Live Lessons: The Power of Positive Provocation

Mar 28, 2023

Welcome to Pass the Mic and the Live Lessons series. Life happens in the moment—and so do opportunities to pass the mic. We’re having live conversations with powerful female leaders, giving them the opportunity to share their wisdom and mentor the masses.

There’s no better time to motivate and inspire women than March (ahem, it’s Women’s History Month). And the women of Wavemaker helped us Pass the Mic in style with a live panel at their New York office. This is the second installment of our miniseries capturing some of the amazing moments in audio from the event.

Much like its name, Wavemaker disrupts the status quo to positively provoke growth for both its clients and its people. And we all need a bit of that in our lives, especially in our careers. So, it made sense for us to ask the five superstars on the panel for their take on defining positive provocation. Listen up and get inspired to grow.

Challenge and prepare to be challenged.

Positive Provocation, Madison Bedard – Pass the Mic

Highlight: “It's really about taking deliberate and constructive efforts to challenge the status quo. And it's about being open, because if you're going to challenge, you're probably going to be challenged in return.” – Madison Bedard, Director, DEI and Marketing Operations Wavemaker US

Be joyously uncomfortable.

Positive Provocation, Davida Arnold – Pass the Mic

Highlight: “I would say, for me, that positive provocation means really, really, really leaning in to just being comfortable with being uncomfortable, which has been said so many times, but with joy. You have to love it. You have to be like, I’m going to ask the question.” – Davida Arnold, Group Director, Marketing & Communications Wavemaker US

Strive for different outcomes.

Positive Provocation, Caroline Tran – Pass the Mic

Highlight: “I think everybody knows the definition of insanity, right? You keep doing it, but you get the same result. And I think with provocation, it's about how do I add onto the tools to make that outcome a little bit different? How do I challenge it?” – Caroline Tran, Group Director, DoorDash Wavemaker US & Global Markets

Provoke the positive.

Positive Provocation, Briana Finelli – Pass the Mic

Highlight: “So, when you think about what positive provocation actually means, it's the outcome of why I'm provoking this is positive. I'm provoking this because I want a better outcome. I want, whether it's I want a better media plan, I want more out of this partner, I want more for my client, I want my client to get something, I'm provoking because there's a positive outcome.” – Briana Finelli, Head of Commerce Wavemaker US

Failures and successes make us better.

Positive Provocation, Jenna Fidellow – Pass the Mic

Highlight: “So I think we say the word curious, but being hungry and asking questions, having relationships. We can learn so much from the industry, from partners, from how they're doing things, failures, successes. To have all of that input, that context, to help make us better marketers.” – Jenna Fidellow, Head of Content Wavemaker US

Ready to Provoke More Positivity?

The good news is these inspiring women have a lot more to say. And there was just too much good audio to stop here. Check out the rest of the series now. And in the near future, we’ll include more in the Pass the Mic podcast.