Allison Minutillo is the President & COO of Rebel Interactive Group and considers passion, curiosity, creativity, positivity, and team empowerment as a part of her core values. Allison is also the host of the Rebel Leadership podcast where she discusses different aspects of leadership with guests.
Allison leads by challenging, motivating and inspiring to define and execute multi-channel marketing strategies and actionable plans that simplify complexity. She accomplishes all of this through her leadership, which has created a positive, problem-solving culture that stresses progress over perfection and reinforces her dedication to client success.
Throughout her meteoric rise in the company, she’s led Rebel — and its many clients by extension — through uncharted territories with her eye on business results at every step. A crusader of curiosity, Allison is “always in search of the next big thing, the next adventure and the next opportunity to learn something new.”
As busy as she is at the office, she manages her “crew of boys” (her husband, two young sons, and her dog) at home, and finds time for running and a round of golf whenever possible.
What is the Rebel Leadership Podcast is all about?
So the Rebel Leadership Podcast is actually something that was sparked from an “aha” moment. So we, as a leadership team had wanted to do some big initiative, big movement to proclaim all the things that we have been talking about internally and give that guidance to people who are aspiring leaders in our own organization and aspiring leaders outside of our organization. Cause we all kind of came from these differing backgrounds of past jobs, past leaders that we just didn’t see eye to eye with, or we didn’t get inspired by them or their bad bosses and all sorts of past experiences kind of coming together.
And one day I was sitting, in a meeting with the owner of the company and it was like an intense day where we had tons of “aha” moments with people and we saw like bright lights and things connecting with all these people that were reporting to us and we said, gosh, we got to like talk about this stuff. Should we do a blog? Should we do all this? So that, and he just looked at me and he said one word. And he said this is the podcast.
And at that moment it just clicked. And for me, it was like the right medium, the right platform, the right topic. Cause we had wanted to do a podcast as an agency forever, but I never really felt that we had the right substance behind it. And this was the thing that could change people’s lives if they were inspired by just one thing we said that could change their day.
You know, you kind of touched on this a little bit, but you know, talking about your personal background, were there elements in, you know, previous marketing lives that kind of, really led you to, explore this element of leadership?
Yeah, it did because I was always someone I’m a very driven person. So I’ve always been someone who looks at my surroundings, looks up to the people above me, gets very easily inspired by things. I’m constantly thinking outside the box, reading articles, teaching myself like kind of like that lifelong learner. And, throughout that time I’ve also been taught what not to do and who I don’t want to be like, and so in a leadership role, once I got to the position, that I am now, it’s a huge responsibility in the leadership role.
You are leading a team of people that are ultimately looking up to you to carry yourself and conduct yourself in the best way possible with empathy, with sincerity, with authenticity, with all the things, right. And as a human, you know, you’re not your best every single day, but everybody is expecting you to be right. And so you, it’s this like a really cerebral moment as a leader where you realize like, okay, you are on display at all times. You’ve got to give your best effort every day, all of your emotions out there every day, you’ve gotta be leading with kindness and empathy and just all the things, right?
And so for leaders who want to be leaders and who don’t necessarily know what it’s like to be, that we really wanted to put that on display and talk about the hard stuff, not just sugar-coated leadership blogs, and articles and books, and there’s endless content about leadership, right, and research, but there’s not enough dialogue about the realities of the situations that we’re in and the like really intricate details that make up true leadership.
So, with all of this background, you know, and jumping into podcasts and you know, what are some of the biggest problems you’ve encountered while launching a podcast? And how did you overcome some of those?
So time is the hardest because also as a leader, you are the busiest you’ve ever been in your life and it’s a responsibility that comes with it, right? So you’re choosing to sign up for it. It’s not just about a promotion or a title change or anything. It’s a life change. It’s a decision you have to make. So once you’re in that, I’m choosing to carve out time because this makes me so happy. So, sometimes I record at 5:00 AM. Sometimes I record it like 9:00 PM on my couch. Like a lot of it, it’s a choice to put this stuff out there. So that’s a challenge, but it’s inspiring me. So the owner of Rebel, Bryn, always says like, “you know, you don’t have to do the podcast as much”, but it’s the thing that like, it’s one of the things that really, really excites me because the thought of sparking an “aha” moment in somebody else is, my driver.
That’s my why. If you read about books about like, why people are driven it’s to connect the dots for somebody and you can read it all over their face, that they got it, like all of their past experience and something you said, or coach them on, made them be activated, that it’s sparked something in them that just inspires the crap out of them to keep going in their career. That’s all the tea in China.
You know, as you’ve been pumping out episodes, are there any mistakes that you’ve made any little hiccups that have come along the road?
Oh yeah. Well you just saw one, so learning the trade, right? So, it’s not like I’ve done podcasts for my whole life, right? So part of it is a learning curve. You have to really have the technology team behind you, the production team behind you to know how to deal with equipment. And when those people aren’t around, you’ve got to kind of troubleshoot yourself. So we were just, on with, our video squad and they were helping me remotely. Cause then you’ve got whole other challenge.
Another challenge is finding, okay, so this is an interesting one, right? Like that, I didn’t realize until I learned what it isn’t. So it’s being super relentless. This is a Jeff Bezos quote actually the former CEO of Amazon, he said, “you have to be a leader, you have to be relentless in your vision and flexible with the details.” So in this Rebel Leadership podcast, I’ve been relentless in the vision that this has gotta be purely authentic. It’s gotta be the real, real. It’s gotta be like tackling these meaty topics. That no one talks about that and everybody’s scared of and we’ve got to preserve that feeling or else it’s just more content. It’s just more noise. So there have been swings and misses on episodes.
So I’ve invited guests in, external guests that ended up being like a sales pitch. And I didn’t like it, right? Because it’s like, that’s not what this is, this isn’t a sales pitch. This is real leaders talking to other leaders, real leaders, talking to peers, real leaders, talking to the employees that look up to them to understand the complexities of what leadership really is about. So we’ve, we’ve had those moments where we’ve brought in a guest and, and later I’ve had to nix it and just not run with it because it didn’t preserve the vision that we set forth to conquer.
Speaking about the vision for the podcast and talking a little bit about maybe how it ties into the company. Is there any plans to monetize the podcast?
Yeah. So that’s an option in any hosting platform that you upload your content into, it is not a part of our vision. There is not a single trace of trying to make money off of this. This is all about the fact that life’s far too short and that we all have a purpose here. And we believe this is a piece of our purpose that we want to affect people in a positive way outside of our own walls, within our own walls, in hopes that our own employees consume some of the content and understand, the leaders that are driving the organization and hopefully believe in them.
But also get beyond our own walls and truly trigger that moment. And to be frank with you, the best part about this has been the little notes that I’ve gotten of quotes that stood out to people as they listened to an episode, and that is not monetization, right? That’s, what this is about. It’s like this hit me like a freight train when this person said this, or you said this, that is when it’s just like, Oh, those early mornings, those extra hours that you’re putting in are really, really worth it.
So, with all this experience, if you had to start a brand new podcast today, you know, what are some steps that maybe you would take that you didn’t think about before?
Really good question. So I just took a client through this the other day, cause they were thinking about, creating their own podcast. So, the first thing is figuring out your theme, your content, what’s your vision for this whole thing. Very, very first. If you don’t have substance there, it will be very hard to maintain the episodes. And when we came up with this vision, within two days I had a list of 51 episodes. I still have that list and that to me told me it was my “aha”, but it was because we hit the jackpot with the topic, with the theme. And they still continue. I have a list probably of a hundred now that I want to do with people. But it just, when it flows out of you, that’s when you know you’ve got it. So once you have that, you needed the episode list, the things that will amplify that vision from there, you gotta start securing your guests, get the right equipment, make sure you have the software.
We use Adobe audition, We use podcast mics. We’ve invested in the infrastructure in order to do this well so that it’s not like a half-assed type of podcast. The other thing is a scratch episode. For other people, the big, one of the biggest things I’ve learned as a leader in my role now is that it’s very easy to come up with an idea. It’s very difficult to actually see that idea through. So when, when we knew we had this big idea, I also knew that it would just be another idea unless people could hear what this was all about.
So we did two to three, rough episode recordings on my iPhone before we ever invested in the equipment so that people could understand what this was all about, because it’s hard to understand, right? Until you listen to an episode and then you say like, Oh, I totally see that. And those episodes sparked a series of 10, scheduled episodes that we then quickly recorded thereafter cause everybody could buy into your vision.
For anybody that’s looking to grow their own podcast audience, you know, what kind of strategies have you noticed have been effective for listenership?
So all word of mouth. So the best podcasts that, that everybody shares are the ones that a friend told you, you have to listen to this. And the other piece of it is finding the right ways to hook people with your language. So you’re in the world of search engine optimization, knowing the way people think and write is different than, how we might intuitively market something. So you have to marry the way people think and search for something, with what you’re trying to convey, and make sure your language and the episodes are clear enough, but also intriguing enough.
So for example, one of our top listened to episodes is called, “The three letter word that changes everything. And so I have SEO in my ear saying that’s not descriptive enough, but I also have the marketer in my brain that says, what’s the three letter word. Right? And you have to listen to the episode to understand what the three letter word is. So, there’s this balance of art and science that you just kind of have to think about. But when people share it with other people, that’s how this has spread really, really quickly and build a listenership.
What’s a piece of advice that you would give to any aspiring or new podcasters in the field.
If you have a passion for it and you want a platform to get your thoughts out there, it is almost like therapy. It is so much fun. And if you can find the time to pursue a passion, this is one of mine, amidst a lot of other responsibilities that are much more important than this to the organization that I prioritize over this. But this is the thing that, it’s one of those things that makes me happy. That makes me see that light in somebody else. So I’m going to keep doing it, right? So if you, if you’re someone like that, that has a vision and you want to see it through, go do it. There is no risk. This is a very, very low barrier thing. You don’t have to be on camera. You don’t have to like get the jitters. You’re just having a conversation and hopefully, someone will listen to it.
Finally, how can readers get in touch with you if they were inspired by you today?
Absolutely. So I hope you reach out through any social media platforms. My personal handle, is @Junebombbb or my email is Allison@rebelinteractivegroup.com. Please reach out.
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