Author Archives: Nick Westergaard

AI may be everywhere, but Brian Herr says the technology itself isn’t the competitive advantage. The real moat, he argues, is data, distribution, and trust. As founder and CEO of Starting Blocks and managing partner at HHI Advisory Group, Brian … Read More →

Leaders have more advice, tools, and resources than ever. So why are so many still overwhelmed? Don Gregori says we’ve been missing the bigger picture. He’s the COO of First Factory and author of The Emergent Leader, a book about … Read More →

What can happen in 30 seconds? For Linda Kaplan Thaler, quite a lot. She’s the creative force behind some of the advertising world’s most unforgettable ideas, from the Aflac duck to “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys … Read More →

It’s only fitting that in a summer where I began with a lesson from Jaws, I close the season with a lesson from another Steven Spielberg film. The catch? It’s not directed by Steven Spielberg. It’s not even produced by Steven Spielberg. … Read More →

Most conversations about AI focus on the technology. David Dean thinks we’re looking in the wrong place. In his new book, An Inbox Between Us: AI and the Reality of Modern Work, he argues that AI is acting like a … Read More →

What does it really take to turn expertise into influence? My guest this week has spent the last two decades answering that very question. Bill Sherman is the COO of Thought Leadership Leverage and co-author of the Thought Leadership Handbook. … Read More →

What if AI isn’t just changing marketing, but changing what a brand actually is? Melissa Jackson-Parsey has spent her career helping some of the world’s most recognizable organizations reinvent themselves at the intersection of strategy, creativity, technology, and experience. As … Read More →

What if the qualities we call “uncommon leadership” are actually the ones that should be ordinary? After leading at IBM, AT&T, Pitney Bowes, SuperValu, and Walmart through decades of transformation, Keith Wyche argues that the leaders who endure aren’t simply … Read More →

How do you go from producing Dirty Dancing to building the global Mortal Kombat franchise? Today’s guest, legendary producer Larry Kasanoff, has raised over a billion dollars by embracing what others call a little bit crazy. He has shaped the … Read More →

It’s the middle of the summer and the middle of this year’s WNBA season. As you know from my Unrivaled dispatch back in February, my wife and I are huge women’s basketball fans.