Mauro Porcini is a widely known design thought leader, author, and first-ever Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo. He is also a presenter and judge on the TV shows New York by Design and America by Design on CBS and Amazon Prime Video. Mauro is from Italy, where he studied design in Milan and did his thesis on wearable technology with Philips Design. After opening and closing an agency with music artist Claudio Cecchetto, he spent 10 years at 3M, then was hired at PepsiCo as Chief Design Officer in 2012 to help them gain a competitive edge over their main competitors at Coke. In this role, he is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Sodastream, Doritos, and many other brands. He leads teams based in cities all over the world, including but not limited to New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Moscow, New Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Cape Town. 

On the show today, Alan and Mauro talk about what it means to be a Chief Design Officer and how the role came about at PepsiCo. They also talk about the scope of design in an organization like Pepsico today, how design manifests in the work they do, and some examples of the type of work he is doing. Mauro tells us design is not about working with an outside agency; it is about the culture around everything in your company, from finance to branding to shipping and everything in between. PepsiCo realized they needed an outsider who could design their culture and found the perfect candidate in Mauro, who brought the five phases of design culture to their organization. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• What advice from Steve Jobs inspired PepsiCo to create the Chief Design Officer role? 
• The five phases of redesigning culture 
• What has changed over the past 15 years that is completely changing the business world? 
• Three recent design examples to highlight three business goals

Key Highlights:

• [02:20] Shoes as a source of love and pain (and business)
• [05:50] How Mauro learned about innovation and timing
• [10:45] Why PepsiCo created the Chief Design Officer position 
• [24:24] Being understanding but still calling out bad behavior 
• [25:30] How does design manifest at PepsiCo?
• [33:15] Innovation is not just about a great idea; it's about being able to take it to market. 
• [36:10] 3 recent design examples to highlight 3 business goals 
• [41:30] Pushing businesses forward through design rather than innovation 
• [44:00] There are two different types of projects. 
• [46:20] Divorce, depression, and the importance of a community that cares
• [51:20] The barriers to entry are changing, and we need to change with them.

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On the show today, Alan and Michelle talk about her career journey, the ETS rebrand, the uniqueness of her current role, and why more organizations should be thinking of a similar structure at the leadership level. ETS's focus on people and mission of driving human progress forward is what drew Michelle to the company. As Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, she is responsible for internal and external communications, customer insights and analytics, branding and marketing, e-commerce, philanthropic impact, global demand generation, and product innovation and development. 

Michelle Froah is currently the Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at ETS, but when she was younger, she had aspirations to become an astronaut. While that dream never came to fruition, it did lead her to study mechanical engineering, which unexpectedly shaped her into the perfect person for the complex role she has now. Michelle started her career at Procter & Gamble, where she learned problem-solving under pressure and the value of a well-managed team. She then moved to Singapore and became the Asia Pacific Regional CMO for Kimberly Clark, where she developed a global perspective and understanding of local execution. She then founded Brandable before moving on to Samsung and serving as SVP of Global Brand and Marketing at MetLife before joining ETS in 2023, where she is focusing on transforming it into an organization that empowers human progress. 

As ETS enters a new category of future readiness, the CMO role itself is changing as well. While it is still about marketing, it is also about sorting through insights, perspectives, and growth strategies to apply them most effectively, which is where the innovation title comes in. Michelle's combination role allows her to work with all of their partners to serve customers in new ways and communicate that ETS is delivering real-time insights and solutions to help people enhance their skills. Michelle wraps up by talking about how her time as an engineer unexpectedly shaped her as a leader, team member, and well-rounded marketer, how shared goals empower marketers to tackle increased complexity and help the consumer win, how data can improve personalization, and the ways consumers benefit by melding marketing and innovation leadership roles.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How being trained as an engineer made Michelle a more well-rounded marketer
• Why ETS decided to rebrand and how they are launching it 
• How ETS has been using AI for 20+ years and how they are evolving with the landscape

Key Highlights:

• [01:50] Always looking for the road less traveled by
• [03:45] What drew Michelle to ETS, and what does she do there?
• [05:30] It all comes together over time.
• [08:00] Michelle’s career path: a global perspective and local execution
• [10:30] CMOs trained as engineers are just built differently.
• [13:10] What is ETS up to today?
• [15:30] Skills needed to be effective in the future
• [17:00] The future of CMO innovation 
• [19:55] The AI portion of the show
• [25:20] Rebranding: why and how
• [30:30] Characterizing the new brand promise
• [33:15] The importance of her time as an engineer
• [36:10] Advice to her younger self 
• [37:10] The increased complexity of marketing 
• [39:10] Personalization supported by data
• [42:05] Thinking about how marketing and innovation can meld to improve customer outcomes

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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In this episode, Alan and Jessica talk about Bubble Goods, who it serves, and how they are helping emerging food brands and unique consumers alike. 

Jessica Young is a fan of Fufu and the founder and CEO of Bubble Goods. With 10+ years in the food and wellness industry, Jessica saw a gap in the market: food brands were innovating (specifically in the health foods sector), but they didn’t have the digital know-how or right platform to launch and scale on. It was becoming harder and harder for these brands to get onto Whole Foods, launch and scale within Amazon, and drive customers into their singular e-commerce channels. Jessica saw an opportunity to launch something similar to what Etsy has done in the handmade goods space by creating and curating a marketplace for innovative, truly strict-label, independent food brands. When she was starting her career, she didn't intend to enter the food industry, but her passion for cooking triggered an evolution that led her to it, and she never looked back. After going to culinary school, she worked as a chef in NYC in Michelin-starred restaurants for a while before she became burned out and began exploring the online food space. She transitioned to the food startup scene in 2013 and eventually became the first employee and Head of Product and Operations for Daily Harvest in 2015 before launching Bubble Goods in 2019.

Bubble Goods is a drop-ship marketplace that curates brands for their users and gives small independent food and beverage brands the ability to market nationally. Jessica tells us they have a strict vetting process to make sure they are only delivering the best to their customers, but there is no order minimum so they can remain start-up friendly and keep their finger on the pulse of emerging trends. Bubble Goods has two main groups of customers: one is interested in discovering innovative foods, and the other is searching for foods that adhere to lifestyle and dietary restrictions. Bubble Goods prides itself on being low-lift and high-impact for the brands it partners with, and for many of its brands, Bubble Goods is their first retailer. To help brands succeed, Jessica and her team work hard to be good partners by putting brands in front of the right customers and giving them resources when they onboard for everything from legal resources to marketing partners. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• What inspired Jessica to start Bubble Goods?
• What benefits do brands get when they partner with Bubble Goods? 
• Who is the target consumer, and how are they targeted? 

Key Highlights:

• [02:00] The first professionally trained chef on the show
• [03:40] Fufu is having a moment.
• [06:15] Bubble Goods: what they do and who they serve
• [08:00] Who is buying from Bubble Goods? 
• [10:00] Bubble Goods role in helping newer brands 
• [11:30] The importance of transparency
• [15:10] Who is making the food, and does it matter?
• [17:30] How marketers should leverage Bubble Goods
• [19:20] What is coming next?
• [20:15] Lessons from the kitchen 
• [22:30] Advice to her younger self 
• [24:30] New-school and old-school tactics
• [26:00] Snaxshot and CPGD
• [26:45] The AI portion of the show

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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In this episode, Alan and Jessica talk about the evolution of Calendly from serving solopreneurs to enterprise organizations, the success factors that have made that shift possible, how she thinks about the RIO and effectiveness of marketing spend, and balancing the need to drive results and be creative through “creative destruction.”. 

Jessica Gilmartin is an amateur baker, an ex-yogurt mogul, and the new Chief Revenue Officer at the scheduling automation platform Calendly. She took her first marketing job at Dell, which prompted a move to the Bay Area, where she also started and sold a chain of yogurt stores. Before joining Calendly in 2023, Jessica was Head of Revenue Marketing at Asana and had also served as CMO of three high-growth, venture-backed startups, building their global enterprise marketing engines during rapid growth periods. 

Calendly started with a basic scheduling link for individuals, but business users needed more team features, and enterprise users needed more admin and security features, so the product grew to meet those needs. Jessica tells us they are building for scale but are sure to never lose sight of the individual user's success. Her team is focused on how to tell a complete story with comprehensive features while maintaining simplicity in the product and the messaging.

To do that, Jessica and her team have to experiment. Marketing changes all the time, and what worked then will not work now, so marketers have to be creative to drive results. She refers to this as “creative destruction” and encourages her team to make 70–80% of what they are doing every quarter new. However, to make this work, her team must trust that failing is not career-ending as long as they learn from it. Jessica also outlines how her approach to segmenting and communicating expectations around marketing spend facilitates experimentation. AI is a place where many companies are experimenting. However, within their product, the Calendly team sees a huge amount of opportunities they are pursuing, but they are taking a measured approach to keep their users' interests top of mind.

Alan and Jessica wrap up by talking about accepting and embracing hard feedback, the importance of listening to her gut feelings, why markets have to learn sales, and the shifts coming from the consumerization of B2B tech. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• How Calendly developed through user feedback
• What “creative destruction” is and the culture needed to make it work 
• How Jessica segments out her budget to maximize RIO and the effectiveness 

Key Highlights:

• [01:55] A love of baking born out of necessity 
• [03:10] From investment banker to CMO
• [04:40] Wait… a yogurt shop?
• [06:20] Where Calendly started and where they are now
• [08:00] Comprehensive solutions rooted in simplicity
• [09:20] Success factors for shifting from serving one to many
• [11:00] ROI and effectiveness of marketing
• [14:00] Fulfill your commitments and build trust to get more wiggle room. 
• [14:45] Balancing the need to drive results and be creative 
• [17:10] The AI portion of the show is a little different this time.
• [19:45] How Calendly is using AI
• [21:30] Learning to accept and embrace really hard feedback
• [24:25] Advice to her younger self
• [25:20] Advice to other marketers 
• [26:05] Trends and subcultures
• [26:45] Marketers basically have to be magicians

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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Jacqueline Woods is the Chief Marketing Officer for Teradata, the cloud analytics and data platform for AI, headquartered in San Diego, California. Jacqueline joined Teradata from NielsenIQ, where she was a member of the executive leadership team and Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. She also spent nearly 10 years as CMO of the IBM Global Partner Ecosystem Division, where she focused on building cloud, data, AI, and SaaS strategies. Before that, she was Global Head of Customer Segmentation & Customer Experience at General Electric and also held roles of increasing responsibility at Oracle for 10 years, as well as leadership roles at Ameritech and GTE, now Verizon. Thankfully, Jacqueline has always loved math, because, as she points out, marketing today is based mostly on data. However, she also emphasizes the importance of empathy and notes that it is essential in creating a space where people can be authentic and drive innovation, productivity, and product design.

In this episode, Alan and Jacqueline talk about where trust fits into the AI conversation, what leaders need to know before launching an AI initiative, and how AI can boost efficiency and productivity. Jacqueline also tells us why underrepresented people, like black female business leaders, need to be involved in AI as it evolves. 

While AI has been around for a while, it became all the rage at the end of 2022 with public access to tools like ChatGPT. AI is based on patterns, some factual and some non-factual. So that poses the question: how do we trust AI? 

That's where Teradata comes in. By having responsible people create the models, take responsibility, and think critically about the training, governance, and outcomes, Teradata is focused on building the trust required to use artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, and large language models for their “global 10,000” clientele, like American Airlines and United Healthcare. These companies rely on Teradata for their cloud data and analytics workloads. Teradata has been stewards of trusted information and data since they were founded about 40 years ago, and they believe people thrive when empowered with better and entrusted information.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• Why is empathy important for marketers?
• The importance of clean data 
• Why do underrepresented people have to participate in the evolution of AI?

Our Sponsor:

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Key Highlights:

• [02:10] What is empathy?
• [03:45] Why marketers need empathy 
• [07:00] How a love of math led her to marketing 
• [10:30] Her path to Teradata
• [19:00] How can business leaders ensure AI can be trusted?
• [21:50] What to do before launching an AI initiative?
• [26:45] Remaining authentic using AI
• [30:20] Creative AI use cases as workforce multipliers
• [33:00] Why underrepresented groups need to participate in AI 
• [36:20] What we can all learn from Moe
• [41:45] “Of course it’s Ai!”
• [42:10] Watching the shifting nature of work
• [44:40] Can you explain what marketing does and why it’s important?

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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In this episode, Alan and Robin discuss his path from Wall Street to citizenM, their focus on affordable luxury, the innovations they are bringing to the hospitality industry, and who they are working to serve. Robin also tells us about their unique citizensOf campaign and how it is helping them integrate into communities, as well as their partnership with World Bicycle Relief and how they encourage their guests to participate in impactful ESG initiatives. 

Robin Chadha is the Amsterdam-based Chief Marketing Officer of citizenM, where he leads the Brand & Communications team. Robin is half Indian, half Dutch, and was educated in American schools his entire life, giving him a deep understanding and appreciation for different cultures from a young age. He spent his first year after graduation on the floor of the NYSE and did another year in the offices, but knew it wasn't the place for him. He made the move into fashion by joining Tommy Hilfiger in New York, where he fell in love with the industry. He then moved back to the Netherlands to join his father's fashion company, Mexx, but left shortly after it was sold to Liz Claiborne. In 2005, Robin entered hospitality by launching Rain, a unique design-led food and drink experience venue in Amsterdam. Robin has always had a passion for travel, so he sold Rain in 2008 to join the budding citizenM team, where he has since been responsible for growing citizenM into the worldwide, distinctly recognizable hotel and lifestyle brand it is today.

citizenM was founded by Robin's father, Rattan Chadha, and opened its first hotel at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in 2008. When Rattan ran Mexx, he saw his designers traveling the world unable to find affordable luxury hotels to stay in, so they became the pioneers in affordable luxury with a focus on emotional connections, efficiencies, and experiences. Today, citizenM owns and operates 30 hotels in most major cities across the world. They focus on Bleisure travelers that are blending business and leisure, leverage their citizenOf campaign to overcome issues when integrating into new cities, and maintain impressive ESG and charity initiatives to encourage their guests to improve the world citizenM is helping them experience. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The market gap citizenM was created to fill, and what a Bleisure Traveler is 
• How citizenM inspires their guests to participate in ESG and charitable giving initiatives 
• The creative citizenOf campaigns being used to launch new locations 

Our Sponsor:

Download Emailtooltester’s free comparison spreadsheet to find the best email marketing service for your business.

Key Highlights:

• [01:50] Polar opposites in travel, from Thailand to Dubai
• [03:40] From Wall Street, to fashion, to founder, to here
• [08:50] The idea behind citizenM Hotels
• [11:55] daring to disrupt and gain ground 
• [14:45] 4 pillars it’s all built on 
• [16:30] What is “Bleisure”?
• [19:05] citizensOf Campaign 
• [26:15] citizenMovement initiative 
• [30:40] The impact of growing up in three distinct cultures 
• [33:30] What AI cannot do and what we do with data
• [35:10] Art and fashion trends 

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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In this episode, Alan and Andy discuss his path to creating Circle, how to build community, best practices and takeaways for community builders, how to build a great member experience, how to find the right members for your community, and much more!

Andy Guttormsen is the co-founder and chief revenue officer of Circle, an all-in-one community platform for professional creators and brands. He started his career on Wall Street, but quickly found that it wasn't the place for him. He attempted to start a couple of ultimately unsuccessful companies before he made his way to Teachable, where he had the idea for Circle and met his co-founder. Circle has community building down to a science, and they are kind enough to compile and share that science with us in their Community Benchmark Report. 

To generate this report, Circle sent out a survey to their 10,000 customers, gathered their internal product data, and put together a report on premium “Platinum Communities” to identify how they differ from other communities. The full report is available online, but Andy outlines some of the key takeaways and best practices from those platinum communities that we can use to build our own strong communities, from encouraging member interaction to designing valuable signature gatherings. However, none of these community engagement strategies work without high-quality members in the community. Thankfully, Andy also shares tips and tricks from great community builders he has seen succeed in growing their membership base. No matter the membership numbers, each community has value, but for businesses, that value will look different based on their goals. Andy gives us several examples of what can make a community valuable to a business and how to identify and increase that unique value. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Andy’s first founder attempt failed, and why Circle was different
• The idea behind Circle and how it came to be
• Best practices and key takeaways from the Circle Community Benchmark Report 
• How to find the right members for your community and build a great member experience 

Our Sponsor:

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Key Highlights:

• [01:45] Why does Andy prioritize daily walks?
• [04:35] His path from Wall Street to co-founding Circle
• [10:30] Alan is in the Circle too.
• [12:05] Key takeaways from the Benchmark Report 
• [14:40] What can we learn from Dr. Becky?
• [16:23] Examples of communities providing transformation for members 
• [19:00] Circle vs. The Other Guys 
• [22:40] What is a Signature Gathering?  
• [25:50] Get in the Hot Seat!
• [27:30] Growing and finding the right members for your community
• [31:55] The value of community to a business
• [34:35] Valuable lessons learned through failure 
• [36:25] What would he have done differently? 
• [38:45] Adding predictability to the business 
• [41:00] More creatives. More side hustles.
• [42:50] The AI portion of the show: bad copywriters beware

Looking for more?

Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest!

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Lee Thompson is the co-founder and CMO of Flash Pack, a travel brand dedicated to small group adventures rooted in friendship that he founded with his now wife and CEO, Radha Vyas. Lee’s career merged with his passion for adventure as a self-employed photojournalist. He met Radha on a chance first date between gigs, and they immediately started planning what became Flash Pack. By 2016, they were married, had both quit their jobs, and were starting their new adventure as business owners. Initially, they successfully bootstrapped their business, but COVID and closed borders had other ideas. The pandemic was in full swing, they had a one-year-old baby, all of their investors wanted refunds, and by November 2020, they had filed for bankruptcy and lost everything. Thanks to teamwork, creative problem-solving, and dedication, Lee and Radha were able to relaunch in November 2021 and are in a better place today than ever before. Now, he is using the storytelling skills he learned through photojournalism to tell the story of Flash Pack, a story of friendship.

In this episode, Alan and Lee discuss who Flash Pack is for, the unique experiences they offer their customers, and why they are all in on marketing friendship. Flash Pack is a London-based start-up, but with a large American user base, they are beginning the transition to become a US-based company with several existing US-based employees and an upcoming family move to the States. They have over 75 employees in 12 different countries, and revenue is higher than it ever was pre-pandemic. Lee says business is booming due to an increase in loneliness and awareness of the damage it can do. That is why all Flash Pack marketing is centered around friendship forged through adventure.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Lee’s photojournalism skills serve him as a CMO
• The solo travel market and why Flash Pack marketing is all friendship-based
• What Lee has learned from failure and predicts for the future of marketing

Key Highlights:

• [01:45] Historic adventures in photojournalism
• [04:40] The art of storytelling through photos and marketing efforts
• [05:25] From the first date to founding a company
• [07:40] Building a life together is the greatest adventure.
• [09:00] What is a Flash Pack?
• [11:35] Everything was great until COVID hit.
• [15:45] Starting a Business: Part 2
• [18:40] The market for solo travel
• [21:00] Friendship forged through adventure
• [21:55] Flash Pack across the Pond
• [23:55] Generating buzz about friendship on the streets of New York
• [27:15] The next big thing to target is isolation on the streets of New York.
• [28:55] Learning how to fail early on
• [30:00] Advice to his younger self
• [32:05] Marketing is not just the marketer's job.
• [34:20] User-generated content
• [35:55] The opportunity for diversity and the threat of getting lazy

Looking for more?

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Kelly Cook does it all! She is a mother of five who plays the drums AND serves as President of Marketing, IT, and Finance at David’s Bridal. Her love of learning and trying new things can be seen in her impressive and varied work history. From Continental Airlines, to Waste Management, Inc. to DSW, Pier One, Sears, Kmart, and now David’s Bridal, Kelly tells us she learned a lot about herself and her craft by challenging herself in new industries and encourages other marketers to try the same.

In this episode, Alan and Kelly discuss her unique role combining brand, tech, and finance and what those three aspects may mean for the future of brand experiences at retailers. Kelly also tells us how David’s Bridal views their role in the wedding planning process, as well as how their unique omnichannel approach and crowdfunded loyalty programs help them connect with brides on a deeper level.

David’s Bridal sells 1 out of every 4 bridal gowns in the US, so they know brides, and they know brides are stressed out. That is why David’s Bridal is on a mission to make every step of the process as easy as possible, expand its scope to fill gaps in the market, add more value for its brides, and help them keep costs down. It was the creativity of the brides they serve and the dedication of their employees through COVID that inspired David’s Bridal's new “The Things We Do for Love” campaign. Even with the rise of AI, automation, and neuromarketing, Kelly and her team at David’s Bridal know the in-store human connection is a part of their business that will never be replaced.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How is David’s Bridal blending brand, technology, and finance to prepare for the future of retail brand experiences?
• How do they structure their unique omnichannel approach and crowdfunded loyalty programs?
• What inspired the “The Things We Do for Love” campaign?

Key Highlights:

• [02:00] A mom of five on the drums
• [03:10] Her start and the stops along the way
• [04:05] Growing intellectually by switching industries
• [05:55] Brand, and technology, and finance, oh my!
• [07:35] David’s Bridal market share and value prop
• [10:20] Keeping wedding costs down
• [11:25] The omnichannel approach to being there when brides need them
• [14:40] A loyalty program? Like, for repeat weddings?
• [19:05] “The Things We Do for Love."
• [24:40] Mentorship in prioritization, communication, and paying it forward
• [31:05] Advice to her younger self
• [33:05] How to not lose humanity in technology
• [35:35] Brand-on-brand social interactions
• [37:30] We are often our own worst enemies.

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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Regina Lawless is an inspiration. She is a recent empty nester, founder of Bossy & Blissful, a community for black women executives and business owners, and author of Do You: A Journey of Success, Loss and Learning to Live a More MeaningFULL Life.

After graduating with her BA in communications from California State University-Sacramento, Regina got her first job in human resources at Target. After about 8 years in retail HR, she did a stint in banking, then moved to the airline industry, and in 2016 she pivoted to tech. This led her to Meta, where in 2020 she became the head of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at Instagram. About 6 months into that role, her husband of 21 years, Al, passed away unexpectedly. This life-changing loss set her on a journey of healing and rediscovery inspired by her late husband’s last text message to her: “Do you, babe. Don’t worry about anything else.”

Through that journey, she realized that she had learned some lessons the hard way that could really help others. So, in 2023, she left corporate America, launched the community she was looking for, Bossy & Blissful, and wrote her first book that outlines a five-part framework she has developed to help you live a “MeaningFULL Life".

In this episode, Alan and Regina discuss why she wrote the book, what she hopes people get out of it, the state of DEI today, and what life is like on the other side of corporate America. Regina also talks about how her childhood impacts the work she is doing today, the double-edged knife of constant connectivity without real community, the way Gen Z is rolling back the clock, and what the loneliness epidemic could mean for employers. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How the death of her husband changed everything in Regina’s life
• Practical ways to navigate grief and start finding yourself again
• What the loneliness epidemic could mean for employers

Key Highlights:

• [01:55] Thriving as a new empty nester
• [03:15] Regina path
• [05:05] What inspired “Do You”?
• [06:25] Tips for grieving
• [09:10] How do you “do you”?
• [12:50] Navigating fear around making the leap
• [16:50] What’s it like to leave corporate America?
• [20:50] The current state of DEI
• [25:05] From NoCal to the Burbs
• [29:00] Don’t be afraid to “do you."
• [30:30] The AI portion of the show
• [31:40] Back to flip phones!
• [34:15] The loneliness epidemic

Looking for more?

Visit our website for the full show notes, links to resources mentioned in this episode, and ways to connect with the guest!

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Paul Stonick is a punk. Like, an “opened for Red Hot Chili Peppers before they were cool” kind of punk. He started in web design in the mid-90s, then pivoted to UX in 2012. With 18 years in e-commerce, fashion, beauty, home improvement, and automotive, as well as 15 years in executive design leadership roles, he has over two decades of “tra-digital” experience in brand creative, visual, and UX design. Now, in the third act of his career as Vice President of SCADpro at Savannah College of Art and Design, Paul tells us it's the opportunity to develop the next generation of design leaders as they work to integrate design innovation and overcome old-school obstructionism that inspires him. 

Savannah College of Art and Design is not an art school. They are a creative university, preparing students for their creative professions. SCAD was founded in 1978, and today they have over 17,500 students, over 100 different majors and minors, and a 99% rate of employment after graduation. SCADpro, Paul's department, is the university's collaborative innovation studio. He tells us they sit at the intersection of art design and business by generating business solutions for the world's most influential brands, like Google, Amazon, Apple, NASA, Delta, BMW, Volvo, Uber, Mayo Clinic, The Home Depot, P&G, and Chick-fil-A.

In this episode, Alan and Paul discuss the new book he contributed to, his early brushes with punk royalty, and what makes Savannah College of Art and Design more than just an “art school." They talk about what SCADpro is doing, some of the partnerships they have developed, and what type of work they have done to date. Paul also tells us why design has to be integrated into the top ranks of businesses, what he is teaching students about navigating corporate obstruction and finding like-minded people, and how the punks are taking over corporate America.

“Some of my greatest work will never appear in my portfolio.”

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Savannah College of Art and Design is NOT just an “art school”
• The Chick-fil-A drive-through and other SCADpro projects
• How the punks are taking over corporate America

Key Highlights:

• [02:20] A lover of music, maybe even INXS
• [03:40] Opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers?! 
• [05:15] From Anthony Kiedis to the next generation of design leaders
• [07:20] Savannah College of Art and Design is not an art school.
• [08:00] SCADpro: the university's collaborative innovation studio
• [09:00] The BDR side of SCADpro
• [09:45] Love the Chick-fil-A drive-through? Thank SCADpro!
• [12:10] “Innovation” is being abused.
• [13:25] Show the math!
• [15:05] Navigating corporate obstruction and finding like-minded people
• [18:05] Punks and Pinstripes 
• [21:40] Be unconventional
• [23:45] “The data will set you free.”
• [24:50] It’s all about the Gen Z mindset.
• [25:45] No, really, it’s all about the Gen Z mindset (and AI).

Looking for more?

Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest!

Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.