Shea Murtaugh on Leading Through Change

Shea Murtaugh on Building a Resilient Marketing Agency, Leading Through Change, and Using AI as a Strategic AdvantageShea Murtaugh, founder of a nationally recognized integrated marketing agency launched in 2004 after leaving broadcast sales, reflects on her blue-collar upbringing, early “C student” years, and the commission-sales mindset that gave her confidence to go all-in as an entrepreneur. She describes major setbacks—an employee taking clients, steep revenue drops, resigning a largest client during COVID—while emphasizing resilience as showing up “the next morning,” and credits long-term client retention to chemistry, trust, measurement, and preparing clients for change. Murtaugh explains her shift from doer to CEO by hiring experts, joining Women Presidents Organization, and building a business that can run without her, while sustaining a virtual, 40-hour work culture with strong perks. She sees AI as the biggest industry shift, boosting output, changing pricing models, and driving new initiatives like Leap Shift AI and an LLM-agnostic tool to automate reporting and free teams for strategy.00:00 Meet Shea Murtaugh00:43 Formative Years02:44 Taking the Leap06:19 Resilience Lessons09:06 Keeping Clients Long Term10:25 From Doer to CEO13:07 Choosing the Right Clients15:12 AI Changes Everything17:32 Teaching AI Adoption20:54 Building Ada Tool24:19 Future of Media Marketing29:59 Brand Niches and Giants32:40 Ads Everywhere Now33:51 Targeted Ads Tradeoff35:42 Defining Real Success37:52 Never Selling The Business40:43 Rethinking Work Life Balance43:14 Leadership Style Evolution45:29 Life Experiences That Shaped Her49:05 Equality Beyond ESG Talk50:36 Self Care As A Founder54:18 Scaling Up With AI56:43 Advice For Young Entrepreneurshttps://hoffmannmurtaugh.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoffmannmurtaugh/https://www.instagram.com/hoffmannmurtaugh/https://www.tiktok.com/@hoffmannmurtaugh?https://www.facebook.com/HoffmannMurtaugh/https://twitter.com/HMurtaugh?lang=enhttps://www.pinterest.com/hoffmannmurtaugh