Mentoring, Leading, and Pulling the Right Levers to Build a Highly Creative Firm I Dale Bornstein, M Booth

In episode three of Season One, Calvert and Farone spoke with Dale Bornstein, the passionate and accomplished leader of M Booth.

After rising through the ranks to become a senior leader at Ketchum, Bornstein decided it was time for a change. She joined M Booth, one of the country’s most awarded integrated marketing agencies. During the past 7 years, Bornstein has led her team to deepen the agency’s capabilities, applying her noteworthy mentoring skills to lead a firm of highly creative and talented marketers. “Integrated marketing is a really cohesive approach to pulling the right levers in the marketing mix in the right ways for the most impact,” she said.

In this episode, Bornstein spoke about what has led her to become a compassionate leader, and described the process of finding her own mentors in the pressure-filled industry of integrated marketing. She discussed how M Booth grew its business by focusing on authenticity, harnessing word of mouth, and engaging in philanthropic work that truly reflects the agency’s values. Through pro bono efforts — such as designing packaging and marketing materials to promote the Harlem Chocolate Factory — and creating Small Business Saturday to help independent businesses thrive in a rocky economy, M Booth’s creative solutions have helped a diverse range of businesses achieve their objectives.

Bornstein also shared three tips around creativity and supporting others:

• Just because someone is a creative person doesn’t mean they don’t also have strategic sensibilities. Most creative types get excited about seeing their ideas come to life and will find innovative ways of making their creative proposals work.
• Creativity only grows in environments where people aren’t afraid to ask lots of questions and know that they’re being supported.
• As flight attendants say, “Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others.” Similarly, those who wish to become mentors must first take care of themselves. Make sure you have the support you need to do your own job, otherwise you’ll struggle to find the time and energy to focus on helping others with their work.

Finally, Bornstein shared how she works as a “hyphenator” to bring together talent, skill sets, and creative solutions to help clients such as American Express, P&G, and Johnson & Johnson master their goals.