Richard Edelman

Modern, effective leadership means moving beyond the 'grand illusion' to engage the mass population and to align business with societal goals.

In the wake of the Great Recession, most business leaders have tended to focus on their enterprise and short-term performance. The time for that narrow focus is over.

Instead of worrying about potential disruption, brands can be creative societal disruptors - because their consumers will be right there by their side as committed partners in a better life.

We've learned that when a consumer moves from a relationship rooted in 'me' to one powered by 'we,' a new world of buying and advocacy opens up for a brand.

The pace of change in marketing and the marketplace continues to accelerate. Unicorn companies are challenging long-established brands, and categories are being re-imagined.

Our goal is to put news where it earns attention, where readers can access it on every device and interact with it. We're meeting our clients' audiences where they are instead of asking them to come to us. Increasingly, that means hosting the content on social blogging sites like Medium.

We have been pushing forward on a new way of storytelling we call 'collaborative journalism' on behalf of a number of our clients.

We have seen an unprecedented dispersion of authority, such that 'a person like you' is now one of the most credible spokespersons on business, along with technical and academic experts.

Mainstream media has been abandoned by many, for ideological reasons mostly, and brands need to directly engage with the end-user of information and offer opportunities for consumer- and employee-generated content.

We're not going into advertising. But we see the future battleground existing between ourselves, digital firms, and media-buying firms.

I wake up every day, and the family fortune is on the line, and that's a good thing.

Advertising has a problem. They're being squeezed because media buyers and digital firms are doing the creative. They're being squeezed because people aren't viewing their stuff.

Most smart companies should make themselves media companies. That means they put out their own information.

Companies need to be very active in formulating public policy - not as a substitute for government, but as a supplement.

Business has to stand up on behalf of its employees, on behalf of immigration, on behalf of its customers, and on behalf of supply chain-cum-globalization.

More and more readers are finding important and interesting content through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and now Medium rather than traditional publishers.

I love playing tennis. I am an exercise freak.

The marketing business has been just about promoting things, but we don't believe that anymore. There has to be a societal component, too.

I was 14 when the Democratic convention in my hometown of Chicago erupted into violence. It was a tough year.

The world has flipped upside-down. It used to be a pyramid of authority; now it's upside down. The influence actually rests with the mid-level people, who speak peer-to-peer. If they're for you, you win.