DesuckifyWork®

What does the ad agency of tomorrow look like?

If you think you know, you’re probably wrong.

If you think you’d like to help figure it out, you should talk to Jordan Atlas, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast. 

Jordan’s been figuring stuff out before most of us, for the past 20+ years. He got curious about digital, before digital became everything. He moved across the country with his wife and a 3 month old. And he dove into the world of earned media as a creative as his friends looked on with a mix of confusion and concern. 

It all worked out pretty damn well. 

And now, well now Jordan’s about to embark on a new adventure. Details TBD. But you can be sure it will be something worth watching and learning from. 

What’d we learn during our conversation? 

🐱 We learned that It’s possible to focus on great work while also focusing on a great work experience. 

🐱 We learned that we need to recognize the value creatives bring beyond the awards and high profile projects. 

🐱 And we learned that if we want to keep learning, especially in an age of AI and rapid technological change, we need to become more experimental. To become less focused on tactics and more on a POV. To become open to just about anything and less attached to the way things are right now. 

How do we do all that? It starts by creating a world where there is more transparency and more inclusion when it comes to solving big problems. We need everyone to make this work. And we need all that they can bring. 

Jordan sure brings a lot to this episode. So let’s dive in. 

You can follow Jordan on LinkedIn. And reach out at [email protected] if you like connecting with kind, generous and thoughtful humans. 

This human has thoughts as well. And you can check them out on my site and my Substack newsletter. If you like how things sound, let’s take the thinking deeper during a free half hour strategy session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider traveling back in time to convince your parents to rename you “I love the DesuckifyWork™ Podcast” so you can repeat that lovely mantra every time you meet someone. Royalties for your efforts are negotiable. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #adagencyoftomorrow #futureofwork #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies 

Has the ad industry lost its swagger? 

All indications say yes. We devalue our product (commodity pricing), we struggle to differentiate our agencies (most seem interchangeable) and we have spent so many years chasing so many trends it’s not even clear what we actually do anymore. 

It’s tough to show up with any level of confidence when those things are true. 

But what if we could get our swagger back? Jennifer Mrozek Sukalo, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast can help.

She literally wrote the book on it—Claim Your Swagger: Stop Surviving and Start Thriving. It’s basically an instruction manual for living a life of self-awareness, strength and resilience. And it should probably be required reading for agency leaders. 

Because surviving (barely) is what we’re doing right now. And if we want to have more of the Ps every business loves—productivity, performance and profit—we should start with the Ps at the core of Jennifer’s work: patience, practice and perseverance. 

Then we can reclaim our swagger, using this handy acronym:

🐱 SW - Self worth

🐱 A - Appreciation for your strengths and limitations

🐱 G - Gratitude for how your life experiences have helped shape who you are

🐱 G- Grounded in your core values

🐱 E - Empowered to overcome your self limiting beliefs

🐱 R - Renewed through a greater focus on your passion and purpose

It’s not magic—it’s hard work. Which is something we’re actually quite good at. We work our butts off. Wouldn’t it be nice to get more of a reward for it?

Listen to Jennifer. She’ll show you the way. One letter at a time. 

You can follow Jennifer on LinkedIn. And check out her site at swaggeru.com. It’s loaded with good stuff to help you put a little sass in your step. 

My site and my substack newsletter are pretty sassy too. Check ‘em out if you can. Want to press fast forward on the desuckification process? Let’s set up a free half hour strategy session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider concocting a cologne that smells like happiness and bacon and whenever someone asks what’s that delicious scent you’re wearing you whisper, “desuckification.” 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #claimyourswagger #leadyourlife #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies 

Can writing a book make you a better leader? A better employee? A better human?

Vicky Quinn Fraser thinks so. Vicky is this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast and she believes writing can help each of us uncover the deeper meaning in our work, even in the seemingly mundane tasks. 

Imagine that. 

Writing as a tool of self discovery. To stem the swirl inside our skull. And help us find joy in the 90,000 or so hours we spend working during our lives. 

🐱 Want to create more engagement with your team? Write out your vision and reimagine what working for you can look like.

🐱 Want to find a new career path? Pick up a pen and write a better story for yourself. 

🐱 Want to clarify the chaos in your company? Write a MicroBook that breaks down the craziness into bite sized bits that make sense and maybe even inspire. 

What the heck is a MicroBook, you ask? Vicky can tell you. Here she is. 

You can follow Vicky on LinkedIn. And check out her site at moxiebooks.co.uk. Her content is delightful and she has an awesome Kickstart your Book workshop coming up that you should totally sign up for. 

You should also totally check out my site and my substack newsletter, if you’re looking to suck the suck out of your work life. Want to suck even more suck out? Let’s set up a free half hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider breaking into the Louvre and replacing their audio guide tracks with a series of cat sounds that spell out the five primary conjugations of desuckify in morse code. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #writingisthinking #youcanwriteabook #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies 

There are 8 billion people in the world. And sometimes we feel like we’re responsible for all of them. 

This is the curse of social media. We know everything. We see a world on fire. And we want to fix it. But we can’t. Not all of it. 

We need to resist this urge to take it all on and instead do our part. 

Our 1/8,000,000,000th share. 

This wisdom comes courtesy of Nell Derick Debevoise, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast. Nell is a speaker, coach, facilitator, advisor and author who focuses on helping people and organizations connect to their purpose. 

Now that word’s been overused and thoroughly abused in recent years. Especially in advertising and marketing.

But we’re not talking about purpose-washing here. We’re talking about aligning your investments in time, energy, attention and money, with your desired outcomes. 

It’s shocking how bad most of us are at this. But the good news is, we can get better, fast. 

🐱 We can work with Nell’s impact dashboard tool to quickly assess how and where we’re spending our time and energy. 

🐱 We can compare those results with our stated purpose. Are we doing things that will create the results we say we want? 

🐱 We can make changes, either to the actions we take or to the outcomes we want, to bring things into alignment. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to land in that sweet spot, where most of the things we do actually have an impact on the things we want for ourselves, our workplaces and the world? 

Listen to Nell and you’ll get there a lot sooner than you think. 

You can follow Nell on LinkedIn. And check out her site at nelldd.com, where you can download a free “to don’t” list and subscribe to her inner circle newsletter. You should also check out her book, Going First: Find the Courage to Lead Purposefully and Inspire Action, along with the accompanying Purpose Party Playbook. 

Speaking of parties, my site and my substack newsletter are the place to be on a Saturday night or anytime, really. And if you’d like to really go wild, let’s set up a free half hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider launching a cat-shaped rocket that spells out desuckify your face with its butt exhaust as it burns through the stratosphere. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #purposeatwork #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies 

The return to office movement is BS. 

Not because going back to the office is a bad thing. It can be wonderful.

But because leaders have gaslit their teams, saying it’s all about creating community and connection. 

Sorry, but putting people side by side answering emails all day is not community. 

That’s just one of the many brilliant bits of insight from today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast, Angela Stopper. 

Angela is the Chief Learning Officer at UC Berkeley. Yes, that UC Berkeley—the top public university in the nation. 

We talk about the need to actively cultivate community in the workplace. And how that can happen in-office or remotely.

We explore how our career paths are no longer straight lines, but more like a treasure map, with twists and turns and multiple x-es marking the spots where we can find joy and meaning along the way. 

And we discuss how organizations can position themselves to be a helpful stop on that journey. Being more flexible is a great first step. Creating a culture where every person is seen, valued and encouraged to speak from their unique experience is where things get really juicy. 

We cover so much good stuff during this conversation, thanks to Angela’s brilliance. So let’s dive in. 

You can follow Angela on LinkedIn—she’s the only Angela Stopper in the system as far as we can tell, so she should be easy to find. You know what else are easy to find? My site and my substack newsletter. Both are filled with desuckified bits of wit and wisdom. Want more than just a few bits? Let’s set up a free half-hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider hacking into LinkedIn’s servers and replacing all mentions of “crushing it” with a photo of Buford in a DesuckifyWork™ onesie. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #coaching #executivecoaching #alternatecareerpaths #communityatwork #returntooffice

We’re all gonna die. 

This is the good news brought to us by Jodi Wellman, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast. 

Jodi is an author, speaker and all around fascinating human. And she’s here to tell us why the grim reaper is your new best friend.

When you let Mr. Reaper into your life, everything gets better. You live more deeply, with more purpose, have more fun, try new things. 

You embrace the fact that you only get about 4,000 Mondays in this life and you damn sure want most of them to not suck. It’s the spirit of “memento mori,” or “remember you must die.” And it’s invigorating. 

You realize that spending the next 100 or so Mondays in pointless meetings will not fill you with joy and vitality, so you decide to make a change to an agency with a saner culture. (They exist, I swear, I’ve talked to many of them).

You suspect that having a boss who never truly sees you is less than ideal, so you start networking to find someone who isn’t blind to your brilliance. 

And maybe, you discover that putting all of your hopes for a delicious life into your career is unrealistic so you start doing all kinds of fun and meaningful non-work stuff which, ironically, makes work more fulfilling since you’re not putting undue pressure on it to be the source of all the good feelings, ever. 

Yep, good ol’ Grim can do all of that for each of us. And so much more.

I bet you’re dying to find out, right? Right? 

Okay, here’s Jodi. 

You can follow Jodi on LinkedIn. And check out her site at fourthousandmondays.com. It’s such a fun site, you will love it I’m sure. You also need to check out her book, You Only Die Once, which somehow makes thinking about your own demise an absolute hoot. 

If you give a hoot about making ad agency life less suck-filled, you should check out my site and my substack newsletter. Feeling extra hoot-y? Let’s set up a free half hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider getting a pair of our cushioned-bottom DesuckifyWork™ socks from our website. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #wereallgonnadie #livewithpurpose #coaching #advertising #executivecoaching 

Having difficult conversations is different than making every conversation difficult. 

This may come as news for those of us in the ad biz. Where taking even the simplest discussion and turning it into a series of 10 person meetings is the norm. 

What if, instead of taking simple conversations and making them painful, we took hard conversations and made them easier?

How the hell can we do that?

Maureen Falvey, executive coach with Strong Training & Coaching and today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast, has a few ideas:

Increase self awareness. Ha! Who has time for that when you’re juggling 37 projects at once? Turns out, that’s when self awareness is needed most. So you’re not making that craziness even crazier with your “managing” and your “helping.”

Create psychological safety. Yes, I know you may be giggling at that notion in the world of ad agencies. But seriously. It can and does happen. And should happen a lot more. 

Normalize feedback. Not just on the work, but on how we work and how we’re doing. And we should also normalize making that process both honest and kind. 

I honestly think Maureen is an amazing guest. I’m sure you will too.

You can follow Maureen on LinkedIn. And you should absolutely check out Mark Strong Coaching & Training’s site.

I have a pretty strong site as well. And my Substack newsletter ain’t too shabby either. Check them out if you’d like to learn more about turning your agency into an amazing place to work. Wanna chat? Let’s set up a free half hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider blasting our theme song from a giant speaker on top of your car as you drive around a busy neighborhood. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #executivecoaching #difficultconversations #leadership #advertising #adagencies 

Can marketing be a force for good in the world?

This is the question at the heart of my discussion with Jay Mandel, this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ podcast. 

On the surface, the question sounds ridiculous. Marketing, a force for good? That’s crazy. It’s built on deception, manipulation and is single-handedly responsible for the proliferation of influencers in our lives. 

Screw you, marketing. 

But Jay has a different take. And he’s creating a movement to remake marketing into something rooted in trust, transparency and accountability. 

The Marketing Accountability Council is the home for his movement. And it’s growing every day, because it turns out, lots of people who work in marketing are tired of the b******t. 

They want to do better. 

Jay and I talk about what better might look like during our conversation. 

* Brands that actually live up to their stated values. 

* Employees who feel empowered to question what’s always been done. 

* Companies that recognize the impact of their actions far outweighs the influence of their words. 

This is just one conversation of many that need to happen to bring Jay’s vision to life. And the good news is, he’s having them, every week, with a growing community of folks who share his excitement for this project. 

Each one showing up with passion, purpose and possibility. 

I can’t think of a better way to DesuckifyWork™ than that. 

—————

You can follow Jay on LinkedIn. And he’s got a few sites you need to check out as well. jaymandel.com, accountability.marketing and marketingaccountability.substack.com. If Jay’s words resonate with you, consider joining the Marketing Accountability Council to help turn those words into action. 

Speaking of action, I highly recommend getting your butt over to my site and my substack newsletter. Want something even more action-y? Let’s set up a free half hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider creating crop circles in the shape of our logo. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #marketing #accountability #coaching #leadership 

Do you have a little sparkle on your shoulders at work?

Well, you’re about to get some after listening to Gina Balarin, today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ Podcast. 

Gina brings the sparkle through her work as “The CEO’s Voice,” helping leaders craft and amplify their message to those who need to hear it. This work is all part of her mission to end human suffering at work—just the kind of bold stance we love here in desuckify-land. 

How does she do it? She helps leaders work through imposter syndrome. Yes, CEOs deal with that. Most of them, actually. 

She encourages people to get better at communicating with that nasty SOB we’ve all encountered—ourselves. With some great tips on how to mange our “inner shouty voice.” 

And she explores the practice of “guerrilla leadership.” Creating pockets of joy within organizations that inspire us all to be better. 

We talk about all of that and more during our conversation. And it left me feeling pretty sparkly. I bet it’ll do the same for you too. 

You can follow Gina on LinkedIn. And check out her site at verballistics.com.au, where you’ll find all kinds of goodies to help reduce suffering at work, including a free chapter from her book—The Secret Army: Leadership, Marketing and the Power of People.”

I’ve got a few goodies of my own over at my site and my substack newsletter. Check ‘em out if you can. And if you’re ready to stop the suck at work, let’s set up a free half-hour desuckified discovery session. 

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider getting a tattoo of our logo on your forehead. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #findyourvoice #endsufferingatwork #coaching #leadership #sparkle

The late, great, Tina Turner once asked, “what’s love got to do with it?”

Today’s guest on the DesuckifyWork™ Podcast, Meredith Bell, has the answer. And it’s everything. 

Meredith is a leadership and communications expert and co-founder of Grow Strong Leaders. And she firmly believes that love is at the center of all we do, when we’re doing work that matters. 

Love at work? Um, that makes me kind of uncomfortable, dude. Well, it shouldn’t, once you understand what it really means. 

* It means caring deeply about people's wellbeing and practicing small acts of patience, optimism, and kindness every day.

* It means recognizing the infinite value in every person and letting that guide your interactions.

* It means asking curious questions and truly listening to help resolve conflicts and create psychological safety.

* And it requires letting go of judgment, control, and ego to embrace humility and commitment to others' growth.

If we do all of that, we’ll reduce the unnecessary pain and drama at work. That’s a the heart of Meredith’s work with leaders, helping folks learn to lead from love by developing critical communication and character skills. 

Yes, character is a skill. And we can all develop it through regular practice. Even that guy who starts every meeting by making fart sounds with his hands. Especially that guy. 

What’s love got to do with it? Let’s find out, shall we?

—————

You can follow Meredith on LinkedIn. And check out her site at growstrongleaders.com, where you can learn more about their assessments, development tools and books. You’ll also find all 276 (and counting) episodes of the Grow Strong Leaders podcast which Meredith hosts as well. 

Once you’ve explored all of that, I’d love it if you took a look at my site and my substack newsletter. They’re both focused on bringing creativity to our biggest problems at work like poor communication, high turnover and the fact that I always seem to get 8 and 2 on the company Super Bowl box pool. Want to solve some of those problems? Let’s set up a free half-hour Desuckified Discovery Session. 

Bye, everyone!

#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #leadership #coaching #loveatwork #creativeleadership