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

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Sylvie di Giusto, author of Discover Your Fair Advantage: Leverage Your Unique Selling Points and Human Potential for Work, Life, and Business.

Sylvie’s an international keynote speaker and expert in emotional intelligence, personal image, and leadership. 

And she’s the bestselling author of Discover Your Fair Advantage: Leverage Your Unique Selling Points and Human Potential for Work, Life, and Business.

Sylvie and I talk about her lessons to help you leverage all the right gifts and attributes that are unique to you so you can better stand out from the crowd.

Here’s what we discuss:

🎙️Why it’s important that you define what your first impression should be

🎙️How we can become more self-aware of the impression that we give

🎙️How to use other people’s biases to your advantage

🎙️Using the first five letters of the alphabet to influence how people perceive you

🎙️What your brand really is and how you can purposefully imprint it on other people

🎙️Distinguishing between fair and unfair advantages

🎙️How to take perceived weaknesses and turn them into fair advantages

🎙️Recognizing how your natural skill set can actually be your superpower

🎙️Defining the ideal way to communicate your fair advantage

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Sylvie's website
• Sylvie’s book - Discover Your Fair Advantage: Leverage Your Unique Selling Points and Human Potential for Work, Business, and Life
• Sylvie’s Fair Advantage Assessment
• Sylvie on LinkedIn

WHAT'S YOUR FUN FACT? Email me at matt@mattlyles.com with the subject #funfact

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Nancie McDonnell Ruder, author of How Senior Marketers Scale the Heights: What is Still True, More True, & Newly True.

Nancie’s an executive coach, a leadership advisor, a marketing consultant and the founder of Noetic Consultants where they help companies build their internal marketing strength – so that their external marketing efforts are more focused and more effective.

She’s an adjunct professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at Georgetown University.

And Nancie’s the bestselling author of How Senior Marketers Scale the Heights: What is Still True, More True, & Newly True. It’s now in its second edition!

Nancie and I discuss lessons from her research where she’s identified the qualities of senior marketers that help them make it to the top of their field.

Here’s what we discuss:

• How brands can strengthen themselves from the inside out
• How brands can get the insights they need from internal employees
• Delivering on the brand inside your organization creates engaged employees
• You can’t fix operational issues with better branding
• Why it’s actually valuable to be a “jack of all trades”
• Psychological safety is a key driver in an innovative culture
• Nancie’s “Art & Science Assessment” helps marketers understand their needed skills
• How to help your peers learn from your own trials and errors

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Noetic Consultants
• Nancie’s book - How Senior Marketers Scale the Heights: What is Still True, More True, & Newly True
• Nancie on LinkedIn
• Noetic Consultants brand health diagnostic

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Henna Pryor, author of Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You.

Henna’s a workplace performance expert, a global keynote speaker, and a two-time TEDx speaker. She's been featured in Forbes, Real Simple, Fast Company, and more. 

And Henna’s the author of Good Awkward. How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You. 

Henna and I discuss her lessons to help you become a better risk taker; to help you strengthen your mental muscles; and to help you be braver in moments when it really counts.

Here’s what we discuss:

• How embracing your awkwardness is good for your personal brand
• Why embracing your awkwardness is not just about being comfortable with discomfort
• How to reframe our mindsets around awkward situations
• How to build your social muscle for awkwardness tolerance
• Why a “bad idea brainstorm” is a good idea to implement in business meetings
• How role-playing and mock interviews actually reduce awkwardness
• Why embracing awkward moments is a strength vs. a weakness
• How to help your kids embrace their own awkwardness

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Henna's site
• Henna’s book - Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You
• Henna on LinkedIn
• Henna’s Good Awkward Spotify playlist

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Phil Mershon, author of Unforgettable: The Art and Science of Creating Memorable Experiences.

Phil’s the Director of Experience for Social Media Examiner where he's been designing and delivering amazing event experiences like Social Media Marketing World and the Social Media Success Summit for over a decade.

Drawing from over 25 years in creating customized events, Phil's a master at delivering and teaching others how to deliver memorable moments in transformational experiences.

Phil and I talk about how to create life-changing experiences that leave a lasting impact on your audience.

Here’s what we discuss:

🎙️How the acronym DRIED describes the 5 threats to executing a great event

🎙️How event planners can mitigate distractions and build in margin

🎙️How the concept of baking bread relates to planning events

🎙️How to use the customer journey to create peak moments that stand out

🎙️What emotions attendees should feel each moment of the event experience

🎙️How a toothbrush can create an unforgettable experience

🎙️What event planning and everyday customer experience have in common

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Phil's site
• Phil’s book - Unforgettable: The Art and Science of Creating Memorable Experiences
• Phil on LinkedIn

In this week’s episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Tiffani Bova, author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller - The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth.

Tiffani’s an international keynote speaker and the former global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce.

She’s been named twice as one of the top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She’s a regular contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review.

And she’s the host of the What's Next! With Tiffani Bova podcast.

Tiffani and I discuss the impact your brand has when you place an equal focus on both customer experience and employee experience.

Here’s what we discuss:

• How Tiffani defines “happy employees”
• The fastest way to get customers to love your brand is to get employees to love their job.
• How a focus on reducing customer effort has created the “CX Delimma” 
• The pandemic shined a light onto the lack of investment brands have made for employees
• What companies see when they place a simultaneous focus on CX and EX
• How to help your employees instill an experience mindset 
• How Best Buy was able to turn things around by placing an equal focus on CX and EX

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Tiffani's site
• Tiffani’s book - The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth
• Tiffani’s book - Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business
• Tiffani's podcast - What's Next! With Tiffani Bova
• Tiffani on LinkedIn