The Chemistry Factor

Who we work with is way more important than who we work for. Being more creative, happy, and productive at the workplace depends more on the people we surround ourselves with than the title at our office's door or the name of the company we work for. In today's episode, Tatiana Wilk visits us to share her experiences as Head of Finances at Mother, one of the world's more respected independent creative companies. Tatiana has been in the finance world, working for public and private advertising agencies for over 15 years, and she is a firm believer in the power of relationship chemistry and connecting from shared values. We had a fantastic conversation about how choosing the right people dramatically affects the workflow and work environment's smoothness and productivity. Tatiana explained how being surrounded by creative people influenced her to be creative, even though she works with numbers. We also chatted about the importance of celebrating failure, peak moments in Tatiana's career, why we should look at the blank canvas as an adventure, and so much more. Some Questions I Ask:Where outside of the office does your creativity shine? And how does it help you connect with the people at Mother? (2:15)How do you know you were making a wise choice? And when did you realize it was time to move on? (4:52)How do you determine the right talent to hire? (9:50)In This Episode, You Will Learn:About Tatiana's accurate gut feeling and the decision to work for Mother (6:52)How it is to work in a creative ecosystem (12:41)What is the best way to keep a positive attitude (16:09)What values were born from the flourishing of hybrid work environments (21:35)How to turn a blank canvas into an adventure (27:10)Resources:Book: David Cottrell - Monday Morning Leadership: 8 Mentoring Sessions You Can't Afford to MissConnect with Tatiana:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

Clear, well-distributed, and easy-to-access information cleans up any organization's workflow. If team members don't need to chase information, they can focus exclusively on their job and spend more time in their zone of genius. Today's guest, Jeff Casto, does a great job explaining why information management is so important, among many other things. Jeff Casto is an Artist, Business System Analyst, and content creation information management expert. Jeff's vast experience in advertising took him to work in places like Google Creative Lab, SS+K, Deltek, and Anomaly, to name a few. His leadership style, based on kindness, brings the best of himself to the workplace and awakens the best in those who work with him.In this episode, we explore Jeff's fascinating mix of abilities as an accomplished artist, business systems analyst, and software architect. He explains why he believes everything is information management, the benefits of having teams in sync with clear information, and why leading with kindness is a game-changer. As the deep thinker he is, Jeff shares brilliant analogies that bring art, the agency world, and leadership together, creating an exciting and unique point of view of these different yet connected spaces. We also discuss values, peak moments, downsides in his career, and much more. Some Questions I Ask:What is content creation information Management? (2:36)Tell us about your work and success in the art world (12:58)What does your artistic mind and content creation mind have in common? (19:16)In This Episode, You Will Learn:Everything is information management (3:18)About's Jeff approach to leadership (7:04)Why Jeff decided to create little portraits (16:05)Helping people get out of their frustration through kindness (21:19)Creatives love independence (25:31)What happens when you empower love (32:28)Resources:Jeff Casto Art websiteConnect with Jeff:LinkedInEmail: mailbox@jeffcasto.art Let's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

Bill Afonso joins us today to talk about the importance of creating a culture at the service of people, how to empower ourselves to make the right choices when hiring and laying people off, and how remote work impacted companies, leaders, and employees. Bill is the Chief Financial Officer at Johannes Leonardo and a Thought Leader in the industry. Before joining JL, Bill went from Finance Coordinator to Finance Director at 72andSunny, where he spent the last three of his ten years career in the company overseeing the financial operations in 72andSunny's office in Amsterdam.In this episode, we delve into Bill's journey in the advertising world and why he decided to work with creatives. We talk about Bill's leadership style, the highs and lows he experienced throughout his career, how he prepares himself before interviewing a potential employee, and how to ensure we make the right choice when hiring. Bill shared his thoughts on remote work's impact on companies, leaders, employees, and our idea of work itself. We discuss how to empower ourselves when having hard conversations with clients and employees, the importance of embracing "no" as a whole sentence and the best answer sometimes, and more. Some Questions I Ask:What inspired you to work for highly creative agencies? (2:31)What is your leadership style for success within a creative agency? (4:39)How do you determine the right talent to hire? (11:10)In This Episode, You Will Learn:What makes the advertising world so attractive (3:38)How the empowerment aspect of diversity changes one’s perspective on many things, not only work (9:28)The reason Bill prefers conversational interviews when meeting with a candidate for an open position (11:28)How remote work has impacted people’s relationships with their jobs (19:23)Dealing with the challenge of laying someone off (25:59)Resources:Johannes Leonardo websiteConnect with Bill:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

Small talk, fortuitous meetings at the water cooler, and human interaction face to face, in general, are an essential part of keeping a company's culture flowing and growing. On the other hand, companies forced by the circumstances to work remotely or in hybrid attendance models certainly struggle to find a way to recreate real-world interaction in virtuality and keep culture alive and relevant. Today, Elba Lozano D’Elia joins us to share her thoughts on how to build a thriving community and humanize the workplace from virtuality. Elba is the Group Director of People and Culture at Group M (Americas); she is a member of CHIEF, a private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. Throughout our conversation, we dive into Elba's passion for working with people and creating a culture that makes people feel happy and comfortable while enhancing their skills and increasing productivity. We talk about the aspects she pays attention to for ensuring a successful hire, the evolution of the people and culture function in companies, and the peak moments in her career that empowered her values. Elba kindly explained the relevance of instilling curiosity within an organization, the need for increasing empathy, and bringing people together in the workplace.Some Questions I Ask:Aside from skill, what are the critical aspects of a successful hire? (5:22)I'd like you to name a peak moment in your career that inspires your value of confidence (9:07)You're a member of CHIEF. Can you tell me a little about that? (13:07)In This Episode, You'll Learn:About the importance of collaboration and how to adjust to its multiple definitions (6:17)The importance of promoting curiosity within an organization (8:28)How working with people and culture makes her feel (11:07)Elba’s biggest struggles as a leader (11:57)How to enhance human interaction in a virtual workplace (19:38)The best way to promote inclusion and promote productivity (24:03)Resources:GroupM websiteConnect with Elba:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

Michelle Stevenson is joining us today to talk about communication and the power of active listening in marketing and PR, feminine empowerment, and solidarity. She is the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the Milken Institute and one of the founding members of Chief, a private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there.Michelle Stevenson started her career in the film industry. She was fascinated by the idea that a film is, in essence, a product ideated to reach as many people as possible. Then she transitioned to PR, where her passion (and talent) for building brands' stories took her to work with FleishmanHillard, Burson-Marsteller, and the HL Group. In this episode, we delve into Michelle's journey from majoring in Theatre at Northwestern University to the PR and agency world. We talk about the peak moments and the hardest challenges she faced throughout her career and the lessons she took from them. Michelle kindly described her sensations during her career transition, why she decided to join Chief and her work at The Giving Keys. Some Questions I Ask:When did you discover your passion for building brand recognition? (2:51)Name a peak moment in your career that inspires confidence in you (7:46)Tell us about a difficult challenge in your career and how you overcame it (14:19)In This Episode, You Will Learn:The power of active listening applied to marketing and PR (4:13)Pro tip: Speak to people the way they speak to each other (9:48)The massive impact of storytelling (13:51)Empowering our values by going to happy places in our minds (19:43)About the benefits of discovering our flexibility before getting too beat up (28:27)The importance of keeping our minds open and never stop learning (34:22)Resources:Milken Institute websiteConnect with Michelle:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

Being the "everything operations" person leading sustainable growth, putting "everything operations" teams together, and overseeing those teams throughout several mergers and acquisitions sounds, at minimum, a little bit overwhelming. However, our guest, Jason Cammorata, managed to do it his entire career and with impressive efficiency. Jason Cammorata was the SVP and Head of Global Operations at Stagwell Global. He has over ten years of experience in cross-functional leadership in highly successful private and public marketing and technology companies. Jason is an actively involved leader, passionate about growing, strengthening, optimizing, and scaling teams, systems, and processes. He is also a devoted husband and father and pet owner of a lovely cheagle. In this episode, we delve into Jason's activities as the "everything operations" person and his role in the several mergers and acquisitions he promoted and facilitated throughout his career. We discuss the importance of observing values when building teams, recognizing our blind spots, surrounding ourselves with diversity and excellence, and implementing the "field trip mentality" into our endeavors as team leaders.Some Questions I Ask:How did you come to call yourself the "everything operations" person? It sounds challenging and exciting (2:43)What do you love about what you do? (4:40)Give me a challenge that was just a disappointment; how did you manage it, and what did you learn from it? (6:57)In This Episode, You Will Learn:Jason shares one of his peak success stories (6:07)What Jason has learned about empathy and how has that helped throughout his career (11:16)About Jason's perfectionist tendencies and how that can hold us back in our lives (15:53)The better you know yourself, the better you can connect with others (18:50)How can "the field trip mentality" improve our relationships (23:40)Resources:Stagwell Global websiteBook: Richard Carlson - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It's All Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life.Connect with Jason:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

Project managers are essentially problem solvers; they undergo lots of stress as they carry big chunks of responsibility on their shoulders. On the other hand, they don't hold any authority, teams don't report directly to them, and they can't tell teams what to do; they can only facilitate them towards a common goal. This is why our guest, Mary Anne Powers, believes that project managers must play Jedi tricks to build trust among those teams or, as she put it: define the swim lanes and have transparency around. Mary Anne Powers is a Digital Pioneer and Strategic Business Leader specializing in operations, product development, and project management. Mary Anne thrives on solving complex business challenges, mentoring teams, and implementing processes and tools to help everyone focus on doing their best work. In this episode, we explore the project management world, guided by the experienced Mary Anne, who kindly shows us shortcuts, secrets, and gems of her craft. She unravels her "Yoda approach" to project management, how she inspires teams, and what she considers are the most significant modifications the pandemic generated in the industry. We also talk about the loss of personal connection and the role of flexibility in project management. Finally, Mary Anne shares her experiences during the dot-com boom when she bet on the internet, and everyone around her thought it was just a fad. Some Questions I Ask:What would you recommend to others in your profession to minimize stress and maximize efficiency? (2:25)What do you love about operations and project management? (3:44)Operations management requires constant juggling of priorities. What type of personality do you find fits best in that environment? And what values do you look for? (13:47)We're now living in a virtual work world, with many jobs being remote. How do you see that affecting operations management, especially in diverse cultures and international timezones? (15:44)In This Episode, You Will Learn:About the invisible hand of project management and operations work (3:53)What is project management really about (6:39)What happens when we force things into people (15:31)We are going through the great reprioritization era (20:31)Mary Anne talks about her mindset and convictions during the dot-com boom (20:58)New technologies are toddlers; they will make mistakes, but they will also evolve and eventually grow (22:45)Connect with Mary Ann:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter

As every company has its own flavor of nonsense, it is the management's responsibility first to pick the right team to do the job and, second, to remove all the noise from corporate politics so that team can focus on the important and not the urgent. Our guest, Mark Sanders, believes that his job as CFO is as simple as building a team of smart people, helping them set clear goals, and then just letting them do their job.Mark Sanders is the CFO at Linksys. He is an entrepreneurial and adaptive corporate leader with vast accounting and public company experience. Mark assessed and directed new tactics and KPIs to drive growth in product and service areas, promoted culture transformation, reorganized leadership teams, and led all financial aspects of successful client proposals for multiple Top 20 Us advertisers. He also developed alternative client revenue streams and served as agency executive lead and decision-maker in a relocation project to 3 World Trade Center of a 4,200 person and 700,000 square foot project.In this episode, our conversation spins around the idea of inspiring leadership, granting our teams freedom to create and act. We talk about the courage to jump into the unknown, the power of resilience to come back from mistakes and errors, and how being organized and setting clear expectations can determine a project's success. Mark also shared peak moments in his career and the uncomfortable feeling of making massive mistakes with the potential to cause devastating effects on his career and the company he was representing.Tune in and listen to episode 11 and learn about Mark's unique approach to management, team building, and how we can use curiosity as a powerful ally to grow and expand our leadership skills. Some Questions I Ask:Every leader has their own management style for success. What's yours? (2:20)What story can you share about a peak accomplishment in your career that inspires you? (4:04)What story can you share? That was a disappointment? And how did your resilience overcome it? (10:10)In This Episode, You Will Learn:Every company has its own flavor of nonsense. How should leaders deal with it (3:03)The courage needed to jump into the unknown (7:08)How being organized and helping people organize themselves helped Mark hugely during his career (20:35)Brilliant ideas are contextual. Although brilliancy is always welcomed, we must confirm those ideas fit our company's needs and context (21:41)About the power hidden in mastering patience (27:18)Mark shares some words of wisdom on how to build a successful career (30:27)Linksys Resources:websiteInstagramYouTubeTwitterConnect with Mark:LinkedInLet's Connect:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitter