Building Brand Gravity: Attracting People Into Your Orbit

Communications leaders have spent decades earning a seat in the C-suite. The boardroom is a different room, with a much shorter list of seats and a much higher bar.
Dr. Matt Ragas of DePaul University joins Steve Halsey for a first look at his new research on the senior communications leaders who have actually landed corporate board seats. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 executives whose collective experience spans more than 125 boards, the study maps what separates the leaders who want a seat from the ones who get one. Matt and Steve dig into what kind of P&L experience is most valuable, the reality that two thirds of board seats are spoken for before you ever apply, and why a board bio is a very different document than a CV. They also make the case that private, PE-backed, and nonprofit boards may be the most overlooked path of all.
In this episode:

• Why financial and P&L experience keeps surfacing as the top limiting factor, and the routes leaders take to get it
• What a communications director contributes that the CCO down the hall and the outside agency don’t have access to
• How interlocking board relationships, not board readiness programs, tend to produce real seats
• What to do over the next 12 months if board service is the goal

We often talk about boards in technical terms: governance, fiduciary responsibility, bylaws, committees, assessments, and compliance.  Yet first and foremost, a board is a human system. And like any human system, it can either accelerate change or quietly get in the way.

Anne Green sits down with Deborah Macfarlan Enright, longtime board strategist, consultant and author of the new book Bored to Death: Transform Your Non-Profit Board Into a Strategic Catalyst for Change, to explore what separates a board that looks good on paper from one that actually works. Deb makes a compelling case that applies to all types of boards – corporate or nonprofit – as well as any leadership group that seeks to be higher functioning. 

In the conversation, Deb underscores that every board seat is a priceless asset to be filled with intention and that the real work is human long before it’s procedural. Anne and Deb dig into the difference between harmony and trust, why collegiality can quietly become avoidance, and how the right systems remove friction instead of adding it. It’s a conversation about boards that turns out to be about any team where smart, well-meaning people find the courage to tell each other the truth – and where leaders ensure mission and business objectives are not obscured by procedure.

In this episode:

• Why a nonprofit is an enterprise, not a tax status, and what that changes about how you build a board
• The difference between harmony and trust, and how collegiality can quietly slide into avoidance
• How good structures can remove friction, clarify roles and create the trust – if we recognize that structure is not the same as effectiveness and compliance is not the same as contribution to a mission
• Why every board seat is a priceless asset, and how to fill one with intention instead of obligation
• How the right systems and a little more candor turn a board into a real strategic catalyst

Farmers are adopting AI faster than they trust it, and that gap holds a lesson for every industry racing to keep up.

Steve Halsey sits down with Greg Ehm, SVP of agriculture at MorganMyers, a G&S Agency, and Adam Gittins, president of HTS Ag and a farmer himself, to dig into fresh research on how farmers, ranchers, and retailers are actually using AI. The headline is a gap most industries will recognize. 84% say AI delivers value, but only about a quarter trust its recommendations for real decisions. Greg and Adam unpack why that gap is a sign of practical wisdom rather than resistance, how trust gets built through proof and transparency instead of hype, and why the smartest framing is human plus AI, not human versus AI. It’s a grounded look at adoption that turns out to hold lessons for healthcare, manufacturing, and any field where technology is moving faster than trust.

In this episode:

• What new MorganMyers, a G&S Agency research reveals about how farmers, ranchers, and retailers are really using AI
• Why usage and trust are moving at very different speeds, and why that gap signals practical wisdom
• How proof, transparency, and human validation build trust faster than brand reputation or hype
• Why the future is human plus AI, and what every industry can learn from how adoption happens in agriculture

Fifty episodes, dozens of CEOs, founders, journalists, leaders, and communicators, and one thing kept surfacing no matter who was in the chair.

For the 50th episode, Anne Green and Steve Halsey  look back at what four years of conversations have actually taught them. The surprise wasn’t the differences between their guests, but how often they landed on the same ideas. From communications becoming a driver of business value, to trust that’s earned long before a crisis, to the rise of the human as architect in an AI world, and to narrative as the operating system of a company, they trace the through-lines that keep showing up. It’s a candid, hopeful reflection on where leadership and brand building goes next, and why it all still comes down to people.

In this episode:

• Why communications shifted from something organizations do to how they operate, and understanding communications and brand as business assets

• What 50 conversations taught the hosts about trust, standing your ground, and staying credible in an increasingly GEO and AI-driven world

• The move from the concept of “human in the loop” to treating the human as architect of the work

• Why curiosity, tenacity, and people are the through-line behind every brand that builds real gravity

AI is no longer just a productivity tool. It is a channel, a leadership competency, and a pressure test on whether your story holds up across every part of your brand.

Steve Halsey sits down with Hailey Driscoll, SVP of PR and Managing Director, Boston at Walker Sands, and Jon Woods, partner at Ground Floor Media, to unpack what is actually working in AI adoption and where leaders are getting stuck. The conversation builds on insights from the first PROI Americas AI Summit, where agency leaders from across the region came together to compare notes on what is real and what is hype. They get into the messy middle of AI maturity, why fixating on efficiency leaves real value on the table, and how AI is reshaping brand visibility through generative search and the emerging discipline of story hygiene. The episode closes with practical advice on staying curious in a constantly shifting landscape and the case for treating AI adoption as an organizational leadership decision, not just a tech project.

In this episode:

• Why fixating on AI as an efficiency tool is leaving the real value on the table
• How AI is becoming a marketing channel through generative search and what GEO means for brand visibility
• Why story hygiene is now a foundational comms discipline
• What CCOs and CMOs should be building before they scale AI across their teams

Good leaders were trained for stable times. The problem is the times are no longer stable, and “good” is no longer good enough.

Anne Green sits down with David Grossman, founder and CEO of The Grossman Group and author of the new book The Heart Work of Modern Leadership: 6 Differentiators of Exceptional Leaders. Drawing on research conducted with The Harris Poll, David unpacks the three invisible gaps tied to  “good leadership” that are quietly undermining engagement, trust, and business results today. They get into why gratitude is one of the top differentiators of exceptional leaders, why psychological safety is really a listening challenge with deeper roots, and how to communicate with context when you do not have all the answers. The conversation closes with David's case for retiring the term "soft skills" and treating them as what they actually are: the hardest skills in modern leadership and core to the “human moat” that AI is unlikely to cross.

In this episode:

• Why "good" leaders are uniquely vulnerable in a moment of constant change
• Key distinctions between “good” and “exceptional” leadership
• The three invisible gaps The Harris Poll research uncovered and what they reveal
• Why gratitude is a top differentiator of exceptional leadership
• How leading with both heart and head builds teams that are high performance and highly human 

In a crisis, facts sometimes win arguments. But trust wins you the benefit of the doubt, and the benefit of the doubt is what saves you when the story moves faster than the facts.

Anne Green sits down with Bradley Akubuiro, partner at Bully Pulpit International and author of the new book Faster, Messier, Tougher: Crisis Communication Strategies in an Era of Populism, AI, and Distrust. Bradley unpacks why the operating environment for leaders has fundamentally changed, how to tell the difference between an issue and a true crisis, and why conviction pays while waffling costs everything. They get into the framework he uses to help clients decide when to lean in, when to stay quiet, and how to match engagement to the actual level of risk in front of them. Bradley and Anne discuss his counsel to leaders to “figure out where you stand and then actually stand there,” so corporate values mean something when they are put to the test. The conversation closes with three practical takeaways for leaders navigating a moment where speed beats polish and resilience is built long before the crisis arrives.

In this episode:

• Why trust and truth are different currencies, and why trust matters more under pressure
• How to grade risk and decide whether an issue is actually your story to own
• The case for consistency over volume when standing in your values
• Why employees are either your greatest ambassadors or your most credible detractors

The agencies performing best right now are not always the biggest or the most specialized. They are the ones figuring out how to evolve alongside their clients, lead with conviction, and build something that lasts. And that includes actively reflecting on the lessons of leadership learned along the way.

Anne Green sits down with Beth Cleveland, CEO of Praytell, and Laura Tomasetti, CEO and founder of 360PR+, to mark their shared recognition on PRWeek's 2026 Women of Distinction list. The three trade lessons learned across decades of leadership – from what feels familiar versus what feels genuinely new in the agency world right now to the rise of AI as a value-creating catalyst. They share stories of the mentors who shaped them, why "walk around" leadership still matters in a hybrid world, and how celebrating small wins is critical for teams in danger of burning out on constant change. The conversation closes with practical leadership advice for anyone earlier in their career, including the case for active listening, leaning into your authentic strengths, and not traveling “too light” when it comes to maintaining the relationships you build along the way.

In this episode:

• Why the best agencies today are operating partners, not just service providers
• How to balance the pace of change with sustainable, healthy team culture
• What active listening, authenticity, and curiosity unlock for emerging leaders
• The case for thinking like a counselor early in your career, not just an executor

Doing the work is not enough anymore. Companies have to prove it, explain it, and make it visible, or it will not land with the people who matter.

Steve Halsey sits down with Dr. Rochelle Ford, CEO of the Page Society, to dig into the latest Page and Harris Poll Confidence in Business Index. Rochelle breaks down why the confidence curve is breaking globally, how only 29 percent of consumers see both the action and the context they need to trust companies, and why the economic story has become the most important narrative battleground for 2026. They get into the generational divide on issues like mental health, the rise of generative AI as a primary information source, and what it takes to build a content foundation that AI engines will actually surface. The conversation closes with a four-step plan for communicators and a candid look at where the profession is heading in a moment of full transformation.

In this episode:

• Why action and context together are the only way to rebuild confidence in business
• How search and generative AI are merging and what that means for getting your story found
• Why mental health and economic impact are now table stakes for reaching younger audiences
• A four-step plan for owning your narrative, calibrating by generation, and modernizing your channel mix