Let's Meet At The Intersection Of Marketing, Leadership And Blogging! A Q&A With Debbie Laskey

Credit: iStock Photo

For the past 16 years, I have relied on Debbie Laskey's Blog for expert leadership guidance and always interesting insights into marketing best practices and recaps of marketing trends.

Fortunately, through the years, Debbie has also shared her expertise through a variety of postings on my blog, and I'm honored again today to feature Debbie with the following Q&A's:

QUESTION: You've featured many leadership experts on your blog through the years. What is a common theme from all the Q&A's?

DEBBIE LASKEY: Back in 2011, I met Mark Herbert, a leadership expert and author based in Oregon, as a result of our interactions on Twitter/X. I interviewed him several times, and he provided a quote that I will always remember and share often: "Leadership doesn't require you to be the smartest person in the room. It requires you to block and tackle for others."

That quote has appeared on my blog countless times over the years because, during Q&A's with leadership and marketing experts, I've shared the quote and asked what it means to them. All the answers inspire me, so I would have to say that it's a running theme on my blog.

Let's return to Mark's explanation for the quote: "There are many facets that make up a successful strategy. One person is typically incapable of mastering all of them. The best leaders recognize the elements that need to be represented in a complete strategy and integrate them. They don’t try to be the first chair - to use a musical analogy - they conduct the orchestra. I have watched people step up and do amazing things when they were given permission and freedom to make mistakes without fear of failing."

QUESTION: Why do you think there are so many books published each year about leadership?

DEBBIE LASKEY: The easy (but sad) answer is that there are too many unqualified people who are in positions of authority, whether their title is supervisor, manager, or member of the C-Suite. I'd like to say that each year's new crop of books help these individuals to improve their leadership and people skills, but unfortunately, the bad leaders don't read the helpful books.

QUESTION: What do you think leaders most often get wrong when it comes to branding?

DEBBIE LASKEY: First of all, the employee experience is critical. If employees are not happy
or trained regularly, their actions will suffer, and in the process, their interactions with customers will suffer - which can, and will, result in loss of customers.

Second, happy employees will find creative ways to solve customers' problems, resulting in happy customers - which will result in increased profits/sales/donations.

And third, a combination of happy employees plus happy customers will lead to a positive brand experience - which will lead to positive word-of-mouth marketing and positive social media reviews.

This alignment of employee experience, customer experience, and brand experience must be top-of-mind for everyone in an organization's C-Suite, not just a Chief Brand Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and/or Chief Customer Experience Officer. The finance, personnel, and IT people need to understand the importance of marketing...bottom line, EVERYONE in the organization is an ambassador for the brand!

Here's a perfect anecdote from Mark Herbert that appeared on my blog back in 2016:

A man visited a hospital in Texas because he wanted to meet a famous heart surgeon. As the man left the hospital following his meeting with the surgeon, he met an elderly man who was mopping the floor. The visitor asked, "What do you do here at the hospital?" The elderly man who was mopping the floor replied, “Dr. DeBakey and I save lives together.” The elderly man explained that Dr. DeBakey had told all staff members that hospital infections kill more patients than disease, so the elderly man was doing his part to keep the hospital clean. Dr. DeBakey was a man before his time. He provided a roadmap for employees before it was called employee engagement.

Now, think about your business and your culture. If a total stranger interacted with any of your employees, would he or she have the same type of experience? Would he or she see firsthand that your employees understand your business, your brand promise, your competitive advantage, and why your business exists?

QUESTION: You’ve been blogging for 17 years. What is most rewarding to you about blogging?

DEBBIE LASKEY: I learn something from EVERY post - and not always related to marketing or leadership. Here's a sampling of fun facts that have recently appeared on my blog:

(1) Since the original of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" is part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, MoMA partnered with Mattel to create a "Starry Night" Barbie. The doll transformed one of the world's most iconic paintings into couture fashion. (Blog tie-in: co-branding - appeared on my blog on October 21, 2025 and January 6, 2026.)

(2) Give me a "L" "E" A" D" "E" "R" - started in 2005 and celebrated in March every year, National Cheerleading Week is dedicated to acknowledging the contributions of cheer athletes to the world of sports. (Blog tie-in: celebration marketing and leadership - appeared on my blog on March 3, 2026.)

(3) Would you like to pet and interact with a llama? If you're traveling through the Portland International Airport, you might have a chance to interact with therapy llamas. According to USA Today, "Since 2023, with handlers by their sides, the trained therapy llamas hang out at the entrance and main terminal, welcoming attention and affection. It's hard to miss them, not only because llamas and alpacas typically stand six feet tall and can weigh up to 450 pounds, but also because they're also dressed up in cheerful costumes. Pirates or western cowboys are just a couple of the outfit themes. During the hour-and-a-half-long visits, passengers can pet and hug the llamas and alpacas. Each camelid also has its own trading card that frequent fliers like to collect." (Blog tie-in: brand ambassadors - appeared on my blog on March 29, 2026.)

QUESTION: When you aren't blogging what brings you joy?

DEBBIE LASKEY: In addition to attending car shows and visiting museums and zoos, I love to read fiction for exposure to new experiences and different perspectives. I consider reading a good book as a gift to myself, and I never know when something I read will result in my saying, "That would make a good blog post!"

Let's not forget what Bill Gates says, "Reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world. Every book teaches me something new or helps me see things differently."

My favorite genres and topics to read about include: historical fiction featuring inspiring women whose accomplishments have been overlooked or whose voices have been forgotten; legal thrillers; political thriller; medical thrillers; stories about books/bookstores/libraries/book clubs; stories about Paris/France/Italy/Greece; stories involving trains and airplanes; and kids' books due to their fun stories and amazing illustrations. The last one was added due to my involvement with Reading Is Fundamental of Southern California, a 53-year-old nonprofit whose mission is to give books free of charge to children in at-risk communities to create lifelong readers and help them build their own home libraries. I guess my bucket list includes writing a kids' book - but first I would have to find a talented illustrator to join me in the project!

I'd like to share the names of my favorite authors (translation, I'll read anything they write):
(1) Kristin Harmel
(2) Kristin Hannah
(3) B.A. Paris
(4) Janet Skeslien Charles
(5) S.A. Cosby

And here are the BEST books I've read during the last several years:
(1) The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel
(2) The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
(3) The Women by Kristin Hannah
(4) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
(5) American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
(6) The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper

And a final note, here's my favorite quote about reading:

"For you unlock magic that is hidden within, and opening the cover is how you begin. Oh, all the worlds and the places you'll see; when you hold a book, you hold the key." ~Caroline Derlatka
___

Debbie Laskey has nearly three decades of marketing experience and an MBA Degree. She developed her marketing expertise while working in the high-tech industry, the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, the nonprofit arena, and financial services and insurance sectors.

Her expertise includes brand marketing, social media, employee engagement, leadership development, and customer experience marketing. A brand marketing consultant to emerging businesses and nonprofits, she is also a regular contributor to several national blogs that provide insights about marketing and leadership and has been recognized as one of the "Top 50 Branding Experts" to follow on Twitter/X at @DebbieLaskeyMBA. Visit her website and her blog where you'll find something new nearly every day.

Comments

Business And Life Lessons From Entrepreneur Miguel Leal

What I like most about Miguel Leal ’s memoir, aside from its overall compelling and inspiring information, are the business and life lessons he shares. Those lessons are found throughout his recently released memoir, The House That Cheese Built . The book is a quintessential American dream story from a Mexican entrepreneur who shares the tale of building a multi-million-dollar business from scratch, complete with both success and failure, and always a vision of hope. Leal came to the U.S. penniless as a teenager, speaking almost no English; he literally slept in the boiler room of a Wisconsin cheese factory for months before he was caught. Through hard work, grit, and ingenuity Leal would go on to launch his own business. He is widely credited with introducing Mexican cheeses to the U.S. market and grew his company to a multimillion-dollar success story that defined an industry. Yet, like many successful entrepreneurs, Leal’s great successes were matched by a variety of ...

Twenty-five Of My Favorite Leadership Quotes

All year during 2012, I collected my favorite quotes about leadership from Twitter. When the year ended, I published the list. So, for today's leadership flashback , among the thousands of tweets and retweets on Twitter about leadership during 2012 these 25 were my favorites. A mix of advice from some unknown individuals along with many from leadership book authors and famous leadership experts, and a few from past U.S. presidents and current-day athletes. Great leaders know the power of asking questions. Lead with your heart, not just your head. Learn to let go of fear and embrace the unknown. People are much more impressed by your potential than by your track record. Smart leaders use the power of stories whenever they have important messages to convey. To be effective, leaders have to close the conversational gap with their employees. One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency -- Arnold Glasow Managers...

Helping People Win At Work

Here are some of my favorite pieces of advice from Ken Blanchard's and Garry Ridge's book, Helping People Win at Work : All good performance starts with clear goals. Continually planning and executing without the value of review and learning can blindside you. You don't want to save up feedback until somebody fails. It's amazing how much more you learn when you admit you don't know. If you can't measure something, you can't manage it. The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right. Whenever you attempt to influence someone else's beliefs, thinking, or behavior, you're engaging in leadership. A compelling vision tells people who they are, where they are going, and what will guide their journey.

The Five Critical Roles You Need To Build A Winning Team

The new book, Team Players , by leadership expert and New York Times bestselling author, Mark Murphy , explains why a team needs more than strong leaders—it needs the right mix of five roles and talents to succeed. In addition, Murphy reveals that the secret to extraordinary teams isn’t making everyone the same—it’s embracing and leveraging fundamental differences through those five distinct team roles. No amount of teambuilding, trust, or cohesion can overcome having the wrong mix of people in the room. The five essential roles and talents are: The Director assumes a leadership role within the team, guiding its direction and making important, difficult, and even unpopular decisions. The Achiever immerses themselves in the details of accomplishing tasks and getting things done, with a keen eye for delivering error-free work. The Stabilizer keeps the team on track with meticulous planning, processes and procedures, clear timelines, and organi...

The Phoenix Encounter Method For Leaders

“All businesses sooner or later face the need to reconstruct their future,” explain the authors of the new book, The Phoenix Encounter Method . “They will need to destroy part or all of the incumbent business model in order to build their breakthrough, future-ready organization.” Therefore, this book shares a new method of leadership thinking – the Phoenix Encounter – relevant to all organizations in today’s ever-changing environment. Readers will learn how to proactively bridge the gap between perceiving a threat and doing something about it. Written by three INSEAD professors ( Ian C. Woodward , V. “Paddy” Padmanabhan , Sameer Hasija ) and Rum Charan , you’ll learn the steps needed to create a wider range of options to: Defend your organization Fortify its core business Build specific renewal initiatives The steps are grounded in transformation that includes these three elements : The Phoenix Attitude : a set of mindsets, habits, and behaviors that allows a leader to ...

How To Find Your Balance Point

A few years ago, Brian Tracy , along with Christina Stein , published, Find Your Balance Point . "The desire for peace of mind and the idea of living a balanced life are central to your happiness and well-being. When you start to live your life in balance with the very best person you could possibly be, you will enjoy the happiness you deserve and experience harmony among all the elements that make up a successful life for you, as you define it," explain the authors. The book teaches you how to identify you balance point, move to it at will, and automatically return to it whenever you want . "You need to establish your balance point before you can set and achieve the goals that are important to you," explains Tracy. The starting point is to develop absolute clarity about who you are and what matters to you. This means you much be clear about your values . Then, chapter by chapter, Tracy and Stein take you through: Creating your vision and ...

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership . In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust. The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes. In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter. In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...

Full Engagement By Brian Tracy

Best-selling author Brian Tracy's book, Full Engagement , provides practical advice for how to inspire your employees to perform at their absolute best. He explains that above nearly every measure, employees' most powerful single motivator is the "desire to be happy." So, Tracy teaches you how to make your employees happy by: Organizing their work from the first step in the hiring process through the final step in their departure from your company so they are happy with you, their work, their coworkers, as well as in their interactions with your customers, suppliers and vendors. Full Engagement includes these chapters and topics: The Psychology of Motivation Ignite the Flame of Personal Performance Make People Feel Important Drive Out Fear Create That Winning Feeling Select The Right People Internal Versus External Motivation At a minimum, Tracy suggests that managers do the following when managing their employees : Smile Ask questions Listen ...

The Inspiration Code

At the end of each year, I select my choice for the best new leadership book for that year, and then highlight that book on my blog. Well, only five months into 2017, I had already found a new leadership book so good that I couldn't wait until year-end 2017 to share it. Reflecting back, and sharing again, that book is, The Inspiration Code , by Kristi Hedges . Perhaps now more than any other time, the need for inspirational leadership is critical in the workplace. Filled with profound insights and compelling data, and based on a commissioned survey on who and what inspires people, Hedges uncovers a set of consistent, learnable behaviors that dramatically enhance leadership success. And, shows you how to inspire those you lead. And, how to energize people every day . Kristi Hedges But, first, what exactly is inspiration? Hedges explains that psychology professors Todd Thrash and Andrew Elliot have determined that inspiration is :...

The Fresh, New Approach For How Governmental Leaders Achieve Unparalleled Success

The new book, Bridgebuilders , should be on the reading list of every public official, CEO, and civic leader. That is because throughout the book, authors William D. Eggers and Donald F. Kettl share compelling and instructive stories about some of today’s most successful bridgebuilders—federal state, and local government leaders who transcend boundaries and partner across sectors, to achieve success and meet their goals. “Bridgebuilding is the fresh, new approach that strengthens institutions, and government agencies by breaking free from organizational boxes and rigid, top-down leadership,” explains Eggers and Kettl. “Furthermore, the outdated model that worked well at one time—identifying a problem and creating a program designed to solve it—is giving way to new, muti-sector approaches to create public value.” The authors stress that leaders need to manage horizontally, making connections with other departments, as well as with stakeholders outside governmen...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog