Shift Ahead With Allen Adamson

08/02/18 • 41 min

Women Worldwide with Deirdre Breakenridge

Today we are focusing on shifting ahead in business. Trying to stay ahead of your clients’ needs can seem like a never-ending feat. We are constantly watching, shifting, moving, and trying to remain relevant in the worlds of our customers. But, there are so many changes in technology and media, that we are seeing wide shifts in consumer behavior. So we have to be flexible and adaptable. Helping us tackle this issue so you don’t get stuck is Allen Adamson.Allen is a brand strategist and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Metaforce, a firm dedicated to helping businesses diagnose growth strategies and nimbly execute programs in the face of change and market evolution. Allen is also a co-author of the book Shift Ahead: How the Best Companies Stay Relevant In a Fast-Changing World, which we will be discussing here today!Stay tuned to learn more about the landscape of successfully shifting ahead, and hear some helpful case studies and some cautionary tales from Allen’s book!

In This Episode

About Allen
Case Studies
Competition and Disruption
Shifting Isn’t a No-Brainer
Diversifying Thought
Challenges in Business

Quotes in This Episode

“Stop being totally fixated on the competitors right in front of your nose, and zoom out, and see what's going on a little bit more to the left and right, and behind you, because typically categories get disruption, not from within, but from outside.” —Allen Adamson

“[Kodak] were so addicted to the phenomenal profitability of film, there would be no other business they could even invent that would come close to it. They were stuck, as well as many other companies, by the Golden Handcuffs.” —Allen Adamson

“There are many ways you can fall behind, there are not a lot of ways you can stay ahead, but you can start to eliminate some of the culprits.” —Allen Adamson

“Analysis paralysis is the other big one that in fact impacts most organizations because figuring out where to shift is never easy.” —Allen Adamson

“You need a leader that is comfortable with risk.” —Allen Adamson

Resources

Allen’s Twitter

Find out about Allen’s book HERE

Metaforce Website

In This Episode

About Allen
Case Studies
Competition and Disruption
Shifting Isn’t a No-Brainer
Diversifying Thought
Challenges in Business

Quotes in This Episode

“There are many ways you can fall behind, there are not a lot of ways you can stay ahead, but you can start to eliminate some of the culprits.” —Allen Adamson

“Analysis paralysis is the other big one that in fact impacts most organizations because figuring out where to shift is never easy.” —Allen Adamson

“You need a leader that is comfortable with risk.” —Allen Adamson

Resources

Allen’s Twitter

Find out about Allen’s book HERE

Metaforce Website

Previous Episode

The User-Generated Content Revolution with Analisa Goodin

Today we are focusing on advertising, digital marketing, and content. In this day and age–more than ever before–content is king! Social media and digital marketing have raised the bar on quality content creation, and the future of advertising now lives on an ever-growing online ecosystem. To help us better understand where the future of content creation and digital marketing lies, we’re speaking with Analisa Goodin.

Analisa Goodin is the CEO & Founder of Catch&Release, a technology-driven platform for sourcing and safely licensing authentic content found on the Internet. After a decade working with global brands in the advertising agency world, Analisa identified a specific pain point: the ability to find relevant, compelling content that could be quickly and safely licensed for commercial projects. Fueled by the ubiquity of the internet and social media, user-generated content (UGC) was something advertisers and brands began considering as viable creative content. That is why she founded Catch&Release in 2014.

Analisa will be sharing her journey from ideation, through pitching VCs, all the way to changing the advertising industry as we’ve known it. Stay tuned to learn more about the future of UGC and how Catch&Release is paving the way!

In This Episode

Analisa and Catch&Release
User-Generated Content
A Shifting Model
Mentorship is Key
Some Good Advice

Quotes in This Episode

“One of our thesis as a company is that this problem is best solved without a library, and it's kind of a radical idea because most other business models around licensing imagery up to now have all been around a library.” —Analisa Goodin

“We want to leave ourselves open and agnostic to any platform that has the right content for our client's briefs and needs. Today, Instagram is a massive part of our supply and we curate a lot from Instagram, but we're not limited there. In a year when other photo platforms and video platforms come out, we follow where those are.” —Analisa Goodin

“The technology that we're building is allowing us to identify licensable content and is allowing us to transact as quickly as possible–turning the internet into a stock house.” —Analisa Goodin

“We recognize that the industry is going to be increasingly reliant on technology to scale. There is not enough original production to service the size of the market. What's happening with the rise of digital is it's putting a lot of pressure on the production industry to create more content, but production is a very manual process.” —Analisa Goodin

”We recognize that what we're bringing to the table is new. There's never been anything like it before. But we believe that it's an inevitability. And that it's solving an inevitable need.” —Analisa Goodin

Resources

Analisa’s LinkedIn

Analisa and Catch&Release onInstagram

Catch&Release Official Website

Next Episode

Finding Your Courage as a Valuable Woman in the Workplace With Martine Liautaud

While the work of the pioneering and hardworking women who came before us has done so much for the women in business today, there is still a great deal of work to be done. It is incumbent upon us all to speak up and continue to make a difference in our own places of work and advance the cause of all women in the workplace. That is why today we are focusing on investment and gender equality in the workplace. Helping us tackle the cause for women’s equality in the workplace is the unshakeable Martine Liautaud.

Martine is one of the first ever female investment bankers in France. She is the Founder and President of the Women Initiative Foundation (WIF), and an international Financial Executive and Entrepreneur. Martine has been incredibly active advocating for and mentoring women in the business world, and her book, Breaking Through: Stories and Best Practices From Companies That Help Women Succeed, has reached an even wider audience of women around the world who have benefited from her mentorship.

Learn just how Martine is helping women find courage and confidence in the workplace. Stay tuned as Martine explains the importance of everyone getting involved in the fight, men, women, and even your CEO! Martine shares her own journey as a pioneer of women in investment banking in France and how her foundation (WIF) is doing work across the globe today.

In This Episode

Martine’s Career
Inequality in the Workplace
Martine’s Book
Martine’s Studies on Gender Equality
Dealing With Discrimination in the Workplace

Quotes in This Episode

“From the beginning of my career, I wanted to be an investment banker.” —Martine Liautaud “I became a commercial banker, and because I was a woman no one gave me customers.” —Martine Liautaud “It’s really important that men and women are mentors.” —Martine Liautaud

“Women are 50% of the population and 50% of the customers, so we cannot stay only with men at the top level. I think diversity is a richness.” —Martine Liautaud

“I don’t expect that you will have U.S. regulation on [family policy] I think it will be in fact the responsibility of the companies to develop that, to help women to have more flexibility in their work...” —Martine Liautaud

“For the companies, it is important to include men in the gender equality policies and the mentoring programs. But for that, we need to have strong support from the CEO.” —Martine Liautaud

Resources

Martine’s Twitter

WIF’s Twitter

The WIF Website

Martine’s Book