Full Circle: Michelle Hutton on Betting on Herself, Twice

She quit the company she had spent her whole career building to go work for its biggest rival, and got publicly slammed for it. Years later, that rival merged with the company she had left, and she ended up running the entire thing.

Michelle Hutton is Global Chief Client and Growth Officer at Burson, one of the world's largest public relations and communications agencies, where her clients include L'Oréal, Coca-Cola, Visa, Emirates, Spotify, and the International Olympic Committee. This year, Burson won its first Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival, the top award in the industry, just three years after the agency was formed.

Michelle built her early career at Hill & Knowlton, rising to CEO of the Australian business, before a call from Edelman changed the direction of her career and put her at the center of an industry controversy.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why she left the company she'd spent years building for its biggest competitor, and what that decision actually cost her

• How Burson won its first Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival, the industry's top award, just three years after the agency was formed

• The advice her father gave her the day she got her first job offer, before she'd even finished university

• The mistake she says held back her career more than once: believing good work would speak for itself, until she learned SHE had to speak up for herself

• What changed for her the day a colleague told her she didn't have to have all the answers anymore

• Her read on why AI is making earned media, not paid advertising, the thing that actually shapes a brand's reputation