you... 1. reflect on your 2023 goals and milestones - WITHOUT distractions. 2. discover talents worth keeping and repeating. 3. address and overcome persistent obstacles. This is not another goal setting or strategic planning session. It's a deeply inquisitive exercise that will get to the heart of your accomplishments, aspirations, and impact. I get personal in this show. I reveal the power of asking and sharing in the “third vault,” a term coined by two-time Superbowl champion, Aaron Rogers. I learned about him through my work at MEA, the world's first midlife wisdom school.   HBS Professor and bestselling author, Amy Edmondson, also joined us! She has taught millions about the art and power behind psychological safety. Her newest book, “Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well,” is now available.   P.S. Join our 2024 “know ahead” show and retreat list now—register at themindfulmarketer.com.  

Episode 79: Welcome to 2024 planning season.   How will you ensure your go to market and customer retention strategies ring true for your customers, investors, and board members?   If you are relying on ‘tried and true” approaches for 2024, your plan might not hit the right notes.   Amy Kellinger and Alex Withers joined us in the studio. Amy leads growth marketing, events and content marketing for Blackbaud. Alex Withers brings decades of tech and sports industry marketing and sales leadership roles at Pepsi, LexisNexis, and TriMark Digital.   You will learn:  

How Marketing Can Be an Ally for Truth” with Eric Schurenberg   In our previous episode 76 with Charlene Li, we discussed how intentional marketing leaders share three habits: courage, curiosity, and discipline. Those qualities are needed more than ever: across every institution, facts are under attack. Some media and tech leaders stoke polarization. AI hallucination and nefarious bots are not the only sources.   A zealous quest for market dominance and ad revenues also squanders trust.   What can we do to earn it back to preserve our brand, cultivate customer trust, and restore civil discourse?   Former Inc. and FastCompany CEO Eric Schurenberg joined Lisa in the studio for this important conversation. He currently leads the Alliance for Trust in Media.   Episode 77 is packed with practical strategies to improve your search for the truth and cultivate wisdom, including: How to apply the Wisdom Pyramid in your daily decisions. (credit to Chip Conley from Episode 67) The three questions every leader needs to ask to verify information: Is this designed to trigger an emotional response? How likely could this be true? What if I pause before sharing it? The danger of “talking your book” – tooting a customer's or partner's horn without fully disclosing the nature of your relationship. (some analysts are shameless about this). How to design your news feed wisely, and Eric's daily “truth training” habits. BONUS: fun pilot stories from Eric and Lisa (31:20). A hearty THANK YOU to our superstar production team: Alex Connolly,  

Generative AI: What CMOs Need to Know

Episode 75: “EX and CX: The Marketer's Magic Formula” with Tiffani Bova     “The fastest way to get customers to love your brand is to get employees to love their job."   In this episode, you will find out why old beliefs that “the customer is number one” are no longer true—nor sustainable.   We welcomed Salesforce's Chief Growth Evangelist, Tiffani Bova, to the studio. Her deep research of over 4,000 executives forms a strong foundation for this session, and her newest book. Show highlights include:   What EX means? “a method to design and deliver simple and personalized employee experiences that feel unique to our company-- in an effort to drive better business outcomes.” The distinction between HR and EX – and why EX is NOT job #1 of your HR team. The smart move behind “One Stupid Thing:” How a Vancouver-based unicorn CEO drove higher valuation and team engagement scores. Simple strategies to overcome low technology adoption rates (hovering 24%) Tiffani's favorite metrics to align EX and CX To celebrate our 75th show, we gave away copies of her newest book,” The Experience Mindset." Congratulations to our winners - Kristin Mitra and David Lopez.   Special thanks to our superstar production team: Alex Connolly, Bill Connolly, Glen Macdonell, and Marisa Cali. LIKE OUR SHOW? Please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcast. We love our loyal listeners!   P.S. Don't miss a future show – register for our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com   SHOW NOTES AND BONUSES: CMOs Leading Innovation Conference (CLIC '23) – our 7th cohort gathers Nov. 2-3 in Nashville, TN USA. Details/registration here:Tinyurl.com/clic2023 HBR article: This includes key insights on the revenue upside potential from aligning EX and CX initiatives: https://hbr.org/2022/03/research-how-employee-experience-impacts-your-bottom-line LinkedIn Live Replay with Tiffani & Lisa (36 minutes):https://www.linkedin.com/events/cxandex-themarketer-smagicformu7087413132049965056/comments/ The Experience Mindset order link:https://tinyurl.com/tiffaniexperience Episode 76: “Ask Me Anything!” Send your customer, career, or marketing strategy questions to lisa@lisanirell.comwith “AMA September 1 question” in the Subject line. We will send you the invitation link (free).  

In Episode 74 of The Mindful Marketer, we explored a common cause of leadership and team breakdowns: Ego Myopia. The session highlights include: * Where you might be practicing ego myopia without knowing it * The most common ego myopia move among marketing leaders * Three ways to transform ego myopia today—and definitions * Wisdom discussion – “Seeing what is below the surface and beyond the obvious.” * How to unravel the misunderstandings about power * How marketers can plug “power leaks” We also gave away copies of Eric's new book, "Leadership Breakdown: How Conscious Leaders Generate Breakthroughs That Enrich Business and the World." Congratulations to our winners, @Sherry Grote and @Mahesh Thakur! Special thanks to our superstar production team: Alex Connolly, Bill Connolly, Glen Macdonell, and Marisa Cali. Your additional resources: The CMOs Leading Innovation Conference invitation: https://tinyurl.com/baukaakc “Leadership Breakdown” book – Amazon order link here: https://tinyurl.com/egomyopia Join us for our next show on August 4 with @TiffaniBova from Salesforce. It's another book giveaway and deep dive into “EX and CX: The Marketer's Magic Formula.”

What's Your Innovation Melody? Power Panel Featuring Monique Elliott, Shane McCarthy, and Eric McCarthey Welcome to Season Two of The Mindful Marketer, where we explore the role of marketing in cultivating conscious and mindful communication. Join us on June 2 from 1:30-2:05 pm ET on June 2 to discover: - Three types of marketing innovation. - Communication strategies to fuel innovation and experimentation. -- How to embrace an innovative mindset in any economy - Recent marketing innovation success stories. -- Methods to kick start marketing innovation – #CLIC23 invitation     We will take your live questions, too.    Be sure to register if you cannot attend live. You'll receive the replay. P.S. Prefer podcasts? Follow The Mindful Marketer podcast wherever you get your shows. See you June 2 for this powerful panel discussion!

“From Global to Local: The Art of Listening” with TATA Consulting CMO Abhinav KumarAs we launch Season Two, we explore the role of marketing in cultivating conscious and mindful communication. Abhinav Kumar, the CMO of TATA Consulting and FC Barcelona fan, joins us from Brussels to share his “global to local” communications playbook.Abhinav faces a daunting task. He oversees communications to engage and educate over 630,000 employees across 46 countries. Balance this goal with a charter to continue building a brand valued at $17.2B, and TATA's commitment to tackling grand global challenges: climate change and energy transition.Here's what we covered... ●The biggest technological obstacles and opportunities to being a “Chief Listener” for your organization.   ●The benefits and guardrails needed to achieve hyper-localization.   ●Abhinav's recommended resources to help you turn listening into loyalty.Don't miss a future show –register for our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com

Welcome to the efficiency era, when many top marketers worry about brand investments getting rejected or delayed. During Episode 71 - "Brand ROI for Marketing Skeptics" with Katie Hollar and Michael Oliver --you will hear:   How to pick the right set of metrics for your current growth stage (explore vs. exploit mode) Ways AI can help you engage customers in the branding process (a time saver!) How Katie and the team use their website as a "brand home base" The correlation between store visits, sales results and brand repute at BMW Canada   Don't miss a future show – register for our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com  

Customers, Cookies, and Content: A President's Perspective  featuring Jascha Kaykas-Wolff  March 10, 2023  The rapid decline of third-party cookies has turned a CMO's growth playbook upside down. And building trust has never been more challenging--especially in the United States. A 2021 Oxford University study asked 92,000 people whether they trust the news media in their country. The highest rated country was Finland. The U.S. came in dead last, at 29%. How much complexity are we facing globally with customer privacy? (hint: more than ever!) How can our messages build trust in this daunting digital desert?  Why should CMOs care about customer data platforms (CDPs)?  Where's the balance between personalization and privacy?  In this show, you will hear how iconic tech CMO-turned-President, Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, has built agile teams that cultivate trust and drive healthy growth. He will share how transparent privacy policies, cookies, and content can work in harmony. Some takeaways: Strategic leaders take responsibility for their customers' experience—or customers will leave. This starts with being clear on the value exchange between our company and those customers. That will ensure that your first party data strategy endures. Commit to building a solid customer data platform strategy before implementing a customer data platform. Here is a free, helpful white paper from Lytics. https://www.lytics.com/resources/guides/customer-data-platforms-101/ Gartner predicts that 75% of the world's population will be under privacy regulations by December 2023. Mindful marketers need to work closely with their legal, data science, and content teams to stay abreast of these privacy demands. Click here for the ZDNet story (3-minute read) Avoid “irrational AI exuberance.” Many of us are rushing to use generative AI without establishing ethical and contextual guardrails. Jascha and I addressed the major reputational and ethical risks associated with this approach.    Instead, ask your leaders “Are we going to build use cases right now, or am I first going to explore the implications of bias, context, and structure?” Before you fully take advantage of machine learning and generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT), find a way to create and publish organization guardrails.    Leverage your data science team to a) acknowledge that bias exists within the tools and b) remove bias daily. Here's how Jascha' s team addresses this ethical challenge: He and his team practice “intentional de-biasing.” They make best efforts to remove biases in their toolset. Jascha believes “this discussion needs to happen in scrum meetings, board discussions, and leadership meetings. It's critical to remove biases as soon as we find them.”   P.S. Before you go:   1. Don't miss a future episode –the first Friday of each month, 1:30-2:05 pm ET. Join our “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com. 2. Got an idea for a future show or guest? Drop me a note: lisa@lisanirell.com with “Future Show Idea” in the Subject line.

[REPLAY: The Mindful Marketer #LinkedIn Live featuring David Allison – Episode 69] What is values-based marketing and why does it matter? In our community, CEOs and CMOs are reporting LONGER sales cycles, ineffective messaging, and customer churn.  Based on the ValueGraphics team's assessment of over 750,000 surveys globally, we have learned that demographics and psychographics are ineffective at knowing what your customers want. (10% or less effective, to be exact).  They do not help you uncover what your audience values, and they fall short of predicting how your audience will behave. In this dynamic conversation with customer research pioneer, David Allison, you will hear highlights from his just-released book, “The Death of Demographics.” In addition, you'll hear:  The limitations of traditional demographics research. The power of the 15-point archetype quiz—and how to use it. Three insightful questions you can ask your customers to discover their values. A 45-day action plan to turn your audience insights into marketing actions. You'll love the healthy banter and audience questions in this episode. Enjoy part 2 of Season 1, where we explore the new rules of content strategy. Check out these show notes, compliments of ChatGPT and David's sense of humor:   From David:    “Further to our conversation right now, I asked chat GPT to do this:   Write three short stories about mindfulness in marketing. In one of them mention Lisa Nirell, host of The Mindful Marketer. In one of them mention David Allison, founder of Valuegraphics. And in one of them, mention another famous figure who is a rethinking marketing in a more mindful way.   And in less than a minute it gave me this:   Lisa Nirell, host of ‘The Mindful Marketer,' shares her experience of using mindfulness in marketing. She explains how being present and aware in each moment helped her to make better decisions and connect with her audience in a more meaningful way. Nirell emphasizes that mindfulness allows marketers to approach their work with intention and purpose, leading to more effective and impactful campaigns. David Allison, founder of ValueGraphics, rethinks the role of mindfulness in marketing by focusing on the values of the target audience. According to Allison, marketers who understand their audience's values can craft more meaningful and relevant messaging that resonates with them. He believes that mindfulness in marketing is about being present and aware of the values and motivations of your target audience, allowing you to create campaigns that are truly impactful. Another famous figure who is rethinking marketing in a more mindful way is Simon Sinek, author of "Start with Why." Sinek argues that the most successful brands and organizations are those that have a clear sense of purpose and values. He believes that marketers should focus on inspiring and empowering their audience, rather than simply trying to sell them a product. Sinek's approach to marketing emphasizes the importance of creating meaningful connections and building trust with your audience, through mindfulness and purpose-driven campaigns.   Now for the serious announcements: Don't miss a future show – we livestream on YouTube and LinkedIn on the first Friday of each month. Join our “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com. Got an idea for a future show or guest? Drop me a note: lisa@lisanirell.com with “Future Show Idea for The Mindful Marketer” in the Subject line.

Episode 68 kicks off Season 1 of The Mindful Marketer podcast, where we explore content strategy in 2023. Why should this topic matter to you?ChatGPT, tougher privacy rules, and a growing demand for differentiation can decimate well intended thought leadership and content strategies. Furthermore, Layoffs.fyi just reported that the number of tech layoffs grew 10x between 2021-2022. That means you will find fewer job opportunities than in 2021. To thrive, you need to be a thought leader in your market to stand out. Seasoned editor and marketer, Ginger Conlon, joined me for this lively show. Here's what you will hear:  How to distinguish between content strategy and thought leadership The pros and cons of TikTok Concrete ways to use ChatGPT (and AI in general) in your business How to avoid making ChatGPT mistakes – and the most common Measuring ROI for your content and thought leadership efforts Ginger is the thought leadership Director at Genesys, a 6000-person cloud-based customer support tech company. She's also the co-host of the "Tech Talks in 20" podcast. Like me, she is also a fitness fanatic who loves creating valuable audience content. Check out these links and show notes from this episode: LINKS Content marketing leaders to watch CMI 2022 winners: https://www.contentmarketingawards.com/2022-winners/ Hubspot's article, 20 standout content marketing examples: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-examples-online-resources TikTok trouble? Handy quote from Scott Galloway's January Prof G podcast: “TikTok is the ultimate propaganda tool…two-thirds of all millennials would turn off ALL cable and social media in favor of TikTok.” Their parent, Byte Dance, is on the path to a $1T valuation. TikTok is cleaning Google's, Meta's, and Amazon's ad clock (and grabbing ad budget chunks). Click here for the Wall Street Journal analysis (free). CXL blog on TikTok marketing: https://cxl.com/blog/tiktok-ecommerce/ TikTok for Business data sheet on consumer purchasing: https://www.tiktok.com/business/library/Global_Retail_Path_to_Purchase.pdf   AI & ChatGPT “20 uses for ChatGPT”article: https://markwschaefer.medium.com/20-entertaining-uses-of-chatgpt-you-never-knew-were-possible-3bc2644d4507 CNET article on ChatGPT: https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/why-everyones-obsessed-with-chatgpt-a-mind-blowing-ai-chatbot/ Don't miss a future show – we livestream on YouTube and LinkedIn on the first Friday of each month. Join our “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com. Got an idea for a future show or guest? Drop me a note: lisa@lisanirell.com with “Future Show Guest for The Mindful Marketer” in the Subject line.

Ready for some "Baja A-has?" In this episode of The Mindful Marketer podcast, we explored:   * What it means to be a modern marketing elder * The distinction between empathy and compassion * How the Modern Elder Academy practices compassionate leadership and marketing -- and where their marketing plan initially got it wrong * The power of "Third Vault" stakeholder conversations * The three components of compassionate marketing--and how you can use it to deepen trust with your stakeholders   A hearty thanks to my longtime friend and wisdom co-worker, Chip Conley.      Learn more about the benefits of compassion through Shauna Shapiro, PhD. Stay tuned for our future collaborations with the Modern Elder Academy in 2023.  Visit their 2023-2024 retreat schedule at modernelderacademy.com. Tell Chip that Lisa sent you.     P.S. Don't miss future shows—register for our private "know ahead" list at themindfulmarketer.com.

The Mindful Marketer/ Episode 66  Are you dreading an upcoming layoff, acquisition, or budget cut announcement?    You're not the only one. These announcements create stress for marketing leaders and CEOs, no matter how experienced they may be.    In Episode 66, I sit down with my fellow 100 Coaches colleague and author Amii Barnard-Bahn. We discuss a 6-step process to design your message. It will help you dramatically improve your confidence and boost calm.   I'm joined in the studio by fellow  100 Coaches colleague Amii Barnard-Bahn, JD, PCC. Together, we will help you feel more present and prepared for future political and economic headwinds.  Don't miss a show. Join our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com.  Here are resources and show notes:  KPMG CEO Outlook 2022: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/media/press-releases/2022/09/global-ceo-short-recession-optimistic-global-economy-over-3-years.html  “Don't shoot the messenger: How to deliver bad news without being hated” – Amii's FastCompany article here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90545452/dont-shoot-the-messenger-how-to-deliver-bad-news-without-being-hated  The PI Guidebook: How the Promotability Index® Can Help You Get Ahead in Your Career – order Amii's book on Amazon here:  https://www.amazon.com/PI-Guidebook-Promotability-Index%C2%AE-Career/dp/1737029308  Current update on companies making cuts:  https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/layoffs-latest-companies-making-cuts-6016986/  P.S. Feeling generous? In the spirit of dana (the Pali and Sanskrit term for “generosity”), please leave us a review on Apple podcasts.

How are you securing your upward mobility in today's hybrid world? For senior marketers, skill building is simply table stakes. Top marketing leaders also master the art of building allies. In this dynamic session and virtual book launch party with fellow 100 Coaches leader and Skye Team founder, Morag Barrett, you'll learn: The key traits of strong allies Ways to embrace an ally mindset Embracing the three core tenets of work friendships: Look up. Show up. Step up. You won't want to miss learning these time-tested friendship benefits and workplace success secrets. You'll also hear us celebrating Morag's third book: You, Me, We: Why We All Need A Friend at Work (launches in October). Order your copy at youmewebook.com. P.S. Don't miss a show. Join our private “know ahead” list at themindfulmarketer.com.  

Leading marketing during a downturn takes guts and grit. Your board expects more predictable results while your customers keep changing buying habits and brands. Branding falls out of favor while demand gen grabs more attention. Teams become more stressed and disengaged. What can you do to minimize the drudgery of a downturn? Hear what Lisa's best clients are doing to navigate these uncertain market conditions P.S. Don't miss a future livestream—register at themindfulmarketer.com to join our “know ahead” list

How is your business playing a clear and concrete role in advancing society? What role does a mindful marketer play in cultivating conscious business practices? In this episode, Lisa Nirell sits down with a seasoned catalyst of conscious business cultures, Seth Goldman. Seth is Co-Founder of Eat the Change®, a chef-crafted brand that helps people “Snack to the Future™” with chef-crafted, planet-friendly foods. He also recently co-founded PLNT Burger. In his early years as a health and planet conservation activist, Seth co-founded Honest Tea, which he sold to Coca-Cola in 2011. Seth currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Beyond Meat. If you enjoy this podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.Want to join our private “know ahead” show list? Register at themindfulmarketer.com. Select your favorite show from our archives at lisanirell.com/events.

What does it take to make the leap from CMO to CEO? What's the best CEO career path during a downturn? How do successful CEOs hire and retain great marketing leaders? We addressed these questions with Lisa's two CEO guests,  NetCentrics' Kenny Cushing and Clutch.co's Sonny Ganguly. Both Sonny and Kenny grew their careers in marketing. They have helped launch stellar brands. In the past year, they took the leap to CEO. Hear what they learned, how you can dramatically improve your CEO influence, and how you can better prepare for a CEO role.  P.S. Don't miss a future livestream—register at themindfulmarketer.com to join our “know ahead” list.

Marketing innovation is about applying creativity to improve your stakeholders' condition. It requires us to challenge our established beliefs and assumptions. Innovation often requires that we learn from our past as a way to inform our future.  We often need to set aside the past, and begin with a clean slate. This process helps us design an empowering narrative to guide us forward. It bolsters our resilience. That's the underlying theme of our 6th annual CMOs Leading Innovation Conference (CLIC '22): “Growth Curves Ahead: The Resilient CMO.” Our conference begins on November 3 in historic Charleston, South Carolina at the International African American Museum. Dr. Tonya Matthews, their new CEO, has joined our CLIC '22 faculty.  In this episode, Dr. Tonya outlines her role as the “Chief Narrative Officer” and her commitment to the museum's long term impact on history and society. If you are looking to fuel growth and re-shape your organization's narrative, join us at CLIC '22. You can register here: http://clic2022.eventbrite.com.

Now that many CMOs have doubled down on digital, certain “tried and true” channels have become over-crowded. In The Mindful Marketer Livestream Episode 61, here are highlights: *The main reasons why your audience might be ignoring you. * Michael Taylor, the Master of Messaging, gave us fresh ideas to help you rise above the noise. Hint: it's NOT about differentiation! * The diverge strategy that launched a B2B consulting firm's revenues from 0 to $3M in less than 18 months. * How innovation guru and bestselling author, Whitney Johnson, succeeds by constantly re-evaluating tried and true go to market channel strategies. She joined us during the Q&A portion. Here's the replay link: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6939313871446831104/ Join my "know ahead" list and register for our next livestream on Friday, July 1. I'll be welcoming Sonny Ganguly and Kenneth Cushing to the room. Hear their advice on what it takes to make the leap from CMO to CEO. Go to themindfulmarketer.com for our full 2022 schedule and replays.

In episode 60 of “Learning Out Loud: CMO Table Stakes,” you will hear several learning strategies and resources to recession-proof your Marketing career. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review on iTunes. Want our upcoming schedule? Register at themindfulmarketer.com Curious about our private CMO peer groups and coaching programs? Visit marketinggrowthleaders.com.

* Have you intentionally designed your career—or are you complying with someone else's version of “success?” * Do you catch yourself resting on your previous accomplishments? If you answered “YES” to either, then don't miss this session with Lisa's friend and mentor, 100 Coaches Founder and Award-Winning CEO Coach, Marshall Goldsmith. You will walk away with: - Marshall's 3 rules for finding fulfillment - Tips to avoid “over-indexing” on past achievements or the future - Six filters to help you choose the right career or promotion - A proven method to dramatically reduce time spent on business plan reviews—forever

Why are some marketing leaders viewed as order takers, and others become innovators? What are the new road rules to earning a Growth CMO seat? In this session, Lisa shows you the essential "on ramp" to getting there. Join us for some just-in-time career advice and new insights.

How Great Marketers Tame Turmoil During times of crisis, great marketers see and sense what others don't. They create a range of possible actions, even if their ideas are on the back of a paper napkin. They don't get paralyzed, even when surprised. In this timely episode of The Mindful Marketer, Lisa sits down with seasoned board adviser, Harvard Business Review contributor, and author Constance Dierickx. Constance, known as The Decision Doctor™, will share how top leaders from AAA, CDC, Cox Enterprises, and Johnson Controls tame turmoil.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “remarkable” as being uncommon or extraordinary. It takes courage, curiosity, and chutzpah to be a remarkable marketer today. Look no further for inspiration than our special guest, Guy Kawasaki. (Yes, THAT Guy!) Former jewelry salesperson-turned Apple evangelist-turned prolific podcaster, Guy will share his remarkable journey. Guy has been my friend and book collaborator for 20 years. We will discuss: - The common qualities of remarkable marketers - The current state of content creation - When to recognize it's time to change your mission or career - Lessons from producing 119 remarkable podcast episodes - How to compete in the new world of marketing

As we're still in the midst of hybrid work, making a real mark for people who need to come together, innovate, and solve problems does come with some sense of isolation. In this experimental program of Ask Me Anything, I invited everyone to drop their burning questions so we may interact in this valuable exchange. Watch my latest life stream as I go in-depth with your chosen topics and my advice on what it takes to be a mindful marketer. ▶️ Ask Me Anything! Tackling Tough CMO Questions: Some key takeaways include:  ✔️ Marketing has become the dumping ground for new projects and assignments. Prove the value of marketing. Demonstrate that what you do is fuel for healthy growth. ✔️ Know the three methods of communicating for service level agreements: Asynchronous channels Virtual channels In-person meetings and communications channels ✔️ As you fulfill your commitments, ask yourself: How are you going to communicate? Who's going to own those communication channels? How frequently will they be updated?   Seriously consider these pointers as you demonstrate or revamp how you define your value in your organization.   Listen to the replay on Stitcher.   ✔️ Quickly improve your street credibility as a new CMO. Go on a listening tour. Make sure a significant portion of your time is split between customer visits and stakeholder visits. Also, look for low-hanging fruit. Get to the root cause of persistent issues.   ✔️The 3 places you can invest your time as a leader: Spinning your cycles and fixing yesterday's problems Inbox management Designing the future The goal is to address chronic issues as swiftly as possible and establish your credibility as a conscious person capable of spotting ignored challenges and opportunities. ✔️Build a service level agreement. Avoid getting things piled on your plate by listing seven key questions and your points of contact within the organization and within the sales department.   ✔️Start with a key set of initiatives. Set clear marketing goals and plan initiatives that move the needle towards them. Also, be prepared on what to do if the goals aren't met.   Watch the replay on LinkedIn. How would you rate the quality of your current brand experience? Drop me a note; I'd love to hear. Listen to the replay on Stitcher. ------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs build stronger companies and better lives. Download your CMO growth planning and leadership development bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com. You will also join the "know ahead" list for our upcoming Life Streams.   Do something NEW in 2022—for your career and your personal growth. If you are feeling isolated, consider applying to the Marketing Growth Leaders. It's a collection of some of the country's top marketing leaders that have taken us ten years to cultivate. Learn more here. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer delivered a serious blow to media and government entities. They reported, “The failure of leadership makes distrust the default.” For marketing leaders, truth-telling starts with YOU and how you lead your teams. We need the courage and the skills to tell the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. Our reputation depends on it. Recognizing our purpose and practicing self-awareness help us implement truth-telling in our business and marketing decisions. Watch my latest lifestream with my guest, Ron Carucci. He is a co-founder and managing partner at Navalent. He helps CEOs and executives pursue transformational change for their organizations and industries. He is a best-selling author of eight books, with his work being featured in Fortune, CEO Magazine, HBR, and Business Insider. ▶️ How to Build a Trustworthy Team & Reputation:  Watch the replay on LinkedIn. Some key takeaways include:  ✔️ The Dalai Lama once said, “The sign of a great friendship is someone who is willing to tell you the truth, even when you're not ready to hear it.” Lies may provide comfort for a moment. But to form strong long-term relationships among your team and customers, honesty should be the foundation. ✔️ Apply the three tenets of honesty: truth, justice, and purpose. Marketers should represent their company's mission to cater to these difficult times and the new normal. Don't be afraid to ask your customers the hard questions about your organization. Listen to the replay on Stitcher. ✔️ Honesty requires so much more than just “not lying.” Marketers must consider the customers' need for company accountability. They are looking to support brands that say and do the right things for the right reasons. Having purposeful marketing can create a meaningful impact on current events that matter to them. ✔️Your consumers are your shareholders. Set up marketing activities to show genuine concern and care about the communities in your business environments. Building schools, promoting local businesses, and partnering with suppliers are just some ways your company can create a positive impact and form a reputation that's full of integrity. Watch the replay on LinkedIn. How would you rate the quality of your current brand experience? Drop me a note; I'd love to hear. --------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs build stronger companies and better lives. Download your CMO growth planning and leadership development bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com. You will also join the "know ahead" list for our upcoming Life Streams. Do something NEW in 2022—for your career and your personal growth. If you are feeling isolated, consider applying to the Marketing Growth Leaders. It's a collection of some of the country's top marketing leaders that have taken us ten years to cultivate. Learn more here.   Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change for their organizations, leaders, and industries. He has an endless passion for, and a 30-year track record, helping executives tackle challenges of strategy, organization, and leadership. Connect with Ron here > https://www.linkedin.com/in/roncarucci/ Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Whether you work for a museum or MarTech company, one thing remains constant: too many marketers still believe that a poor digital or physical experience won't hurt their brand.  Just think about how many retailers you recently visited, and how deeply disappointed you felt by the experience. If you're like me, you probably walked out empty-handed, grabbed your phone, and chose to order online. The online experience was less painful and annoying. Don't let this happen to your brand.   Instead, watch my latest livestream with my guest, Stuart Foster. He is a seasoned CMO, President and brand trendsetter who helped me build the Marketing Growth Leaders private CMO community a few years ago. He has helped major brands such as Hilton, TopGolf, and Hagerty build the case for experiential branding.  ▶️ Experiential Branding in a Post-COVID World https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6887475114074542080/   Some key takeaways include:    ✔️Do what it takes now to ensure your brand experience is unique. Some companies don't focus on differentiation or uniqueness, which is about WINNING the market narrative. Instead, they simply focus on NOT LOSING. Many people who just think about their product, features and benefits without creating an integrated physical and digital experience face obsolescence.  Seasoned CMO, Stuart Foster says, “Differentiation is key! If you can't find or create differentiation or highlight your uniqueness, you're going to become a commodity. And if you're a commodity, it will be a race to the bottom.” ✔️ Strengthen the connection points between the physical and digital experience of your brand. It doesn't matter whether you sell potato chips or microchips. One of the biggest questions we MUST answer for potential customers is, "What would it be like to work with you?" Yet too many marketers still believe that poor or incomplete digital or physical experience won't hurt their brand. We're here today to be sure this doesn't happen to you.   Listen to the replay on Stitcher.   ✔️ Tap into the emotional power of your brand's experience.  Adweek recently reported that 81% of people are more likely to buy from you if you post online written customer experiences, and they're 66% more likely to buy if you allow your customers to post pictures. This applies to B2B tech companies too. They must also consider this as a strategy. This is why branded customer communities have the potential to drive higher NPS, retention, and margins (think P&G's Pampers, Salesforce Trailblazers, and more).   ✔️Follow the experiential brand leaders such as Hilton, TopGolf, Salesforce, Wal-Mart, and Microsoft. Keep a watchful eye over how Microsoft creates more experiential brand experiences post-Activision integration. All of these companies have also announced significant investments in the metaverse, a virtual brand experience playground. Stuart and I both agree that the future looks bright for how the metaverse fuels unique brand experiences. He believes that, “the metaverse is experiential, and it taps into the human need for belonging and self-esteem. Should companies figure out how to fulfill social motivation, they're going to make a lot of money doing it.” * Notice how B2B companies are starting to think like media moguls. The CMO of IBM, Carla Pinero Sublett, was recently quoted in a Salesforce interview as saying: "I would like my team to win an Oscar." (This can be a daunting task in a company with 40 different marketing organizations!) Be like Carla, and look way outside of your industry for inspiration and bold brand moments.   Watch the replay on LinkedIn. How would you rate the quality of your current brand experience? Drop me a note; I'd love to hear. Listen to the replay on Stitcher. --------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs build stronger companies and better lives. Download your CMO growth planning and leadership development bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com. You will also join the "know ahead" list for our upcoming Life Streams. Do something NEW in 2022—for your career and your personal growth. If you are feeling isolated, consider applying to the Marketing Growth Leaders. It's a collection of some of the country's top marketing leaders that have taken us ten years to cultivate. Learn more here. Stuart Foster works as a fractional CMO with Chief Outsiders. He brings deep brand, marketing and commercial expertise in growing brands & businesses, including L'Oréal, Moët Hennessy, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Topgolf & Hagerty. Trusted with difficult business challenges, including revitalizing mature brands, creating new brands, and leading high-performing, cross-functional teams through innovation and change. Connect with Stuart here > https://www.linkedin.com/in/hstuartfoster/ Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

PwC's study in 2021 reported that 65% of employees were in search of a new job! And over half of my clients were either promoted or changed jobs.  You only have 3-4 months to make your mark as an innovator—so how will you prove it? We all know that making time to observe, reflect, and capitalize on key trends is ESSENTIAL, yet few of us dedicate time to it! That's why many marketers are just trying NOT TO LOSE versus trying to WIN.  Discover trendspotting methods and future-forward organizations worth watching in this episode with Charlene Li, a good friend, author of several NY Times best-selling books, including SHOW BOOK THE DISRUPTION MINDSET and an advisor to some of the most innovative companies on the planet.  Watch the replay on LinkedIn. Some key episode moments include:  ✔️ Be genuinely curious; this is key to keeping up with emerging trends. Charlene Li reveals that her passion for research and exploration started in one summer in elementary school. Cultivating the interest and dissecting and understanding what the future holds is a skill that every marketing leader needs to thrive with disruption. ✔️ Decide to become a trendspotter vs. fad follower. Charlene shares that being a fast follower can be a valid strategy because there is no risk. However, following everything that already has been proven in the marketplace will not benefit you. "That means you're always going to be a step behind and never the person in front. Beating trends is where that leadership comes from. It's like you're going out there, you're making some bets about how the world will evolve, and you're putting money and investment behind it. Sometimes it'll pay off. Sometimes it won't. And as you get better, that gives you a huge competitive advantage because you're early, you're first in the market, and you understand where these customers are going to be, and you beat them there."   Listen to the replay on Stitcher. ✔️ Discover customer and culture shifts and predictions. Take, for example, how Lyft started with Zimride (carpooling). It never got traction after 2.5 years of testing in universities and corporations. Then they launched Lyft for individuals. They waited to discover their value before taking a dime of VC money. Another worthy example is Qualtrics' transition from multiple products to a single platform, a risky bet-the-company made, while their business was at an all-time high. SAP bought them for $8B.  ✔️ Understand that if you're not making any mistakes, you are not taking enough risk. Charlene shares, "As business professionals, as marketers, we tend to think about the next two quarters, and that's about it. This is so dangerous because if you constantly react to fad following versus trendspotting and make those investments that will emerge 12 to 18 months and make the big changes way out into the future; you're never going to be ready; you will always be behind the market. Sure, we are not encouraged to take these kinds of risks, and the hardest thing about this is that you may be wrong and not be rewarded. But this is what it takes to lead: create an environment where you can be right and not be right. Because if you are always right, you are not taking enough risks." Watch the replay on LinkedIn. ✔️ Cultivate your trendspotting talents in 2022 by going to these places online. Charlene turns to TED talks to get strong perspectives from many people with almost every topic available and the Cool Hunting website where people vote on the ideas and new trends.   ✔️ Take your notes from your customer conversations or your marketing meetings with your teams. Make sure you're transcribing those meetings with any transcription tool. I like to use otter.ai, a tool that helps you record in real time.  Listen to the replay on Stitcher. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the "know ahead" list for our upcoming Life Streams. Do something NEW in 2022—for your career and your personal growth. If you are feeling isolated, consider applying to the Marketing Growth Leaders. It's a collection of some of the country's top marketing leaders that have taken us ten years to cultivate. Learn more here. Charlene Li is an expert on digital transformation strategy and disruptive leadership and the author of six books, including her latest, The Disruption Mindset. She is the Founder and Senior Fellow at Altimeter and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. Visit www.charleneli.com to know more. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.  

Two years into the pandemic, things still feel heavy. To cope, some professionals have turned to self-medication versus meditation (or other healthy habits). For many of us marketers, our creative candles have flamed out. Instead of focusing on discussing the theme, "The Great Resignation," what if we made 2022 "The Year of PLAY?" In Episode 51, we explore the connection of PLAY to performance with my colleague, Gary Ware. You may think I'm glossing over the severity of the pandemic. I'm not. I recognize and feel the collective global trauma on a daily basis. Instead, I'm inviting you to sit in the sandbox for a bit, and try on a new perspective.  Let me offer additional context from Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk. He is the author of the seminal book, The Body Keeps the Score.  Van Der Kolk believes that we have become overly dependent on pharmacological solutions to address trauma and mental illness in Western cultures. He calls it the "brain-disease model."  The model overlooks four fundamental truths: 1) Restoring relationships and community is central to restoring well-being  2) Language gives us the power to change ourselves and others and find a shared sense of meaning;  3) We can regulate our physiology…through basic activities such as breathing, moving, and touching; and  4) We can change social conditions to create environments where we can feel safe and where we can thrive." PLAY enables all four. That was enough for me to reach out to Gary Ware. In this livestream he outlined the strategies that he uses with marketing and leadership teams to re-ignite creativity, trust, and passion. He is the president of Breakthrough Play in San Diego, CA. Tune in this episode of The Mindful Marketer now—  Re-Engage Your Marketing Team: The 2022 Playbook. Watch the replay on LinkedIn.   Some key moments include:  ✔️ The PLAY model helps us create the right environment for learning and experimentation. Ware has taught this framework at AARP, Intel, Salesforce, SAP, and Kaiser Permanente. The PLAYbook consists of these 4 qualities: #1 - Psychological safety: Create an environment where people aren't afraid of being judged. Allow yourself to say something vulnerable. This gives other permission to do the same. #2 - Listening: Leaders must always listen to understand. #3 - Adapt - Adaptability is crucial to play.  #4 - Y- "The Why" - how can you accept reality and build on it? ✔️ The PLAY model isn't a trite acronym. It is a proven way to re-ignite job satisfaction, trust, and team confidence, especially in high stakes situations. Most people think of play as "it's childish" or "it's what kids do." In reality, Ware points to proven science of how play helps engage teams. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  ✔️PLAY helps you spend much less time repeating your messages–and hoping they stick.  Dr. Karyn Purvis conducted a study on how we learn and retain information. She found that creating a new synapse neural pathway requires about 400-420 repetitions before it sticks. However, you can shortcut that to as few as 10 repetitions if you add play. When you are playing, you are engaging all of your senses. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  You create a sandbox for your employees to play by creating those elements. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  ✔️ Being a PLAY-full culture starts with one step: Find the moments or rituals in your organization that could use more playfulness.  Then, set your intentions using a template from Tiny Habits author,  BJ Fogg: "Before we start our brainstorming session, I will take 5 minutes and brainstorm ideas by myself, because I know it will pry my brain to be more creative." May your holidays be PLAY-full! See you next year. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the "know ahead" list for our upcoming Life Streams. Do something NEW in 2022—for your career and your personal growth. If you are feeling isolated, consider applying to the Marketing Growth Leaders. It's a collection of some of the country's top marketing leaders that have taken us ten years to cultivate. Learn more here. Gary Ware is the Founder of Breakthrough Play, a corporate facilitator, keynote speaker, certified coach, and self-proclaimed Creative Catalyst. Gary uses the power of applied improvisation and other playful methods to assist people in unlocking creativity, confidence, and better communication. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

We've heard horror stories about toxic bosses and behaviors: McDonald's, United Way, The Ellen Show are just a few examples.  Storytelling can make or break your team engagement and culture. Leadership expert Karen Eber reminds leaders to rethink how they communicate and use storytelling as a neuroscience hack to cultivate relationships and culture effectively. Watch the replay on LinkedIn. Some key episode moments include:  ✔️ Discover the key ingredients to strong storytelling. The goal of a story is to take your audience to a specific outcome. A great story answers these four questions.  What is the context?  What is the conflict?  What is the outcome?  What is the takeaway from all of that?  When you start to anchor those answers, your stories get more precise and impactful. ✔️ How our brains respond to stories. The more oxytocin we feel, the more trust is built. Karen Eber shares, "By sharing life experiences or personal issues, you are increasing that oxytocin, trust, and empathy. Even in a business setting, it creates that actual bond, and it will have a huge impact because people feel like they know you, even if you're telling a story about someone else. There's the act of vulnerability that people respond to." Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  ✔️ Ways to use stories to encourage balanced, inclusive return to work programs. Data and stories need to work hand in glove, and together they can be powerful. Karen shares that the default of relying on numerous slides and pictures and talking our way through them instead of telling a story about the data is crucial to communicate what's truly important. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. Karen Eber is the CEO and Principal of Eber Leadership Group. Karen's roots are in psychology, communications, performance improvement, adult learning, and instructional design. She is a four-time American Training and Development (ATD) award winner, a TED Masterclass speaker, and eminent thought leader in various publications, including her popular article "Make Waffles, not Spaghetti." Karen holds a Master's in Instructional Design and a Bachelor's in Psychology and resides in Atlanta, GA.   Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

For marketing leaders, 2021 was a year to remember—and not repeat!  Customer expectations shifted rapidly. Some great marketers left their lofty roles to be their own bosses. In fact, recent Labor Department data show that the number of unincorporated self-employed workers has risen by 500,000 since the pandemic.  Many top team members either resigned or re-tooled, leaving costly gaps. One of my top clients, for example, had to delay a new product launch valued at $1B because of talent gaps and burned-out teams.    This is a great time to reflect...What have we learned? What no longer works in our market? What are my (new or existing) superpowers? How can those be helpful inside or outside of our organization? How can I re-energize my team in 2022?   In my latest episode, I'm joined by Jeff Perkins, the CEO of ParkMobile in Atlanta, GA. He shares his recent career move from CMO to CEO. In addition, we discuss how you can:   Position yourself for the C-Suite in 2022 - with intention Escape “resume regurgitation” on LinkedIn  Create mindful team rituals to preserve people and profits Lead with confidence through disruptive times Tune in this episode of The Mindful Marketer show — The 2022 Reset: Designing The Mindful Workplace with guest Jeff Perkins. Watch the replay on YouTube.   Some key episode moments include:    [00:06:11] How Jeff made the successful move from CMO to CEO. Recently promoted to the head of ParkMobile, Jeff brings his deep roots in marketing and brand-building (both personal and company-wide) to the role. He helped ParkMobile reach record-breaking user acquisition transaction growth in early 2020. Then the pandemic happened. Hear how they managed through that sudden shift, and how he stepped forward to make a bigger difference.  [00:10:30] ParkMobile's mission went far beyond “adding users and making money.” "(The past two years) were a very challenging time for us to stay relevant with our users. Yet we ensured that we still did some good in the communities that we serve." Perkins showcased the importance of their civic efforts, and the five-figure impact it had in the communities they serve.   [00:17:09] Look beyond your current function if you want to build your career. Jeff does not believe in staying in your lane. "I want to really understand all the different parts of the business. I worked as the CMO, yet I work very closely with the CFO and our Operations people. I do things that often traditional marketers are confused by." [00:19:50] To recruit and attract top talent, first build and foster a strong peer network for yourself. You need a team to take you where you need to go, and you're only going to be as strong as the people with whom you surround yourself.   Perkins takes pride in building ParkMobile.io with top talent sourced through his network, not recruiters. Instead, he asserts, “We have built the team by asking peers to recommend really good people that have (later) become rock stars within our organization." In addition, Perkins was a founding member of the Marketing Growth Leaders, our private CMO peer community. He often turned to our other members (and me) to help him fill key roles, and address demand generation challenges.    [00:24:56] Your personal growth evolves from your willingness to help others. Look at your community — build and fortify it. The most successful CMOs prioritize connection and ensure to reach out as needed. Perkins stays very active in the Atlanta business community and the TechStars mentoring program. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  [00:25:28] Remember the Three Keys to Longevity. As marketing leaders, we need to be reminded from time to time so that we certainly don't forget to pursue what brings us happiness and help us align with our greater purpose. [00:30:49] Great marketers still struggle to get promoted because they do a stellar job at helping their employers grow--but neglect their own personal brand. Consider the best ways to shape your own story and elevate your brand platform this new year. Consider re-designing your LinkedIn profile. For most CMOs, their profiles read like resume regurgitations. This is a lost opportunity to tell your story. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  [00:34:46] Two things MARKETERS  can improve in 2022: #1 - Find Your Ideal Forums. Burying your accomplishments in an online resume will not do much for you, but being able to get in front of an audience, write a blog post about an effective campaign that you completed, or how you built a team. #2 - Rebuild Your LinkedIn Profile Setup. LinkedIn is not your virtual resume but your virtual portfolio. Building it that way is so critical for any marketing leader.  Need inspiration? Check out Amy Shioji's virtual portfolio here. Jeff's profile also inspires. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  With reflection and intention as our guides, it is possible to build a more mindful and energized workplace in 2022. I take comfort in knowing that leaders like Jeff Perkins are leading the way. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams.   Jeff Perkins is currently the CEO of ParkMobile, the creator of an amazing app that lets you pay for parking right on your mobile device. No more annoying meters. Just pay on your phone. They also let you make parking reservations for events at some of the top venues across the country including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Prudential Center, T-Mobile Arena, Wrigley Field and many more. If you don't have the app, go download it right now! The company is in 400 cities across the U.S., so wherever you go, ParkMobile.io gives you a smarter way to park. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

When it comes to our careers and our customer relationships, the way we FEEL is everything. Yet, there's a paradox happening in our workplaces. On the one hand, we are witnessing declining unemployment (now 4.8%), soaring corporate and consumer spending, and a frenetic hiring pace for marketing and CX professionals. On the other hand, drug overdoses in the USA have exceeded 100,000 this year. Mental health professionals are overbooked, Daycare and labor shortages impose stress for many families, and service workers are simply on edge. Anxiety is casting a shadow over today's organizations. Our job as marketing leaders is to keep our team's lights on, as well as our own.  That means we need ideas and strategies to minimize the long term harmful effects of anxiety, which is when we worry about the future, about things that have not happened. Chester Elton, a fellow 100 Coaches colleague and co-author of Anxiety at Work, joins me in this special episode.  Named one of the top Global Gurus of Leadership and the Apostle of Appreciation, his four bestselling books have sold over 1.6 million copies. Chester works with top leaders at American Express, AT&T, Avis Budget Group, the NHL, and Procter & Gamble Together we unpack the sources of anxiety at work and ways you can mitigate them Tune in this power-packed episode of The Mindful Marketer show —Overcoming Anxiety At Work with Chester Elton. Watch the LinkedIn Replay. Key points covered in this episode:  ✔️ You can't have a healthy team and a productive culture if you're not addressing mental health and safety.  When someone in a position of leadership has themselves been anxious, it requires transparency & sharing from their heart what they have been going through to help others be aware that what they are feeling isn't pathologic but is quite normal in this climate.   ✔️ Understand the distinction that anxiety happens when you spend too much time worrying or obsessing about things that have not happened and may never happen in the future, while depression is when you overthink or obsess about something that happened in the past.  ✔️ 90% of employees won't talk to their manager and supervisor about mental health or anxiety. It's time to normalize the conversation around mental health in the workplace. Chester Elton invites us to look at it in this context. "If you broke your arm and came to work with your arm in a sling, they say, 'Oh, geez, Lisa, you don't take care of yourself. Take some time off, you know? Have you seen all the right doctors? Have you taken care of everything you need to take care of?' And yet, when somebody comes to work with anxiety or mental health issues, we won't talk about that. We'll talk about a broken arm, but we won't talk about overload. We won't talk about anxiety." ✔️ We either psychologize or somaticize our anxiety. Dr. Anna Yusim, a clinical faculty at Yale who has been managing stress in the workplace with colleagues and patients for the last 15 years, explains how often these manifests in different ways in different people. Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  ✔️ Great leaders in this day and age are not the peak performers but those who possess empathy as the most crucial attribute. If you can't be empathetic with your people and create a safe place to talk about your individual team member's mental health issues, none of that other stuff matters.  ✔️ Provide ample resources to help people deal with their anxiety. Lending them an ear and empathy and compassion as a manager and as a leader is hugely important. Giving resources, perhaps referring them to a therapist so that the anxiety does not get to a point where it becomes a diagnosable condition that further affects their workplace performance. Watch the replay on YouTube. ✔️ Be careful about your list of employee to-dos. Watch out for giving lots of extra work to your most effective or busiest people because often, your top performers have the most anxiety. They're the ones that don't ever want to let anybody down and are defined by the work they can get done by the boxes they can check on their lists. Chester advises looking for changes in behavior because these top performers never say no, and they're good at hiding it.  ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

The key to winning customers is no longer about the quality of the product or service you deliver. Many organizations are leaving revenue on the table because their content and messaging do not align with the prospect's priorities.  A Forrester Research conducted with C Suite executives in the B2B space says that it takes 27 buyer interactions before you get to close business. (The numbers went up from 17 touchpoints pre-pandemic.)  More than ever, businesses must learn to uncover value quickly and deliver it at the right time, in the right format, to the right audience — whether they are prospects or customers.  In this episode of The Mindful Marketer, Amy Shioji and Michael Taylor show us what they're doing to quickly break the speed limit and create value to address this challenge.  Watch the LinkedIn Replay. Key points covered in this episode:   ✔️ Identify ways to establish value early on with prospective students and clients. Many CMOs spend their ad dollars only focused on a handful of buyer personas —people who they believe have a propensity to buy. Amy Shioji looked at things differently when she moved from the USA TODAY NETWORK to Strategic Education.  ✔️ What is "hyper-personalization" among growth leaders, and how can it affect your organization? Michael Taylor posits that the absence of having an agile process and making quick decisions can be detrimental. "I often see big companies lose the initiative as they're trying to perfect some strategy. And by the time they roll it out, it's already almost irrelevant." Listen to the replay on Stitcher.  ✔️ Discover how the customer experience and data science can be the galvanizing force that aligns people. Cx executive Amy Shioji shares that the more organizations challenge themselves to think on the part of the customer, the more they can be rewarded with higher revenues and sterling reputations. ✔️ How do you align teams within larger organizations to deliver the right message at the right time? Empathy is vital in every interaction. Understand your prospects, audience, and customers at a deeper level rather than just walking them through the features and offers. It's not about just reading the data but about feeling where they are right now in their life. Watch the replay on YouTube. ✔️  Learn what organizational agility is and how to create it. Amy Shioji shares that organizations must be willing to ask questions and be deliberate about finding the critical business problem they're trying to solve. Assess what "success" and "good enough" looks like? What should and shouldn't be addressed with every phase, project, or initiative?  Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the "know ahead" list for our upcoming Life Streams. Amy Shioji is a CX executive who has led customer-focused business growth across multiple industries and brands such as USA TODAY, AARP, and Strayer University. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyshioji/ Michael Taylor is a growth partner and brand builder who has helped over 150 companies in 15 cities and six countries increase revenue and launch successful offerings. Follow Michael's work here: bit.ly/joinsimplemind. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.  

So many of my successful clients are experiencing change fatigue, which shows up as exhaustion and burnout.  How can we manage the MASSIVE transitions surrounding us--and our stakeholders--right now? When facing these transitions, you have three choices: you can ignore them, fight them, or welcome them.  I believe that as marketers, wisdom offers a path to designing smoother life transitions, more engaged teams and customers, and better overall well-being. But it takes practice and time to cultivate. ​​In this new episode, My wonderful guest Chip Conley and I will give you some practical ways to wisely manage through transitions. You're in for a treat to learn directly from Chip, a world traveller, storyteller, hospitality trailblazer, surfer, Airbnb advisor, and modern-day Joseph Campbell. In addition to 5 bestselling books, he co-founded the Modern Elder Academy, expanding beyond Baja to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Tune in this power-packed episode of The Mindful Marketer show —Marketing with Wisdom in the New World With Chip Conley. Key points covered in this episode:  ✔️ Many companies have no problem setting financial goals. But when it comes to developing their post-pandemic vision, they're struggling & having troubles. We all need a little more wellness and wisdom as we retool and prepare for 2022.  ✔️  The pandemic has helped us to see that wisdom is not taught but shared. As the iconic boutique hotelier who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand, Chip Conley defines wisdom as "good judgment based on pattern recognition." This skill is essential yet so challenging for marketers to learn or teach others to do.  ✔️  Resilience buys you time, and adaptability buys you a future. In 2020, Airbnb Inc. was in an existential crisis and had to get rid of 25% of its employees. Chip shares that now Airbnb is worth more than Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and Four Seasons Hotels combined, worth $120 billion. "I joined the company nine years ago— it was not worth $120 because it was a small tech startup in San Francisco. But what my mentee CEO Brian Chesky did is he went out, and he learned resilience is the key in the short term and adaptability is the key in the long term." ✔️ Find time to "spy on the divine." Nature has a lot to teach us about adaptability, interconnectedness, resilience and beauty. Chip shares that devoting three hours a day in three days a week to going to new places he hadn't been to before and just noticing things allows the brain to move to a more innovative place. ✔️ The question of "What business are you in?" is a beautiful wisdom opener that allows you to think about your lessons and your differentiator.  The wisdom of being in survival mode and having to move quickly into the innovation mode can be tough. It takes asking the right question and imagining possibilities that may not be obvious to thrive in the years to come.  ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams.  Chip Conley is the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand. In Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder he shares his unexpected journey at midlife — from CEO to intern — learning about technology as Airbnb's Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, while also mentoring CEO Brian Chesky. Chip is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy, where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico. He serves on the board of Encore.org and the advisory board for the Stanford Center for Longevity. www.ChipConley.com. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Content, careers, and customer engagement. These are the top three issues keeping many marketing leaders awake as we slowly evolve from the COVID cocoon. During our recent Mindful Marketer Life Stream, I invited my partner and marketing strategist, Michael Taylor. In this broadcast, we shared valuable nuggets on leadership, customer behavior trends and goal setting. Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. These are the essential modern marketing leadership habits our best clients practice: ✔️ Get your teams aligned around a finite set of priorities. To be a better marketer—especially in the digital age, Michael reminds us of the importance of focusing and organizing our efforts around finite resources and a few priorities. Our best clients typically focus on just 2-4 priorities at a time.  ✔️ Rapidly discover opportunities when things change. Being able to step back and say, "our strategy seemed innovative six months ago, but now isn't working right." The ability to stop and be able to shift and refocus things is a significant skill. Click here for the replay. ✔️ Embracing the willingness to take risks. Indeed, a lot of mistakes will be made along the way. But as long as it's not illegal, immoral or unethical, you need to factor in some error delays and costs to any change initiative or new marketing program. ✔️ Overcoming two big enemies: tradition and experience. One skill we all need right now is the ability to see opportunities during times of rapid change. This helps us spend minimal time feeling surprised and perplexed in times of VUCA.   ✔️ Incentivizing senior leaders to build a culture of experimentation. It's great to talk about changing the game and taking big risks. But if the people at the top are not building rituals in group gatherings where they encourage innovation, eliminate fear, teams will remain in stasis.   Great leaders champion a process where failure isn't viewed as a tragedy, but as good information. Without these rituals, you cannot sustain a culture of experimentation (Just ask ex-Theranos employees who found redemption through their whistleblowing efforts).   Click here for the replay to learn more.   ✔️ Storytelling. You'd be surprised to know that this skill is one of the weakest skill areas that my CEO and CMO clients struggle to master. I highly encourage you to build and distribute customer and employee success stories, and make them part of your new employee orientation. Don't just publish them; get comfortable sharing them without reading a script. Need examples? Here are a few of mine.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams.    If you are a Chief Marketing Officer, take the 3 MINUTE DIGITAL READY CMO SURVEY: https://tinyurl.com/digitalcmo. Join the FREE conference on November 10. Go to mamsummit.com.  Michael Taylor Michael Taylor is a growth partner and brand builder who has helped over 150 companies in 15 cities and six countries increase revenue and launch successful offerings. Follow Michael's work here: bit.ly/joinsimplemind. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.  

Are you a Pied Piper of Persuasion?  Or are you petering out behind a screen? Take a look at Canva, a company who took on a Titan Of Design - ADOBE — and is winning mindshare AND market share.  This Australian company is now valued at $40B and led by a young visionary, Melanie Perkins.  She summarizes the power of visual persuasion this way, “It shouldn't matter where you are in the world, or socioeconomic status, or your skills and experience, everyone should have the ability to design.”   Now, I'm not a paid influencer for Canva, but I stand behind their mission!  Today we will give you some tools to win hearts and minds in the new hybrid work setting.  My friend Todd Cherches is a sought-after NYU professor, TEDxspeaker and columnist and a fellow member of the MarshallGoldsmith 100 Coaches community. He coined the term Visual Leadership. Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. Here's what you will learn in this episode: ✔️ How did Todd Cherches invent the term, Visual Leadership, and how does he define it? Now more than ever, every marketer must equip themselves with the visual leadership techniques required in this new hybrid world that we're living in. The absence of body language and cues we get from face to face conversations demands new skills for effective communication. Listen to Todd Cherches on how to get others to "see" what you're saying and inspire others to take action.  ✔️ What did Todd learn from working with being persuasive when he visited the China Folk Villages theme park? – A place where he didn't know the language? There's a lot of barriers to communication in all areas of our lives. We can't assume everyone speaks our language, understands terminologies & has our experiences. By using visuals, we counteract or overcome some of those barriers by creating a mental movie in someone's imagination so they can actually visualize. Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. ✔️ Reframing is one of the most often overlooked persuasion skills. Only seeing things from your perspective is a bad habit. Take time to take off your glasses and see things from another person's point of view. Change your perspective and get outside yourself. These are the vital points that author Todd Cherches discusses in his book VisuaLeadership: Leveraging the Power of Visual Thinking in Leadership and in Life. Dedicate today to seeing the world from a new perspective.  ✔️ Leaders not only need to be good storytellers, but they also need to be good story listeners. Look internally at your biases, assumptions, prejudices and filters and listen to other people pull out their stories and hear what people are experiencing. If you just put out memos and policies without any thoughts about who they're impacting or what your people want or need, it's a recipe for failure. ✔️ Look around you, find the surroundings that give you joy and inspiration. Do you find your environment as that fantastic trigger for calming your soul? A place where you allow yourself to ask what ifs? Where can you think strategically and use that time for self-reflection? Find that and see your visual leadership ideas born. Click here for the replay. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. Todd Cherches is the CEO and Co-founder of BigBlueGumball, an innovative New York City-based consulting firm specializing in leadership development, public speaking, and executive coaching. For more information, go to www.toddcherches.com. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.  

As of late July 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported over 10.9 million job openings in the U.S.  Job abundance? Definitely. Does that abundance correlate to high employee satisfaction and engagement? Sadly not.  The Culture Works conducted a recent survey showing that 70% of organizations are currently making anxiety and well-being a top business priority. If hiring were such a finely-tuned process, and we truly understood how to value our marketing teams, we wouldn't witness this stress spike. It's time to revise and future-proof our hiring process for marketers and CMOs and create more mindful, engaged growth champions.  In Episode 45 of The Mindful Marketer Life Stream, Erica Seidel and I explore this topic in depth. She is the founder of The Connective Good, a B2B retained search firm based in Boston, MA. Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. Whether you're searching for a new role, or struggling to find great people, you'll benefit from this conversation. Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. Here are some questions we explored with our live audience: ✔️ Is Your Story Future-Proofed? Erica Seidel, Executive Recruiter and Founder of The Connective Good, described why it is very important to adapt quickly to changes in the job market. "It's important to think of a product-market fit for yourself and always reevaluate your value proposition for the market; for whatever job you're going for."  Start by writing and rehearsing your signature story with your peers. Does it resonate and inspire, or does it sound like a resume regurgitation?  Click here for the replay. ✔️ Is the VP of Marketing or CMO role facing an“existential crisis?” Some people believe that it is--including me. Just look at how many marketing leaders now own a portion of the revenue goal, yet spend none of their time actually interacting with customers. Or their over-dependency on outside agencies for key roles that they cannot fill. Raj Rajamannar, the President and CMO of Mastercard, reported in The Drum. We are witnessing boards of directors and CEOs stripping CMOs of their original roles, such as pricing strategy. He goes on to cite that 70% of CEOs surveyed do not believe their CMOs actually contribute to company growth!  ✔️ How are you balancing “selling talent” with “evaluating talent?” Employers can't just assume they can swoop in, make the highest cash offer, and hire the best candidate with a tight talent market. Erica believes that “you need to balance evaluating talent and selling talent...make sure to craft the best candidate experience."  I have seen how larger organizations such as Kimberly-Clark and Amazon rely heavily on their marketing teams to optimize the candidate application experience, and tie their success directly to the healthy size and quality of their applicant pools. This is not HR's sole job any longer. ✔️Are you capable of juggling two brands at once? The first  is brand priority is making sure your company's brand is safe, powerful and compelling. You also need to carve out time and energy to cultivate your personal brand as a leader, both within and outside the organization. Great marketers know how to manage those parallel paths. During our stream, we also heard from Tom Berray of Cabot Consultants . He offers four ways to future-proof your marketing career:  Develop and nurture personal and professional relationships.  Volunteer for boards and get actively involved and participate in those boards.  Join and participate in professional marketing communities (NOT networking groups. Those offer limited value for senior roles, and they are a dime a dozen).  Regularly and consistently experiment with new technologies. Click here for the replay to learn more. Thriving in ambiguity and uncertainty is the mark of a strong leader. That doesn't mean you can leave your career to a few supportive inside sponsors, or rest on your educational laurels. There's a new sheriff in town, and her name is Future Proof. These questions will arm you with some powerful career growth strategies. Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. Erica Seidel established The Connective Good in 2011. Her philosophy is that recruiting needs to look less like procurement and more like one-to-one sales and marketing. Erica has placed marketing, marketing analytics, marketing technology, and customer success leaders for a range of companies, including Zipcar, BlueConic, Healthgrades, MarketShare, Datto, Allocadia, and FranConnect, to name a few. Website: https://theconnectivegood.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaseidel/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/erica_seidel ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Many people think it's cool to be an entrepreneur--even marketers who reside within organizations. Yet few can define it. Entrepreneurship has even caught the eye of streaming platforms and television networks. In the United States, Shark Tank  has launched countless multi-million dollar empires. Disney+ touts a show called Own the Room.  Now that I have celebrated 21 years as an entrepreneur, I have grown to define it in an offbeat way: I believe that entrepreneurship is first and foremost a mindset.  And based on the number of “learning moments” (aka mistakes) I have made within the past two decades, I can also say that being an entrepreneur deepened my self-awareness, creativity, and willingness to experiment across all areas of my life. That's why I also believe that entrepreneurship is a spiritual journey. I recently invited Alisa Cohn to the Life Stream to discuss this topic in detail. Alisa was named the Top Startup Coach in the World by Thinkers50, and has advised leaders from Etsy, Foursquare, and InVision. Her first book drops on October 26: From Startup to Grown-Up. (You can get the Kindle version now). Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. Here's what we cover in this episode: ✔️ Entrepreneurs can peer over your shoulder to see a future that you don't see. Alisa has great advice for marketers to adopt the entrepreneur mindset. Plans and projects typically come with constraints – limited people, limited finances and limited time. Think about leveraging everything within constraints and achieving your goals in the shortest period of time. You'll be surprised at how resourceful you are! ✔️ An entrepreneur knows how to turn possibility into profit. That separates the dreamers from entrepreneurial marketers. Many people can see tons of options--but they get stuck and will not take action on any of them. Click here for the replay. ✔️ Want to build a new marketing superpower? Become a good writer. Be excellent at using email, by text, and by messaging apps. People don't pay enough attention and can, unfortunately, give the wrong impression. (Check out Erica Dhawan's best seller, Digital Body Language, for contemporary tips on writing effective e-messages).  ✔️  Building your organic list is essential. Given the flurry of privacy concerns and algorithm changes on platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, nurturing your audience before they become customers is crucial. Now is the time to beef up your focus on ethically gathering first-party data, and fortifying your email list. ✔️  The first step of all selling is not to sell. Go back to the value of first providing content to your prospects that educate, inform and inspire. You will slowly but surely see the percentage of people buying from that strategy increase significantly.  Click here for the replay. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

The dictionary defines “legacy” as leaving an inheritance or property after death. That term is simply outdated.  We need to make an impact while we are alive and vibrant. And I believe that CMOs are not the only leaders who should consider a new approach to living their legacy. Here's why... Today, our teams and loved ones no longer expect a clear, predictable, 20 year strategic plan. Those days are over.  They want to follow courageous leaders with a growth mindset.  And a growth mindset begins with our clarity of purpose and a desire to live a meaningful life TODAY. We are more capable than you think, too. Look at the crises we have endured, and our own resilience. In just a 20 year time span, we have witnessed massive social unrest,  9/11, the pandemic, and economic volatility.  And we are still here. Our economy continues forward. Innovations abound. Families continue to gather, shift gears, and re-invent their future. Within the past day, I reconnected with two business colleagues between 61-64 years young. Both have redesigned their careers, relocated to new cities, and built a new community. They are flourishing. Those two men taught me that our reactions to a crisis can either be a beacon of courage for others to follow--or a trail of victimhood that they would rather circumnavigate. As we look to expand our marketing organizations, or reach new growth targets in the post-pandemic economy, we should seriously consider our mindset and our daily leadership habits. My mentor, Alan Weiss, understands legacy at a visceral level. In his latest book, Your Legacy is NOW, he proffers an entirely new approach to developing a legacy: “What you create every day influences people, hopefully positively. Your age is a new page in your book. And the question is: is it the same page as yesterday, is the page blank, or is someone else writing that page for you? That, to me, is the metaphor for legacy.” Watch the LinkedIn Live replay now. We cannot let a good crisis go to waste. Today is the ideal time to re-write our career and life "playbook," not when facing our demise. Here's what you will learn in this episode: ✔️ If you want to be a game-changer, follow "The Lobster Principle".  Alan has spent four decades as a profound storyteller. He shares how we can learn alot from crustaceans and how they molt.  Strong leaders are willing to be vulnerable. They are willing to shed old beliefs, habits, and mistakes. That's how they can achieve massive growth and inspire others to do the same.  ✔️ We don't need careers; we need a calling. We have limited time on this Earth. We can start today to take small actions that fulfill a purpose and give us meaning. We cannot outsource this; nobody else can do it for us. "When you have a calling, you're fearless; you have passion, you seek it diligently. And in doing so, you help others." Click here for the replay.  ✔️Jettison the term “new normal” from your vocabulary. Alan says,"What we want is deliberate disruption. There is no ‘new normal;' there is ‘no normal.'”(A term he has trademarked). We want to create not unhealthy turmoil but positive and creative volatility so that we all advance. If you are not innovating, you're not growing."  Disruption and volatility are now part of the zeitgeist. Embrace them. ✔️  Your Legacy is NOW could be the catalyst you need to confidently emerge from the crisis cocoon. He unpacks how we've got to write our stories now, not when everything is perfect or until when things go smoothly: "What you create every day influences people, hopefully positively. Your age is a new page in your book. The question is: Is the same page as yesterday, is the page blank, or is someone else writing that page for you? That, to me, is the metaphor for legacy. Be more intentional, meaningful, and mindful." I encourage you to purchase a journal and start asking “WTF (What's the Future) I want to create?” Not what will you DO...or what will you BUY...but What experiences do you want to create for yourself and others? Then ask “What have I done today to create my modern legacy?” Your responses might just help you molt into something new and extraordinary.  Click here for the replay.  Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. She was recently inducted into the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches Community. Her clients include Google, Hilton, AARP, LinkedIn, and Skillsoft. You'll find her e-courses on LinkedIn Learning, Skillsoft, and Knowable.fyi.  Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. Alan Weiss, Ph.D is a leading business author, consultant, and professional speaker. His publishing includes over 500 articles and over 60 books, including the best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting, now in its 25th year and fifth edition.  Buy Your Legacy Is Now book: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Legacy-Now-Creation-Yourself/dp/0367723190 Or, learn more and visit https://alanweiss.com/. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

The Need for Speed: Rapid Customer Value Delivery When it comes to buying products and services, some new expectations surfaced in this covid era, and excellent customer service and engagement standards have changed abruptly.  This episode discusses the need for speed and the necessity to deliver customer value in a competitive and rapid world. Watch the value-packed episode of The Mindful Marketer podcast here.    Key points covered in this episode:  ✔️ There are seven most common mistakes or blind spots that we've uncovered that slow down companies from delivering value quickly to their perfect customers. Which ones might be worth investigating in your own organization?  ✔️ A fixed mindset in today's B2B world will prevent you from delivering value quickly to your customers. Notice a culture where people are looking to get everything perfect before they launch or make sure the customer relationship database is perfectly cleaned up or waiting for everybody to sign on before doing anything. Chances are, your customers will go somewhere else.  ✔️  Execution versus excellence.  The tension between wanting to improve the execution part of the machine yet sacrificing the excellent customer experience can be very risky if you fail to find that balance. ✔️  Overcoming traditions and traditional thinking.  I have a client that is extremely accustomed to getting everybody involved in the decision-making in their organization. When it's time to launch a new product or service for their customers, they put together a team of 20 or more people. They hold loads of meetings and ensure everybody is on board to maintain their culture of a family work environment. While consensus building is a great way to gain a longer-term commitment, the bad news is that TIME is your enemy in that scenario. Your competitors will be much more capable of predicting your next move, and making delayed decisions leaves you vulnerable.   ✔️ Undervaluing customer values. Even to this day, CMOs focus a lot of their energy on the demographics of their ideal audience. I say that the 90s called, and they want their customer segmentation strategies back. If you follow the work of David Allison, CEO of Valuegraphics, he has gone out and conducted thousands of surveys to find out what people care about and their core values. He came up with a list of 56 core values, and then he's starting to rank them by country. In other words, as a marketer, know what your customers care about before figuring out their buying journey and so forth. ✔️ It's a bad habit to be the "fixer" in your organization. Suppose all you do is spend your time cleaning the past problems or dealing with the issues; you'll never be able to step back and truly be a marketing innovator.  ✔️ Neglecting the nurturing of customers. They could be doing things to create brand awareness and interest and help people start to subscribe to their information much, much sooner. So please don't neglect to nurture and start conversations with people before they even become a customer.  ✔️ Break down silos. Silos can make or break a smooth, seamless customer experience. Look at how your organization interacts in some way, shape, or form with the customer. As a marketing leader, find a way to get everyone involved and catch what people are doing right just as much as we need to detect problems. Get other departments involved in celebrating overall team success and give credit where credit is due. Watch the value-packed episode of The Mindful Marketer podcast here.  Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.  

Isolation is probably one of the worst pandemic aftershocks we're witnessing. I monitor my own sense of isolation as carefully as I monitor my information intake, social circles, sleep habits, and diet. Living solo, I make it a daily priority to visit my local coffee shop, attend regular swim team practices, and call my dear friends. More than ever, it is imperative to build meaningful networks. These support structures help us to become a better version of ourselves.  In the latest Mindful Marketer episode, creative entrepreneur, speaker, and author Bruce Turkel and I share the secrets of magnifying your personal power, the importance of connecting in a safe environment, and the miracles that happen when strong professionals come together. Click here for the replay.  Here are some key points we covered: ✔️ You need to rethink the "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?" mindset. Finding the best network first starts with asking, "Where can I be most helpful?" and "How can I be of value?" Intimate interactions are born by giving before receiving.  You'd be surprised what comments I hear while recruiting new members for The Marketing Growth Leaders™ private peer community. I will periodically meet a CMO who exhibits an attitude that just doesn't align with ours. I'll always remember the East Coast tech CMO who said “I will only attend peer group meetings where I'm the guest or keynote speaker.” (You cannot make this up).   ✔️ Look for four attributes in the peer group: Contacts, Skill Sets, Experiences and Talents. If people share these with you and you, in return, share these with others, your personal power magnifies exponentially.  ✔️ Be willing to ask. Be willing to let people know what it is you do, and what you need. It is okay to be vulnerable. You will build more trust that way!  Furthermore, when you face the opportunity to help others address some challenging business or personal issues, be willing to roll up your sleeves and help. In our peer groups, we pair up members who face, or have faced, similar marketing strategy, leadership, or career challenges.  ✔️ Embrace compassionate group conflict. Your group leader needs to demonstrate a history of guiding these tough conversations. Member conflict has happened a few times in my peer groups—often offline—and made the member connections stronger. It also weeded out two members who preferred to handle conflict by hiding. Again, an unwillingness to be real hinders trust and promotes superficial social networking. ✔️ "Thank you" is the currency of an organization. Bruce has a ritual that keeps groups engaged and purposeful. By saying "thank you" at the end of a meeting, members are acknowledged for providing the most help to others, and the practice establishes a giving culture. One of the qualities of a powerful leader is the ability to show benevolence to others. Peer groups set the stage for that power to express itself. Posting complaints on Twitter and Facebook, postponing difficult (live) conversations,  or silently monitoring a Slack channel are not viable alternatives. Click here for the replay.  Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. A seasoned author and livestream host, she's a member of the globally recognized Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches Community. Her clients include Google, Hilton, AARP, LinkedIn, and CoStar. You'll find her e-courses on LinkedIn Learning, Skillsoft, and Knowable.fyi.    Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for upcoming Life Streams.   Bruce Turkel is one of the most sought-after international speakers on branding, creativity, and innovation. He has published four insightful books on brand building. Forbes Magazine selected his most recent book, "All About Them," as one of the top ten business books of the year. Amazon listed it as #1 in customer service. Bruce is a serial entrepreneur, having created several successful companies. His advertising agency created highly effective advertising strategies and campaigns for Miami, Puerto Rico, Discovery Channel, Hasbro, Bacardi, and many more satisfied and successful clients. Website: https://bruceturkel.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bturkel/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Buzz: The Power Behind Sustainable Business with Noah Wilson-Rich Exactly two years ago, I was greatly encouraged when I learned how 136 publicly-traded companies signed The Business Roundtable's pledge. They were committing to a broader definition of corporate purpose: to share stakeholders, not just shareholders.  Now this move is viewed as no more than a failed PR ploy and brand leadership strategy.  Thankfully, I remain inspired by leaders in my community who are taking small, lasting steps, and skipping the big bold declarations.  As we witness wildfires, floods, and hurricanes causing irreparable damage and economic hardship, we cannot give up, or become cynical. We  still need to address the urgent cry for building sustainable practices within organizations.  One of my 100 Coaches colleagues, Noah Wilson-Rich, is a cause for optimism. And he's much more than a sustainability pied piper. He's the CEO of The Best Bees in Boston, MA, a scientist, and a TEDx speaker who has created some real buzz around the sustainability movement. Noah's passion for honeybee research fueled a successful business that has stirred a global movement to protect the bees and our delicate ecosystem.  In The Mindful Marketer Life Stream, I invited Noah to join me.  And along the way, Noah discovered many indelible leadership lessons from these intricate, cooperative colonies. Click here for the replay.  Here are highlights from our discussion:  ✔️ Sustainability is the new mandate for businesses. Let's acknowledge that we're shifting to a green economy, whether you like it or not. As we witness massive innovations in transportation, hybrid work environments, and other carbon emission reduction pathways, we need to explore new, healthier ways of cooperating and collaborating with customers and teams.  With today's labor shortages, top employee candidates now have many career options. In most cases, they will choose a purpose-driven organization over a “profits over people” culture.  ✔️ Your customers expect it. Data show that 88% of consumers want brands to help them live a more sustainable life and 25% of consumers can name a brand just based on their sustainability reputation. I have colleagues who work at some of the world's Most Sustainable Brands, and it played a key role in their search.  ✔️ Worker bees, not queen bees, can drive change. Wilson-Rich shares how we can learn from what goes in a beehive: leadership, change, and communication with enthusiasm. The power of a worker bee is similar to how one individual out of tens of thousands can drive real significant change. ✔️ Leaders sometimes have a misconception that they have to “move the majority.”  Wilson-Rich explained that getting 12.5 percent of a population to believe in change is enough to drive transformation. You can create impact by starting small - such as harvesting your own honey right from your rooftop or backyard. Bestbees.com is a great way to get started.   My wish is to create buzz around sustainability at every level of a marketing organization. This is the ultimate brand leadership strategy that could take the sting out of climate change.   Click here for the replay.  ------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. She was recently inducted into the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches Community. Her clients include Google, Hilton, AARP, LinkedIn, and Skillsoft. You'll find her e-courses on LinkedIn Learning, Skillsoft, and Knowable.fyi.    Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. About Noah Wilson-Rich Chief Scientific Officer Noah Wilson-Rich, PhD., began The Best Bees Company as a way to continue his research in honeybee immunology. His passion for bee health, research, and data-based solutions drove The Best Bees Company forward from his apartment in Boston to 12 cities nationwide. Learn more at bestbees.com.  Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.  

You might think that the pandemic is the true cause of many of us focusing on short-term issues and being reactionary. But I have news for you.  For the years I've been advising Chief Marketing Officers and CEOs, this problem has haunted them.  Too much short-term thinking can severely limit your career as well as your best-laid marketing strategies. In this episode, I share the screen with Dorie Clark. She is a prolific entrepreneur, professor, standup comedienne, communications coach, and Author of The Long Game. Dorie is my role model for creating a lasting impact, and a good friend. Dorie and I discuss the key requirements for cultivating strategic patience, and how to create a growth mindset. And here's a secret we also share: we are both cat moms!   Click here for the replay.  Key points covered in this episode:  ✔️ When you make ten year plans versus solely focusing on one year plans, you don't have to know how you're going to do it. If you have a vision, even if it seems bold and extreme, you just need to move a few things forward an inch every week. Just keep going.  ✔️Keep thinking in waves. Dorie shares where many good, intelligent, and talented people go wrong in their careers: they keep doing the same thing. "That's the trick in careers…Sometimes you can't just keep doing the same thing. You have to make transitions and think in different waves appropriate at different times." ✔️ Focus on success, not perfection. Don't spend hundreds of hours making this perfect, amazing product or service before discovering if anybody wants it in the first place. "It's OK to test the little things to make sure people want the thing that you want to be providing them. When you have that data, it may not even be risky at all because you know with some degree of certainty whether something is going to work or not."  This tip hits home for me. I invested two months improving my production studio (with the help of digital stylist Bill Connolly and my partner, Michael Taylor). Then I started to livestream. Forty-three episodes later, I gained traction, credibility, and a powerful audience. ✔️  To avoid burnout, we need to learn to toggle between sprint and marathon modes. When in the testing, learning, and planting seeds phase, remember to alternate your pace, knowing when to hustle hard and to take a pause to rest and recuperate. Click here for the replay.  Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth™ LLC helps courageous marketers and CEOs accelerate growth and get promoted faster. She was recently inducted into the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches Community. Her clients include Google, Hilton, AARP, LinkedIn, and Skillsoft. You'll find her e-courses on LinkedIn Learning, Skillsoft, and Knowable.fyi.  Download your Mindful Marketer learning bonuses at themindfulmarketer.com/bonus. You will also join the “know ahead” list for our upcoming Life Streams. Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards.    She also teaches executive education at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School, and she is the author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine.  Clark has been described by the New York Times as an "expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives." You can download her free Long Game strategic thinking self-assessment at dorieclark.com/thelonggame. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2021, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.