“There is no room for small dreams.”
For the past five years I have been the host of a podcast called What Next? speaking to leaders, pioneers, authors, artists, scientists and many others on what is coming next in their fields and what we should prepare for.
We have recorded over 168 episodes, and it is ranked among the top one hundred global podcasts. What Next? was the idea of Chris Harrison a senior leader at the Publicis Groupe who also served as the initial show runner. While the show is produced by the Publicis Groupe, ninety percent of my guests are external. It is free to subscribe to and also free of advertising and available on all global platforms. Each episode is tightly edited by Gilly Smith an expert food writer and podcaster to less than 40 minutes to fit into the time someone may commute or work-out. Currently Camilo Miranda based in Costa-Rica is the show runner and George Turner engineers the podcast from London.
This week for the first time after 168 episodes we are republishing an episode with Maurice Levy who was the CEO and Chairman of the Publicis Supervisory Board for a couple of reasons:
1) 2026 is the 100th anniversary of the Publicis Groupe and many people might be interested in the four or five key turning points that transformed how a small French company became the most valuable, fastest growing and the largest of the marketing communication service companies until the recent Omnicom and IPG merger.
2) Today as the world changes fast and every company and industry is challenged, what learnings can we take away that can be used both by leaders and individuals to thrive?
The majority of the conversation is not about Publicis Groupe but about how to manage change, think like a start-up, the meaning of trust, how to embrace and overcome failure, how to stay forever young, the importance of passion and much more.
These days we all need an injection of optimism and a call to arms and here is a conversation that will leave you inspired with actionable steps regardless of your industry or your level of seniority.
Here is a small sampling of what you will hear:
1. No Silo. No Solo. No Bozo: This is Maurice as a copywriter.
No Silo: Organizations can no longer have silos. While we did not talk about AI at all it is clear that orchestration becomes the key in an AI age where sales, marketing, and CRM merge as does creative, data and tech.
No Solo: Teamwork has always been key and even more in a connected world, fluid, and shape-shifting world.
No Bozo: Nobody regardless of their skill, client relationship or budget control can be allowed to behave like a bozo. Cemeteries are filled with “irreplaceable” people but the world goes on.
Moving to such an organization however takes many years since human habits are ingrained. Arthur Sadoun who took over from Maurice Levy nine years ago has launched many initiatives that has led to today’s success, one of which was a country and client focused versus brand focused model which unleashed the potential energy that had been built and stored in Groupe.
2. Think like a start-up: Regardless of the age or size of a company the only way to remain relevant in changing times is to think like a start-up. Well into his 8th decade Maurice Levy launched a start-up called VivaTech into being. Today it is the largest technology conference and exhibition in all of Europe combining CES and Davos.
3. Forever Young: Youth is a mindset and not just an age. It is never too late to reinvent, to learn and to take chances.
4. Trust cannot be measured: One cannot trust someone 10% or 80%. Trust is binary. You trust someone or you do not. The best way is to begin by trusting everyone until they prove different. Without trust there is no speed or high performing team.
5. Dare to fail: Daring is key. Willing to fail and embracing and learning from failure is critical. Maurice shares his biggest failures and what he learned from them. Failure is an option. If it is not, then very few new companies or re-inventions would ever have been launched. Maurice shares his daring moves after the dot com melt down and financial crisis.
6. Optimism is key: One has to be positive if one is to pioneer or persevere. A key is to look at challenges as obstacles that one has to overcome versus problems that cannot be solved.
7. Think higher. Feel Deeper. It is key to have great passion and to strive for excellence. Benchmark against the best. While one may need to have our feet on the ground our heads should be in the clouds as we reach for the stars.
Life is too short to think small or settle for less than excellence.
There is no room for small dreams.
Much more wisdom and inspiration in just 39 minutes.
You can listen to the conversation on any podcast platform globally but the links to the Apple and Spotify streams are available here:
On Spotify:
On Apple: