Strategy Sheroes

Resist my interview with Lisa Killbourn where we talk ineffective briefs, strategists role as "The Thinker", and designing the bridge to help clients get to where they need to go. 

Listen to the full episode and read some more of my favourite quotes from Lisa here - https://www.strategysheroes.com/episodes/series-1-episode-4-lisa-killbourn

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Morgan Graham is a Partner and Chief Experience Officer at Experiences For Mankind, a San Diego based creative consultancy, with an ethos of preventing agency burnout and promoting work life balance. Morgan has been a marketing instructor at the University of San Diego, and is a long-term mentor in San Diego State University’s AZTEC mentorship programme. She is also on the board of Dent the Future, which brings together entrepreneurs, executives, and creatives who want to create positive and lasting global change.

We chat about:

Morgan’s amazing journey starting as an intern at Experiences for Mankind to now being partner

Client servicing and strategy

Meeting client needs without sacrificing the needs of team members

How it’s possible to have agency ethos of preventing team burnout

Links to some of the stuff we chatted about:

Experiences for Mankind

Dent the Future

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Anna Thairs is an award-winning full-stack Strategy Director, holding senior strategy roles at Grey London and Portas in Melbourne before joining Ogilvy Sydney, where she’s also a member of the agency’s Behavioural Science unit. Anna is vocal about her experiences as a mixed-race woman with OCD, ADHD and depression, and is passionate about driving more in-depth approaches to inclusion and diversity in advertising and beyond.

Our chat includes:

• Understanding neurodiversity and how organisations can be more inclusive to neurodiverse team members

• ADHD including Anna’s own experiences being diagnosed

• The idea of renaissance women strategists

• Intersectionality and the importance of nuance in our perspectives of humans

Links to some of the stuff we chatted about:

• Lemon paper by Orlando Wood - How left brain thinking is undermining creativity and making advertising less effective

• John Cleese creativity talk at Nudgestock 2021

• Learn more about Anna’s strategy career, and check out her amazing artwork

• Anna’s 2017 article on transformational thinking quoted in the interview

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Kim Mackenzie is an independent brand strategy consultant, copywriter and team builder with over 15 years experience. She has successfully transformed agency teams and collaborated with brands including Netflix, Lululemon, The Washington Post, Google, Apple and Michael Kors. Kim very much believes in paying it forward, founding the Ladies who Strategize online community which has over 1600 members globally.

Our chat includes:

• How strategy shapes creative and how copywriting shapes strategy

• Curiosity and relationship building in successful business development

• The founding of Ladies who Strategize

If you identify as female and work as a strategist you can apply to join the Ladies who Strategize slack group

Find out more about Kim’s freelance services and experience

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Chuck Klosterman on interview techniques

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Ellen Petry Leanse is a Silicon Valley pioneer. She joined Apple in the 1980s and was a member of the Macintosh launch team and created the company’s first user focused online presence. Ellen has worked at or with company’s including Google, Facebook and Microsoft to make innovation more meaningful. Ellen is now Chief People officer at Lucidworks as well as being a Stanford Instructor, entrepreneur and author of The Happiness Hack, a best-selling guide to the neuroscience of Happiness and life satisfaction.

Ellen and I chat about:

• Women’s thinking super-power

• Creativity as a strategic tool

• Overcoming the use of permission language and showing up as equals

• Mindfulness and reflective time

Links from our chat:

• The Happiness Hack by Ellen Petry Leanse
• “Just” Say No by Ellen Petry Leanse

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Zoe is the founder of Bodacious, a London based strategy studio. Zoe has brought her strategic brain to leading agencies such as Universal McCann, and Droga5, consulted for Adidas and was the Global Head of Strategy for the Ridley Scott Creative Group. She has a wealth of experience across industries and if you follow Zoe on social media you’ll see she regularly advocates for other women in strategy.

Zoe and I chat about:

• Zoe’s unique journey into strategy

• The lost art of asking questions and why this is so important

• Zoe’s perspective on what strategy is and what it looks like

• The important but scary prospect of expressing yourself

• Getting off the agency production wheel

Links to some of the stuff we talked about:

Zoe’s strategy studio Bodacious

Zoe’s articles on Finding the Beauty in Boredom and The Lost Art of Asking Questions

You can follow Zoe on twitter @zoescaman

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On this episode of Strategy Sheroes I’m joined by Mary McKenna.

Mary is a tech entrepreneur, angel investor and was co-founder of the hugely successful e-learning company Learning Pool, where she was also my boss. She is one of the entrepreneurs in residence at the University of Oxford and is currently kickstarting new female founder network AwakenHub. Mary was awarded an MBE in 2014 for her services to Digital Technology, Innovation and Learning.

We chat about:

• Mary's move from accountancy to becoming a tech entrepreneur and investor

• Her investment criteria

• The skills needed to be successful in business

• Mary's advice for female founders, and why she feels it's so important to pay it forward

Links to some of the stuff we chatted about

• AwakenHub female founder network

• Mary shares more business, and networking advice on her Kicking Assets blog

Follow Mary on Twitter @MMaryMcKenna

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Kaitlin is co-founder of Current Forward a strategy consultancy based in Austin, Texas. Prior to forming Current Forward, Kaitlin served as Strategy Director at T3, an Austin-based innovation agency, where she was a delivery lead on the UPS account. Kaitlin has also consulted in Los Angeles with brands such as Apple and Beats by Dre. In 2018 she published the DIY Strategy Workbook to make strategy processes more accessible to small businesses and independent creative professionals. 

We chat about:

• How Current Forward’s majority women ownership has shaped its approach

• The agency’s immersive approach to insights

• Kaitlin’s advice for other women wanting to start their own consultancy or agency

• The importance of understanding and investing in you

• Digital anthropology and the friction some brands face when attempting to be empathetic

• Yoga! A love for both of us and learnings from yoga teaching that are surprisingly applicable to strategy

Links to some of the stuff we talked about -

• Kaitlin’s agency Current Forward

• Rain or Shine the creative recruitment company started by Kaitlin and her husband

• The Life Brief by Bonnie Wan

• Kaitlin’s TEDx talk on Lessons in Digital Anthropology

You can follow Kaitlin on Twitter @KaitlinMaud

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On this episode of Strategy Sheroes I’m joined by Jennifer Riel, Global Director of Strategy at IDEO.

Before IDEO, Jennifer spent 13 years at the Rotman School of Management, where she taught undergrads, MBAs, and executives how to think creatively about their toughest challenges.

Jennifer is the co-author of Creating Great Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking. She is a true strategy expert helping businesses challenge their thinking and solve their real business problems.

Jennifer and I chat about:

• Her move into strategy

• Using integrative thinking to solve business problems

• How to improve your creative and integrative thinking skills

• Advice for women wanting to move into senior strategic roles

Links to some of the stuff we talked about:

• Jennifer’s book Creating Great Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking

• Useful tools employed by IDEO in creative thinking

Follow Jennifer on Twitter @jenniferriel

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On the first episode of our second series I’m joined by Louise O’Conor.

Louise is a strategic and innovative leader with 20 years experience digitally transforming and scaling businesses and teams across global markets and multiple industries. Louise sits on the board of the Irish International Business Network (IIBN),  is a co-founder of the non-profit IrelandTogether and a Partner in Digital Transformation consultancy Beta Digital.  She also speaks 6 languages!

Louise and I chat about:

• Her experience in digital transformation, before it even had a name!

• Digital Transformation misconceptions

• Enabling change successfully

• Measuring Digital Transformation

• Advice for women hoping to start their own consultancy

Links to some of the stuff we chatted about

• Beta Digital’s approach to Digital Transformation

• IrelandTogether the non-profit Louise has co-founded to help businesses solve challenges brought by COVID-19

Follow Louise on Twitter @louiseoconor

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