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Thank you, Anna Spektor and Expert Webcast for the opportunity. We offer words of condolence to Nancy Slome’s family in the opening. And shout outs to previous guests Jay Harrington and Laura Gassner Otting throughout the interview.
In this episode, Roy Sexton and Kacy Fleming unpack the formula for workplace engagement. Spoiler alert: it centers around authenticity and empathy. There are five core concepts involved: investing in leaders, recognition through a feedback loop, empowerment and autonomy, purpose and mattering, and career growth and development.
Kacy Fleming is an award-winning well-being strategist and life-coach, with a Master’s in Organizational Psychology and a passion for building cultures where individuals feel safe and have space to grow and thrive. Having moved from traditional marketing leadership roles to Head of Global Well-being for a Fortune 500 organization—she has gained invaluable first-hand experience driving change throughout complex corporate hierarchies.
In her article “How to Keep Employees Engaged: The 8.8 Trillion Dollar Question” for ThriveGlobal, Kacy writes, “There are a litany of factors that have been shown to improve employee engagement and performance, including autonomy. Over-indexing on where people work appears to have a negative effect on both organizational commitment and productivity. While there is much more research to come on employee engagement in distributed work, organizations must remember that what we reward gets repeated. Recognition and promotion belong to the people who help achieve company outcomes in a way that enhances culture, not those who log the most hours in-office or at the bar after work.”
Kacy has won multiple awards for her work in corporate well-being. She has built strategy for large global employers with populations working in a wide variety of work settings. From traditional knowledge work to the frontline, she has launched, co-designed, and deployed well-being strategies and solutions from the ground up. Her approach is guided not only by 20 years of practical experience working in some of the largest biopharmaceutical companies, but also from her academic research and writing.
Kacy is a sought after speaker and writer. Her TEDx talk on “The Limitlessness of Flexible Work,” was based on her master’s thesis. She has spoken for the Business Group on Health, MH Work Life, Randstad USA, and Wellbeing at Work and has appeared on numerous global podcasts. Kacy is the author of articles on hot topics in the workplace ranging from menopause and mid-life transitions to flexible work, humane leadership, and the key to employee engagement. Kacy loves to share top tips earned from her two decades of experience working in a variety of leadership roles. Learn more about Kacy at https://kacyfleming.com/
At six months old, Aarash Darroodi’s parents, who were foreign students in the US, sent their son back to Iran to live with his grandparents so they could complete their graduate studies at the University of Houston. That was 1979. A year later, the Iran-Iraq War erupted. It took seven years and attempts in many countries to get a US visa before Darroodi would reunite with his family in America. That experience, Darroodi says, shaped his life, which would forever be changed.
As General Counsel & Executive Vice President of Fender, Aarash Darroodi has developed a successful 20-year in-house legal career on the idea of melding a traditional legal education/experience with business acumen and business intelligence. He leverages his personal history to lead with empathy and pragmatism. Aarash is quite simply and beautifully a connector. He also has developed the course “How to Build a Rain Machine” through which he teaches lawyers what in-house clients really want. Equipping outside counsel with the secret skills and tactics to maximize client billings, client retention, and client satisfaction. Learn more here: https://www.rainstaracademy.com/.
“Everybody has a story when you connect to humanity,” Darroodi says. “What you realize is that those stories bring a lot of life learning, and there is a lot of power that’s locked up within people that they feel that they should hide it away and not embrace it. I fundamentally disagree. I think you embrace it because those are where the learnings come from. … I just don’t want to see the resume, I want to know the story. What were some of the challenges you faced in your life? How did you overcome them? What did you learn from those challenges? How do you think those challenges will help you in the future? That’s valuable. That’s what I want to see. I want those people, the ones that have overcome difficulties and challenges. … People are more capable than they know … But people themselves, a lot of times, we need somebody to see that within us and push us, and then we can achieve greatness we never thought possible.”
The fundamental power of storytelling, of reclaiming our individual narratives, and of celebrating our differences will be the focus of this episode. The human condition can be one of “categorizing” others, and thereby limiting potential. Aarash and Roy will discuss how important it is to break that cycle and how each individual can embrace respective heritage as a means of authentic differentiation and professional branding. They will also address the business benefits to leaders who model this for their colleagues and their teams.
Darroodi is an in-demand speaker and pundit, having offered commentary to Bloomberg Law, Thomson Reuters, The Legal 500, TedX, the American Bar Association, American Lawyer Media, South by Southwest, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Legal Marketing Association, Fox Business, The Los Angeles Times, and the Maryland State Bar Association.
Jay Harrington is president of his eponymous agency Harrington and is one of the country’s leading consultants and strategists in the areas of legal marketing, PR, and business development. His consulting work includes helping clients define strong market branding and positioning, develop effective thought-leadership strategies, gain visibility through public relations, and generate new business through the execution of marketing tactics.
Jay practices what he preaches. He doesn’t merely consult with clients about the importance of thought-leadership PR and marketing—he is an active content creator himself. He frequently speaks and writes on important issues and trends in legal marketing. His writing is featured in columns for Law.com, JD Supra, and Attorney at Work. He is also the author of three books: The Productivity Pivot, The Essential Associate, and One of a Kind.
Following February’s conversation with Laura Gassner Otting about “getting unstuck,” Jay and Roy discuss how important thought leadership is to personal and professional branding and provide tips on how to stop overthinking and just connect, leveraging the power of social media and digital channels.
Jay leads a vibrant attorney coaching and training practice, through which he provides one-on-one coaching and group training to attorneys and law firms, with a focus on issues related to business development, productivity, and thought leadership.
Jay is a sought after speaker who frequently presents to law firms and legal industry associations on a range of topics including branding, thought-leadership marketing, and business development. His unique approach blends storytelling, strategy, behavioral science, and practical, actionable advice.
Prior to co-founding the agency 15 years ago, Jay practiced law as a commercial litigator and corporate bankruptcy attorney at top law firms, including Skadden Arps and Foley & Lardner. He also co-founded and ran a boutique corporate restructuring law firm. He has an undergraduate degree in journalism and earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. During his time practicing law, Jay learned what it takes to market successfully and develop business for sophisticated professional services, and he applies those lessons while working with clients today.
Thank you, Anna Spektor, Alex Kasdan, and Expert Webcast, for hearing my voice, seeing something in my perspective, and encouraging me to build on momentum from 2023. I’m one for synergies. Any marketer worth their salt is. And this is a lovely and unique opportunity for worlds to collide, elevating all in the process.
“We are pleased to welcome Roy Sexton, Clark Hill’s Director of Marketing and Immediate Past International President of the Legal Marketing Association, to the Expert Webcast Advisory Board. As a thought leader and marketing expert, Roy, in this volunteer role, will continue to champion inclusion, community building, authentic storytelling, and value creation. Roy hosts Expert Webcast’s ‘All the World’s YOUR Stage’ series, focusing on how these qualities lead to growth in one’s personal and professional brand. He has 25 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning across a number of industries, including legal, healthcare, higher education, nonprofits, and consulting.”
Thank you, Laura Gassner Otting, for joining us for this crucial conversation. As you aptly noted, time = love and vice versa. And the time you spent with us is pure love (and insight). Thank you again to Expert Webcast and Anna Spektor for this glorious opportunity to share my authentic pals with the world.
Laura Gassner Otting’s secret superpower is seeing your greatness and reflecting it back on you, so that you can get “unstuck” — and achieve extraordinary results. On this episode of Expert Webcast’s “All the World’s YOUR Stage,” Laura and host Roy Sexton (me!) – two self-professed introverts – discuss the secret (and not so secret) advantages to introversion, what it really means (hint: it is NOT shorthand for “asocial”), why the unexamined life is not worth living, but also how to avoid dreaded analysis paralysis and just, well, try something! All of this adds up to an insightful assessment of how being true to one’s self without getting mired in overthinking can provide effective personal and professional brand differentiation.
A frequent contributor to Good Morning America, The TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily, Laura is the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of three books, Wonderhell, Limitless, and Mission-Driven. Laura’s 30-year resume is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps; left a leadership role at respected national search firm to expand a tech start-up; and founded, ran, and sold her own global search firm, partnering with the full gamut of mission driven corporate and nonprofit executives.
Laura is turned on by the audacity of The Big Idea and that larger-than-life goal you just can’t seem to shake. She’s an instigator, motivator, and provocateur, and she’s never met a revolution she didn’t like. Just ask her enduringly patient husband, two almost-grown sons, and two troublesome pups with whom she lives outside of Boston, MA.
Roy Sexton is excited to share some inspiring stories with the world.
Joining with Expert Webcast in launching a new series, Sexton is hosting a new show called “All the World’s YOUR Stage: Authentic Culture Drives Authentic Growth.”
Sexton, a Saline resident who is the Clark Hill Director of Marketing and Immediate Past International President of the Legal Marketing Association, said this new show is an exciting opportunity to share his friends’ stories.
“I’m thrilled to be able to share my friends and their inspiring stories with the world. These professionals all have incredible and varied careers, rich with life lessons that can help others succeed and thrive in their respective work,” Sexton said in the Expert Webcast announcement. “I come from a long line of storytellers, and I think the best way to learn and to be inspired is by sharing our journeys with each other.”
Sexton leads Clark Hill’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s exceptional team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
Sexton’s show is expected to feature discussions “with notable business leaders on why culture matters, how one’s personal and professional brand are inextricably linked, and how to leverage your innate authenticity to create growth and spur sustainable organizational change.”
Expert Webcast is a woman-owned company and is a leading source of transactional wisdom and market intelligence for the professional and the business communities locally, nationally and cross-border.
Producing the industry’s leading panel discussions and interviews covering corporate, M&A, restructuring and finance topics, Expert Webcast said it “addresses timely and relevant issues faced by general counsel, C-level executives, boards of directors, business owners and their advisors, as well as institutional investors.”
Anna Spektor, Expert Webcast’s Founder and CEO, said they are looking forward to what Sexton’s show will bring.
“We partner with leading media outlets and organizations to expand the reach and impact of the platform, and to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among industry peers and stakeholders,” Spektor said in the announcement. “Roy is a welcome addition to our voices. We’ve already recorded our first episode [with Blaine Fowler], and I’m just thrilled with the direction. I think our viewers – attorney leaders, executives, professional services practitioners – will gain great insight from these accessible, fun, authentic conversations.”
Spektor added, “As an acknowledged business leader and a top legal marketing, communications and strategic planning executive, Roy will add a new dimension to the Expert Webcast legal, finance and transactional programming by interviewing entrepreneurs, media personalities and other business leaders, focusing on business culture, growth and collaboration.”
Sexton is described as being passionate about problem solving, facilitating business growth, crafting communications strategy, and enhancing law firm culture. He works closely with the marketing team to advance the firm’s digital and social media presence and external engagement, using multi-channel distribution and data collection. This enables the team to quantify results and use those results to produce thoughtfully and strategically organized content for clients and prospects.
Sexton also advises attorneys on marketing and business development strategy by curating relationships among external publications and media outlets and creating the appropriate platforms and opportunities for attorneys to promote their knowledge and practice.
He has been heavily involved regionally and nationally in the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) as a board member, content expert, and presenter. He currently serves as Past President of LMA. He also serves on the governance board committee of Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and was marketing chair for Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor’s board.
Sexton was named one of INvolve People’s 2023 Top 100 OUTstanding LGBTQ+ Executives internationally. He was listed in Crain’s Detroit “Notable LGBTQ in Business” in 2021 and “Notable Leaders in Marketing” in 2023, and he was a Michigan Lawyers Weekly“Unsung Legal Hero” (2018).
In 2022, Clark Hill’s marketing campaign, which Sexton played a key role in developing, received the Best Marketing Campaign award from the Managing Partners’ Forum in London, celebrating professional services organizations. The campaign was noted for its focus on values, diversity, and inclusion. The Clark Hill marketing and business development team was also awarded “Best Marketing Initiative” by Managing Partners’ Forum in 2020.
Sexton is also a published author of two books: Reel Roy Reviews, Volumes 1 and 2and he was named “Best Actor in a Musical” by BroadwayWorld Detroit in 2017 for his performance as Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Ann Arbor Civic.
Sexton’s first season’s guests will include:
96.3 WDVD’s morning show co-host of Blaine and Lauren Blaine D. Fowler
The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Wonderhell and Limitless as well as keynote speaker and coach Laura Gassner Otting
Author/coach/recovering attorney/president of Harrington Communications Jay Harrington
Thank you, R.J. King and DBusiness Magazine. You are always very kind to me. You do so much good for our Metro Detroit community. And you are appreciated.
Roy Sexton, director of marketing for Clark Hill Law, will host a new show called “All the World’s YOUR Stage: Authentic Culture Drives Authentic Growth” for Expert Webcast, a woman-owned company and source of market intelligence for the professional and the business communities locally, nationally, and cross-border.
It produces panel discussions and interviews covering corporate, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and finance topics, expert webcast addresses timely and relevant issues faced by general counsel, C-level executives, boards of directors, business owners, and their advisors, as well as institutional investors.
Sexton’s webcast will feature discussions with notable business leaders on why culture matters, how one’s personal and professional brand are inextricably linked, and how to use innate authenticity to create growth and spur sustainable organizational change.
The first season’s guests will include Blaine D. Fowler, 96.3 WDVD’s morning show co-host of “Blaine and Lauren;” Laura Gassner Otting, The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of “Wonderhell” and “Limitless” as well as keynote speaker and coach; Jay Harrington, author/coach/recovering attorney/president of Harrington Communications; Aarash Darroodi, vice president and corporate secretary and general counsel for Fender Musical Instruments Corporation; Roop Raj, prime time anchor for FOX 2 Detroit; and Lauren M. London, general counsel for Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti and executive director of The Penny Seats.
“I’m thrilled to be able to share my friends and their inspiring stories with the world,” says Sexton. “These professionals all have incredible and varied careers, rich with life lessons that can help others succeed and thrive in their respective work. I come from a long line of storytellers, and I think the best way to learn and to be inspired is by sharing our journeys with each other.”
Sexton leads Clark Hill’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
Sexton is a published author of two books: “Reel Roy Reviews,” Volumes 1 and 2 and he was named Best Actor in a Musical by BroadwayWorld Detroit in 2017 for his performance as Jasper in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.
Blaine Fowler is a radio legend, celebrating 20 years as host of one of Metro Detroit’s top morning drive-time shows. He is an engaged community leader, championing countless local non-profits, and is an in-demand speaker for business gatherings and retreats. He and Roy are also close pals, after Roy crashed a promotional event, handing Blaine a salad spinner. More on that later.
Roy Sexton and Blaine Fowler discuss the importance of personal and professional brand in career growth, tips on networking, and how community leadership can transform a career. Oh, and they might geek out over KISS (the rock group), the finer points of Star Trek vs. Star Wars, and random other acts of geekery.
Excited to announce the launch of my Expert Webcast series “All the World’s YOUR Stage: Authentic Culture Drives Authentic Growth.” Thank you to wonderful Anna Spektor for the opportunity (as well as the delightful brainstorm chats that got us here).
“Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing at AmLaw 200 firm Clark Hill and past international president of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International, chats with notable business leaders on why culture matters, how one’s personal and professional brand are inextricably linked, and how to leverage your innate authenticity to create growth and spur sustainable organizational change.”
Please join me this year as well as these upcoming guests …
96.3 WDVD’s morning show co-host of “Blaine and Lauren” Blaine D. Fowler
The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Wonderhell and Limitless as well as keynote speaker and coach Laura Gassner Otting
Author/coach/recovering attorney/president of Harrington Communications Jay Harrington
Reel Roy Reviews 