Episode 49: Being a more thoughtful leader with Chris McMahon

Chris McMahon may just be the most thoughtful human in advertising. Everything about him, from his presence and demeanor to the way he connects the dots between each facet of his life to develop and hone his approach to leadership, is inspiring and illuminating. Now, if you’ve spent more than a minute in advertising, you know that for every Chris, there at least a few (hundred) not Chris-es. One of the reasons I became a coach was to help folks find their inner-Chris. And you can get a head start on that work right now by listening to this episode of the DesuckifyWork™ podcast. Some Chris-isms that you’ll hear:🐱 Passion is sexy. Encouraging and making space for authentic passion and vulnerability is important for great creative work. Our best tool in this pursuit has been the creative team. We shouldn’t abandon it in the face of new tech and evolving roles. We should lean into it and fortify it.🐱 Being a swim coach makes you a better leader. You learn to meet people where they are, incrementally raising standards to help them grow into who they can be. 🐱 We are woefully inefficient at matching talent to open roles or projects. Case in point: LinkedIn “cattle calls.” They’re great for activating our biases and toying with creatives’ emotions, but terrible at actually finding the best person for the job. The fix? Agencies need to stop treating talent as overhead and start seeing it as an appreciating asset to nurture. We’ll continue to see our best and brightest leave the industry if we con’t fix this issue. I think Chris is a top talent and exactly the kind of creative leader we need more of. I think you’ll feel the same after taking a listen. You can follow Chris on LinkedIn. And check out his site at passionissexy.com. His work is delightfully silly and dare I say, thoughtful. Speaking of silly and thoughtful, you should check out my site and my Substack newsletter, where I take a lighthearted, cat-heavy look at leadership and personal development. Want some of that silly thoughtfulness all up in your face and s**t? Let’s set up a free half hour strategy session. If you enjoyed the episode, please like, share, rate, review, subscribe or consider becoming a billionaire, colonizing Mars, and making sure every space suit comes pre-equipped with the full catalog of this podcast playing on a loop.Bye, everyone!#desuckifyworkpodcast #desuckifywork #creativeleadership #thoughtfulleadership #executivecoaching #advertising #adagencies If you prefer to watch on YouTube, please click here. Get full access to DesuckifyWork® at tjbennett.substack.com/subscribe