Hilbrich Group

I have combined four decades of experience into instant insight for those I coach. To help them create good times out of bad, to learn from the mistakes I made and to help amplify their success.

Executive Coach

Acquisition and leadership of marketing communications companies to bring more and better services to clients.

CEO | Founder | Investor

Lead Your Agency

Founder and CEO

Global organization of company Presidents who believe in education, idea exchange and family work/life balance. Have held many officer, day chair and global champion roles.

Member

The Sandbox Agency

Our vision is to create a global challenger agency. Sandbox not only creates great work and executes flawlessly—we focus on the important and undervalued virtue in the agency business of playing together nicely in the sandbox. After growing from a startup to $62MM in revenue, Sandbox successfully combined with MERGE in March 2020.

Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO

Brandimage - Desgrippes & LAGA

Acquired Brandimage - Desgrippes & Laga, one of the world’s largest design firms, was formed from the combination of Desgrippes Gobé, a global design firm, and laga, a leading American design and innovation agency. With a team of experts in the U.S. Europe and Asia, Brandimage offers holistic services designed to deliver rich emotional brand experiences for consumers, from brand strategy and consumer insight, to brand identity, industrial design, package design, graphics, innovation, interactive, retail experience and architecture in one integrated offering. Brandimage was acquired by Schawk in October 2011.

Owner and CEO

The Marketing Store

Global promotional marketing communications agency with offices in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, U.K., France, Australia and China serving McDonald's, Nissan, Diageo, Vodafone and Coca Cola. Having created the awesome team that grew The Marketing Store Canada from a startup to $25MM in revenue, earned TMS global agency of the year three years in a row and achieved a top 5 independent agency status in Canada, I moved to the role of Global President of the company.

Global President

Leo Burnett

Started my career at Leo Burnett in Chicago and moved on to Burnett offices in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Canada in various senior leadership positions while growing the agency and client business for Kellogg's, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, Fruit of the Loom, Glad and McDonald's. Although I loved working with many major multinational clients, I especially enjoyed successfully leading smaller, more entrepreneurial offices in Leo Burnett International. Having experienced helping clients navigate the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and executing turnarounds in smaller offices in Scandinavia, I developed my deep love of the agency business and the people who work so hard to make it tick.

Senior Vice President

CEO | Entrepreneur | Investor | Author | Executive Coach

Leaders need perspective and broader thinking to create success. I can be your guide. 

After almost three decades as a CEO, entrepreneur and investor, I have navigated organizations large and small, struggled through recessions and successfully managed companies to success who were once drowning in poor management or deeply in debt. I have grown business organically and through acquisition; and I have exited two companies as an entrepreneur.

I have seen a lot. I'm not perfect. I have struggled and laid awake many nights to try to figure out the right answer. 

My passion is to serve. That is why I have combined four decades of experience into days of learning for you. To help you create good times out of bad, to help you learn from the mistakes I made and to help you amplify your success. 

I will coach you to success. I will help you sell your company. I will invest in or purchase your company. 

If I have entered the conversation you are already having in your head, I would be privileged to chat with you.

Memorial Day Weekend Birthday Party at Yellowstone for granddaughter Adeline. Great family fun and natural beauty all around. 
#yellowstonenationalpark

John Hilbrich

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After 30 years as a CEO, these are the six things I would  tell my 22 year old self (and my kids!) 
 
 
  
1. Establish bullet proof routines. Take care of mind, body and time.   
 
2. Focus on small improvements vs expecting big wins.  
 
3. Learn to forgive yourself for mistakes.   
 
4. Develop clear goals and the skills you need to achieve them.   
 
5. Hardship comes in many forms, but always with equal parts wisdom.   
 
6. Say “Please”, “Thank you”, “I love you” and “Great job” to someone every day.   
 
Be kind and keep learning! 
 
 #routines #goalsetting #leadership #mindset #brand30

Control freaks, beware! 
The death grip of micromanagement stifles creativity and stagnates growth. 
 
Stories of organizational decline echo in companies, 
 
All due to overbearing leadership. 
 
What’s the solution? 
 
Trust and delegation.  
 
- Empowering teams 
- Encouraging innovation 
- Driving growth 
 
How can leaders break free from the micromanagement trap? 
 
#Micromanagement #Delegation #Trust

Are you having an affair? 
 
 
 
What? 
 
I stood there in disbelief. My wife, Sue and I had just had our fifth child, moved from Europe to Canada for a new job and I was spending 14 hours a day at the office. She had gone through my suit coat and found a parking ticket with an address on it that she didn’t recognize. 
 
I had focused so much on my work and disregarded my family to the point where my wife thought I was seeing someone else.  
 
I was having an affair.  
 
With my work.  
 
The next day was the biggest presentation of the year to the largest client in the agency.  
 
She called me, distraught—because the stress of the move, the baby, my absence from home and managing all the kids was too much to do alone.  
 
I called my team in and told them, “I’m sorry. But I have to go home. My family needs me. I know you got this and I am confident it will be a great success”.  
 
I went home and spent the rest of the day with my wife and kids.  
 
It was the best day of my life. 
 
The presentation went great. My team was proud. And so was I—for so many reasons. 
 
Lots of lessons here.  
 
Hard ones to learn.  
 
Biggest one. Family first.  
 
 #team #leadership #family

The simple things. Trying to teach Mac that it’s OK to go into his new travel “house” 😃. Have a great Memorial Weekend

In business, you can be a threat to anyone. But being a threat to your boss is a threat to your job. 
 
It’s not untypical for high performers, to think they are capable, likable, and good leaders. 
 
But you may not be cognizant of the fact that all of these smarts, 
 
Rolled up into a ball of energy and performance, 
 
Could be a threat to your boss.  
 
It’s your job to manage up.  
 
Understand their priorities.  
 
Deliver on those priorities and display commitment. 
 
Take away the threat.  
 
It’s literally your job.  
 
#manageup #leadership #management #brand30

As the CEO of my life and career, I made a ton of mistakes.  I learned these 6 things:  
  
  
  
I have to take DAILY ownership of my  
reality.  
effort.  
mindset.  
opportunity.  
growth.  
service.  
  
My life got better when I stopped blaming and took ownership.  
  
#leadership #mistakes #ownership #mindset #brand30

Don't blame your boss for lack of leadership skills.  
Blame the company.  
 
They were promoted based on their individual strengths—but that doesn't always translate to effective leadership.  
 
The organization needs to Invest in leadership development and provide mentorship, training, and feedback to set future leaders up for success.  
 
Good leaders are made, not born.  
 
#LeadershipDevelopment #Mentorship #SuccessMindset #training

The CEO is the weakest, least skilled  and potentially most destructive person in a company.  
 
 
👉They don’t do anything.  
 
They don’t market. They don’t sell. They can’t fix the supply chain.  
 
👉They only “talk” to people.  
 
Can’t do accounting.  Writing code is a foreign language. They try to tell the lawyers what to do.  
 
👇 
 
But if they can inspire, they can multiply wealth and success for many people, many times over. 💥 
 
What a job,  
 
FOR THE RIGHT PERSON 
 
  #ceo  #success #leadership

Almost every person wastes part of their life in attempts to display qualities which they do not possess.” —Samuel Johnson 
 
Most of us have received a performance evaluation laden with deficiencies. It’s often strewn with weaknesses; things we need to “improve” on. 
 
But if the advice overpowers our biggest assets—those strengths that propel our performance forward, we do ourselves a disservice  by not celebrating and maximizing these strengths.  
 
Our goal should be to discover, understand and grow our uniqueness; not take others advice to improve weaknesses where the return is low or meaningless.  
 
You will get your greatest return on your greatest personal assets.  
 
#performance #superpower

Here's a truth bomb: Everyone wants to be the Boss, but the final call is not glorious.  
 
Decision making is crucial in leadership, but that doesn't mean it's easy and it’s usually not fun.  
 
 Final decision-makers face:  
- Expectation overload  
- Unpredictability  
- Accountability for consequences   
 
But what makes a good decision maker?  
1. Embrace uncertainty: life is complex, embrace the unknown  
2. Foster collective intelligence: involve your team, gain diverse insights  
3. Learn from failures: even the best stumble, reflection promotes growth   
 
Controversy aside, successful leaders must make hard calls, even with bad choices.  
 
Thoughts? 
 
#leadership #decisionmaking

To practice helpfulness is to win the game of leadership. 
 
Support your people. 
 
Clear out barriers. 
 
Don’t just act like you care, really care. 
 
Bring the donuts, bring the coffee, clean up the conference room. 
 
Do whatever it takes to be helpful, supportive, and a real colleague, while you lead.  
 
#helpfulness #leadership

Leadership isn't reserved for heroes.  
 
 
Or those with formal authority.  
 
It's a set of behaviors that can be cultivated within all of us,  
regardless of our past experiences.  
 
While some may possess a natural inclination towards leadership,  
anyone can learn to become a great leader with the right training and guidance. 
 
Perhaps you've encountered bosses or managers who excel in their individual contributions but struggle in their leadership role.  
 
This is a common problem, as promotion based on individual performance doesn't necessarily guarantee success in a leadership position. 
 
Everyone should get a chance to lead. But this requires more than simply handing over a title or role.  
 
Proper coaching, training, and mentorship are crucial to setting up leaders for success.  
 
#coaching #leadership #training #learning

When folks called me with a problem I used to do the wrong thing every time.  
  
  
 Assume they wanted my advice.  
  
98% of the time they did not.   
  
They wanted me to listen and to understand.  
  
Interestingly they often solved their problem or dealt with it in a satisfactory way simply by talking it through with me.  
  
I found that if they wanted my advice they specifically asked for it.  
  
Don’t assume people want your advice. They have been living with their problem for a long time and to think you can solve it in five minutes is a joke.  
  
If you have a relevant personal experience. Ask them if you can share it. Your personal experience may give them some perspective.  
  
But don’t offer advice unless you’ve been asked for it.  
  
#leadership #problemsolving #peoplemanagement

CEOs are often criticized for taking too long to make decisions. 


But what people don't realize is that those decisions can have a massive impact on the company's future. 

It's not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

The pressure to be perfect is a constant struggle for CEOs. 

We're expected to have all the answers and make all the right decisions, 

but the reality is that we're human, and we make mistakes.

 #people #ceo #notperfect

As a high performing leader, you need a coach. 


Running a business is stressful and  it can be challenging to find healthy ways to manage that stress and avoid burnout.  
 
Investing in an executive coach can be a game-changer for CEOs looking to: 
 
👉improve their performance,  
👉remain accountable   
👉develop new skills,  
👉find balance in their lives, 
💥 and see things they wouldn’t otherwise see. 
 
Thinking about my first coach Dr Carl Moore 😇 
 
#leadership #coaching #performance

As CEO, don't forget to manipulate your employees and customers to serve your own interests.  
 
Exploiting relationships is the key to making decisions that will maximize your personal gains and guarantee the company's success.  
 
Because you are in charge and you know best.  
 
🤨Controversial perspectives can often spark necessary conversations. 
 
This behavior is real, and many of you may have experienced it – – It’s as if these leaders are following some bizarre ego driven instructions from another planet.  
 
How do we call it out, avoid it or stop it? 
 
#badmanagement #ego #leadership

Have you ever sent a handwritten note and seen the response? 
 
As a leader, I find it immensely gratifying to send my folks handwritten notes.  
 
Both for me and the recipient! 
 
Attention to people matters. A hand written note brings a personal touch and shows commitment and care.  
 
I let them know that I am personally paying attention and appreciate their accomplishments. 
 
All it takes is a blank card and 30 seconds to make a big difference.  
 
#leadership #care #people #handwrittencard

An iron fisted leader? 
A recipe for disaster. 
 
Command and Conquer CEOs destroy trust and breed resentment. 
 
Directive communication styles corrode trust, 
Yet, the antidote lies in collaboration and empowerment. 
 
CEOs who shift gears: 
- Build strong relationships 
- Foster loyalty 
- Achieve unprecedented success 
 
It's time to choose collaboration over command. 
 
Do you have a story? Have you experienced this or saved yourself from it? 
 
#communication #relationships #egodriven

Great leadership ideas don’t just come to you in the shower. You have to do the work to uncover them. 

#leadership #work 
Illustration: Janis Ozolins

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