In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner introduces Sérgio Brodsky, an internationally experienced marketing and innovation strategist. The conversation begins with a brief Anchor sponsorship plug before diving into Brodsky’s personal narrative. He recounts his bold career pivot from an IP law practice to studying cognitive science and moving to a new continent without language skills, likening the experience to landing on Mars. Brodsky emphasizes the distinction between leadership and management, arguing that leaders embrace ambiguity and take risks, whereas managers operate within known parameters. He shares his top business advice—trust your teammates and earn trust in return—and advises his younger self to keep taking risks. When asked about happiness, he highlights the importance of healthy relationships, especially given his nomadic lifestyle over the past 15 years. The discussion turns to his favorite book, "Spent" by evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller, which taught him how to connect emotional drivers to brand communication. Brodsky also cites a favorite quote from General Hannibal, "If there isn’t a way, we’ll make one," as a mantra for resilience. Finally, he directs listeners to find him on LinkedIn and through his marketing magazine column.
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Thank you for listening to the Business Blast podcast. So for all my listeners out there that have been wanting to do your own podcast, I'd like to introduce to you Anchor. Anchor is a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, distributing, and monetizing your podcast. So before I found Anchor, I had never actually done a podcast because all the research that I had gathered made it seem very complex. Then I found Anchor, and Anchor makes podcasting extremely simple. So if you want to do your own podcast, go to anchor.fm/start. I can't wait to hear your podcast. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Sergio Brodsky with us. He is an internationally experienced marketing and innovation strategist, a columnist at Marketing Magazine, and chairman of prestigious The Marketing Academy Alumni. He is passionate about cities, culture, and the role of brands in society. So welcome to the show, man.
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be there.
Of course. Pleasure to have you on. So Sergio, the first question we ask on this show is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying value valuable message?
That's a good one. I think the best story was when I completely pivoted my career and decided to do what I really love. There's nothing like combining your passions to something that you can identify that you're good at, as opposed to taking a very safe route without too many risks. So yeah, having changed my careers was the best story, and that happened when I still was A lawyer. I specialize in IP law and completely changed from an opportunity that I had to go and study cognitive science. And then I moved into a new continent to a place that I didn't know the language. I didn't know anyone and starting something completely new. That was almost like landing on Mars and trying to find my way.
And then what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I would say it's about leadership. There's a very different type of behavior between a manager and a leader. And leading orders and leading teams and leading people is something that can take you to places where you haven't been before. When you're managing, you're always dealing with known factors. When you're leading, you're dealing with unknown factors. You're being brave enough to embrace ambiguity. And that's something that I've learned a lot, especially in these days of innovation and disruption, when you don't know what's coming next, just give it a go, take a shot, be risky, be a risk taker and lead the way. Don't just manage what you know.
And then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
My, the best overall piece of advice is trust those who are working with you. Give them the trust to earn the trust back. There's no other way.
And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Continue taking risks. Don't be afraid.
And then kind of going down a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Relationships. Nothing beats that. Having healthy relationships, it's something extremely valuable, especially for someone like me who's been living all over the world for the last 15 years or so. It's kind of hard to live this uprooted life, especially when every 2 years you're in a different place. So keeping those relationships healthy and constant is really what keeps you going in a good way.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
I think the best book I read was— it's called Spent from this evolutionary psychologist called Geoffrey Miller. And he pretty much dissected all of the emotions that make up the human mind as well. And try— in understanding that, you're able to connect people's preferences with who they are, not something that is quite hard to match. And for someone like me working with brands and communication, being able to build those emotional connections is super important. Otherwise, you just get lost in the sea of choices that we have nowadays.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
That's from General Hannibal, and he once said, "If there isn't a way, we'll make one." And why do I like that? Because that's life. Life is unpredictable, is unplanned, and even when you have a plan, it will always change. So if you find yourself stuck, in some dead-end alleyway, make your way, jump the wall, dig a hole, find something different to continue going and never give up.
Yes, man. Well, dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I got for you before we let you go is where can our audience best find you online?
I would say LinkedIn. I'm quite active. I also have my column on a marketing magazine. That's a good place, but come to LinkedIn. Let's chat.
