In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Chris Wallace.

Chris is the co-founder and president of InnerView Group - a brand consultancy that helps organizations improve alignment between their frontline teams and their go-to-market strategies.

Chris and I chat about how to create a more collaborative relationship with your frontline team and how to get your frontline to care more about your brand.

Here’s what we discuss:

• How to move a vision from the C-suite to the frontline team
• Why spoon-feeding the frontline is not a bad thing
• Why “asking” is a much better strategy than “telling”
• How to create evangelists in your frontline employees
• How to put your customer insight into action
• Why influencing your frontline workers is the best way to influence the customer
• How your frontline employees double as your customers’ best consultants
• How customer and employee experience tie to your company’s overall brand and culture
• How to balance digital experiences with the human touch of the frontline 

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Chris's website
• A Guide to Frontline Insights - eBook
• Chris on LinkedIn

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Derrick Daye.

Derrick is the managing partner of The Blake Project, a strategic brand consultancy that helps businesses gain an emotional advantage, a distinctive advantage, and a connective advantage, moving them from brand awareness to brand insistence.

He’s the founder of Branding Strategy Insider - an online publication to help marketing-oriented leaders and professionals build strong brands.

Derrick and I discuss what goes into building a lasting brand that connects with customers and keeps them for the long term.

Here’s what we discuss:

• How brand strategy has evolved vs. what has stayed the same
• The best definition of a brand
• How to tie brand and business strategy together when starting a brand
• How branding and customer experience relate
• The best way to build a brand
• How to create a strong emotional connection with your customers
• Why storytelling is key to the brand conversation

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Derrick's website
• Derek's publication - Branding Strategy Insider
• Derrick on LinkedIn

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Karin Hurt, author of Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates.

Karin is the founder of Let’s Grow Leaders, a training firm focused on helping human-centered leaders find clarity in uncertainty, drive innovation, and achieve breakthrough results - without losing their humanity.

She’s an international keynote speaker. In fact, Inc. Magazine says she’s one of the top 100 leadership speakers.

And Karin’s the bestselling author of four books including Courageous Cultures. 

Karin and I discuss her lessons to help you create a courageous culture that shares new ideas, proactively solves problems, and generates contributions from all levels.

Here’s what we discuss:

• What holds employees back from speaking up and sharing ideas
• Why telling your employees you have an “open door” policy isn’t enough
• Why creating clarity helps generate better ideas
• Setting constraints helps employees feel less intimidated to share ideas
• Steps for building a courageous culture
• Karin’s IDEA model helps you effectively frame and pitch new ideas
• The concept of micro-innovations helps everyone realize that they’re innovative
• How to influence a courageous culture in both your team and your leadership

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Karin's website
• Karin's book - Courageous Cultures
• Karin on LinkedIn