Good Leaders: What does “doing well, by doing good,” mean to you?

“You need to make it good yourself,” a teacher and mentor told Amanda Brinkman. That’s how her brilliant career began. Amanda was the speaker at the Good Leadership Breakfast last Friday, May 18 – ending the Spring 2018 series. Today she is Chief Brand and Communications Officer for Deluxe Corporation, and her message “doing well by doing good” was well-defended and exceptionally well presented. Here’s what she shared with us last Friday:

“As a child, I was fascinated with the commercials on TV – everything about it, the production, the cameras, the talent, everything!” she said with a sparkle. “But, I confessed to a high school teacher that the advertising industry had a wrapper around it that was [dishonest.]” His answer shaped how she looks at everything today when he challenged her: “How can the industry get better if people like you don’t get involved. You need to make it good yourself!”

Cool career just keeps getting better

Her career journey included international PR and advertising jobs and several cool marketing roles before she landed the top marketing role at Deluxe Corp. Deluxe is a 100+ year old, publicly-traded company which made its mark as the dominant provider of printed, paper checks for personal and professional financial transactions. “While paper checks are still a big part of our business, it’s not where any future growth is going to come from. Our growth will come from advocating for, and promoting the health of, small businesses which are the backbone of America. We’re doing well, by being a good marketing partner,” she explained.

Dressed in a brilliant blue dress with smashing shoes, Amanda dazzled guests with really big concepts: “More than $500 billion (half a trillion) is spent each year on advertising that lots of people just skip through. How many of the world’s problems could solve with $500 Billion?” she proposed.  “At Deluxe, we decided to help our small business clients improve their marketing to survive against the threats of big box retailers and internet shopping. It’s a really important cause, and we are growing because of that strategy.”

Goodness grows on TV

The strategy to help small businesses became the type of a television show she dreamed of producing as a child. “Today, the Small Business Revolution TV program distributed on Hulu is the highest watched program of its kind,” she smiled. She’s in love with the challenge, because she is both the producer and the on-screen talent. “We are spending our advertising dollars teaching small businesses – which largely exist on Main Street in small towns – how to grow. It’s a wonderful cause, and I am so grateful to have this job!” 

Good leaders find ways to follow their passions in their work. And they thrive by making things better for more people every day in their career.

Please share with me: What does “doing well, by doing good” mean to you?

Purchase tickets to the Fall Good Leadership Breakfast here.

Congratulations to Candi from Creatis who won the Bucket of Goodwill. With audience contributions of $5,330, our total contributions exceeding $250,000 since we began – that’s a quarter million dollars!