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Jonathan D. Villaire is an employee engagement expert consultant working out of Boston, MA. He is a former employee engagement officer and project manager for AIG and now heads Cognize Consulting, a firm he founded earlier this year. Jonathan has made it his mission to “make work human” and enjoys helping companies of all sizes better engage and interact with their employees. On this episode, Jonathan talks to CJ about how companies can improve their workplace culture and strengthen their leadership.  

Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of Flywheel Sports and author of EXTREMEYOU, is our NGage special guest this week. We caught up with Sarah at iConic 2017 Conference where she talked about her book as well as her position at Flywheel Sports. Sarah believes it is okay to fail, in fact, she encourages it-- curious? Listen to the full podcast here:

This week our guest is Dominic Price, Head of R&D and Work Futurist at Atlassian. As a Work Futurist, Dom helps employees engage with the use of the software. He focuses on supporting social change by encouraging charity involvement and is on a mission to change the traditional nature of corporate culture. 

Joining us in this episode is Larry McAlister, Vice President of Global Talent Management at Equinix who we met at the Bersin by Deloitte IMPACT 2017 Conference. Equinix connects the world’s leading business to their customers, employees, and partners inside the most interconnected data centers; or as Larry likes to call it, the internet’s landlord. Larry discusses his experience with employee engagement as well as Equinix’s mission to conserve energy. 

CJ had the opportunity to chat with Deb Johnson, Chief Learning Officer at Deloitte, at the IMPACT 2017 Conference hosted by Bersin by Deloitte. Deb is responsible for the overall learning and development activities for Deloitte Consulting and specializes in on-boarding, global development, and emerging business and talent models. 

 Three-time TED speaker, author, founder of the Business Romantic Society, and the CEO and Founder of Leberecht & Partners, Tim Leberecht is on the podcast this week.  He talks about how to create a healthy and meaningful business, and how those companies can thrive. 

IMMINENT Digital's CJ Follini speaks with David Zinger, founder of The Employee Engagement Network. Topics discussed include: new methods of the performance survey, how work engagement can prevent PR blunders that have occurred at Uber/Wells Fargo/Fox News, and his book, "People Artistry".  You can find more about David Zinger on his website: http://www.davidzinger.com/ Twitter: @davidzinger IMMINENT Digital on Twitter: @imminentdigital

Joining this episode is Aria Finger, the CEO of dosomething.org and president of TMI strategies, the in-house, agency and consulting arm of this non-profit.  The organization is aimed at getting young people engaged.  They reach over 5 million members in 130 countries who are interested in social change and tackle volunteer campaigns that impact any cause imaginable.  You can see their latest video campaign and get involved at DoSomething.org/US.  Aria chats with CJ about their efforts and why non-profits are often more creative than their competition. 

Yoobi is based on the simple idea; providing colorful and vibrant supplies to schools and offices while also giving back.  Yoobi means “One for you, one for me.” So for every Yoobi item purchased, the company contributes an item to a classroom in need through the United States.  Their founder and CEO Ido Leffler joins IMMINENT Digital’s CJ Follini to discuss the companies core focus, as well their partnerships with Starlight Children’s Foundation and Kids in Need Foundation, and collaborations with big name talents like Usher, Pharrell Williams, and Jonni Cheatwood.  Learn more or your school supplies this year at yoobi.com Follow this year’s campaign at #YoobiXIAmOther

CJ is excited to be speaking with Gregory Hadden, Executive Creative Director of Motive: A Project Worldwide Agency, about their new documentary web series, ‘Spotlight California.’   The series highlights the drought consequences in California resulting from climate change.  Gregory talks about the origin of this campaign, what they hoped to accomplish, and the true role of documentary filmmakers.  You can learn more about the campaign and see a trailer at SpotlightCalifornia.com.

Rocco Pallatto, Director of Development at the Ad Council, talks about the history and mission of the Ad Council, which dates back to 1942.   Rocco also discusses one of the most engaging social impact campaigns ever, the Ad Council’s ‘Love Has No Label’ video campaign, which is aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion.  It has brought together several big name brands to fund this effort to remind the world that people are just people.

This week CJ Follini chats with Daniella Campari, Sr. Vice President and Head of Marketing for the American Cancer Society, and Laura McLane, Vice President of Content and Creative Design and User Experience.  They discuss the mission of the American Cancer Society, their history, and their recent Advantage Humans video campaign and the emotional impact it has had.      

This week a look at some of the brands that have discovered the immense benefits of cause marketing.  Afdhel Aziz and CJ Follini discuss how TOMS, Citi, Dulux, and others experienced tremendous brand awareness through genuine cause marketing campaigns.  But the key is that these were genuine efforts to help a community and not just shallow attempts at free publicity.  Afdhel Aziz, Brand Director at Absolut Labs and co-author of 'Good is the New Cool: How to Market Like You Give A Damn,'

Shot@Life, a campaign of The UN Foundation, aims to ensure that children around the world have access to life-saving vaccines, through education, advocacy the campaign strives to reduce vaccine-preventable death and aims to give children a better shot at life.  Devi Thomas, Senior Director at Shot@Life, tells CJ about the formation of this campaign and some of the logistic challenges that go into marketing to severely underserved populations.

Donna Bembenek, VP of Marketing and Communications for YMCA of the USA, talks about the shifts they’ve made in their national marketing and sponsorship strategy.  Specifically, how the Y wants to make sure people know they are more than just a gym and swimming by stressing the critical, social, and impact work they are doing in the community with their ‘For a Better Us’ campaign.  She breaks down all the work that led to these strategy shifts and the positive impacts.  There’s also the ‘Zoe for President’ campaign that highlights the Y’s role in helping anyone achieve their full potential in life.