In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with Jaime Szulc, Global COO, CMO and CEO for some of the world’s largest companies, for a candid 20-minute conversation about rising to the challenge of gigantic opportunities and the speed of change of AI. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

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👉 The Scoop – Jaime Szulc’s career has been a relentless march up: from CMO of Johnson Wax for the Andean Pact, Jamie had several President titles at Kodak, culminating as Global COO; Global CMO of Levis; President of GoodYear Latin America, and Global CEO of EIMC with 400 restaurants and 12,000 employees. Today he is a partner at CEO Coaching International.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – While in Brazil working for Johnson Wax, was offered the position of CMO of the company for the northern cone. The Andean Pack rose from being the worst in the company to being #7 in 18 months.

👉 Decisive Moment #2 – While President of Kodak Latin America was promoted to President Kodak Americas.

👉 Decisive Moment #3 – Leaving the corporate world after turning around EIMC in one and a half years. In his words… Jaime changed the “power of the word” for the “power of the word”.

👉 Unexpected change or event – Digital, while at Kodak, and AI’s speed of change “which is 1,000X that of digital”.

👉 What did he do? – At Kodak, restructured, cut expenses by 32% while keeping employee morale.

Today, he advises a small group of elite CEOs on meeting the challenges of AI and speed of change by moving companies to new tech areas like AEO and GEO.

Another important direction is understanding how AI has already changed human behavior.

👉 About older workers – I try to avoid the conversation on segmenting people. I really focus on something I call like the hiring criteria, not a job description but what are the five to maximum seven hiring criteria you have?

The people I'm going to try to find in the market are people who have done that. I don't care if that person is 10 years old or 30 years old or 60 years old. (Older people) we made so many more mistakes than everybody else. Right.

So as I would say, older or more senior, whatever you want to say, I worked for companies for 32 years. The amount of mistakes I made living internationally, etc. 143 countries managing 12,000 people, 13,000 people is gigantic what you learn.

So that knowledge is something that for AI is more difficult to replicate because they haven't been there. I would say the older people are probably even more equipped than not to work in the AI era.

OK Boomer! In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with Tony Sharpe, who transformed the condescending insult into a creative shop aimed at companies who want to reach, yes, boomers. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight into becoming a content creator.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/don...

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👉 The Scoop – Tony Sharpe was a hotshot creative director at Foote Cone & Belding in Chicago, working on one of the agency’s best clients (Johnson Wax) when he was laid off at 50. Today, he managed to take that oh-so-common insult (OK, Boomer) into a business and plays guitar and vocals in his band “You Me & Kyle”.

👉 Decisive Moment – Got laid off at 50. Started a touring rock band (You Me & Kyle) and a consulting company (OK Boomer).

👉 Unexpected change or event – The ad industry has been hit by dozens, if not hundreds of changes that have completely transformed it.

👉 What did he do? – That a guy like Tony would take all of his experience and create “OK Boomer”? That’s expected. That an “old guy” would form a touring band, master AI tools to create video and artwork, master social media to create a community? That’s the unexpected part. And Tony is enjoying it tremendously.

👉 About older workers – There are people out there like you and me that have seen social media, and messaging, and media, and all those things done well and have led teams that did all those things well. Wouldn't that be the person you would want on your team? Wouldn't you like to have somebody that has seen all the parts and done them well? That's what I would say to a CEO.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with famed Miami artist, Mano (no need for last name) to talk about taking the plunge into being a full-time artist, creating a vibrant art community, then losing it, only to start rebuilding it with even more energy. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight into becoming a content creator.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date.

Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Mano –everyone just uses his first name—is one of the iconic Miami artists. Mano was, and is, a musician. He also was, and is, an engineer. And he is an artist. But, over and above, he was the decisive artist in Miami’s Bird Road Art District. To be sure, there were many good artists, but Mano and his wife Cuqui took the lead and transformed a group of artists into a movement.

👉 Decisive Moment – Mano (the engineer) was offered a transfer “up north”. By then he had been painting more and more and didn’t want to leave Miami behind, so he decided to be an artist and jumped into it both feet first.

👉 Unexpected change or event – You can say it was expected… but not expected at the same time. After 16 years of being in the same studio, the owner of the building announced he was tearing it down, so in a single swoop Mano lost his studio, his Bird Road Art District and his community.

👉 What did he do? – Paint from home, of course. But also, and with a lot of help from Cuqui, is wife and an expert in promotions, he has begun getting out more to exhibits, galleries and more.

👉 About older workers – As you grow older you have all that experience under your belt and face it, it’s not the technical part, you know how to deal with people, you always have to deal with people.

When I was young, there were three things I wanted to be: a war photographer, a Rock & Roll concert promoter and a Formula 1 driver.

I became an ad guy and was lucky enough to meet people like Ernesto.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with Ernesto Adduci, who began as an AE in Costa Ric, became one of the leading international AEs for FCB and transitioned to being the creator of the biggest rock festival in Costa Rica. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight into becoming a content creator.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Ernesto Adduci’s life has been amazing. From a small international ad agency in Costa Rica, Ernesto rose to senior international posts at FCB and Leo Burnett in Chicago to creating the largest Rock festival in Costa Rica. Ernesto defines himself as a “content creator”. We think that’s a total understatement.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – Ernesto had cancer seven years ago, in 2018. After a year of chemo, surgeries, and debilitating treatments, of thinking he would die he emerged and asked himself “what makes me happy?” And decided to pursue that life.

👉 Unexpected change or event – The switch to money at the expense of quality. Ad agencies went from wanting to hire the best people to hiring the people who achieved adequate results for the least amount of money possible.

👉 What did he do? – The combination of cancer and the lower standards in the industry pushed Ernesto to leave “corporate”. Today, he works with his wife on her catering company, works as a fractional creative director with an agency in Costa Rica, as a freelancer with others, owns a record company and, naturally, organizes the yearly Rock Fest

👉 About older workers – For many older workers money is no longer the primary consideration. An older worker will bring this “nothing to lose” mentality and take the kinds of creative risks that, mixed with their experience understanding what works, benefits any company that hires them.

This week’s episode means a lot to me. In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with media icon Ed Papazian, whose career in media research is legendary.

When I was a mere beginner, he was one of the people I looked up to.

In this candid 30-minute conversation we talk about research, effectiveness and his latest work. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom atwork.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Simply put: Ed Papazian is an icon in media research. He has been at the forefront of media research for 7 decades and his company, Media Dynamics, continues to push the envelope when it comes to understanding how media works and how media and its audience interact.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – Left BBDO in 1975 frustrated at not being able to create several initiatives he proposed and hung his shingle.

👉 Unexpected change or event – We're now in the age of me, and we've been there for the last 50, 45 years, since Vietnam, roughly. Me, I'm more important than the country. My group is more important. Our interest counts first, nothing else counts as much.

Media got bigger and more mature. No longer “is it good”. No longer “is it helping”. No longer “is my programming doing a good job”, or “conveying good ideas”, or entertaining. It’s how much I make?

👉 What did he do? – Ed has continued to evolve media research and measuring methodologies to reflect the evolving media environment. From integrating measurements across platforms to innovative ways of measuring factors that affect the effectiveness of media, such as attentiveness.

👉 About older workers – Ed is the best example of the value that older workers bring to a company. He brings a wealth of knowledge that you just have to experience, not read about.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with branding expert Phillip Oakley, whose path to branding took him through retail and even bartendering, for a candid 20-minute conversation about the nature of real branding and its importance to companies. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with iconic creative director Adilson Xavier, who went from singer to lawyer to one of Brazil’s iconic creative directors, for a candid 20-minute conversation about the changes in the ad industry and why he’s not afraid of AI. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Adilson –a “Carioca” through and through—was the creative director of Giovanni, FCB. Under his leadership the agency not only won a significant number of creative awards and rose to #8 in Brazil, more importantly, as the creative leader, he fostered creativity in every department. Today, he is a scriptwriter and an author.

👉 Decisive Moment – Following his father’s advice to study something that would give him money, Adilson, a musician and singer, became a lawyer. A chance encounter with Paulo Giovanni convinced him that he had the right tools to succeed in advertising, so he quit law and joined the ad industry.

👉 Unexpected change or event – In Brazil advertising was part of the culture itself. People spoke about advertising. Clients looked to agencies as partners and advisors. Somehow, somewhere that was broken, agencies splintered and became mere vendors.

👉 What did he do? – After 30 years in the industry, he fell “out of love” with it. It embarrassed him. So, he left.

👉 About older workers – Age is an old concept. Our generation invented “youth” … we are redefining “old”. Vision is a lot easier for an “old” guy than for a young guy. For one, we’ve seen more.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with media veteran John Cuddihy, who has led the way in interactive TV as well as the US Hispanic market, for a candid 20-minute conversation about the rapid demise of Cable TV and why content is king. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – John Cuddihy (his name rhymes with Kennedy) has been at the forefront of the media industry since he joined Warner’s interactive TV service. At Disney, he helped create the Latin American cable industry. At Katz Television he helped diversify the U.S. Hispanic market.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – While at Esty (an ad agency) he had two offers: Cosmo –a very prestigious magazine at the time—and a totally unproven interactive TV channel from Warner. He chose the future.

👉 Unexpected change or event – The rapid demise of cable television.

👉 What did he do? – John teaches at UM (The University of Miami) and emphasizes three major points: Content is king but it’s not everything, streaming is the future and profitable customer acquisition is basic.

👉 About older workers – When you hire an older person, you’re only going to hire a good one. With a 22-year-old you don’t know. With an older person, you know what you’re hiring.