How are you elevating your life or someone else’s life? This week, Will Travis, a globally respected brand builder and strategist, joins me on the show. Will has taken the helm as CEO of four internationally acclaimed communication agencies including for SID LEE, Dentsu America as well as ATTIK over a 27-year career, namely servicing over 50 of the world’s most respected mega-brands. In this episode, he talks about lessons he learned throughout his career including how to overcome obstacles, the importance of empowering others (a lesson he learned from his children), and how to be an elevated leader.

Following his agency leadership, Will is a leading global expert on creativity as THE engine for economic development and social change. His venture, Elevation Barn curates and lifts a worldwide network of leaders with heart and experience to solve their, their communities and our planet’s grand challenges. You’ll notice by way of Elevation Barn and his rich career that Will is a global citizen who considers himself an extreme explorer. I further encourage you to take a look at Elevation Barn to entice your senses, Will’s life work is demonstrated vividly through Elevation Barn’s intimate retreats, development courses and peer-to-peer mentoring programs that help individuals articulate their personal brand and unlock their core purpose in breathtaking settings around the world. Will is frequently turned to as a motivational speaker, he is a father of four, living between Tribeca New York and Bali, Indonesia. 

Tune in to hear Will’s thoughts pertaining to:

• His experience in Bali with White men being seen as the pollutants of society because of COVID-19. (7:46)
• Lessons Will has learned including one lesson from a bullfighter, teaching him the ability to think through disruptions and how to know if you are in control of a situation. (9:37)
• Virtual Retreats COVID times: Will is leveraging the opportunity of space and personal comfort from participants’ homes – to help them become virtually elevated.  (13:00)
• Now isn’t a time of repeating, instead it is a time of pivoting. (16:07)
• Why things won’t be different if you hire people with the same thinking as your own. (17:34)
• Will shares why boosting morale is about letting people be seen. (18:36)
• There are always walls in your life, figuring out how to move over them is key. Will describes how he got into an advertising career by ignoring the ‘walls’. (31:45)
• Why “No,” is Will’s least favorite word, “No,” comes from a place of fear. His favorite word is, “Let’s”, unlike, “No,” it lifts you to feel positivity and confidence. (35:00)
• The Elevation Barn is the highest curated experience in the world. (37:12)
• What Will has learned from his kids, including the importance of leading with love and empowering others. (41:18)
• We are constantly just trying to defend our positions, instead, we need to stop and see if we are on the right ladder. (44:00)
• Thoughtful advice from Will on how to be an elevated leader especially during a time when lay-offs and furloughs are being communicated virtually, including being respectful and putting yourself in your team members’ shoes. (48:56)

Links to follow your curiosities:

• Connect with Will Travis on LinkedIn
• Follow Elevation Barn on Instagram
• Explore Elevation Barn

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