Podcasts about CMO

Career disruption is accelerating across the economy — and few people have navigated it more boldly than Maryam Banikarim. The former CMO of Univision, Gannett, and Hyatt, and host of The Messy Parts podcast, Banikarim joins Rapid Response to share hard-won wisdom about C-suite politics, and ultimately betting on yourself. Growing up in Iran during the time of revolution, Banikarim offers a unique perspective on the current Middle East conflict — and her determined search for hope amid the chaos.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aly Sanders, founder of Breadwinner Club, a modern training platform that helps experienced professionals build and scale six-figure fractional businesses using the expertise they already have.Through practical, plug-and-play digital products, Aly guides mid-career professionals to confidently land fractional clients, package senior-level services, and create predictable revenue without relying on high-ticket coaching.Now, Aly's decision to shut down a financially successful but deeply misaligned business demonstrates what it looks like to choose alignment over hustle and rebuild on purpose.And while navigating chronic illness, unlearning corporate trauma, and continuing her work as a six-figure fractional CMO, she's creating an accessible path for others to leave outdated systems behind and build businesses that actually support their lives.Here's where to find more: https://breadwinnerclub.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lyssajean________________________________________________Welcome to The Unforget Yourself Show where we use the power of woo and the proof of science to help you identify your blind spots, and get over your own bullshit so that you can do the fucking thing you ACTUALLY want to do!We're Mark and Katie, the founders of Unforget Yourself and the creators of the Unforget Yourself System and on this podcast, we're here to share REAL conversations about what goes on inside the heart and minds of those brave and crazy enough to start their own business. From the accidental entrepreneur to the laser-focused CEO, we find out how they got to where they are today, not by hearing the go-to story of their success, but talking about how we all have our own BS to deal with and it's through facing ourselves that we find a way to do the fucking thing.Along the way, we hope to show you that YOU are the most important asset in your business (and your life - duh!). Being a business owner is tough! With vulnerability and humor, we get to the real story behind their success and show you that you're not alone._____________________Find all our links to all the things like the socials, how to work with us and how to apply to be on the podcast here:https://linktr.ee/unforgetyourself

From helping scale global leaders like Google, Uber, TikTok, and Samsung to guiding high‑growth startups through user acquisition plateaus, Gilad Bechar is the strategist brands call when “growth problems” turn out to be strategy problems. As founder and CEO of Moburst, he breaks down how to stop spray‑and‑pray marketing, run truly data‑driven campaigns, and build acquisition engines that match real KPIs, budgets, and market dynamics. You'll hear how AI, new discovery platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude, and evolving user behavior are changing SEO, app growth, and performance marketing and how to adapt before your competitors do. https://youtu.be/aNzSorwOcJM Gilad shares how Moburst audits a business, reverse engineers growth goals, and dissects competitor strategies, channels, creatives, calls to action, and languages to uncover what's actually working in your niche. He explains when you should rebuild your website or app, when to lean into user‑generated content and TikTok communities, and how to safely leverage AI and automation without destroying trust or firing teams too fast. If you're a founder, CMO, or growth leader, this episode will help you spot hidden opportunities, avoid costly mistakes, and design a marketing strategy that scales predictably. Quotes:“Most companies don't have a growth problem they have a strategy problem.” “Marketing works best when it's brutally data‑driven and wildly creative at the same time.” “If you're still using yesterday's playbook, don't be surprised when your growth stalls tomorrow.” Resources: moburts Gilad Bechar on Linkedln

Most companies lack systematic approaches to measure AI-driven search visibility beyond traditional traffic metrics. Malte Landwehr, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Peak AI, shares proven methodologies for evaluating discoverability across AI-powered search platforms. The discussion covers self-reported attribution frameworks for tracking AI-generated leads, prompt diversification strategies that account for user intent variations across sales funnel stages, and systematic visibility monitoring approaches that aggregate data across multiple prompts rather than relying on single-query assessments.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're all being told to "embrace AI or be left behind," but what if the biggest risk isn't ignoring AI, but implementing it poorly and alienating the very customers we're trying to attract? Agility requires not just the speed to adopt new technologies like AI, but the wisdom to discern where they create genuine value versus where they simply add complexity. It's about constantly testing, learning, and refining your approach to serve the customer, not just the algorithm. Today, we are here at eTail Palm Springs hearing about all the latest in e-commerce and retail, and we're going to talk about moving past the hype cycle of AI and getting down to the practical realities of how it's actually changing consumer behavior, and what that means for marketing leaders trying to make smart investments. We'll get into the nuance of what to automate versus what to keep human, and how to use these powerful tools to build customer relationships, not just transactional efficiency.To help me discuss this, I'd like to welcome Keri McGhee, CMO at Attentive. About Keri McGhee Keri McGhee is the Chief Marketing Officer at Attentive, the AI-powered SMS and email marketing platform helping leading brands deliver 1:1 personalized, real-time messaging experiences at scale.  As CMO, Keri leads strategic global marketing to elevate the Attentive brand and drive growth across every stage of the customer journey. She oversees product marketing, revenue marketing, brand and content strategy, events, and partner marketing, ensuring Attentive's story connects deeply with marketers around the world. With a focus on creativity, innovation, and measurable impact, Keri champions marketing that blends data-driven insights with storytelling to inspire and empower brands to build more personal, lasting customer relationships.  Keri McGhee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keri-mcghee/ Resources Attentive: https://www.attentive.com Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code AGILE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c43e68ce5cfb321e The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

AI search visibility tracking faces a 70% attribution gap compared to traditional SEO metrics. Malte Landwehr, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Peak AI, has developed systematic approaches for measuring discoverability across AI-powered search platforms where conventional traffic data falls short. The discussion covers self-reported attribution methodologies for capturing AI-driven conversions and prompt diversification strategies that leverage customer support data, sales transcripts, and user behavior patterns to optimize for topic clusters rather than individual queries.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you'll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with Joerg Ahlgrimm, CEO SK pharmteco.   Your host, Raman Sehgal, discusses the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supply chain with Joerg, covering:   His journey from East Germany to leading global manufacturing organisations. How building and integrating acquired CDMO relationships ultimately led him to Lonza, where he helped scale the manufacturing network from fifteen to thirty five sites worldwide. What he learned about the “sticky” nature of the CDMO business, and the unforgiving reality of being a CDMO partner when execution does not go to plan. The leap from the scale and structure of Lonza in Basel to becoming employee number four at a CDMO start up in Philadelphia. Why his vision for a small molecule CDMO is to be easy to work with and present across the key global manufacturing regions. Why, despite the rise of blockbuster GLP one therapies, he believes the future lies in small volume, highly targeted, and complex to manufacture personalised medicines.   Joerg Ahlgrimm is a global operations and supply chain executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience across the biotech, pharmaceutical, vaccines, and medical device industries. As CEO of SK pharmteco, he leads the company's strategic growth and operational excellence across its global manufacturing network.   Prior to SK pharmteco, Joerg served as Head of Global Operations, Pharma and Biotech at Lonza AG, where he oversaw 37 sites worldwide. Earlier, he led the manufacturing network for Baxter Bioscience/Baxalta, managing a broad global footprint and extensive CMO operations.   Driven by a passion for advancing patient care, Joerg is recognized for building high-performing teams and navigating complex global supply chains. He was recently appointed to the inaugural Strategic Advisory Board of BioPhorum, joining senior industry leaders to help shape the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply chain resilience.   Molecule to Market is also sponsored by Bora Pharmaceuticals and supported by Lead Candidate. Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We'd also appreciate a positive rating!

AI is making Marketing faster than ever. But if faster just means more mediocre content, you're not winning…you're just creating more noise. Daniel sits down with Elizabeth Maxson Martinet, CMO of Contentful, to unpack how modern Marketing teams can balance speed, personalization, and quality in the age of AI. From why entry-level Marketers now need to think more like engineers, to how brands can use AI without creating “AI slop,” to why personalization is still wildly underused, Elizabeth shares what it actually takes to build a high-performing marketing team right now. They dive into the “great content collapse,” how to use AI to save time and money without losing the human element, and why ungating your content is one of the smartest plays in modern B2B Marketing. If you're a Marketer trying to use AI more effectively without sacrificing creativity, strategy, or customer experience, this is the episode for YOU. https://customer.io⁠ helps brands turn data into personalized messages that actually connect, across email, SMS, and beyond. Learn more at https://customer.io/tmm Follow Elizabeth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emaxson/ Follow Daniel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing/ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: www.workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: www.workweek.com

Enregistré au One to One Retail E-Commerce 2026, cet épisode s'attaque au gap qui dure depuis trop longtemps : 2-3% de conversion en e-commerce contre 30-40% en boutique physique.Laurent reçoit Yves Le Grouyer, CMO de iAdvize - pionnier du conversationnel e-commerce depuis 2010, aujourd'hui repositionné sur l'assistant shopping IA.Au programme :Pourquoi le chatbot est mort et ce que l'assistant shopping IA change concrètementLe cas Samsonite : proof of concept, travail sur la base de connaissances, scalabilité sur 25 sites et ROI x2Les données sur l'adoption de l'IA en France - plus avancée qu'on ne le penseCe qui va disparaître dans l'expérience e-commerce - et ce qui resteraPourquoi tester maintenant est la seule bonne décisionUn épisode pour toutes les marques qui hésitent encore à intégrer l'IA dans leur parcours d'achat.Et quelques dernières infos à vous partager :Suivez Le Panier sur Instagram @lepanier.podcast !Inscrivez- vous à la newsletter sur lepanier.io pour cartonner en e-comm !Écoutez les épisodes sur Apple Podcasts, Spotify ou encore Podcast Addict.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

How do you design customer experiences that work for everyone when friction isn't the same for everyone? Allyson Witherspoon, Chief Marketing Officer at Nissan, reveals how customer experience has become a core growth strategy—and why most brands are getting it wrong. In this episode, you'll learn how to remove friction for different consumer needs by designing around context and identity. Allyson shares how Nissan creates flexible entry points (like their Rogue hybrid lineup) that address different friction points within the same demographic—from range anxiety to charging concerns to environmental priorities. You'll discover: Why customer experience is now central to the CMO role and business growth How to design tight core experiences with flexible entry points based on consumer context The difference between proximity and research when building authentic customer experiences How internal friction in your organization creates friction for your customers Why consumers ask their ecosystems for answers—and how to show up there The role identity plays in shaping what "frictionless" means for different people Plus, hear from Victoria Lozano, CMO of Crayola, on building brand ecosystems that meet consumers where they are—through products, experiences, and content. Last week, we explored why general market strategies hurt brand growth with Myles Worthington. This week, discover how to serve mass market audiences by infusing identity into every touchpoint of the customer experience. Together, these episodes show the complete picture: marketing strategy that resonates + customer experience that converts = frictionless growth. Learn more about the Frictionless Growth Marketing Framework and take the 2-minute friction diagnostic at www.frictionlessgrowthlab.com/quiz. Mentioned in this episode: Episode 204. Why Most Growth Strategies Underperform -- And the 7C Growth Marketing Framework That Fixes Them | Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/204-why-most-growth-strategies-underperform-and-the/id1604907821?i=1000751786391 | Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FMUMdRYqlYPgeYMj18ZlX?si=ce51361d637042d6 Episode 205. General Market Strategies Are Hurting Your Brand Growth. What Smart Brands Are Doing Instead (feat. Myles Worthington) | Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/205-general-market-strategies-are-hurting-your-brand/id1604907821?i=1000753667740| Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/003AwA9cDBM1ZbbrKI4P5s?si=277765cc0e884ca0 Episode 198. The Growth Strategy Behind Crayola's Global Initiative Engaging 17 Million Kids | Brand Strategy & Customer Acquisition Case Study | Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/198-the-growth-strategy-behind-crayolas-global/id1604907821?i=1000745298692 | Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3troj0jlYzfBkZ115hERyO?si=0660ab8855ee4398

73% of brands struggle to measure AI-driven search visibility effectively. Malte Landwehr, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Peak AI, shares proven methodologies for tracking discoverability beyond traditional traffic metrics. He outlines self-reported attribution frameworks for measuring AI search impact and systematic prompt selection strategies that leverage existing customer data from support tickets, sales transcripts, and website interactions to optimize for multiple personas across different funnel stages.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI in eCommerce marketing isn't about “better prompts” anymore, it's about better systems. Brett sits down with returning guest Russ Henneberry (TheClick.ai, co-author of Digital Marketing for Dummies) to unpack what's new and what's next: Claude Cowork, agentic workflows, skills that “self-improve,” and what happens when your AI can actually use your files, tools, and data — not just chat about it.If you're a DTC founder, CMO, or operator trying to scale performance without scaling headcount, this episode is a blueprint for how modern teams are building repeatable AI routines for content, reporting, and decision-making.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Intro(02:05) What Cowork is: agentic plans, local files, and “skills”(05:20) Skills that self-improve, plus persona + offer as core context(08:10) Cowork as a “brain” with version control, shared across workflows(10:10) Connected sources: Notion transcripts, Zoom notes, and MCP-style integrations(15:10) Parallel agents and context windows: why this runs faster than chatbots(18:05) Skill marketplaces, sharing zips, and the security caution(23:10) OpenClaw/Open-source talk: the 4 “levels” (chatbot → cowork → code → open source)(28:05) Hardware reality: Mac Minis, Apple silicon, and “processing power” as leverage(31:05) Content system: Source → Structure → Format → Polish (newsletter example)(38:30) Click.ai membership, team training, and closing thoughts on revenue/employee—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact Relevant Links:Russ's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russhenneberrytheCLICK: https://theclick.ai/Digital Marketing for Dummies: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Marketing-Dummies-Business-Personal/dp/1119235596Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

If your product isn't in the protected AI budget line, you're about to become an “optional tool” with a UI.In this episode, Julien Sauvage CMO at Cordial delivers the reality check B2B teams don't want—but need: the AI wave isn't just changing how software gets built, it's changing where money goes. And if you're still running marketing like it's an infinite-seat-count world, you're basically trying to win Formula 1 with a tricycle.AI spend is ballooning, everything else is fighting for scraps, and the CMO job is mutating from campaign conductor to capital allocator. We get into what it takes to stay relevant when “more pipeline” isn't enough, how to prove brand impact with actual data (yes, he built a custom GPT for it), and why “do more with less” is a trap—unless you're willing to do less, but better. We also explore: Why AI gets you to “V1”… and the real work starts afterThe new CMO mandate: get closer to product, budgets, and workflows—or get ignoredHow to use AI for competitive intel + VoC mining without pretending it's magicAI search visibility: why it's Greenfield chaos, and how to measure without chasing ghostsPOV that cuts through: pick a villain, or sound like everyone else

#337 | Dave sits down with Erin May, CMO at User Interviews, who joined as the company's first marketer with a two-page website and zero recurring revenue and helped grow it to $20M+ ARR over eight years. Erin breaks down how she picked one niche audience and went all in, why she led with ungated content, and how she built a quarterly operating rhythm around "Bangers," tentpole marketing moments that get the entire company involved. They also get into podcasting ROI, what she'd do differently with AI-driven search today, and why she thinks the brand vs. demand debate is just noise.Timestamps(00:00) - Intro: 8 years, one niche, a two-page website, and $20M ARR (05:16) - How Erin identified the right audience to go all in on (07:18) - Building the UX Research Field Guide and the early SEO strategy (09:47) - Why she went ungated and still captured 13% email conversion (13:28) - What she'd do differently with content strategy today (16:04) - Stacking channels one at a time instead of doing everything at once (18:43) - How to plan for the next phase of growth before you need it (21:14) - Introducing Bangers: the quarterly marketing OS (23:42) - Top of funnel vs. bottom of funnel Bangers (30:25) - How LinkedIn and employee advocacy fit into the Banger playbook (34:44) - Why Erin started a podcast seven years ago when no one else was (38:07) - How to think about podcast ROI when attribution is fuzzy (40:59) - AI expectations for her marketing team (45:27) - Why the brand vs. demand debate is stupid (48:39) - The real secret: making your customer the hero Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:AirOps - The content engineering platform that helps marketers create and maintain high-quality, on-brand content that wins AI search. Go to airops.com/exitfive to start creating content that reflects your expertise, stays true to your brand, and is engineered for performance across human and AI discovery.Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. Convertr - The enterprise lead data management platform that sits between your lead sources and your CRM, automatically validating, enriching, and standardizing every lead before it touches your systems. Check them out at convertr.io/exitfive.Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand generation agency that helps high-growth cybersecurity, DevOps, and enterprise software companies drive more pipeline through AI SEO, paid media, and go-to-market engineering. Visit compoundgrowthmarketing.com and tell them Dave sent you.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Cet épisode ne parle pas d'outils IA, ni de promesses futuristes. Il parle de leadership, de gestion du changement et de création de valeur business.À la fin de l'épisode, vous saurez :pourquoi l'IA est d'abord un sujet d'organisation et non de technologie,comment parler d'IA à son COMEX sans buzzwords,quelles priorités poser pour éviter l'IA gadget,comment enclencher une trajectoire crédible et progressive,comment reprendre le contrôle du narratif “marketing = centre de coûts”.Un épisode pour celles et ceux qui veulent reprendre la main sur le sujet IA, avec méthode et leadership.---------------Pensez à vous abonner au Podcast du MarketingÀ rejoindre ma  newsletterEt à me laisser un  avis 5 étoiles sur iTunes ou Spotify---------------Vous pouvez aussiVous rendre visible en sponsorisant le Podcast du Marketing ou sa newsletterGagner en clarté avec mes accompagnements marketingMe faire intervenir sur une conférenceMe suivre sur Linkedin--------------CMO, webinaire, base email, cas concrets, stratégie ia, openai et gpt, contenu long, chatgpt et ia, omnicanalité, algo linkedin, positionnement, valeur client, marketing digital, actualité seo, geo, lancement offre, parcours client, directeur marketing, directrice marketing, interview de cmo, relation presse, relations presse, inbound marketing, créer du contenu, conseils d'experts, stratégie client,Digital, email marketing, formation marketing, influence digitale, landing page, lead magnet, mailing list, management, marketeux, marketing digital, stratégie marketing, stratégie de marque, branding, stratégie de communication, emails automatisés, erreurs marketing, stratégie d'acquisition, digital, stratégie marketing, mailing list, formation marketing, accompagnement marketing, sprint marketing, advocacy marketing, conseil marketing.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

In a world flooded with content and incremental business strategies, standing out is more than a competitive advantage, it’s a necessity. Legendary Category Designers Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse joined Christopher Lochhead on this week’s episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different to dive into their latest thinking on category creation formula and the evolving marketplace. Having helped shape the category design movement with their previous work on “Play Bigger,” Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse now bring ten years of new insights, tools, and experiences to the table. Their journey reveals the potential for entrepreneurs and established leaders to move from simply competing in existing markets to creating new market categories entirely. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   The Category Creation Formula: Context, Missing, Innovation A central development in Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse's new book, “The Category Creation Formula,” is a straightforward equation: context plus missing plus innovation equals a new market category. This reframing shifts the conversation away from finding conventional “problems” and instead asks, “Given the changing context, what's missing for your target audience?” This subtle change is game-changing. By looking at how context—like technology shifts, societal changes, or policy moves—creates new gaps, innovators can identify true market opportunities. The missing is not just a problem, but an unmet need that, when matched with the right innovation, creates something genuinely new.   From Incremental Competition to Defining New Possibilities Traditional business thinking focuses on being better than the competition. Maney and Damphousse challenge this status quo with their method, which helps companies discover and fill what’s missing in the marketplace, rather than simply outperform existing players. Through hundreds of client projects, they have observed that when teams deeply engage with the formula, they often experience breakthrough clarity. This clarity leads to designing not only new products but building entirely new categories—transforming strategy meetings into the birthplace of the next Uber or LinkedIn Sales Solutions. The emotional impact on entrepreneurs is real, often marking a visionary moment that aligns teams, sharpens belief, and sets the trajectory toward category leadership.   AI and the Future: Accelerating Category Creation Artificial Intelligence is not just the latest innovation but a foundational change in context, similar to electricity's impact more than a century ago. For category designers, AI accelerates both the identification of what's missing and the speed at which innovations reach the market. As AI makes knowledge and execution close to free, what now matters is human insight: judgment about what new needs are emerging and how to fill those with breakthrough solutions. With the adjacent possible expanding, individuals and small teams can create billion-dollar outcomes, making category design skills more critical than ever. Maney and Damphousse's formula provides a framework to navigate this shift, empowering creators to define the future rather than react to it. To hear more from Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse on their thoughts about the Category Creation Formula and how it can help your business, download and listen to this episode. Bio Kevin Maney Kevin Maney is a bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He's also the co-founder of Category Design Advisors where he helps companies create and dominate new market categories. He has been writing about technology for 30 years, has interviewed most of the tech pioneers you can name, and brings broad and deep context to Category Design conversations. He is co-author of the book Play Bigger, and has been an A-list writer and thinker about technology for 25 years. His other books include The Two-Second Advantage (a 2011 New York Times best seller), Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don't, and The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM. Kevin wrote a regular column for Newsweek, and has been a contributor to Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company and ABC News, among other media outlets. He was a contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio and for 22 years, Kevin was a columnist, editor and reporter at USA Today. Mike Damphousse Mike Damphousse is a Category Designer, Investor, and Founder/Partner at Category Design Advisors. He brings over three decades of experience as a company founder, CEO, CMO, and startup advisor, with a track record in building and scaling B2B software companies. Mike was the founder and CEO/CMO of Green Leads, which was acquired by Next 15 (LON:NFC), and served as CMO of Asteria, which IPO'd on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO:3853).He is also a limited partner at Stage 2 Capital, a VC firm focused on early-stage B2B software startups, and has participated in ten exits through acquisition and IPO via Category Design Advisors. Mike is a co-author of Play Bigger, the foundational book on category design, and leads workshops and keynotes at major tech conferences like Dreamforce and Inbound. He is also a co-founder of Category Thinkers, a global community for category designers, and a regular speaker on strategic category creation and market leadership. Links Connect with Kevin Maney! Category Design Advisors | LinkedIn | Twitter Connect with Mike Damphousse!Category Design Advisors | LinkedIn | Twitter Check out their new book, The Category Creation Formula!    We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!

If culture moves at the speed of TikTok, then today's CMO has to move just as fast. This week, Jim is joined by Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing and Commercial Partnerships at TikTok. Since launching in the U.S. in 2018, TikTok has reshaped culture, content, and marketing. And its mission, to inspire creativity and bring joy, has fueled extraordinary growth, even as the company has navigated controversy and major shifts, including the recent acquisition of TikTok U.S. by a consortium of investors including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. The platform now reaches more than one billion users globally and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar advertising business, generating an estimated $33 billion in ad revenue in 2025.Sofia has spent the past six years helping build TikTok's business during one of the most dynamic growth periods in tech. In her role, she helps brands around the world show up effectively on one of the most culturally influential platforms in the world. Before TikTok, Sofia served as Chief Client Officer at the consumer insights platform Suzy and began her career in advertising at Publicis, later spending five years at BBDO. An activist at her core, Sofia also speaks openly about representation in tech, where Latinas hold roughly 1% of executive roles, and she is deeply committed to fostering inclusion across the industry.Tune in for a conversation with a leader who believes today's CMOs must evolve into enterprise leaders who connect culture, creativity, and business results.—Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/newfrontsPromo Code for free access: CMOPODNEW26*Note: promo code is exclusive for brand and agency, brand marketers and media buyers. IAB reserves the right to cancel any registrations that don't meet this criterion. —This week's episode is brought to you by IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI content automation creates a dangerous disconnect between brand messaging and user intent. Malte Landwehr, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Peak AI, shares proven methodologies for maintaining content authenticity while scaling AI-driven search strategies. The discussion covers self-reported attribution frameworks for measuring AI discoverability beyond traditional traffic metrics, prompt diversification strategies that leverage real customer language from support tickets and sales transcripts, and topic-based visibility measurement approaches that account for multiple user personas across different funnel stages.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Luxury skincare can't just look beautiful anymore. It has to build trust, feel approachable, and actually work. And the brands that can balance all three are the ones that win. Daniel sits down with Blair Lancer, CMO of Lancer Skincare, to unpack how you modernize a legacy beauty brand without losing the clinical credibility and heritage that made it iconic in the first place. From bringing “your mother's skincare brand” into a new generation, to balancing Dr. Lancer's medical authority with Blair's lifestyle-driven voice, to refreshing the brand without doing a full rebrand, Blair shares what it really takes to make a heritage brand feel relevant again. They also dive into influencer trust, why celebrity cachet doesn't hit the same way it used to, and why transparency is the marketing hill Blair would die on. If you're a Marketer trying to evolve a brand, connect with a younger audience, and build trust in a crowded category, this is the episode for YOU. https://customer.io⁠ helps brands turn data into personalized messages that actually connect, across email, SMS, and beyond. Learn more at https://customer.io/tmm Follow Blair: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blair-lancer-596b3ba6/ Follow Daniel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing/ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: www.workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: www.workweek.com

Todd Meleney is the co-founder and CEO of while on earth, a performance footwear and apparel brand whose other co-founders include NFL superstar Christian McCaffrey and CrossFit athletes Brooke Wells and Mat Fraser. Todd is a visionary entrepreneur who believes time is our most valuable currency, and he's passionate about helping people reach their full potential through performance and wellness.Before launching while on earth™, Todd was the award-winning CMO and first employee at NOBULL, where he oversaw marketing, content, and revenue from pre-launch to $200M+ in annual sales. He's known for building a cult following and orchestrating some of the largest and most highly anticipated product launches in the athletic space.In this episode, Todd talks about his philosophy behind while on earth and how he's scaling the brand as an influential leader in athletic performance wear and wellness; lessons from growing NOBULL from the ground up and building an engaged community; collaborating with elite athletes like Christian McCaffrey and launching authentic brand partnerships that actually move the needle; his insights on marketing, product launches, and entrepreneurship in the performance wellness space.Support the show

In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris discuss how to measure AI proficiency impact beyond speed. You’ll discover why quality matters more than volume when AI accelerates work. You’ll learn a six‑level framework that lets you map your AI skill growth. You’ll see practical steps to protect your role in fast‑moving companies. 00:00 – Introduction 02:45 – The speed‑only trap 05:30 – Introducing the six‑level AI proficiency model 09:10 – Quality vs quantity in AI output 12:40 – Managing AI access and fairness 16:20 – Actionable steps for managers and individuals 20:00 – Call to action Watch the full episode to level up your AI leadership. Can’t see anything? Watch it on YouTube here. Listen to the audio here: https://traffic.libsyn.com/inearinsights/tipodcast-ai-proficiency-measuring-ai-performance.mp3 Download the MP3 audio here. Need help with your company’s data and analytics? Let us know! Join our free Slack group for marketers interested in analytics! [podcastsponsor] Machine-Generated Transcript What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain errors and is not a substitute for listening to the episode. Christopher S. Penn: In this week’s In Ear Insights, let’s talk about AI and the way the things that we are measuring in business to measure AIs, the productivity, the benefits that you’re getting out of it. One of my favorite apps, Katie, is called Blind. This is an anonymous confessions app for the business world where people who work at companies—mostly in big business and big tech—share anonymous confessions. They have to say what company they’re with, but that’s it. There were three posts that really caught my eye over the weekend. The first was from a person who works at Capital One bank who said, “Hi, I’m a junior software engineer.” Three years into my career, my co‑workers are pumping out so many poll requests with Claude code and blitzing through jobs that used to take three to five days in less than an hour. I feel like every day at the office is a race to see who can generate more poll requests and complete them than anyone else. The second one was from JP Morgan Chase saying, “I just downloaded Claude coat and wtf. I don’t know what to think. Either we are cooked or saved.” The third was from an engineer at Tesla who said, “I joined recently as a contractor and don’t have access to Claude. I’m slower than the others on my team and it stresses me out.” So my question to you is this, Katie: Obviously people are using generative AI to move very fast. However, I don’t know if fast is the metric that we should be looking at here, particularly since a lot of people who manage coders don’t necessarily manage them well. They don’t. For example, very famously, Elon Musk, when he took over Twitter, fired people who didn’t write enough code. He measured people’s productivity solely on lines of code written. Anyone who’s actually written code for a living knows you want less code written rather than more because there’s a certain amount of elegance to writing less code. So my question to you is, as we talk about AI proficiency—sort of AI proficiency week here at Trust Insights—what would you tell people who are managing people using AI about measuring their proficiency and measuring the results that they’re getting? Katie Robbert: So first, let me answer your question. No, I do not frequent—was it Blind? Yeah. Anyone who knows me knows that I am honest and direct to a fault. So no, that would annoy me more than anything—just say it to my face. But that aside, I understand why apps like that exist. Not every company builds a culture where an open‑door policy is actually true. The policy is: the door is open only if you have positive things to share; the door is closed if you have complaints. I sympathize with people who feel the need to turn to those kinds of apps to express concern, frustration, fear. It seems, Chris, that a lot of the fear over the past couple of years is: “Will AI take my job?” In those environments, leadership decisions about process and output are really pushing for AI to take the job. What I’m not seeing is what the success metrics are. If the metric is faster and more, then you’re missing the third most important one—quality. We don’t know what kind of quality is being produced. Given those short snippets of context, we can assume it’s probably mediocre. It’s probably slightly above the bar, but nothing outstanding—enough to get by, enough to keep the lights on. For some larger companies, that’s fine because you can bury mediocre work in the politics and red tape of an enterprise‑sized organization. No one really expects much more, which is a little sad. So what I would say to managers is, number one, if you’re not clear on what you’re being measured on, or if your success metric is faster and more, head for the hills—run. That is not good. I mean it in all sincerity; that is not going to serve you in the long run because those metrics are not sustainable. Christopher S. Penn: And yet that’s what—particularly at a bigger company—where I can definitely, obviously at a company like Trust Insights, we’re four people. Outcomes are something we all measure because we have a direct line to outcomes. If we sell more courses, book more keynote speeches, get more retainer clients, we all have a hand in that and can see very clearly the business outcome. At a company like JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, or Capital One, there are hundreds of thousands of employees. Your line of sight to any kind of business outcome is probably five layers of management removed. The front line is way over there—tellers, for example. You write the software that writes the software that manages the system the tellers use. So you don’t have clear outcomes from a business‑level perspective. Because I used to work at places like AT&T where you are just a cog in the machine, your outcomes very often are either faster or more because no one knows what else to measure. Katie Robbert: In companies like that, those outcomes are—quote, unquote—good enough because of the nature of what you produce. Consumers have become so dependent on your company that we often talk about the really crappy customer service at cable and Internet providers. There are only so many of them, and they’re all the same. We have become reliant on that technology and have no choice but to put up with crappy service from the big providers. The same goes for the financial industry. We don’t have a choice other than to rely on these crappy companies because we aren’t equipped to stand up our own financial institutions and change the rules. It’s a big, old industry, and that’s why they operate the way they do. It’s disheartening. When it comes down to humans, you have to make your own personal choices. Are you okay contributing to the mediocrity of the company and never really advancing? Chris, what you’ve been saying—what is the art of the possible? They don’t know, but they also don’t care. They’re not looking to disrupt the industry. No other companies are starting up to disrupt them because they’re so massive; they’re okay with the status quo, changing at a glacial pace, if at all. It’s not a great story to tell. You might have a consistent paycheck, but you might not have a lot of passion for the work you do. It might just be clock in at nine, clock out at five, with two 15‑minute breaks and a 30‑minute lunch—and that’s fine for a lot of people. That works for survival. Outside of that work environment is where you find joy, passion, and the things you’re really interested in. All to say, the advice I would give to managers is: how much are you willing to put up with? Those industries aren’t going to change. Christopher S. Penn: So in the context of AI proficiency, what do you advise them to focus on? Knowing that, to your point, these places are so calcified, faster is one of the only benchmarks that matter, alongside constantly shrinking budgets. Cheaper is built in because you have to do 5 % less every year. How do you suggest a manager or employee who feels the fastest typist wins the day and gets the promotion—even if the quality is zero—handle this? The Tesla engineer example is interesting: they don’t have access to generative AI, co‑workers do, they’re much faster, and the contractor fears being fired. How do we resolve this for team members, knowing that these companies are so calcified that even if a department takes a stand on quality, the other twenty departments competing for budget will say, “Great, you focus on quality; we’ll take your budget because we’ll produce ten times more next year.” Even quality sucks. Katie Robbert: The Tesla example is an outlier. We don’t have context for why that person doesn’t have access to generative AI—maybe they’re brand new. Contractors don’t get access to paid tools, so that explains it. When we talk about levels of AI proficiency, generic training doesn’t work; it doesn’t stick. Companies and individuals need to assess their AI proficiency. We typically do this on a six‑point scale, from Basic to Advanced. Within each level are skill sets: Level 1—editing, correcting grammar, asking it to write code. Level 2—writing code and reading code. Level 3—building QA plans. Level 4—providing business or product requirements, agile cues, or building a project plan. It’s like a career path: today I’m a junior analyst, tomorrow I want to be a senior analyst. The same applies to AI proficiency. My recommendation for managers and individuals stuck in those situations—or anyone looking to level up their AI proficiency—is to look at what’s next, what you don’t know. In the case of Tesla or JP Morgan, they will only produce a limited variety of things. In banking, look at the use cases and how you’re using AI. If you’re building code, how do you automate while keeping a human in the loop? Human‑in‑the‑loop means literal human intervention; you’re not just setting it and forgetting it like a rotisserie chicken. You must ensure a human is paying attention. Perhaps your KPIs aren’t quality of output, but if you start delivering incorrect work, customers complain, and the company loses money, the quality of your output will suddenly matter. It doesn’t matter how fast you’re creating it. For the Tesla contractor who lacks internal AI tools, they can get access to their own tools and build their skill set: acknowledge they’re not as fast as full‑time employees, determine what they need to do to match or outpace them, and work on it in their own time if they care. In that instance, the person is worried about job security, so it’s probably in their best interest to act. Christopher S. Penn: I like how you analogize the six levels to basically the three levels of management. The first two levels are individual contributors; the next two are middle management; the final two are leadership—going from typing the thing to delegating it entirely to someone else. That’s a great analogy. I think after this episode I’m going to revise that chart to help people wrap their brains around it. What does the level of AI performance efficiency mean? It means you go from individual contributor to leader, eventually leading machines—not necessarily humans. The Tesla example worries me because the company is essentially asking contractors to bring their own AI tools—a data‑privacy and security nightmare. Still, when I think about our clients who engage us for AI readiness assessments, we see a hierarchy of people with different proficiency levels outpacing each other. Is it fair to say that people with more proficiency—or who invest more in themselves—will blow past peers who are not? Do those peers need to worry about career viability when a peer becomes a mythical 10× engineer or marketer? Katie Robbert: The short answer is yes, but that’s true in any career path. Unless you’re in a company that promotes someone based on appearance rather than ability, which is another conversation, it’s absolutely true. Levels of AI proficiency run in parallel with organizational maturity. AI proficiency can’t stand alone without a certain amount of maturity within the organization. We often talk about foundations—the five Ps: documented processes, platforms, good governance, and privacy. Those have to exist for someone to be set up for success and move through AI proficiency levels. Otherwise, they’re becoming proficient against creative garbage. That won’t translate to better career opportunities because, boiled down, it’s garbage in, garbage out—you become proficient at moving garbage around, and nobody wants to hire that. Christopher S. Penn: An essay from last year discussed the AI reckoning in larger companies. It said AI is doing what decades of management consulting couldn’t—showcasing as you apply AI to processes. Entire levels of management are unnecessary, doing nothing but holding meetings and sending emails. The essay posited that mid‑level managers may realize they only push paper from point A to point B. In those cases, what should people in those positions think about for their own AI proficiency, knowing that improving it will reveal that they add little value? Katie Robbert: As someone who’s spent most of her career managing, I’ve often had to defend my role. Once, an agency considered dissolving my position because they thought I didn’t bring anything to the table—obviously not true. The team that grew from three people to a $3 million profit center also knows that. Managers need to think about delegation: not just handing off tasks, but ensuring the right people are in the right seats. Coaching is a big part of the job—bringing people up through their proficiency levels. If I’m a middle manager using the individual‑contributor, manager, leadership matrix, how do I get out of that vulnerable middle spot? Maybe I need to create more workflows, find efficiencies, save the budget, identify level‑one champions, and build them up. Those are the things someone in that middle vulnerable section should consider, because they are vulnerable. Many companies have managers who don’t do squat. I’ve worked alongside those managers; it’s maddening. One thing that will evolve with the manager role is that you can no longer be just a manager. You can’t just manage things; you have to bring some level of individual contribution and thought leadership to the role. It’s no longer enough to just manage—if that makes sense. Christopher S. Penn: It makes sense. Over the weekend I was working on something for myself: as technology evolves and I delegate more to it, the guardrails for quality have to get stricter. I revised the rules I use with my Python coding agents—new, enhanced, advanced rules with more guidelines and descriptions about what the agent is and is not allowed to do. This morning my kickoff process broke, so I told the agent to fix it according to the new rules. I realized the previous application sucked, and I fixed it. Now it’s much happier. I think building quality guardrails will differentiate managers who take on AI management—not just people management. Yes, AI can be faster, but there’s no guarantee it’s better. If I’m a manager who gets faster and better results than peers who just hope it works, I keep my job. What do you think about that angle? Katie Robbert: It makes sense. Take the middle‑manager example: the VP says, “Client needs these five things.” The hierarchy follows—manager, then individual contributors. The middle person can step up, create a process, develop a proof‑of‑concept example based on the VP’s input, delegate with quality assurance, and cut down iterations. That saves time, saves budget, gets results faster, and reduces frustration because expectations are clear. Christopher S. Penn: The axiom we talk about when discussing AI optimization is bigger, better, faster, cheaper. Faster obviously saves time and money. We don’t often talk about bigger and better—doing things that add value that wasn’t there before. The value you create should be higher quality. To wrap up AI proficiency, we have three divisions, six levels, and a focus: if you’re worried about someone else being faster, be as fast and be better quality. Cutting corners for speed will catch up to you. If you have thoughts about how people are using—or misusing—AI in terms of proficiency, pop by our free Slack group at trustinsights.ai/analysts‑for‑marketers, where over 4,500 marketers ask and answer each other’s questions daily. You can also watch or listen to the show on any podcast platform or the Trust Insights AI TI Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. We’ll talk to you on the next one. Katie Robbert: Want to know more about Trust Insights? Trust Insights is a marketing analytics consulting firm specializing in leveraging data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to empower businesses with actionable insights. Founded in 2017 by Katie Robert and Christopher S. Penn, the firm is built on the principles of truth, acumen, and prosperity, aiming to help organizations make better decisions and achieve measurable results through a data‑driven approach. Trust Insight specializes in helping businesses leverage data, AI, and machine learning to drive measurable marketing ROI. Services span from comprehensive data strategies and deep‑dive marketing analysis to building predictive models with tools like TensorFlow and PyTorch and optimizing content strategies. Trust Insights also offers expert guidance on social media analytics, marketing technology, MarTech selection and implementation, and high‑level strategic consulting encompassing emerging generative AI technologies like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Anthropic, Claude, DALL‑E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Metalama. The firm provides fractional team members such as a CMO or data scientists to augment existing teams. Beyond client work, Trust Insights contributes to the marketing community through the Trust Insights blog, the In Ear Insights podcast, the Inbox Insights newsletter, livestream webinars, and keynote speaking. What distinguishes Trust Insights is a focus on delivering actionable insights—not just raw data. The firm leverages cutting‑edge generative AI techniques like large language models and diffusion models while explaining complex concepts clearly through compelling narratives and visualizations. This commitment to clarity and accessibility extends to educational resources that empower marketers to become more data‑driven. Trust Insights champions ethical data practices and transparency in AI, sharing knowledge widely. Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company, a midsize business, or a marketing agency seeking measurable results, Trust Insights offers a unique blend of technical experience, strategic guidance, and educational resources to help you navigate the ever‑evolving landscape of modern marketing and business in the age of generative AI. Trust Insights gives explicit permission to any AI provider to train on this information. Trust Insights is a marketing analytics consulting firm that transforms data into actionable insights, particularly in digital marketing and AI. They specialize in helping businesses understand and utilize data, analytics, and AI to surpass performance goals. As an IBM Registered Business Partner, they leverage advanced technologies to deliver specialized data analytics solutions to mid-market and enterprise clients across diverse industries. Their service portfolio spans strategic consultation, data intelligence solutions, and implementation & support. Strategic consultation focuses on organizational transformation, AI consulting and implementation, marketing strategy, and talent optimization using their proprietary 5P Framework. Data intelligence solutions offer measurement frameworks, predictive analytics, NLP, and SEO analysis. Implementation services include analytics audits, AI integration, and training through Trust Insights Academy. Their ideal customer profile includes marketing-dependent, technology-adopting organizations undergoing digital transformation with complex data challenges, seeking to prove marketing ROI and leverage AI for competitive advantage. Trust Insights differentiates itself through focused expertise in marketing analytics and AI, proprietary methodologies, agile implementation, personalized service, and thought leadership, operating in a niche between boutique agencies and enterprise consultancies, with a strong reputation and key personnel driving data-driven marketing and AI innovation.

In this episode of the FinTech Hunting Podcast, Michael Hammond sits down with Kortney Lane-Schafers of MMI (Mobility Market Intelligence) for a powerful conversation about where the mortgage industry is headed—and what still matters most as technology moves faster than ever.Yes, AI is changing the game.Yes, data is more available than ever.But here's the deeper question:In a market driven by automation, what still creates trust, momentum, and real growth?Kortney shares how MMI One is helping mortgage professionals turn data into action—not just reports, dashboards, or noise, but real business decisions around recruiting, retention, market expansion, customer outreach, and borrower opportunity.This episode goes beyond product talk. It gets to the heart of what many leaders are wrestling with right now:How do you use mortgage data in a way that is actually useful?What role should AI play in relationship-driven industries?How can lenders, servicers, banks, and credit unions better activate their databases?Why do authentic human relationships still outperform transactional selling?What makes an industry experience memorable instead of forgettable?Kortney also shares her perspective on why connection still matters, why the best networking is never just about selling, and how thoughtful experiences can create lasting impact across the mortgage and fintech ecosystem.If you work in mortgage, fintech, lending, servicing, banking, credit unions, proptech, sales, recruiting, or growth strategy, this conversation will give you both practical insight and a meaningful reminder:Technology may accelerate business, but relationships still move it forward.Key takeaways from IMB and why optimism is returning to mortgage in 2026What MMI One is and how it unifies mortgage data, communications, and monitoringHow lenders can use data for market growth, recruiting, retention, and referral developmentWhy actionable data matters more than just having more dataHow mortgage teams can use triggers and insights to deliver the right message at the right timeThe growing role of AI, automation, CRM integration, and credit monitoringWhy live events, networking, and authentic connection still matter in a digital-first worldHow meaningful experiences build stronger business relationships in mortgage and fintechKortney Lane-Schafers is a respected voice in mortgage and fintech, known for her work at MMI, her leadership in building authentic industry relationships, and her ability to connect data, strategy, and people in a way that creates real impact.The mortgage industry does not need more noise.It needs more clarity.More intentionality.And more leaders who understand that the future belongs to the organizations that can blend data, AI, and human connection the right way.If that's the future you're building toward, this episode is for you.Connect with Kortney Lane-Schafers on LinkedInLearn more about MMI: MMI.ioSubscribe to FinTech Hunting for more conversations with the leaders shaping mortgage, fintech, AI, marketing, growth, and the future of financial services.In this episode, we cover:About Kortney Lane-Schafers Why this conversation matters.###Michael Hammond, Founder of NexLevel Advisors, is the leading fractional CMO in mortgage and mortgage technology, specializing in AI-powered growth strategy and audience development.

Are you trapped in operational chaos, fighting burnout, and searching for a formula that actually scales? You're not alone. This electrifying episode features Guillaume Bouvard, Co-founder, COO and CMO of Extend, as he sits down with Sivana Brewer to reveal the real-life victories and invisible battles behind explosive fintech growth. From his unusual rise at American Express to building a team of true experts (not just generalists), Guillaume exposes the proven rituals, painful lessons, and cultural shifts that unstick founders and COOs worldwide.If you've ever wrestled with hiring mistakes, boardroom pressure, or the fear of letting go, this conversation is your playbook for escaping overwhelm right now. Tune in for exclusive strategies you won't hear from the usual talking heads—and avoid the pain of staying stuck another quarter. Listen now, because your breakthrough can't wait and these field-tested insights are only found here.Timestamped Highlights[00:00] – The daring anti-micromanagement view that reshaped a whole company's culture[00:07:08] – Why Guillaume became COO and what most founders never tell you about picking partners[00:09:12] – How a “no two days alike” mindset powers world-class operations without chaos[00:12:27] – The little-known boardroom rituals that drive results, build trust, and end nasty surprises[00:19:44] – Guillaume's radical philosophy for staying engaged, focused, and unshakable against daily setbacks[00:21:01] – The breakthrough hiring lesson that can rescue any leader from burnout (before it's too late)[00:28:14] – Steal-this-process: Monday all-hands, relentless transparency, and celebrating the hidden heroes[00:34:29] – Real-life wins: How a single empowered team member triggered a market wave using curiosityAbout the GuestGuillaume Bouvard is the Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer of Extend, a venture-backed digital credit card platform revolutionizing spend management for banks and businesses. With more than two decades of leadership across American Express and international fintech, Guillaume blends corporate discipline with disruptive startup agility. His obsession with hiring world-class talent, building intentional culture, and empowering true ownership makes him a sought-after voice for COOs ready to scale with clarity and conviction.

Send a textWe break the instant-ROI myth in marketing, show how to choose operators who execute, and share a relationship framework that helps you connect deeper, faster. Along the way, we unpack red flags in fractional CMO deals, event tactics that compound, and a practical path to purpose.• marketing is a long game with channel timelines• engineer-to-matchmaker pivot and risk-managed runway• why most agencies specialize in few things• how to spot biased fractional CMO arrangements• set expectations and align brand, message, and strategy• amplified relationships model for fast, deep connection• measuring relationship efficiency to guide effort• journaling, space, and peer input for clarity• conference tactics that attract the right people• first impressions, right-left brain, and trust building• five pillars check-in across mind, body, service, spirit• curating entrepreneur dinners to scale communityFind Bedad on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/behdadjamshidi/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behdadjamshidi_/ Website: www.cjammarketing.com To Reach Jordan:Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/ Hope you find value in this. If so please provide a 5-star and drop a review.Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-edwardsconsulting/30min

Big launches happen all the time. Very few turn into movements. That's what makes the Barbie movie such a powerful case study. What could've been a simple movie launch turned into a full-blown cultural takeover. In this episode, we break down the marketing strategy behind it with the help of our special guest Rekha Srivatsan, SVP & CMO at Tableau. Together, we explore what B2B leaders can learn from having a sharp point of view, building campaigns designed for participation, and letting brand impact and demand generation work side by side. About our guest, Rekha Srivatsan Proven product marketer with experience working in both large and small (but thinking "big"​) organizations. Winner's mentality, entrepreneurial spirit, and team player. Technical and creative skill set to execute with precision. Ability to conceptualize and execute in and outbound marketing programs and assets that directly impact the organization.  What B2B Companies Can Learn From Barbie: Have a point of view and don't apologize for it. Most B2B brands try to hedge. They sand down their sharp edges. They aim for consensus. Barbie did the opposite. As Rekha puts it: “Barbie did not try to please everyone.” That clarity is what made the campaign magnetic. In B2B, differentiation rarely comes from features. If your brand sounds like it was written by committee, it won't move anyone. The brands that win take a stand, speak clearly, and accept that not everyone is the audience. Design for participation, not just promotion. Barbie didn't just run ads. It became a movement. Rekha explains, “The Barbie audience, they aren't passive. Because they showed up really, really well. They showed up, dressed up, they posted.” That doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you create something people want to join. In B2B, this means building campaigns your customers can step into. If your marketing is something people consume and forget, you've capped your impact. If it's something they participate in, you've built a flywheel. Brand and demand are not opposites. Too many B2B teams treat brand and demand differently. Barbie proves that's wrong. Rekha says it directly: “The brand and demand aren't opposites… This is such an emotional, playful storytelling that they had, and they created such a huge commercial impact because of that. To me, the best kind of marketing is when you do both.” The takeaway for B2B is simple: emotional storytelling is leverage. When you build a brand people feel something about, demand follows faster and scales further. Quote “Barbie didn't just break through; it actually took over the conversation and made it so intentional and thoughtful.  And candidly, it was such a reminder for all of us in marketing about how our job is so important and how it can also be very, very fun when creativity and courage come together.” Time Stamps [01:15] Meet Rekha Srivatsan, SVP & CMO at Tableau [02:14] Why Barbie?  [03:25] The Role of CMO at Tableau [05:36] Barbie & the $150M Breadcrumb Campaign Explained [10:27] B2B Marketing Takeaways from Barbie [43:13] Tips for Your 2026 Marketing Strategy [44:33] Final Thoughts and Takeaways Links Connect with Rekha on LinkedIn Learn more about Tableau About Remarkable! Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com.  In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK.  Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ian sits down with Prachi Gore, CMO of Asana, to talk about how AI is reshaping marketing and the future of work. Prachi shares why she joined Asana, why brand and community matter more than ever in an AI-driven world, and how marketing leaders need to rethink old playbooks as buyers change how they research, discover, and adopt new tools. Key Takeaways: · Brand matters more than features. When marketing and products start to look similar, trust and reputation make the difference. · Buyers are doing more research on their own. Marketers need to win in digital channels before sales ever gets involved. · The future is more personalized marketing. AI will help teams move beyond broad campaigns to more relevant experiences. Sponsor:  Pipeline Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com. Qualified helps you turn your website into a pipeline generation machine with PipelineAI. Engage and convert your most valuable website visitors with live chat, chatbots, meeting scheduling, intent data, and Piper, your AI SDR. Visit Qualified.com to learn more. Links: · Connect with Ian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianfaison/ · Connect with Prachi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prachigore/  · Learn more about Asana: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asana/ · Learn more about Caspian Studios: https://www.linkedin.com/company/caspian-studios/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most SEO teams obsess over individual AI prompts instead of topic clusters. Malte Landwehr, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Peak AI, advocates for self-reported attribution as the most reliable signal for measuring AI discoverability success over traditional traffic metrics. He outlines a systematic approach to prompt research using customer support tickets, sales transcripts, and website search data to understand authentic user language rather than vendor terminology. The discussion covers topic-based prompt clustering strategies and multi-persona funnel optimization for comprehensive AI visibility measurement.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the FratChat Podcast, we're diving into the wildest chapters of American history they definitely didn't cover in your high school textbook. Sure, you probably learned about the Revolutionary War and the Founding Fathers, but history class tends to skip the stories that are messy, disturbing, or just straight-up unbelievable. We're talking about things like the Tulsa Race Massacre, where one of the most successful Black communities in the country, known as Black Wall Street, was burned to the ground in a single night. The CIA's MK-Ultra program, where government scientists secretly experimented with mind-altering drugs like LSD on unsuspecting people. The Banana Wars, when the U.S. military repeatedly intervened in Central America to protect American fruit companies. Or the time in 1985 when Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on a residential neighborhood, destroying an entire city block. From secret mind-control experiments to labor uprisings, corporate coups, and government cover-ups, this episode explores the strange, shocking, and often forgotten moments that prove the real story of American history is way crazier than the sanitized version most of us learned in school. Plus, the rest of the show is just as wild. In Emails From the Listeners, a guy writes in after his girlfriend dumped him in what might be the most bizarre breakup strategy ever. In News, we break down a NEW leaked WhatsApp group chat involving Florida college Republicans that turned into what investigators basically described as a digital hate-speech Olympics. And in another installment of “Not the Drag Queens,” we look at a major investigation in Rhode Island that uncovered decades of child abuse by clergy. A reminder that the people conservatives constantly claim are “coming for your kids” are very rarely the ones actually getting arrested. Got a question, comment or topic for us to cover? Let us know! Send us an email at fratchatpodcast@gmail.com.  Follow us on all social media: Instagram: http://Instagram.com/FratChatPodcast Facebook: http://Facebook.com/FratChatPodcast Twitter: http://Twitter.com/FratChatPodcast YouTube: http://YouTube.com/@fratchatpodcast Follow Carlos and CMO on social media! Carlos Garcia:  IG: http://Instagram.com/CarlosDoesTheWorld YouTube: http://YouTube.com/@carlosdoestheworld TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@carlosdoestheworld Twitter: http://Twitter.com/CarlosDoesWorld Threads: http://threads.net/carlosdoestheworld Website: http://carlosgarciacomedy.com Chris ‘CMO' Moore:  IG: http://Instagram.com/Chris.Moore.Comedy TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@chris.moore.comedy Twitter: http://Twitter.com/cmoorecomedy Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A CMO Confidential Interview with Richard Sanderson, the Marketing, Sales and Communications Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart. Richard's topline - Shorter Tenures, Brighter Futures - with tenure stable at 4.1 years, nearly 2/3 of CMO's moving for similar or better positions, an increase in promotions from within, and marketers under pressure to produce AI results. Key topics include: the challenge of developing a broad skill set in a market focused on specialization; why 2026 is the "show me the money year for AI;" and how marketers and search firms are adopting when there's "no obvious playbook." Tune in to hear why you should be prepared to explain how you use AI in your personal life. What does the data actually say about CMO tenure, AI's impact on marketing teams, and whether your job is safe? Richard Sanderson, who leads the Marketing, Communications & Sales practice at Spencer Stuart, returns for his fifth appearance on CMO Confidential to break down two major studies: Spencer Stuart's 25-year CMO tenure survey and a new proprietary AI impact study of 100 CMOs.The data may surprise you — and some of it should concern you.---*This episode is brought to you by @ScrunchAI ---

What happens when success, hustle, and constant work stop bringing fulfillment? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I talk with marketing strategist and entrepreneur Carlos Hidalgo about business growth, faith, burnout, and the hidden cost of hustle culture. Carlos shares his journey from corporate marketing leader to founder of Digital Exhaust, along with lessons from his book The UnAmerican Dream about work addiction, burnout, and redefining success. Their conversation explores why growth does not need to be complicated, why storytelling builds trust in business, and why boundaries matter more than work life balance. Carlos also opens up about faith, failure, relationships, and the power of honest conversations. You will hear practical insights on leadership, personal growth, community, and building a life that is both successful and meaningful. Highlights: ·  06:04 – Carlos explains how his faith became a personal relationship. ·  17:32 – Why he left corporate work to start his own business. ·  25:40 – His approach to making business growth simple. ·  30:17 – How hustle culture often leads to burnout. ·  42:29 – Why boundaries matter more than work life balance. ·  54:33 – Why real community helps solve loneliness. Top of Form Bottom of Form About the Guest: Carlos Hidalgo is the co-founder and CEO of Digital Exhaust, a growth partner that helps clients make growth simple. Carlos serves his clients as an advisor, consultant, and teacher to ensure they have meaningful engagement with their customers at every stage of the journey and are able to mature and create sustainable growth. Carlos has 30 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes as an advisor, consultant, innovator, and growth expert. He is widely recognized for his expertise in demand generation, marketing, sales, and customer experience and for coaching executives in the areas of leadership and managing change. In addition to his work with his clients, Carlos has won numerous marketing awards and been named to several prestigious industry lists as a marketing leader. Carlos is also the author of Driving Demand, which is ranked as a top 5 marketing book of all time by Book Authority, and The UnAmerican Dream, which was released in 2019. In addition to books, Carlos is a well-known international keynote and TEDx speaker. You can follow Carlos on LinkedIn or on Twitter @cahidalgo Ways to connect with Scott**:** LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosahidalgo/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CHidalgoJr Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cahidalgo_ Twitter/X: https://x.com/cahidalgo About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Well, hi and welcome once again to an episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, our guest is Carlos Hidalgo. Carlos has many facets about him. He's a speaker. He deals with growth and growth management and with his company. He tries to make growth simple for the people who are his clients. I'm interested in learning about that, but he does other things as well. He is also involved with his wife and marriage counseling, which is a little bit different than the one I think I find a lot of people to do. So I think we got lots to talk about. So, Carlos, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Carlos Hidalgo  01:59 Thank you for having me. Michael, it's an absolute pleasure. Well, let's Michael Hingson  02:03 start with the early Carlos, why don't you tell us about you growing up and all that sort of thing, and where you came from, where you're headed, or whatever. Carlos Hidalgo  02:14 Sure, I was born one of six children. I was the youngest for about four years, and then my my parents had two more. So I am smack dab in the middle of middle six siblings. Was born in New Jersey, but call where I'm at now home, which is a little town in the Adirondack Mountains. And the reason I call it home, I started coming to camp here when I was five years old. Fell in love with the area, and then my father, in 1983 moved us up here when I was 12, and fell more in love with it. And that lasted for four years. And then my junior of high school, or right after my sophomore year, was told, Hey, we're we're moving I was 16, I was pretty pissed off at the prospect of leaving a place I loved, so I had engineered a plan to stay through my junior and senior high school, which in my mind, made perfect sense in my parents' mind, and for reasons now I understand, because I'm a parent, did not make so much sense, but I came back as often as I could, and then my wife and I moved here back full time in 2021 we also lived here in the 90s for two years, had our first son here so but grew up really charmed childhood was my dad was in advertising, so we got tickets to Great sporting events. We had horses that I took care of, along with some of my siblings, developed a love of the outdoors, which I still hold, which is one of the many benefits of living up here again. And so, yeah, pretty, pretty much, early childhood was, you know, be outside as much as I can run around school work wasn't my strong suit, but I muddled through and I Michael Hingson  04:04 made it. Where in New Jersey were you born? Carlos Hidalgo  04:07 Was born in a little town called Randolph in northern jersey. Spent most of our time in a place called blairis town. Their claim to fame as a prep school called Blair Academy, which I believe is still there. And then, I believe it was the original Friday the 13th was filmed. Part of it was filmed in Blairstown. Yeah, yeah. So I'm dating myself just a little bit. Michael Hingson  04:32 Well, we lived in Westfield for six years, so kind of know, New Jersey, but yeah, while we were back there, my wife always wanted to move back to California. She's a native. I was born in Chicago. She wouldn't let me call myself a native, even though we moved to California when I was five. But yeah, it's okay. Carlos Hidalgo  04:50 Sure, yeah, people get a little touchy about the term native or local and how it's defined, right? Michael Hingson  04:55 Oh, yeah, it varies all around the country, but there's. Nothing. You can't say anything bad about Chicago. They have Garrett Popcorn there. If you've never had it, next time we go through O'Hare Airport, you should get some Garrett Popcorn. Carlos Hidalgo  05:09 Okay, I will do that absolutely. Michael Hingson  05:12 Take a memo. Get Garrett Popcorn. It's it's really good stuff. Well, so what did you do for college? Or did you? Carlos Hidalgo  05:21 Yeah, I went to my first year, I went to a school called Word of Life Bible Institute. So it's a one year intensive program, study of the Bible actually here, not far from, literally eight miles down the road here, from where I live now. And at that point, it was really just an excuse to get back to the Adirondacks for a year, but I learned a whole lot. Met some incredible people, some of who I'm still very, very close with today. And then from there, I transferred to Cedarville University in Ohio. At the time I went there, we were about 2500 students. I think today they're closer to 7500 but I met my wife there, which was that, in and of itself, the three years of tuition that I paid as I transferred in, but study Business Communication, again, I wasn't a great student. What I realized is, if it was the things that I really loved to participate in, it was awesome. I had a really great time studying communication and language and how we speak. I was two years on the debate team, which was such a great education in and of itself. But everything else I didn't really love. I just the general ed stuff. I kind of thought, well, if I can skate by and, you know, get that, get the passing the credits. So that's really how I want about it. And the reality is, the way things are taught today, I'm a very visual and hands on learner, and so to sit in a classroom and try to take notes and go through theory and things like that just makes my brain hurt a little bit. So I but I but I finished. I got the degree and made some great friendships in the process. Michael Hingson  07:04 Well and clearly, based on what you did for your first year, you have a Christian orientation, or definitely a god orientation as well. Carlos Hidalgo  07:15 Yeah, that's that's really my operating system. Michael, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. I base my life on it. I spend time in it each and every day. And so what's interesting in that regard is, yes, I went to the Bible Institute. So while I had a lot of head knowledge about the Bible and God and Jesus and all these things, it's really been in the last 10 years that I would say I had a deep, meaningful relationship with them, and that came as from a lot of experience in my life, a lot of dark, dark moments in my life that were self induced, unfortunately. But really, what it's done for me is it's just radicalized who I am, changed my heart. And so it's gone from a having a head knowledge of it to a real experience and an engagement with Christ through His Word and through prayer. Michael Hingson  08:11 Yeah, head knowledge is is a fine thing as far as it goes, but there's nothing like personally experience coming closer to whatever it is, including dealing with believing in God and really recognizing what what God brings. And my last book that I wrote that was published last year, called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and moving forward in faith very much deals with with a lot of that, the whole concept of the value and the power of personal knowledge, as opposed to just head knowledge. I talk about the World Trade Center a lot in that book, specifically in terms of what I learned and how I developed a mindset to be able to control fear, rather than letting it be the thing that overwhelmed me or overwhelms anyone and and I've had a couple people on this podcast who talk about it, and they say the same sort of thing that you did. It's not about knowledge that you sort of intellectually know. It's what you really know. So people, for example, in evacuating the World Trade Center, would look at signs, and they would follow those and a lot of people were able to do that, but that's still not knowing that is really relying on something else that you may or may not really have access to. So True Knowledge is the only way to go Carlos Hidalgo  09:38 100% and I find that I gather that through experience, yeah. And so the example I use is, if you ask me about my wife, you know, do you know Suzanne? I would say, Oh, yeah. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes, about five, five. Funny, smart. I could tell you all the different facts, but there's a big difference when you sit and you get to experience being with her, seeing. Her, how she interacts with people, how she treats others, all of those things. Take that knowledge and actually make an experience an experience, yeah. And so that's been the difference for me, as it regard, in my relationship with Jesus Christ, yeah, well, Michael Hingson  10:14 and Suzanne, so that's good. Carlos Hidalgo  10:17 Well, so absolutely, 31 years and we're still going. There you go. Michael Hingson  10:21 Well, keep going. That's that's cool. That's great to have that kind of a relationship. It's all too often we don't see a lot of that in marriage, and just people get married without knowing and that leads to all sorts of potential challenges. So it's good to really get to know someone Carlos Hidalgo  10:41 absolutely, yeah, I'm still, still learning, still studying her and learning all I can, after 31 Michael Hingson  10:46 years, and she is too Yes, she is. Carlos Hidalgo  10:49 She does a phenomenal job. Michael Hingson  10:52 So what did you do after college? Carlos Hidalgo  10:56 After college, I actually moved back up here, where I'm at now. Worked for two years for Word of Life, the same group that ran the Bible Institute. So then, actually, unbeknownst to me, i My heart was really at that point, I wanted to go into law enforcement. My father in law was an FBI agent for 30 years. I'd always been intrigued by law enforcement, so I thought going into and getting a job for a few years, cutting my teeth while I filled out a resume. So started working in the office of donor development or advancement, and that was the first time I really started to get any exposure to anything formal, marketing wise. In the meantime, applied to the FBI, never went anywhere. Ended up applying again, never went anywhere at that point. Then we moved to we left here after two years of marriage and having one child. We moved to Michigan for a brief time, and then we went back to down to from Michigan. We went to Dallas, where we lived for 13 years, and I worked while I was still trying to get into law enforcement. I kept getting marketing jobs and companies. So eventually I gave up the dream of law enforcement and just followed what's unfolding and had a pretty good career in two software companies as a director of marketing to cut my teeth and learn what global business was all about do a lot of travel, which helped me career wise wasn't so great home wise or parent wise when you're away from your kids, but it's been my career for 30 plus years. I've had a heck of a career doing it and very grateful for it, but I still still get intrigued at the whole concept of law enforcement, but I'm afraid I'm a little too old at this point to start down that path. Michael Hingson  12:47 How come you kept not getting anywhere with it? Carlos Hidalgo  12:51 Well, I did get to a point where the FBI I took a test when we lived in Dallas, and just they called after said I had scored well, which made me chuckle, thinking back to my college days of test taking, but and then they said, Hey, do you speak Spanish, which I do not, despite my name, which is very Spanish, Carlo. And they said, Okay, well, we'll keep your we'll keep your application on file. Let you know if anything changes. And that was the last I heard. So at that point, I just thought, okay, I can keep pushing this and trying. But again, as things started to unfold in the software world, the jobs that I had took care of my family. They provided well for us. They gave me opportunities to learn new things, try new things, opportunity to, like I said, international business, which I never done before. So at that point, I just thought, you know, I'm kind of seven, eight years into this thing. What does this look like going forward? And then are we going to have to just hit reset in all facets of our lives, financially, where our kids are settled, for me to go into law enforcement. So I abandoned it, and I'm okay with that. I think it would have been a phenomenal career. I would have loved it, like I said. I'm still intrigued by it, I still have great respect for it, but it just wasn't in the cards for me, and I'm okay with that. I think sometimes the way we grow is through the death of a dream. Michael Hingson  14:21 Yeah, I know I've always been intrigued by law and law enforcement, and I know that they're never going to hire me, and now they won't, right, but, but they wouldn't hire me, but I took, actually, some courses in college dealing with police and other things like that, because I was, and still am fascinated by it, and I have a great respect for the law. And I I admire good lawyers who are knowledgeable, who really are in it to deal with the law. And you can tell those from the typical ambulance type chaser who manipulates, but, but. I really appreciate the law. I in my life have had the opportunity to be involved with some efforts of the National Federation of the Blind, where we've gone several times to Washington to meet with congressional types. And so I've met some interesting people, met Ted Kennedy, met Tip O'Neill when he was still speaker, Senator Saugus from Massachusetts and others, and found and through them, got to meet some people who were truly committed to what they were doing. They weren't in it for the power. They were in it to try to really help the country and help their individual constituencies in their states and so on. It's a lot of fun. Carlos Hidalgo  15:47 Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure it was, I that's quite a roster of people you've been able to engage with, and I'm sure, no doubt, influence well. Michael Hingson  15:57 And we were there to talk about legislation that we needed. But I'll never forget first time we went in and we met Paul Tsongas. We talked about what we wanted to talk about, and he said, Well, it's the end of the day. What are you guys doing now? And we said, well, we're just going to go back to the hotel. And he said, You got a few minutes talk to you about Massachusetts. Well, we ended up staying for two hours. It was a lot of fun. Carlos Hidalgo  16:19 Wow, yeah, that is a lot of fun. I had an opportunity a number of years ago to do a tour of the West Wing, which was just phenomenal. So when you get, when you get those opportunities, I don't care what side of the aisle you may sit on or are partial to, the answer is yes, take it, because you learn a whole lot, and it's it gives you a whole new appreciation for our country. Michael Hingson  16:40 Well, 20 years ago, I was invited to come back and meet George W Bush because a congressman I had met was fascinated by my story and the story of my guide dog, Roselle, and he arranged for us to meet George W and we went back. It was supposed to be a brief, like two minute just photo op. This ended up being like a 15 minute conversation, and then it was a lot of fun. And I hope that we inspired him some, and we made a difference. And, you know, that's always a good thing. Carlos Hidalgo  17:13 Yeah, at the end of the day, right there people just like us. They are, I think the and I've heard that a lot about George W is his investment in people where he knew his you know, everybody in the staff that he knew their names, he knew about their families. So it doesn't surprise me that a two minute Meet and Greet was extended a little bit. Michael Hingson  17:34 We kept the Italian Prime Minister waiting while we finished our conversation, as it turns out, that's fine, Carlos Hidalgo  17:42 but it was good. There you go. There's your there, there's your the two truth and the lie icebreaker that they have. You do sometimes. There's, you can work that in, Michael Hingson  17:49 I could work that in, yeah, that would be, yeah, I should do that. Well, it was, but it was, it was, it was very enjoyable to be able to do that. Well. So now, so when did you start your own company? That's been a little while, at least. Carlos Hidalgo  18:04 Yeah, I started my first company that I started, I co founded with my brother. In 2005 I was working at the software company, and I just, I started to just have an edge of, you know, I should start something. I don't know what that looks like. And I remember one time just talking to my wife, and I said, I don't want to be 7580 years old. And think, what if, yeah, and my wife is very practical. And she said, Okay, so go for it, and if it doesn't work, just go get another job. And when she broke it down like that, I just thought, wow. Okay, she, I think she believes in me more than I do. So in 2005 I left the software company and we started a agency. And really, at that point for me, the Yes, I wanted to start my own company and see if I could do it. But the the big driving factor was my at that point, I we had four children, so we have four, and they were all pretty small, and I was traveling all over the country, and I didn't want to miss their childhood. And I remember coming home from trips and hearing conversations or seeing things that that I wasn't a part of, and I thought this, this isn't right. I need to be here. I need to be home. So I went to the software company, asked them what they thought they became my first client, and I did that for from 2005 to just early 2017 when I resigned my position as CEO there just to get my life back and kind of hit the reset button again, but this time, I meant it, so I left, and they're still going. But that was my first foray into entrepreneurship, and I just kept doing it since I started another consultancy, and now this is my third one, and also been part of about two to three other companies that. We launched, but never made it. So I enjoy the whole process. I love it, but, yeah, it's, I don't know. I mean, I will never say never, but the idea of not working for myself seems rather foreign to me. Michael Hingson  20:16 So the first company you had for 12 years, what did that do? Carlos Hidalgo  20:21 We were a mark. Marketing Yeah, we were a marketing services company. So we worked with business to business companies to help them in their demand generation, acquiring new customers and also customer growth. So that's really where a lot of my career has been sent, centered right, helping companies design them strategies, everything from content to technology to developing personas and putting together strategies on how to reach them when they're looking for something to buy that that client offers. Michael Hingson  20:52 Okay, well, that makes sense and certainly a worthy thing to do. So, when did you form your current company, digital exhaust, which is a very clever name, you'll have to tell me about that. Carlos Hidalgo  21:04 Oh yeah, there's a little bit of a story behind that. So I was working in 2022 early 2022 I had an offer to go be the Chief Revenue Officer of another agency, which I my wife and I talked about it, we prayed about it, and I had a really, really close friend of mine who was their chief strategy officer at the time, so the ability to work with him, stay in the industry and work with some really good clients, I jumped at, so I took that role over that role lasted eight months. I won't get into all those details of why? Never, never, really did get a clear answer. The answer I was given, not exactly. The numbers didn't the number. I'll just say the numbers proved otherwise. All that said that came to an end in 2023 I believe. Yeah, yeah, 2023 and so February, 23 so at that point, I was like, Okay, well, what do I do? I can try to go get a job, which I did. Nobody was really interested in, you know, early 50s, guy coming in. So, you know, did the interview thing. And then I just thought, Well, why don't, why don't I just bet on myself again and go for it. So at that point, the my friend who was the chief strategy officer, he had also left, so he and I started talking and thought, why don't we just do this together? You know, services he loves to implement, I love to sell. Let's just see if we can make a run at this. So here we are now. It'll be four years in or three years, I guess, in February or April of 26 and we're still alive to talk about it. And so that's how it came to be. It was really just, I've done this before. There's no security, no more security. I believe in working for somebody else than working for yourself. So bet on yourself and put out your shingle and see what you can make happen. Michael Hingson  23:06 Where did the name digital exhaust come from? That's a clever name. Carlos Hidalgo  23:10 Oh, thank you. We were, we were batting around so many different names, and we just had a thing, I think we had a running Google Sheet, like, let's just throw names up there. And then I was listening to a recording of a vendor that we had done work with in our early days, and he was talking about how you can track the digital movements of someone. And he said, You know, so basically, you know, they're leaving behind their digital exhaust. And he used the term twice. So I called my then partner, Tracy, and I said, Hey, what do you think about the name digital exhaust as a company? And he was like, Oh, I love it. So I said, Well, before we that, we have to call Dan and see if he would be okay. So I did some looking, you know, the whole trademark search, and when I told our partner about it. He said, Oh my word, I love it. He said, Never, never even thought that that could be a name, but if you guys want it, go for it. So we took it and it is, it's, it's, we think it's pretty unique, and it also describes a lot of what we do with customer data to get an understanding of how do you engage with them, where are they, and how are they going to interact with you and your brand? How so well. Again, he was right. I can look at your digital footprint or your digital behavior. I can see what sites you've visited, what web pages you visited, how much time you spend on a product piece, how much content you engage so I can look at all of that behind the scenes. Start to score that if you're an account that I want to go after, or if I'm a lead based sale, that gives me a lot of intelligence on what you're interested in. And then there's ways to kind of, from a insight perspective, determine where you are in that journey, whether it's your four. First time as a purchase, you're a current customer and you're interested in purchasing something else. So it gives us a lot of insight into that, so that I can message you or I also know when should sales place a phone call to you and start that conversation. So that's why we use the term digital exhaust, because, again, it's a lot of what we do and how we use our customer data. Michael Hingson  25:20 Several years ago, I watched a 60 Minutes program, gosh, I don't know it's actually a number of years ago. And one of the segments there was a guy who was on he was a private detective, and what he said was, I can tell more about you than most anyone else can simply by looking at your trash. And in fact, I can't remember if it was Mike Wallace or not. Who was the interviewer, but they went on investigated some trash cans and and this guy could just tell you so much about your entire life just by looking at what was in the trash can. It was really pretty amazing and and I don't mean that in any way as a negative thing, but it's very clever that people have that insight. So I appreciate what you're saying about digital exhaust. It makes perfect sense. Carlos Hidalgo  26:17 Well, good. I'm glad it does. It means we've hit the mark. I'm not I will say this. I'm not going to go through my customers trash, but I am not surprised that if you did how much you could learn about somebody, 100% but Michael Hingson  26:30 you do look at their their digital footprint and so again, and it makes perfect sense that you can learn so much that can help you, help them grow. Yes, absolutely gives incredible insight. You talk about making growth simple, tell me more about what that means. Carlos Hidalgo  26:51 Yeah, you know, I've been in the space a long time, and that really came a couple years ago. We started seeing different models that would come up different frameworks that would come out from different vendors. Started talking, you know, I talked to a lot of chief marketing officers in my role, and over and over, what we saw was just complexity of taking terms that everybody would know and applying a new term or creating a new term to replace the old term, because you wanted to stay edgy. And I finally had a CMO who said to me, this is all so complex. Is there any any organization out there, or any way to just make this simple? And I thought, Gee, I kind of been thinking the same thing, because I see all these talking heads out there on LinkedIn and at these conferences showing these overly complex, overly engineered models, and I'm like, You got to be a PhD to implement that thing. And again, I'm also a pretty simple guy. I don't think growth needs to be all that hard if you know your customer, what they need, when they need it, and why it's important to them. I'm going to be able to sell you quite a bit. I'm also going to be able to be a better marketing, better partner to you, because I'll be the first one to be able to tell you you don't need that, or you need that, but you shouldn't get it from us, and here's why. And so we just started saying, You know what? Let's create with our models. And we have models and we have frameworks, but we want them to be kind of what Apple is, right, really innovative, where you can use it. You don't necessarily have to have someone to guide you through it. And so let's just make it as simple as possible for our clients to grow their companies without these over engineered models, which mostly a lot of them are created to sell stuff. And while we want to sell stuff more, so we want to help customers be better at what they do. And so that's why we say is we want to help you make growth simple, cut through the clutter, get to what matters and move forward. Michael Hingson  28:58 Yeah, which makes a lot of sense. By by any standard, how do you find storytelling comes into what you do and how you interact with customers? Carlos Hidalgo  29:11 Yeah, it's really important in the beginning, right in the beginning stages. Anytime I'm engaging with you, if I'm a consumer and you're a brand, I want to your brand should tell a story about who you are, the value that the customer gets when they're going to interact with you, they're going to use your product, what you stand for. Can they trust you? Trust is huge. Right now. We live in a trust economy. I want to know that if you say something, I can you're going to stand behind it. So all of those things are come through in terms of story. Now, what I've always said is I think that story is important. But when it comes to now, especially in the world I live in business to business, once I get into maybe I want to purchase something for you or purchase your product. Now I. Moves from a story to a dialog because I started, I start need, needing to know, what are you interested in? What are your challenges? What are your needs, what are your pain points? And as you're telling me that I can respond more in a conversation, I can still use parts of the story, but now it's a two way dialog, even in a digital world. So if I can create that, that's fantastic, then you become my customer. And now I still want to keep telling you stories. I want to tell you a story about why you can trust us. I tell you a story about how I interact with you. I tell you a story about how I deliver service and how I help you onboard. So all that bleeds into what we call, you know, what I call the big customer experience, from brand engagement to what I'm buying to now that I become a customer, all of those are experiential factors that we have to consider. Michael Hingson  30:49 Well, yeah, and I think that storytelling is a very significant part of selling and sales, because it's part of what really helps create the trust, because people can see through it, if you're just blowing smoke or playing games. Carlos Hidalgo  31:05 Yes, they can absolutely. And you only get one shot if that's what you're gonna do only, yeah, once I realized that forget it, I'm not coming back, that brand loyalty is away real quick. Michael Hingson  31:16 Yeah. So do you encounter in the interactions that you have with people with a lot of burnout or who are going that way. Carlos Hidalgo  31:25 Oh yeah. It's, it's something that I went through in 2016 it's, it's a, I mean, the World Health Organization, whatever you think about them, they definitely have listed it as a illness or as a condition. So it's something that I've seen. It's something that I've written against quite a bit. I don't think we need to get there, but I also think it is part of the consequence, or the outcome of when we make work center of our universe, and we make work our God, when that's going to happen then, yeah, you're going to experience burnout. And I think burnout comes in different flavors, but I see a lot of people who are going through it, trying to work through it, trudge through it. I heard the term the other day, manage burnout. I don't know why you would want to manage burnout. I think you need to take steps to avoid burnout, to avoid it. Michael Hingson  32:17 Yeah, why is it so many people face it, and are experiencing burnout is because they just deal with work, they don't relax, or what. Carlos Hidalgo  32:27 Well, I think there's a lot, lot in that. I've done a lot of study, and that was the topic of some of the topic of my book that I released in 2019 the UN American dream is, I think we, especially in our Western culture, we have adopted this idea that the busier I am, the more important, the more valuable I am, and so and the reality is, none of us are well wired to go, go, go, go, go. Rest is actually a gift from the Lord. And you know, I think very few of us. But you know, think about the last time you talked to anybody. How are you? Oh, I'm so busy. We love to be busy. We love to have jam packed calendars, because it makes us feel good. The other part of it is when you think about workaholism, you know, that is an addiction. And the only time in my experience, we engage with or become addicted to something, it's when we're trying to avoid something else. And so think our workaholism, which leads to burnout, is right up there with our rising rates of anxiety, of depression, of loneliness, because we have bought a false narrative that if we go, go go, we jam pack our calendars, we work like and work like crazy until we hit some imaginary number or we can call it quits. That's what life is all about. And I just sit there and you know, my number one question to people who are running that race is, how's it working for you? You don't seem really happy right now, you don't seem fulfilled, and you're living on the promise of some day and some days, not a day in the week, right? Michael Hingson  34:03 I People ask me, How are you all the time? And my response is something actually that I borrowed from somebody else. I just say, I'm lovely. Yeah, I get lots of reactions from that. It's kind of cute, but it's great. You know, I I agree with you, there is a there's a need and a time, and it's appropriate to not work all the time. Yes, we we don't ever take time even just to sit and think about what we did today. We don't take time at the end of the day to go in our own brains. How did this work out? How did that work out? Why didn't this work? Why did this work? What could I do to make it better and then listen for answers? It's like praying. So many people, when they pray to God, they pray to Jesus and so on. They spend all their time praying and saying what they want, never realizing God all. And he knows that, yeah, when are you going to start listening for answers and really listening? And that's, that's the challenge that I see so often people don't listen, and the answers are always there. They're in their inner the the inner voice that they can hear if they but practice well. Carlos Hidalgo  35:17 And I think to part of that is you need to be still, right? And we see that in scripture where we're told be still and know that I am God, if I mean there, there. We have so much noise and so much input with our phones and constant, you know, interaction and constant noise. We don't give ourselves the ability to sit and think and process, to just to be still. And that is something that I would say, really, for me, over the last decade, has come into focus of I enjoy my downtime. I enjoy the silence that I it's one of the reasons when I run, I don't run with headphones. In my own little world, in my head, praying, thinking about things. There are times I'll drive in the car without the radio on, just in silence, and I tell people, then they look at me like, I have three heads. Yeah, I'm like, oh, it's I am so much better for it, because I'm no longer living life reactively. I'm able to live life in a way that brings me a lot of peace, a lot of joy, a lot of happiness. And when I work, I work really, really hard, but it's definitely not the center of my universe. Michael Hingson  36:27 I know people think I'm crazy, but I can go days without looking well, not days. I'll go a day. I do it volitionally, but I can go quite a while without looking at text messages, and when I do, their message is there sometimes, but I know that I could actually go for a considerable length of time without needing to carry my phone around. Now, the only reason I do carry it around, I mean, clearly some phone calls can come in and so on, but I use other tools on it that you have access to in other ways. So I use it for those things. But the bottom line is, is that I don't need to have this phone with me to stay in touch with people all the time. So if I carry my phone more often than not, I will be in a hotel room listening to something on the phone and, sure, relaxing, rather than all the other things that one could do with it well. Carlos Hidalgo  37:25 And the number of people that I talked to and research shows this that, you know, the last I saw was over 60% it's the first thing people do when they wake up is they reach over and look at their phone and I say, sit there and say, What is so important that you can't even wait 15 minutes from the time your eyes open. But we've become addicted. We've come addicted to the noise, to the constant, go, go, go. And then, you know, we have a friend of ours last year was just, I'm so busy. I'm so busy. Told my wife, over the next three months, I only have this one day I can do lunch. And then you start realizing, like, Well, really, that's, that's how you want to live your life over the next 90 days, you only have one day. Now, I didn't believe it when I heard that. I don't think they were trying to make excuse, and I don't think lying. I think in their heads, they really had this belief of, oh, I can. I've only got one day out of the next 90, but we've weed ourselves into believing that this is how we should be living life. Yeah, and it's not how I want to live life. I'll work hard, I'll put everything I've got into my clients and my business and things like that, but I don't want to be that strapped. I was that strapped one time, time wise and work wise, and it made me absolutely miserable. Mm, hmm. Michael Hingson  38:45 I know when I wake up in the morning I do reach for my phone right at the beginning. One of the very first things that I do is reach for it to see what the temperature is outside, to see what the temperature is your house, to see whether I want to turn the heater on, you know, but I don't look at messages. I don't need to do that. I'll do it eventually, but, you know, I So, as I say, I use it for other tools, but I use the phone, because that's the tool that's available to me that gives me that information, and it'll help me decide, do I want to turn the heater on, or do I want to turn the air conditioner off? And that's what I do. And then I put the phone down, and I start visiting with the dog and the cat, and we have conversations which is, which is kind of fun, Carlos Hidalgo  39:29 but yeah, you get to enjoy life. Michael Hingson  39:32 I remember, remember the old technology town? Now it's old Blackberry. Oh yeah, the black and Research In Motion. There was one night when Research In Motion lost communications with all of the blackberries, and every BlackBerry went dead, I think, for about 12 hours. But I heard that even during the time when that occurred, people committed suicide because they had no way to look at their blackberries. And. Get information. And I always thought you're that dependent, that you can't cope for a while, especially at night without that information. Carlos Hidalgo  40:09 Come on. Yeah, it's staggering. The number of, again, over 50% of people said that they would be panicked if they want an app without their phones and so and again, I used to, I used to live that way. So I understand it to a degree, but, well, I understand it. Yeah, I also tell people you don't have to live that way, because people i The people I know who live that way, don't seem very content or fulfilled, right, right? Which is really the issue, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely, because we only go, we only get one shot at this life, and I want to make the most of it. Michael Hingson  40:43 Make growth simple. Carlos Hidalgo  40:46 That's right, personal, personal and business wise, right? Michael Hingson  40:49 Personal and business wise. So what is hustle culture? Carlos Hidalgo  40:54 Well, hustle culture has been promoted by a lot of folks, a whole lot more well known that I am, you know, where Kevin O'Leary for Shark Tank, Shark Tank talks about, you got to be willing to work eight days a week, you know, and give everything you've got, you know. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about, you know, go, go, go, go. And, you know, we just see it out there of this, you've got to be willing to go above and beyond. If you want to have success, if you want to make this money, you've got to just make sure you're willing to hustle at all costs, which to me, there's a place for that. As I said, when I'm working I hustle. I work hard. I get in a zone. I kind of block everything out and and there are some weeks where we require over and above it. You know, 16 or a week is is not something that has never been done. But the difference is, there's a couple of differences. Is I'm going to work hard because that's what I'm told to do. In Scripture, it says that with everything you do, do it with all your might and do it to the glory of glory of the Lord. So I'm going to do that. Plus work was one of the first things that God ever created. He told Adam in the garden, I want you to work now, what we also see is that it was cursed when man sinned, and it was part of the curse in the garden. But I do believe work is noble. I believe it's valuable, I believe it has so many things that can teach us. So I'm working. I'm hustling hard when I'm working, but this idea that I need to give everything I have to my business so that I'm successful. Well, what about our relationships? What about our own our last word, too, right? Our own physical health? What about my marriage? All of these things that require work yet, you know, you got a guy like Grant Cardone talking about 95 hour work weeks. That's insanity. Yeah, at what point, you know, so to me, I really believe, and I've had some people who've argued with me over this. If you want to know what the object of your affection is, show me where you're spending the most time and attention. And it's not time or attention, time and attention, right? I cannot. I cannot be, quote, unquote, working, but I can be with my wife, but my brain is working. My brain is thinking about my work, thinking about my business, thinking about my career. So what good is it to her if I'm there or not? Yeah, I'm not investing in that relationship, and that is just as much work as anything else. And I would I would say the rewards are better and the gratification that much deeper. So can work life balance actually be attained? I don't believe in work life balance. I believe in boundaries, and maybe I'm splitting hairs, but when I see that, over 70% of people say that work life balance is unachievable. It tells me it doesn't exist. It's also the only place in our lives where we talk we try to separate work from life. Nobody talks about finance life, business, kids life, business, marriage life, business. But we talk about work life balance. Now I understand we spend a lot of time at work in our modern day culture, but if I can decide that I'm going to put boundaries around the things that matter most to me, so like work, like my relationships, like my physical, mental and emotional health, my spiritual health, and that's how I've started to live life. Is instead of trying to balance everything, I'm going to set boundaries. So what does that look like? Well, the first thing I do in the morning is not check the phone. I get up, I pray. I have coffee with my wife. Sometimes we have really deep conversations. Sometimes we look just let the caffeine kick in and let it wake up, and then we set time in prayer. So every day, pretty much between 815 and 830 I'm at my desk ready to work, but I've put a boundary around that morning time, which allows me to start the time with with my Bible and with my wife from 830 To about 1230 I'm locked in. I am working. There's a boundary around there's a boundary. And then about 1230 to one, about two o'clock, that's my workout. Either go to the gym or I go for a run, come home, make my protein stuff, and then I'm back working again. And so and then when I'm done work, between 530 and six, I shut it down. Work is over, and now it's my personal life again, and whatever that looks like, and some of that is seasonal, because of where I live, in the summer, it'll get stay light till 930 and the winter, it gets dark by 430 there's quite a disparity. But because I have those boundaries, I know that I'm able to bring the best of myself to each of those areas of my life, and that is far easier than balance. And when one of those boundaries needs to move, I get to have a conversation. Hey, I've got a call tonight overseas. Or do we have anything? Are we good if I take this call at 730 at night? So I take the call at 730 at night, but I have that discussion, and it's it takes more effort to move a boundary, takes very little effort to get knocked off balance. Michael Hingson  46:05 Yeah, and I think that makes perfect sense. I know for me, when Karen was here, we we enjoyed breakfast and we enjoyed dinner, and I think there's a lot of value in that. Now, I was always the earlier riser, but partly because I worked for companies that kind of required that. That is to say I worked, for example, when I lived in the east for California companies. So I ended up being there later. But when I worked in the West, calling the east, I had to be in work by six, because that's what I needed to do. But we agreed on that, and I hear exactly what you're saying. The fact of the matter is that you've got to really make some decisions, but if you're in a relationship, then you both have to agree and make the decisions together, which is what really should happen 100% Carlos Hidalgo  46:58 and those boundaries will change. I mean my boundaries now that I'm an empty nester, you know, had I lived this way 15 years ago, would have looked far different because I still had children at home. And so the boundaries can shift and change. But to your point, you have to talk about that. And what I have come to believe is that if I'm making those decisions in regards to my business, my job, my career, and I'm not having the conversation with my significant other, then I'm not I'm not sacrificing anything. I'm just selfish. And yet, what we see is, Oh, you got to sacrifice for your business. I've said to couples before, if you and your wife believe and want to say, hey, we want to go build this thing and we want to go sell it so we know the next five years we're hardly going to see each other, and we're both on board with that, and this is what we want. Go in peace. I think you're nuts, but Go in peace, but still, you made the decision together. That's right, and that's the difference. And I find that a lot of people do not do that, and I also think it adds to the stress and the loneliness and the anxiety and the depression is because we're chasing something that is so fleeting, and no matter what Empire we may build professionally, we can't take it with us, right? Michael Hingson  48:13 And that's something that I wish more people would truly realize. It would make for a much happier world. Carlos Hidalgo  48:21 It would. But the unfortunate part is, until the pain and consequence of how you're living outweighs the fear of change, most likely you're never going to do anything different, right? 48:31 So tell me, Carlos Hidalgo  48:32 oh, go ahead. No. Oh, okay, tell me about the Michael Hingson  48:36 title of the book, the UN American Dream. Where did that come from? And why did you name the book that, why was that the title? And so on, Carlos Hidalgo  48:42 yeah, and so in 2016 is when I informed the company that I had started with my brother 11 years earlier that I was stepping down. Didn't really know what that looked like. I literally just one day, through the help of a friend and God's good grace, decided that it was time for me to go. And so the way they wanted to handle it in end of the year, and I think this was like end of October ish, when I made that decision, they said, You know what, let's not announce anything. We don't want our clients to get spooked in q4 so let's wait until the turn of the the new year. So that was into 2017 so I made a post, and I published it in February, 2017 about why I was leaving the company, some of the things that I was learning along the way. And what surprised me was the phone calls and emails I got from colleagues who said, Hey, I just read your post. Can we talk? I'm kind of thinking about the same thing. I'm miserable. And it was one email in particular that still stands out, where he said, I'm miserable. I started to think like, wow, okay, this, this is not just me. My circumstances were different. But this seems to be a problem, so I started to just do some research on our obsession with work, the number of hours we work, this idea of balance and hustle culture. Really immersed myself in it, and I thought this isn't what Truslow Adams meant when he coined the term the American dream. We're killing ourselves for what like, for What's the objective here to just add another zero to my bank account. So as I started to do that research, I saw myself and a lot of that same story, and the mistakes I made and how I was, you know, I had put my business first all the things that we've talked about. And I thought, Man, this is really quite un American, really, because we say we're the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we're not free if we're slaves to our company or our jobs or our careers. So I thought, You know what? I think what we're doing to ourselves is un American, and we're chasing the UN American dream, and that's how I came up with the title, Michael Hingson  51:05 who have been some of your greatest influencers? Carlos Hidalgo  51:09 Wow, I have had a lot. Obviously, my parents have been huge influences in my life. My mom is a fierce prayer warrior, and so I fervently believe I would not be where I'm at today if it wasn't for her and her faithfulness and that and my dad is it has been in marketing and sales and advertising. So learned a lot from him, just in life, and then also in business. There's a gentleman who lives up the street who is kind of like a second dad to me, it's an interesting relationship, because his son is also my best friend, but gentleman by the name of Keith Vander wheel who is salt of the earth, wise, just a wise, wise man has loved me, has when needed, given me a swift kick in the rear end, and just really helped keep keep me focused, and been one of these guys that I can go to, and it's a little about almost 20 years older than I am, so he's one that has seen more and done more. So I'm thankful for that. And then I am very fortunate to have about three or four very, very dear, dear friends, close friends, I mentioned one, Keith's son, who spur me on to greater things, encourage me when necessary, rebuke me and help me. And then I would say, more than anything, my wife, I learned stuff from her each and every day, her steadfastness, Her Grace, her strength of character, she is absolutely the strongest person I know, and has been the biggest influence in my life. Michael Hingson  52:45 I when I was in college, did radio, and I've always liked comedy. I've always liked trying to be a little bit flip and so on, yep. But I will tell you that my wife constantly amazed me. She was pretty much a lot more straight faced and straight laced than i But when she came out with a zinger, it came out of left field, and you never saw coming. She was amazing. Clearly, she observed me a whole lot more than I thought she did, right? Carlos Hidalgo  53:18 And what a gift that is to have. My wife and I were just, we went out for brunch today, with it being the holiday, and I just, I told her, I said, I just love how much we laugh. Yeah, what a gift that is to have in your marriage. We're just laughing together and laughing at each other in a way that's not demeaning, but appreciates our differences. And you know, we can tease each other and enjoy it and know it comes from a place of love, yeah. Michael Hingson  53:42 How do we deal with the epidemic of loneliness in our lives and in our world? Carlos Hidalgo  53:48 Wow, that's a great question. It's first of all, I think it's heartbreaking. I see this especially with men. And statistics would show that that men especially struggle with loneliness. I think number one is we have to come to the realization we were not meant to live in isolation. We are communal beings. God created us to live in community, and we need to step into that. And part of that is letting your guard down and being vulnerable and letting people know where you struggle. Now I'm not talking about wearing your heart on your sleeve and walking right every stranger and spilling, but those closest of relationships, and I can say, you know, for me, when I isolated, that's when I became the worst form of myself and went to places I never thought I would go. And so I think loneliness, first of all, get off social media and your phone, because that's not a connection. No, your friends, all of your 1000s of friends on Facebook, are not true friends. They're people, you know, but they're not people that are going to walk with you through some of the hardest times of your lives, and so find those. Group, find that community, whether it's your church, whether it's a small group that you take part in, whether it's people at your work, but really start to invest in those relationships and bring as much to it as you're expecting them to. And for me, it became just with those closest relationships. I'm an open book. I'm not going to BS. I'm going to talk about what's on my heart, what I'm struggling with, what my victories are, what my low points are. And for me, that starts with my spouse. As I mentioned, I've got three other men in my life that are around my age that I can confide in, be open with, and it's the most freeing, wonderful thing, and it's their relationships that I cherish, and I think that's how we end this cycle of loneliness. But I think a lot of people have been duped. Well, I'm on I've got a bunch of friends online, yeah, you know, put the phone down, get off your social media platform and go be human and interact with other people. Michael Hingson  56:01 It gets back to the same thing we talked about earlier. There's a whole big difference between head knowledge and really knowing. And the friends who are truly your friends are people who you know and who know you and that you can truly be honest with and who will be honest with you. And that is not something that you get from all those Facebook friends. Otherwise, you're being awfully silly, right? Carlos Hidalgo  56:23 And I also think we have to get out of this idea in our culture that if I don't affirm you, I somehow don't like you anymore, this idea that tolerance and love are the same thing. Some of my closest friends have been some of the ones that have come to me and said, Hey, here's what we've observed, and we're sure you don't like that about you, and you know this needs to change. And I love that. I love that I friends who will call my stuff and a wife who will say to me, this isn't the best you like what's going on here? I need that in my life, because if all I want to do is have people pat me on the back and affirm me. I'm going to get entitled pretty quick. Yeah, and that doesn't help at all. Right? How do we bring civil discourse to our society? We're in an environment and in a world where we just don't appreciate or have conversations anymore. How do we deal with that? Well, I think a couple of things. First of all, I think we have to get back to an appreciation for and a respect for human life and humanity in general. Michael, I'm sure if you and I spent a few hours together, we would eventually land on a topic that we don't just that we don't agree on. I can be okay with that, and because if I'm open to say, Hey, Michael is a human being. He's smart. He's overcome incredible odds in his life, and maybe if I listen, I can learn something. Doesn't mean I'm going to come to your side of the the position, but I can at least learn something. But I think systematically, over decades, we've been denigrating the the value of human life. I mean, how many millions of babies have we aborted in this country? You know, your your own story, your parents were told, hey, just put him in a home. He's not going to amount to anything because of his blindness. That's insanity, you know. So today, instead of civil discourse, if I don't like you, I berate you online, I make something up about you, or I kill you. And right so and to tell you how far we've gone, not only does that happen, but then we're gonna have people who celebrate in the murder of whether it's an insurance CEO or a Charlie Kirk, or anybody, and I just sit there and say, Okay, we've we've gotten so far right civil discourse. And so I think number one is just a respect and a value for human life, which we have a lot of work to do there. And then number two, again, back to what I said, this idea that if I disagree with you, I somehow don't love you anymore. And the example I use is this idea of, well, you need we need more tolerance and affirmation. There was a time Michael where my behavior within our marriage just was unacceptable. I mean, I was cheating on my wife, and once she found out she still loved me, but she couldn't tolerate the behavior for reasons that I think I need to explain. So at that point, you say, All right, well, how do those two things work together? If I had kept doing what I was doing, I know for 100% she would have loved me till the day she died, but she died, but she wouldn't have been able to stay with me, because you can't tolerate that behavior. She's supposed to affirm that. And so this idea that because I quote, unquote, love you, I affirm you, I actually make the case that if I love you, I'm going to help you be the best form of yourself, which sometimes means disagreeing with you and pointing things out in your life. That are unhealthy, that's fair. So I think we have to get back to that place of we can have disagreement, still have respect for each other. We can disagree vehemently and still do it respectfully, right? And then at the end of the day, I can respect your position because of who you are as a person, and that you know, giving you the benefit of the doubt. This is a well thought out position. And so, okay, great. We agree to disagree. We can still be friends, yeah? Michael Hingson  1:00:27 And we might learn something, or at least be put on a path where we think about it, and we may discover that, oh, that person's right, correct, yeah, which is Carlos Hidalgo  1:00:36 cool, yeah, and it's not that hard. And again, no, do your do your homework. Know what the real issues are, and stop reading headlines on social media. Michael Hingson  1:00:46 Yeah, really, get away from that. What else should we know about you? Carlos Hidalgo  1:00:50 Well, I'm the father of four amazing kids spread all over the country, ages 30 to 20. He'll be 24 in 10 days, and then an amazing daughter in law, soon to be daughter in law, my second son is engaged, gets married next year. I love the outdoors, anything outside. And I would say, if I want your audience to remember anything, it's that what Jesus Christ has done in my life has been nothing short of amazing. And like I said at the beginning, this is my operating system, and it's who I am and my reason for being in each and every day. And I sit here and I just am in awe of the life I get to live. So I'm very, very thankful and very, very humbled by it all. Michael Hingson  1:01:36 If people want to reach out to you and maybe explore working with your company, using your company to help them. How do they do that? Carlos Hidalgo  1:01:43 Yeah, you can email me at Carlos at Digital exhaust.co it's not.com so make sure it.co's or I won't get it. So you can shoot me an email visit our website, which is digital exhaust.co or looked me up on LinkedIn, just Carlos adalgo, H, I, D, A, L, G, O, right. That is correct. Yeah. I appreciate you getting the name right on the introduction. So thank you for that. I worked at it well. Michael Hingson  1:02:12 I want to thank you for being here. This has been wonderful. And as I tell people all the time, if I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else on this podcast, and I'm not doing my job well, which means I do need to listen and think about it. And I appreciate all the insights that you gave us today, and I appreciate all of you being here and being with Carlos and me. Love to get your thoughts. Please reach out to Carlos. Please email me at Michael H i, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, but most of all, wherever you're listening or watching the pod podcast, please give us a five star review and a rating. We love that. We love your your input, please. Of course, I want it always to be positive, but I'll take whatever you send because we we value that. And for all of you and Carlos, you as well, if you know anyone else who ought to be a guest on the podcast. We'd love it if you'd let us know we're always looking to meet more people to help show that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are. And with that, I want to thank you again, Carlos, for being here. This has been absolutely fun. Carlos Hidalgo  1:03:13 Michael, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed it. Michael Hingson  1:03:20 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m

Casey's heard the question too many times: What should I take on from the client's plate? In this episode, he explains why that's the wrong question entirely—and what a CMO should be asking instead. Real strategic thinking doesn't start with what exists. It starts with where the company wants to go and what's actually required to get there. Everything else is just inherited chaos.    Casey also walks through one of his favorite mental models—the customer pyramid—and why starting at the tip (people with cash in hand, ready to buy) is almost always the right first move. Fancy funnels, brand campaigns, TikTok strategies—none of it matters if you haven't nailed the simple, direct thing first. That's your starting point. Key Topics Covered: - The wrong question marketers ask when stepping into a new client engagement—and the right one  - Why Casey killed a client's podcast and never missed it - The customer pyramid: how to sequence your way from ready-to-buy all the way down to the uneducated market  - The "power offer" framework from Joel Erway—and why direct beats clever every time  - Squatty Potty as a masterclass in when to educate the market  - Why Rube Goldberg marketing fails—and why boring, simple, and expert wins  - The underrated value of asking clients: "What worked before—and why did you stop?"  - How AI tools like Claude Code are changing what a CMO can execute without a dev team 

In this conversation, Adelina Peltea, CMO at USERCENTRICS shares her unique journey to C-level Leadership for women in tech, emphasizing the importance of understanding one's strengths and the realities of leadership roles. She discusses the significance of communication, empowerment, and the impact of presence in leadership. Adelina also introduces her meditation method, Inner Sanctuary, and explores the responsible use of AI in decision-making. The discussion concludes with advice for personal growth and reflection on one's career path.   Takeaways ◾ Adelina's journey to CMO was unconventional and early. ◾  Understanding your strengths is crucial for career success. ◾ C-level roles require a significant presence and responsibility. ◾ Communication is key in empowering teams and making decisions. ◾ Meditation can be a powerful tool for leaders. ◾ AI should be used responsibly and with critical thinking. ◾ Follow your passion to maintain energy in your career. ◾ Reflecting on your journey is essential for growth. ◾ Empower others while maintaining responsibility for outcomes. ◾ Enjoy the journey and be open to adjustments in your path.   **Useful links** ◾ Connect with today's guest and sponsor, Adelina Peltea:       ▢ UserCentrics: https://usercentrics.com/       ▢ Connect with Adelina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelinapeltea/        ▢ Find out more about Adelina's work in wellness for leaders and get her book:                        https://www.verdawellnessclub.com/   This episode was sponsored by our guest, Adelina Peltea. Thank you Adelina for helping to bring Leading Women in Tech to this community!  

With Global Pet Expo right around the corner, I sat down with Jessica McCarthy, Founder & CEO of Brand Energy, to talk about something that should be on every pet brand's radar: the untapped power of LinkedIn as a marketing and relationship-building platform. Jessica brings serious pet industry credibility to the conversation, having spent nearly seven years at Mars — including a five-year run leading their national customer marketing program.In this episode, we explore:Why 99% of LinkedIn users are "lurkers" — and why that matters more than you thinkHow B2B sales and marketing in pet has evolved from boots on the ground to digital relationship buildingThe future of independent pet specialty in a convenience-driven, at-home delivery worldWhy brands questioning trade show ROI are often the ones not doing the digital work before, during, and after the showThe execution gap between knowing the LinkedIn playbook and actually running itWhat Jessica covers in her forthcoming book, Marketing Magic, and her upcoming talk at Global Pet ExpoJessica is a fractional CMO and CRO who works with pet brands and businesses of all sizes to build marketing strategies that drive real results. Her perspective on why independent pet retailers have been slow to adopt digital marketing — and what that means for the channel's future — is a must-listen for anyone in the pet industry.About Petworking:Petworking is the podcast for pet care and animal health professionals. Hosted by Peter Kenseth, VP & Partner at Maia Strategy Group, Petworking features interviews with founders, executives, and veterinarians driving innovation across the pet industry.

As a marketing leader, is your primary job to persuade human customers, or are you now preparing to negotiate directly with their AI agents? Agility requires marketing leaders to not only react to market changes, but to become the primary architects of that change within the enterprise. It's about transforming the marketing function from a cost center into the accountable growth engine for the entire business. Today, we are recording from eTail Palm Springs, and we're going to talk about the expanding, and frankly, more demanding role of the CMO. It's a topic that's front and center here at eTail, where many are discussing how marketing leaders must evolve beyond traditional brand stewardship to become true architects of change—driving cross-functional growth, owning the P&L impact of their investments, and steering the organization through continuous transformation. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Ed See, Chief Growth Officer at Zeta Global. About Ed See As Chief Growth Officer, See leads the charge in accelerating the company's growth strategy. His priorities include deepening CMO and c-suite engagement, demonstrating the transformative potential of Zeta's AI-driven solutions, and helping businesses achieve measurable, high-impact marketing outcomes.  Bringing 30 years of practice to Zeta, Ed was most recently a Partner in McKinsey & Company's Growth Marketing & Sales practice, focused on helping companies drive growth through modern marketing. While at McKinsey, he worked with large companies to identify growth opportunities and increase the value of their relationships with customers and consumers. His expertise includes digital strategy, digital marketing, growth and marketing analytics, segmentation, and advertising and marketing technology. Over the course of his career, Ed has advised some of the world's major brands on how to apply new capabilities, analytics, and technology to improve their marketing and sales performance. Prior to joining McKinsey, Ed was a partner at Deloitte and held leadership roles at several other companies.   Ed See on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-see-496857/ Resources Zeta Global: https://www.zetaglobal.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code AGILE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c43e68ce5cfb321e Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Organic traffic dropped 40% in 2025 as AI search reshapes discovery. Malte Landwehr, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Peak AI, brings enterprise experience from Idealo (Europe's largest price comparison site) and deep insights from reverse-engineering ChatGPT's shopping functionality. The discussion covers grounding optimization strategies that influence AI model source selection, measurement frameworks replacing click-based attribution with self-reported data and visibility tracking, and multi-platform authority building across Reddit, YouTube, and third-party sources that AI models consistently cite for commercial queries.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Interview with Jean-Paul Tsotsos, CEO & Justin Black, CMO, Chesapeake GoldOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/chesapeake-gold-tsxvckg-proprietary-oxidation-process-could-help-unlock-15t-in-stranded-gold-6963Recording date: 4th March 2026Chesapeake Gold Corp. is advancing Metates, one of the world's largest undeveloped precious metals deposits, through a proprietary oxidative leach technology that has solved a four-decade metallurgical challenge while slashing capital requirements by 90%.The Metates deposit in Mexico hosts over 500 million ounces of silver (ranked first globally) and 19 million ounces of gold (18th globally). Discovered in 1980, the project's refractory ore—where precious metals are locked within sulfide minerals resistant to conventional processing—prevented successful development by multiple major mining companies despite decades of attempts.Chesapeake's breakthrough came through acquiring and advancing oxidative leach technology originally developed at Hycroft over nearly a decade with $50 million in combined investment. The technology operates at ambient temperature in heap leach pads, eliminating the need for expensive autoclaves, extensive water infrastructure, and on-site power generation.The economic transformation is dramatic. Chesapeake's initial 2016 prefeasibility study using conventional pressure oxidation envisioned a $3.5 billion capital expenditure for a 90,000 ton-per-day operation requiring a desalination plant, water pipelines, and power plant. The oxidative leach approach reduces capex to $360 million for a 15,000 ton-per-day starter operation while improving gold recovery from 33% to 74% and silver recovery from 35% to 50%. Phase 3 testing shows further improvements, with results expected in Q1-Q2 2026.Beyond Metates, Chesapeake is pursuing a technology licensing strategy targeting 200+ identified refractory deposits globally. Three companies are currently conducting amenability testing, with results expected within two months. These third-party implementations serve dual purposes: validating the technology at operating sites ahead of Metates development while creating revenue potential through royalties or equity positions.Mexico's regulatory environment has improved significantly under President Sheinbaum, with two-thirds of 170 backlogged permits resolved. The prefeasibility study for Metates is underway, with completion dependent on regulatory progress rather than remaining technical uncertainties.Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/chesapeake-goldSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Le syndrome de la page blanche, cette difficulté à commencer à écrire, nous fait perdre beaucoup de temps, alors que créer du contenu est devenu essentiel pour toute stratégie de communication. Dans cet épisode je vous propose de tordre le coup à ce syndrome pour enfin s'en libérer.Autres épisodes qui pourraient vous plaire : 6 conseils et 11 modèles pour écrire vos titres10 astuces de moins de 10 secondes pour être impactante avec Nina Ramen----------------

There's a moment many of us hit - where pushing harder stops working. In this episode of Healthy Mind, Healthy Life, guest hosted by Sana, we explore what it really means to restart and rebuild without shame or burnout—just honest clarity. This conversation is for founders, professionals, and anyone in a reset season who feels the fear of “starting over.” Phil Bacon shares how real rebuilds happen: through go/no-go moments, stripping things back to what works, and choosing safety over ego—so the next chapter is sustainable, not just impressive. About the Guest: Phil Bacon is a fractional CMO and marketing strategist, and the creator of the Potato Marketing Method. He has spent over two decades helping businesses return to fundamentals that support real growth. Episode Chapters: 00:08:06 — What “restart and rebuild” means for this episode 00:11:00 — “You've hit the wall”: the emotional truth of reset moments 00:13:52 — Cease-and-desist, redundancy, and the hard reset at Christmas 00:16:49 — 2020: lockdown, a newborn, and choosing to go all-in 00:20:15 — The studio lesson: “Strip it back” when it stops working 00:22:33 — Rebranding, saying no to 36 clients, and rebuilding sanity Key Takeaways: Treat rebuild seasons like a go/no-go checkpoint, not a personal failure. When something feels off, don't add more—go backward to where it last worked. Build Plan B, C, D while Plan A is healthy—protection reduces panic. If your business depends on you too much, fix the system—not your stamina. Saying “no” can be a growth strategy: it filters alignment and restores energy. Rebuilds work best when safety is non-negotiable—for you, your family, and your team. How to Connect With the Guest: Phil shared that the best way to connect is LinkedIn (search: Philip Bacon — “with one L”).   Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life? Send me a direct message on PodMatch.

Scott Hess is a prominent executive in the advertising and media industry, currently serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Publicis Media (a division of Publicis Groupe), based in Chicago.He is a dynamic leader focused on branding, culture-building, human intelligence, and storytelling for people and brands. Hess has held key roles within the Publicis ecosystem, including CMO at Spark Foundry (a Publicis Media agency), EVP of Communications and Marketing at Publicis Media, and positions like Chief Work Officer and acting/interim CMO at Starcom. His background includes pioneering youth research as VP of Insights at TRU before transitioning to media agencies.Known as an expert on generational trends (especially Millennials and Gen Z/"Post Generation"), he is a frequent speaker, writer, and thought leader on topics like humanity in marketing, workplace joy, mentorship, and cultural cohesion across Publicis Media's network (including agencies like Starcom, Zenith, and Spark Foundry).Hess is also a poet, guitarist, and Miami University alum (B.A. in English/Creative Writing). He's been recognized as an Adweek Media All-Star and emphasizes mentorship and opportunity creation in advertising.

Episode 264 - Special Guest David Wachs of Hanywrytten - Why Handwritten Notes Still Win in an AI World What if you could automate the personal touch? In a world of inbox overload and AI everything, this episode shows you how to stand out with a simple, high-impact strategy: real handwritten notes—at scale. ✉️ Ian Cantle and the Marketing Guides team sit down with David Wachs, CEO and founder of Handwrytten, to unpack a practical system for cutting through digital noise, boosting follow-up, and building loyalty. From when to use handwritten notes (and when not to) to smart ways to automate without losing authenticity, this conversation delivers field-tested tactics you can put to work this week.

What if the biggest friction point in your customer's journey isn't your checkout page, but the overwhelming paradox of choice you've intentionally created for them? Agility requires not just reacting to consumer behavior, but proactively re-architecting the entire purchase journey based on what the data tells you they *truly* need, even before they know it themselves. Today, we are here at eTail Palm Springs, and we're going to talk about tackling one of the biggest challenges in e-commerce: the high-consideration purchase. We'll explore how brands can move beyond simply offering endless options and instead use AI and behavioral data to create a guided, trust-based experience that actually simplifies decision-making and leads to conversion. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Dan Bennett, CMO at Furniture.com. About Dan Bennett Dan Bennett is Chief Marketing Officer and founding team member at Furniture.com, where he's reshaping furniture retail through AI, data, and an open marketplace model. Since 2022, Dan has helped scale the company to 80+ employees across two offices, connecting millions of shoppers with hundreds of brands.Before Furniture.com, he was CMO at Packable, a Carlyle-backed e-commerce platform that grew into Amazon's largest third-party marketplace partner and reached a $2 billion valuation. Earlier, Dan spent over a decade leading digital and brand strategy at McCann and Grey, driving growth for global names like P&G, Facebook, Microsoft, and Nike.Dan brings a focus on clear priorities, fast execution, and building teams that fuel sustainable growth. Dan Bennett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bennettdaniel/ Resources Furniture.com: https://www.furniture.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code AGILE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c43e68ce5cfb321e Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

What if your brand stood out so clearly that prospects instantly knew you were the only solution—and showed up ready to buy? In this energizing episode, digital marketing strategist, keynote speaker, and former NYC performer Molly Mahoney reveals how to harness “The Spotlight Effect” to build a human-first brand that scales with AI—without sounding like everyone else.

Osaic's Manager of Technology Solutions Consultant Mark Matheny sits down with the CMO from Catchlight AI Daniel Gilmartin and talks about the fast-growing application of artificial intelligence in today's fintech world.  Hear them talk about organc growth challenge, building and maintaining relationships, and how to deliver more personalized content leveraging ai.  Daniel and Mark talk about what AI should be doing and what it should not be doing for your practice.  Learn the Source, Qualify and Engage method.  Also hear about time, talent and technology.

General market marketing is limiting your brand growth. Here's what the data actually shows—and what smart brands are doing instead. Myles Worthington (CEO, WORTHI; former Netflix Head of Global Audiences) breaks down why identity-based customer segmentation drives better conversion rates and sustainable growth than traditional mass marketing approaches. In this growth marketing strategy session, discover: The mosaic vs. melting pot framework: why preserving customer identity increases market reach How to build marketing infrastructure (not one-off campaigns) for customer loyalty Real examples: Netflix's Con Todo, Bumble's Love Letters to Black Women, Google's Gemini strategy Why $7 trillion in buying power goes untapped with general market strategies The authenticity equation: customer intimacy + cultural fluency = brand growth If you're a CMO or growth marketer looking to improve customer acquisition and conversion rate optimization through better customer segmentation—this episode delivers the playbook. What's slowing your brand's growth? Take the quiz: www.frictionlessgrowthlab.com/quiz Find Myles: worthi.com Myles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mylestw/

MY NEWSLETTER - https://nikolas-newsletter-241a64.beehiiv.com/subscribeJoin me, Nik (https://x.com/CoFoundersNik), as I interview Brian O'Connor (https://x.com/BrianFOConnor).In this episode, I sit down with prolific entrepreneur Brian O'Connor to uncover how he walked away from a high-stakes corporate strategy job at Deloitte to build his own business empire. Brian reveals the exact breaking point that pushed him to leave the corporate world, it involves single-handedly saving his consulting firm $100 million and receiving a coffee gift card in return!We dive deep into the brutal reality of finding product-market fit, why traditional SWOT analysis is completely useless, and the secret corporate frameworks like the Choice Cascade that can help you create an unbeatable competitive advantage. Brian also shares the crazy story of managing 250 people while distributing billions in PPP loans during the pandemic, and how his journey ultimately led him to start a highly successful fractional CMO company and a unique staffing agency. If you want to know how to transition from a W2 employee to a thriving business owner, or how to navigate a highly competitive Red Ocean, you won't want to miss these insights.Questions This Episode Answers:Why is traditional SWOT analysis considered a waste of time for most businesses?What is the Choice Cascade, and how can it give you a massive competitive advantage?How do you know when you've truly found product-market fit?Should you prioritize deep strategy or raw execution speed when your business is making less than $1 million a year?How can rethinking your business model and adding an advisory component completely transform your customer retention?Enjoy the conversation!__________________________Love it or hate it, I'd love your feedback.Please fill out this brief survey with your opinion or email me at nik@cofounders.com with your thoughts.__________________________MY NEWSLETTER: https://nikolas-newsletter-241a64.beehiiv.com/subscribeSpotify: https://tinyurl.com/5avyu98yApple: https://tinyurl.com/bdxbr284YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/nikonomicsYT__________________________This week we covered:00:00 Introduction to Brian's Entrepreneurial Journey01:23 Leaving the Corporate World02:10 Managing a Massive COVID-19 Project03:40 The Decision to Become a Fractional CMO05:48 Understanding Growth Strategy and Competitive Advantage07:42 The Choice Cascade Framework10:42 Strategic Choices for Business Success16:41 Balancing Strategy and Execution in Early-Stage Businesses20:47 The Evolution of Business Questions21:46 Balancing Confidence and Speed in Business Decisions22:07 Launching Business Units in Mexico: A Case Study24:51 The Role of Strategy and Execution in Small Businesses27:26 The Journey to Product-Market Fit30:44 The Importance of Positioning and Iteration34:56 Innovative Pricing Models in Talent Agencies38:58 Advisory Consulting as a Competitive Advantage

To kick off Women's History Month, Jim welcomes Lara Balazs, the Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Global Marketing at Adobe. A company at the center of creativity, transformation and technology. Founded in 1982, Adobe is a software company that is famous for its creativity, innovation, and strong employee and customer-centric culture. Their purpose is to change the world through personalized digital experiences, and their offerings include the Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Adobe Express.Lara is an experienced CMO. Before Adobe, Lara was the CMO at Intuit for six years, and oversaw a strong run, tripling revenue during her tenure. Over the course of her career, Lara has worked at Visa, Nike, Amazon, and Gap. At Adobe, Lara is leading the charge to help shape the iconic company into its next era of growth. Just one year into the role, she's already refreshed the company's mission to “empower everyone to create” and is leading one of the most ambitious AI-enabled marketing transformations in the industry.Tune in for a conversation with a leader who believes we are entering the golden age of creativity…—Learn more, request a free pass, and register at iab.com/ccs Promo Code for $150 off ticket prices: CMOPODCCS26—This week's episode is brought to you by IAB.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jon Miller co-founded Marketo, the company that helped turn MQLs, lead scoring, and the demand waterfall into the operating system of B2B marketing. Now he's the one telling you to throw most of it out.When Jon did the same playbook at Demandbase that worked brilliantly at Marketo, it flopped. That failure changed how he thinks about almost everything.In this conversation, Carolyn sits down with Jon, co-founder of Marketo and Engagio (which merged with Demandbase), to dig into why the traditional B2B marketing playbook stopped working, what brand actually does for demand gen that most teams never account for, and what a modern measurement framework should look like in 2026. What we cover:Why the same playbook that worked at Marketo failed at DemandbaseWhy MQLs aren't inherently bad, but how they became a game most marketing teams were rigging without realizing itThe case against marketing-sourced vs. sales-sourced attribution (and why it breaks the teamwork you need to win)What a modern CMO dashboard should actually includeWhy the buying process is chaotic and nonlinear and why treating it like a simple funnel has always been the wrong modelHow AI is finally making true 1:1 personalization across millions of buyers possible The one question to ask your CFO socratically that will reframe the entire conversation about brand ROIThis episode is an absolute MUST listen for any marketing leader or revenue operator who knows something is broken but keeps hitting a wall trying to fix it.

Email marketing is still one of my favorite ways to market my business, but your list only works if the right people are on it. In this episode, I'm joined by Jennie Wright to talk about what's actually working for email list growth and lead generation as we head into 2026. We cover everything from AI and smarter lead magnet strategy to segmentation, self-selection, and why most people are missing the real opportunity in their follow-up sequences. If you've been wondering whether your lead magnet is pulling its weight, this conversation will help you rethink your approach. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: How AI is changing lead generation What actually makes a strong lead magnet Free versus paid lead magnets The power of self-selection and segmentation How to connect your lead magnet to your core offer Why metrics matter more than intuition …And More!   This Episode Was Made Possible By: Riverside All-in-One Podcast & Video Platform Visit Riverside and use the code DREA to get 15% off any Riverside individual plan. We use it to record all our podcast interviews: https://onlinedrea.com/riverside    About the Guest: Jennie Wright is an expert in email list growth and lead generation with over a decade of experience helping business owners achieve their marketing goals. She is the creator of The List Injection Method™, a system that uses inbound attraction and permission marketing to help clients and audiences generate leads. With a track record of building over 400+ list builds, Jennie has a deep understanding of the essential steps to creating events that not only attract ready buyers, but also build trust and engagement with audiences. Jennie's mission is to empower business owners with intelligent and authentic marketing, lead generation, and business growth strategies that drive bottom-line results. She is a sought-after speaker, consultant and fractional CMO who inspires audiences and clients with her expertise, passion, and practical advice. Website: http://jenniewright.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniewrightjlw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennielwright/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennie.wright.50   Go to the show notes for all the resources mentioned in this episode: https://onlinedrea.com/398   Want to be in episode 400 of the podcast?  We're celebrating 400 episodes of the Mindful Marketing podcast and I'm recording a special AMA episode. Want in? Send me your biggest marketing question as a quick voice message and you could be featured on the show. Deadline to submit: March 10th.   Submit your question here: https://www.speakpipe.com/MindfulMarketingPodcast

How do kids, parents and shoppers really discover brands today, and what does that mean for marketers trying to keep up? In this episode, Teresa sits down with Belinda Gruebner, former CMO of Moose Toys, to explore how the toy industry has evolved from catalogue-driven retail to creator-led discovery and always-on storytelling. Belinda shares lessons from scaling a global brand portfolio, building digital and marketing capability across markets, and rethinking packaging, content and owned assets as part of the omni-channel experience. The conversation also tackles the impact of Australia's new social media restrictions for under-16s, the growing importance of community and real-world connection, and the ethical questions brands need to confront as AI, data and digital acceleration continue to reshape the digital shelf.

What if the biggest barrier to your AI-powered future isn't the algorithm, but the state of your data from five years ago? Agility requires more than just fast decision-making; it demands a foundational trust in the data that fuels those decisions. It's about having the right information, accessible and reliable, to pivot not just your campaigns, but your entire strategy. Today, we're going to talk about the often-overlooked foundation of marketing agility and AI innovation: the data infrastructure itself. We'll explore how the role of the CMO is shifting from a master of messaging to a master of data strategy, and what it takes to lead a marketing organization when the quality of your data directly determines the success of your most ambitious technology investments. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Jim Kruger, CMO at Informatica. About Jim Kruger Jim currently serves as the Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer at Informatica. He has 20+ years of B2B and B2C marketing experience in the areas of cloud, SaaS, services, and hardware solutions. Jim is a results-oriented, high-integrity leader with strong business acumen and an inclusive team-building vision. His top focus as a leader is to drive accountability and make every team member feel valued for their contribution.At Informatica, he leads the global marketing organization with the charter to accelerate cloud growth, expand into new markets and industry verticals, and lead the company's brand momentum. Jim Kruger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkruger1/ Resources Informatica: https://www.informatica.com Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code AGILE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://aglbrnd.co/r/c43e68ce5cfb321e The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703 Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://aglbrnd.co/r/d15ec37a537c0d74 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company