FULL TRANSCRIPT

Gordon Sheppard:Did you know that 86% of employees across North America are simply not engaged when they go to work? As a leader, would you like to learn how to turn that around? Well, then stick around for today’s episode on the Meeting Leadership Podcast because we’ve got branding expert, James Morrissey, and he’s going to bring all of the things that you can do for internal and external communications to light so that you can actually transform your company culture.

                Are you a professional who wants to become a more effective leader? Then get ready for practical tips from the coach with the experience and inspiration to help you succeed in any leadership situation. You’re listening to the Meeting Leadership Podcast with Gordon Sheppard.

             Welcome to another episode of the Meeting Leadership Podcast. My name is Gordon Sheppard and I just want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for agreeing with the basic philosophy of this show and that’s this, “In order to be a great leader, you have to know how to run a great meeting and in order to run a great meeting, you have to know how to be a great leader.” And that’s why on the podcast here we bring on outstanding guests to help you learn about your leadership at a different level in terms of all the areas that they bring in their expertise from.

            We bring in sort of the practical tips that you need to be a better facilitator, create better agendas, and in our archives here, it’s a powerful resource that you can go back and draw from day in and day out to not only improve your meetings, but you know when you do that and you connect them to your strategy that that will actually help to build your entire organization and lead through to actually helping you to serve your customers and your community at the highest possible level.

                It is great to have you here. And I’m also proud to say that this episode of the Meeting Leadership Podcast is brought to you by the Meeting Leadership Academy.

               Now if you and your team are struggling with meetings and you know they could be better and you know if you invested in making them better, it will really have an impact not only on yourself but on your entire team, well then check out the Meeting Leadership Academy by going to meetingleadershipinc.com/academy.

              And now I am really excited to introduce today’s show. It’s called How Inspired Branding Can Grow Your Organization. And we’ve got guest expert James Morrissey on the show. And when it comes to real transformational branding, James has earned his stripes. He’s got over 25 years of experience. He’s led large institutional changes in terms of branding. He’s also led the Met Agency where he’s the principal. He’s been doing that for over 15 years.

                And way more important than the things that I’m listing from his bio is the factthat James has a groundbreaking attitude. He’s not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to helping his clients go as far they can. I mean this interview goes way beyond a leader going into work with the Met Agency and saying, “We need a logo.” because James wants to make sure that he pushes the edge. He takes people to a place where they have to consider all aspects really thoroughly whether that comes to internal communication and external communication. And when the whole package goes together, I think that is the most responsible way to help any organization to thrive.

               And the final thing I’ll have to mention about James and why you definitely know this is going to be a great interview is that he’s from Montreal just like me. And with that in mind, I’m not going to hold you back any longer. Here’s the insightful interview with James Morrissey.

James, welcome to the show.

James Morrissey:Thank you.

Gordon Sheppard:It’s really great to have you here because I know in the time that I’ve spent with you, what strikes me is the high integrity that you bring to this sort of overall kind of branding and help that you bring to your clients and to the world. And there’s something I picked out of the mission statement on the Met Agency website and it’s this one. There it says, “Our mission is to help you achieve your mission.” And having again spent time with you, I know that’s exactly what you do with clients of all sizes.

                So I really appreciate you taking the time to be here. There’s got to be a lot of people though listening to the show that don’t know you. So if you had to introduce yourself, how would you do that?

James Morrissey:That’s a really good question. It’s one of the toughest questions that people have. Describe yourself. So about 15 years ago I started up my company, the Met Agency and before that I was the marketing director of MacEwan and I had worked there for 10 years and kind of led the rebrand there. Started up my own business and thought for what I’ve learned from postsecondary and from rebranding, there are a lot of different organizations that I could help. Not only in postsecondary but beyond.

                So yeah, we’ve been kind of doing kind of soup to nuts when it comes to the kind of clients that we work with very much in Alberta thing where you work with oil and gas and you work in retail and you work with professional associations. So it’s have a variety of different organizations. But you’re right about the integrity part, I think that’s the thing that kind of gets me up in the morning.

Gordon Sheppard:Well, and I would say integrity and high quality. And I know at the end of the show here we’re going to talk about guiding people to your website. Not

knowing a ton about your area, but I would put that work up against anywhere. I mean this is not an Alberta only story in terms of the acumen that you’re bringing to it. And so the fact that you lead your own business, the fact that you’re bringing again this high integrity to all levels of the work that you’re doing with your clients is a great opportunity to help the leaders who listen to this podcast get a chance to learn from you. And I know that you’re super passionate about company culture. So when we say that to you, what does that mean for you?

James Morrissey:If you go online and you look up company culture, organizational culture, you’re going to see millions and millions of articles about it. And I think the defining part about it is that, what the heck is it? And how do we interpret it? And how healthy is our organization? So is a company culture like the glue or the DNA, the spirit, the morale. And I think it’s kind of a bit of all of those sort of things. But I’ve spent an awful lot of time kind of looking at where the world is at right now when it comes to culture. And I think the thing that kind of really kind of scares me on some level is just how organizations are not very healthy.

Gordon Sheppard:I completely agree. Years ago before my sort of second career in a sense, working as a consultant and doing the work that I do now, I worked in the television business at a time when it was in sort of slow decline. And I can tell you being an employee in a business that was in the decline, the morale was brutal. So I’ve lived in those places where the office desks used to be full and then suddenly half of them are gone and two thirds of them are gone. And you’re sort of coasting through life in a sense like there’s a lot of folks run around going, “When are you going to get your package?” It was that kind of thing. But I know there were some stats that you’d come across also in this area. 

James Morrissey:Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. 86% of North Americans have checked out of their jobs. And when you look at that number, how does that trickle down to the brand? And if the people that you work with on a day-to-day basis don’t care about the company, then how well is that company going to do? 80% of employees from a PwC research project said their workplace culture needs to change. 80%.