By Indra Gardiner Bowers, Founder/Chief Executive Officer, i.d.e.a.

There are many ways to be a socially, fiscally and environmentally responsible company. Some companies bake their mission into their product or service (think Patagonia or Method), but for many of us, our dream is to work with companies who are purposeful. 

Three years ago, my partners and I decided we didn’t want to just work for mission-driven clients we wanted to walk the talk ourselves. We hadn’t started that way, so we had to do some reverse engineering and figure out what we could do to be part of this new sector of the economy.

By Cindy Atlee, morning keynote speaker for upcoming Spring Conference.

I love a good story. You probably do, too. Stories influence, inspire and capture our imaginations like nothing else. We tell them all the time, whether we realize it or not. And they scare the heck out of many of my clients.  

I’m not talking horror stories here, and I certainly don’t mean my clients are literally afraid of narratives. What sometimes gets me a deer-in-headlights look is suggesting they need to know and live and tell their own story in the world to have a really successful brand. Maybe it’s a little intimidating to realize that answering the question who are you? is what jump starts a compelling brand identity—but it’s the surest path to being seen, heard and appreciated for something that draws the right clients to you.   

By Rob Biesenbach

Last year I attended a conference breakout session on a topic that really interested me. The room was packed with like-minded people, all hoping to get something of value from the program.

Then the presenter kicked things off by talking about himself, and only himself, for what seemed like 10 minutes. He walked us through every detail of his career history — the job titles, the degrees, the recognition and awards. It was like a LinkedIn profile set to live narration.

Predictably, the mood in the room quickly shifted from anticipation to annoyance as he violated the first rule of public speaking: it’s not about you; it’s about the audience. 

By Ken Jacobs, ACC, PCC, Jacobs Executive Coaching and Jacobs Communications Consulting

As an agency leader, what is the most important thing you can do for your agency’s success this year? Provide consistently superior client service? Achieve business development goals? Get closer to best practices in fiscal management and profitability? Build the second-tier? Do a more effective job of marketing to prospects?

The answer is yes. Well actually, it’s the classic “Yes, and...”