Elisette Carlson
Founder at SMACK! Media
Elisette Carlson is the Founder of SMACK! Media, a Fractional CMO & Public Relation(ship)s® Agency that helps brands achieve relevance in the health & wellness space. Also a trusted advisor to start-up CEOs and VC firms, she puts ultimate value on personal relationships, teamwork & authenticity.
Articles by Elisette Carlson
The Automatable Enterprise: Why 40% of Your Workforce is Doing Robot Work
I built a company to 25 million users without a single penny of outside funding. People ask me for the secret. It isn't luck. It's my obsession with 'The Automatable Enterprise.' Most companies are bleeding potential because they hire smart humans to do robot work. If you looked closely at your organization, you'd find that 40% of your payroll is being spent on copy-pasting data. In my book 'Automate Your Busywork', I argue that automation isn't just about saving time; it's about saving your brain for the big stuff. Robot work is repetitive, low-impact, and soul-crushing. Human work is creative, strategic, and high-impact. Your job as a leader is to decouple them. The Automation Flywheel We can't just 'buy AI' and hope for best. You need a system. I call it the Automation Flywheel: Divide, Design, Refine. First, you must audit your workflows. What tasks are 'busy work'? Identifying them is half the battle. Then, design a workflow—not just a tool, but a process where data flows automatically from A to B. Finally, refine it. Automation is never 'set and forget'. Stop Hiring for Capacity; Hire for Capability The traditional reflex when a team is overwhelmed is to hire more people. This is a mistake. Adding people to a broken process just scales the inefficiency. Before you open a headcount requisition, ask: 'Can this role be solved with a better workflow?' The goal of the modern enterprise isn't to be the biggest; it's to be the most efficient. Automation is the ultimate leverage. It allows a small team to out-execute a giant. The future belongs to the Automatable Enterprise. Is yours one of them?
Data without Soul: The Fatal Flaw in Modern Executive Presentations
We are swimming in data. Every quarter, I see executives walk into boardrooms armed with decks so dense with analytics that they need a magnifying glass to be read. They believe that data is influence. They are wrong. Data is evidence; emotion is the engine. The fatal flaw in modern leadership is assuming the spreadsheet speaks for itself. The 'So What?' Test Steve Jobs never just gave a number. He gave a feeling. When he introduced the iPod, he didn't say '5GB of storage.' He said, '1,000 songs in your pocket.' That is the difference between data and soul. Before you put a chart on a slide, compare it to the human reality. Don't say 'customer churn is down 2%.' Say, 'We kept 5,000 families from leaving us this month.' Contextualize the metric until it bleeds. The Holy S Moment Every great presentation has an emotional peak—a moment so shocking or inspiring that the audience physically reacts. Neuroscientists call this an 'emotionally competent stimulus.' I call it the 'Holy S moment.' Bill Gates released mosquitoes on a stage to talk about malaria. You don't need insects, but you need drama. Reveal a competitor's product that is beating yours. Play a recording of a furious customer. Wake them up. Ethos, Pathos, Logos Aristotle figured this out 2,000 years ago. You need Logos (logic/data), but you also need Ethos (credibility) and Pathos (emotion). Most C-suite decks are 99% Logos. That is an imbalance that leads to inaction. If you want to move a boardroom, aim for the heart, not just the head. Stop hiding behind the numbers. Give your data a soul, and watch your influence soar.
The 3-Act Structure of Persuasion: Selling Innovation to the Board
Hollywood directors know something that most CEOs miss: the human brain is hardwired for story. When you pitch a digital transformation or a new product line to the board, you aren't just presenting data; you are directing a movie in their minds. If the plot is confusing, funding gets cut. To sell innovation, borrow the 3-Act structure from screenwriting. Act 1: The Inciting Incident (The 'Why Now?') Every great story starts with a disruption. In business, this is the 'Villain'—the market shift, the competitor, or the changing consumer behavior that threatens the status quo. Don't start with your solution; start with the stakes. 'For ten years, we dominated X, but the rules have changed.' Grab their attention by clearly defining the threat. If there is no monster, there is no need for a hero. Act 2: The Struggle (The 'Messy Middle') This is where most presentations fail. Executives want to skip to the happy ending. Instead, lean into the conflict. Admit the difficulty. 'We tried A and B, and they failed.' 'The path forward requires painful restructuring.' Vulnerability builds credibility. By acknowledging the risks and the hard road ahead, you inoculate yourself against skepticism. Bring the board into the trenches with you. Act 3: The New Normal (The 'Resolution') Now, and only now, do you introduce the solution. But don't just show the product; show the transformation. What does the world look like after we win? 'Our customers no longer struggle with X; they are powered by Y.' Contrast the dark world of Act 1 with the bright future of Act 3. Your ask (the budget) is simply the ticket price to enter this new reality. Data proves. Stories move. The next time you face the board, don't open a spreadsheet. Open with Act 1.
The Narrative Gap: Why Your Strategy is Failing to Land
I recently analyzed a pitch deck from a Fortune 500 leadership team. It was 80 slides long, packed with data, charts, and financial projections. It was intellectually bulletproof. And yet, the board looked bored. Why? Because while the team had mastered the logic, they had failed the narrative. They fell into the Narrative Gap. The Narrative Gap is the distance between your strategic data and your audience's emotional buy-in. Data informs, but stories inspire. In the C-suite, we often forget that our primary job isn't to be chief analyst; it's to be chief storyteller. The Neuroscience of Persuasion When you present pure data, the language processing parts of your audience's brain light up. They decode the words. But that's it. When you tell a story, the sensory cortex activates. The listener's brain mirrors the speaker's brain. This 'neural coupling' is the biological mechanism of influence. If you want your strategy to stick, you cannot just present findings; you must architect an experience. The 'Rule of Three' in Strategy Most strategic plans are too complex. The human brain is patterned to process information in threes. Thomas Jefferson used it in the Declaration of Independence. Steve Jobs used it to launch the iPad. If your strategic pillars number seven or ten, you have lost the room before you open your mouth. Simplify your narrative to three core pillars. Complexity is the enemy of execution. The Hero isn't You The biggest mistake executives make is casting the company as the hero of the story. 'We will crush Q4.' 'We will dominate the market.' In great storytelling, the company is not the hero; the company is the guide (like Yoda). The customer (or the employee) is the hero (Luke Skywalker). Frame your strategy around their journey, their struggle, and their victory. When you shift the spotlight, engagement skyrockets. Your strategy document is just paper. It doesn't become reality until people believe in it enough to act. Bridge the Narrative Gap, and you turn a plan into a movement.