Talie Smith is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer at Smith & Connors, a brand and digital agency that accelerates growth and transformation for organizations on a mission. She pioneered Design Therapy, a methodology that helps organizations own their true voice and navigate change through values-driven communications. With over 20 years of experience, Talie draws from her background in visual design, literature, and her work at the Soros Foundations to create meaningful, impactful brand strategies. She is also a member of Business for a Better Portland, an Experience Director at the US West Region of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), and a board member of Zebras Unite.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- [2:08] How Talie Smith’s childhood experiences shaped her identity and career choices
- [6:07] Why Talie left NYC for a fresh start
- [7:28] How a family-run agency thrives through open communication
- [10:09] The power of rebranding to help organizations redefine their story
- [12:16] How addressing hidden workplace conflicts can lead to transformation
- [15:18] The importance of a time-bound process in branding and organizational change
- [18:15] Why the question “What are you afraid of?” is crucial in a client discovery call
- [24:43] The impact of EO on Talie’s leadership and personal development
In this episode…
Finding the courage to embrace your true self while navigating business and personal growth can feel overwhelming. Many entrepreneurs struggle with self-doubt, misalignment, and the fear of change, often leading to stalled progress and unfulfilled potential. But how does one muster the bravery to leave behind what no longer serves them and embrace a new path?
Creative strategist Talie Smith shares how she helps organizations rediscover their identity through a unique approach called “Design Therapy.” By facilitating open conversations, addressing hidden tensions, and creating a time-bound process, she ensures teams align around a shared vision. Drawing from her journey — overcoming childhood struggles, taking bold risks, and even undergoing a transformative psychedelic experience — Talie emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, resilience, and vulnerability in leadership and branding.
Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Talie Smith, Founder, and CEO at Smith & Connors, about using design therapy to align personal and organizational identities. They discuss how Talie’s childhood shaped her fearless approach to business, her bold move from New York to Portland without a job, and why she welcomes workplace conflict as an opportunity for transformation. This conversation offers valuable lessons in embracing change and authenticity.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- John Corcoran on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Talie Smith on LinkedIn
- Smith & Connors
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
Special Mention(s):
Quotable Moments:
- “I remember from my earliest memory, just feeling really like a big stage was just waiting and ready for me right there.”
- “It was a grueling experience to hike up and climb to the top of that mountain; it was a very big feat for me.”
- “I’ve learned that, you know, at that moment, I felt like the city was sort of killing my soul.”
- “We’re not going to be successful in this project if we don’t address those issues in the process.”
- “We force a time-bound experience in which they have to address the issue. I’ve never seen it not get resolved.”
Action Steps:
- Embrace vulnerability in leadership: Being open about personal challenges and sharing them with others can create a more authentic and empathetic work environment. This approach helps to build trust within teams and encourages others to be genuine, addressing the challenge of superficial relationships in business and aligning with the opportunity to create a supportive culture.
- Engage in identity exploration: Regularly revisiting and redefining your personal and organizational values can help ensure alignment with your current goals and market needs. This self-assessment addresses the challenge of staying relevant and ensures that both personal and organizational narratives reflect true purpose and vision.
- Facilitate open communication in teams: Encourage open and honest communication in your team to address underlying issues and foster alignment. This strategy helps in overcoming the common challenge of unresolved conflicts and can lead to more cohesive and motivated teams.
- Leverage time-bound processes for growth: Implementing structured, time-bound processes can help in addressing and resolving issues efficiently. This approach is effective as it prevents stagnation and encourages decisive action, making it easier to tackle complex challenges and achieve goals.
- Seek external guidance and support: Engaging with organizations like the Entrepreneurs’ Organization or seeking out mentors can provide valuable perspectives and support for personal and professional growth. This step addresses the opportunity to learn from others’ experiences and can significantly enhance leadership capabilities and business acumen.
Sponsor: Rise25
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Cofounders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, Freshdesk, and many more.
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Episode Transcript
John Corcoran: 00:00
All right. Today we’re talking about how to find the courage to become your true self so that you can manifest the business and the life that you want. My guest today is Talie Smith. She’s going to share her story about how she did that. I’ll tell you more about her in a second. So stay tuned.
Intro: 00:18
Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show.
John Corcoran: 00:35
All right. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran here. I’m the host of the show. And you know, each week we have great guests. We have smart CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies we’ve had. If you check out our archives, we’ve had Netflix and Grubhub, Redfin, Gusto, Kinkos, YO, EO, and Activision Blizzard. Check out the archives on whatever player you like to listen to your podcasts. And of course, this episode is brought to you by our company, Rise25, where we help B2B businesses get clients referrals and strategic partnerships we’ve done-for-you podcasts and content marketing, and you can learn more about what we do by going to Rise25. Rise25.com or email us at [email protected]. And be sure to ask about our new podcast Copilot platform.
All right. My guest here today is Talie Smith, and she is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer at Smith & Connors, which is a brand and digital agency. She’s got 20 plus years of experience in the communications space, and she works with equity centered institutions, governments and purpose driven businesses. And she’s championed a method called design therapy, which we’re going to talk about in a moment. That helps to bring alignment during organization, organizational change. She’s based in Portland, Oregon. We know each other through entrepreneurs organization. And tally, I’m so excited to have you here today, and I love to get to know my guests a little bit more about what they were like when they were a kid, because that informs so much of what we’re like as we become adults. And you were a performer. You were someone who liked using your voice, Singing, and dancing. That’s always been a strong, powerful force for you. Obviously you use it in some of the work that you do now, but talk a little bit about what you were like as a kid.
Talie Smith: 02:10
Thank you so much for having me, John. It’s really cool to be here. Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, thinking back to my childhood in a household of three sisters and parents and in suburban America, I was, you know, I remember from my earliest memory, just feeling really like a big stage was just waiting and ready for me right there. And I had no fear of getting on to that stage, wherever it might be.
And so I started to develop, you know, skills and in, in voice, vocals, performance and dance and all the way through college. I, you know, was a classical vocalist and then got into some other types of bands and things. And you know, this drive to express myself, express my ideas, my feelings and thoughts through that performance was always strong for me. As a kid. And it was interesting to then enter the business world and get a job. And that sort of went dormant for a long time. And so, yeah, just kind of thinking about that arc and what is that about and, and who does that make me?
John Corcoran: 03:34
And you are a bit of a risk taker from a young age to at age 14, you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Didn’t hear about that very often. How did that come about?
Talie Smith: 03:43
Yeah, well, my parents went through a sort of a divorce. That was rough when I was about 13, 12 or 13. Felt like the family was disintegrating and didn’t have a lot of great support at the time. And my dad turned to all three girls and said, each of you can pick a place in the world anywhere and I will take us on a one on one adventure. And I picked Africa. And so he, you know, we were a hiking family. Like, he I was hiking since I was two with him and camping. We were really rugged little girls on the trail. And so he just booked the trip. And there we were at the base of Kilimanjaro. It was a life-changing experience for me.
John Corcoran: 04:25
Me, really. Well, how did you do it? And I’ve heard that from other people who’ve done that trip. But how did you walk away differently?
Talie Smith: 04:33
Well, you know, 14 is a really. It’s like freshman in high school, right? You’re you’re you’re trying to figure out who you are. You’re entering this space and time socially where it’s like you’re becoming yourself. But there’s a lot of rules and there’s a lot of messages that you get. And especially as a girl. I just didn’t know I was feeling really insecure, to be honest at the time, you know, given the family disintegration. And so. It was a grueling experience to hike up and climb to the top of that mountain and through it all, especially at the very end, getting up to the top. And, you know, from midnight in the dark for seven hours, trudging up five steps, dropping to my, you know, heaving crying in that altitude sickness in the dark. It was a very big feat for me.
John Corcoran: 05:33
Wow. Wow. It sounds quite intimidating. Well, it kind of explains a bit of your trajectory because. And I’m flashing forward a little bit here in your story, but it’s at a point about 20 years ago now, you were living in New York City. You’re working, I guess, in the agency world as a designer and you got tired of New York City. And so you had a one year old and you got up and left. You took your family and moved west and ended up in Oregon. Is that correct?
Talie Smith: 06:07
Yes, exactly. I’ve learned that, you know, at that moment, I was just I felt like the, the, the city was sort of killing my soul. I needed outdoor space. I needed the wilderness. I needed a different kind of energy and space to figure that out. So yeah, we picked up and moved without jobs and just planted in Portland, Oregon and tried to figure it out. Our new life together.
John Corcoran: 06:32
How long did it take? Did you know, you’re like, hi, I’m a designer for New York City. Like what? How did you get land?
Talie Smith: 06:38
Yeah. It was, you know, I just kind of hustled, to be honest, I didn’t really have a lot of clients that I brought our way, so I immediately started to build community. You know, what I found out here was really cool is that people are really open to sharing and helping you. So the community was really great. And but, you know, we were making ends meet just just for many years while we were raising our family and establishing ourselves here.
John Corcoran: 07:07
Yeah. I mean, 18 years ago in Portland it was a bit cheaper, I guess, to live. So maybe you can get by a little bit, a little bit easier. Definitely. Right. Yes. So and then what was the origin behind Smith & Connors? I understand first it was your own kind of side hustle under a different name, but then eventually your husband decided to partner with your husband and your sister.
Talie Smith: 07:28
Yeah. My sister, Becca Connors and I were. She was a software engineer. I was a designer. We were. And she became a developer. So we were doing sort of projects together as designer developers while we were raising our kids, which was really great. And then my husband Scott was doing strategy and content strategy and all sorts of really cool branded experiences with other agencies in Portland at the time, and kind of disenchanted with agency life as I was, which is why I left that. And he kind of turned, turned to me and my sister and said, you two are doing some cool stuff. Like, I think we could partner up and start a business and do some really great things together. And so we did. In 2013, we formed Smith & Connors, and it was, you know, Becca, as our chief technology officer, I’m, you know, creative director. And Scott is a strategy. And so we.
John Corcoran: 08:24
And there’s a lot of families where that combination would not work out so well. It’s two spouses and a sibling. How did it work out for you?
Talie Smith: 08:33
Well, I’ll just say at the very beginning, we got a business coach who ended up being sort of a family therapist, but it was really. Auspicious in a way, or I don’t know if that’s the right word, but, you know, she was able to point out dysfunctions and we started to really work at those. And it’s been 11 years now, almost 12. And, you know, I think it’s testament to the three of us that we are as healthy and prosperous as we are as a business. We really look at issues together head on. We work on, you know, nothing’s under the surface. We deal with it, we talk about it, we work through it. And I think the three of us have really grown as individuals and leaders together. It’s really beautiful.
John Corcoran: 09:24
And so I imagine some of that informs this design therapy approach that you developed, which I’ll let you describe. But you’ve said that it is helping the story of an organization, helping them to basically rewrite their story, even especially after they have been in business for a little while, which I, I can’t imagine how difficult that is for some organizations that, you know, they start going in one direction, they go in a million different directions, or maybe a maybe a very significantly different direction. And then it’s why you hear from people all the time. Oh, my website doesn’t really reflect what we do now. So take me through that. How do you help companies to figure out what their story is now, when they have been doing it for a long time and their stories become different?
Talie Smith: 10:09
Yeah. Well, you know the reason why any company or organization thinks of a rebrand or has, you know, is doing their new website and needs to figure out, well, what is our story? How are we? You know, usually it’s after a long period has passed and the outside world and their audiences have changed. You know, markets have changed, perceptions have changed.
And then internally, you know, any organization over time changes, right. Strategic priorities change how we think about ourselves, you know, branding to us or developing a story across a website to us if it’s really strongly tied to business goals. Right. But ultimately it, you know, you can’t really decide on that stuff. You know who our audience is.
How do we what do we want to say if people within the organization itself are misaligned about, you know, priorities or the culture? Let’s say the culture is toxic or there’s, you know, mistrust between leadership and staff. Well, the way in which we think about it is we’re not you’re not going to be successful in this project if we don’t address those issues in the process, because then you end up with a story that actually nobody’s really buying into within the organization. Yeah, think about it. If the actual most important people to believe it are the people in the organization itself, right? They’re the evangelists. They’re the ones living the mission.
John Corcoran: 11:49
Right? So but I, I imagine that this has got to have unearthed some demons, right? Where there is some hidden stuff or buried stuff, where business partners or family members or executive teams are harboring some kind of unsaid stuff, bitterness, whatever you want to call it. Yeah, that must have come up in some of these processes as you’re doing.