Brian Tomlinson

Staffbase

I am responsible for leading an amazing team of content marketers, responsible for all external facing content for the brand. 

We create content across blogs, podcasts, email newsletters, video and all social media channels.

Here's a bit of what we've done so far:
→ Launched two podcasts 
→ Launched a book
→ Increased Social Media engagement
→ Launched a Corporate Influencer and Thought Leadership program
→ Created a video first content fly-wheel

Head of Content

Boye & Company

I facilitate a number of peer groups for modern leaders who want to use networking and learning as tools for self improvement while making business and the world a better place.  

The groups are meant to give digital experts direct access to a specialized international network of like-minded digital professionals. 

We’re a network of people who
- Care about results and the journey
- Connect on a deeper level with peers, building relationships that last a lifetime
- Are willing to work with complexity without simplifying it
- Work with meaning and purpose over personal gains

Our Hamburg groups currently consist of:
- Digital Strategy and Leadership
- Employee Experience and Internal Communications
- Digital Communications

Group Facilitator and Track Leader

Engel & Völkers

I'm responsible for the development of a cross-competence team of marketers. Our objective: develop digital marketing best practices to help drive efficiency, performance, and alignment by enabling international markets with data, training and technology, allowing them to better drive business results and improve marketing efficiency.

► Key Projects:

• Digital Customer Experience Platform - Sprinklr - vendor selection negotiations. Launch and rollout of the Sprinklr platform as a central tool for social media, listening and content management.
    - Focus on ensuring platform adoption and further scaling throughout the organization.
• Development of Digital International team
    - Supports the operationalization and governance of common best practices and tools to enhance international digital marketing and drive business results.
    - Enable international digital marketing managers through the development of internal best practices through virtual workshops, templates and resources
    - Close collaboration with IT product owners, legal, C-Suite, countries and marketing experts to support corporate objectives
• Social Intranet - conceptualization, vendor selection and negotiations for a social intranet solution.
    - Project management and planning

► Additional responsibilities:

• Establishing operational processes and creating clarity of roles and responsibilities, and defining workflows.
• Budgeting
• Explore new practices and technologies that will improve and optimize the digital marketing department’s performance
• Technical and strategic improvement of the current internal communication platform
• Product marketing for B2B SaaS products within the E&V network
• GTM strategy and planning,
• Content ideation, messaging and continued product communication (Video, blog, email marketing)
• Responsible for the continuing development of learning culture within the department
• Liaison with legal department around marketing topics related to GDPR

Head of Digital Communications & International Enablement

• Team responsibility: 11
• Led a team of eleven across PR, Internal Communications, Digital Communications and Social Media
• Developed and implements policies, processes and standards to enhance the efficiency of the communications department.
• Implemented new digital formats such as CEO video messages and Virtual town halls
• Assisted executive leadership in developing webinars and external communication initiatives
• Drove a global internal communications survey to improve future communication initiatives
• Increased internal communications satisfaction by 37% in the course of 3 months. Helped drive increase in internal communications satisfaction.

Interim Head of Global Corporate Communications

Hapag-Lloyd AG

Responsible for planning and execution of digital initiatives to optimize digital customer acquisition, growth, engagement, retention, and customer loyalty as well as implementing internal digital education campaigns to assist in Digital Transformation.

► Key Project Responsibilities:

• Relaunch of Hapag-Lloyd website – managed project around website structure, content and launch plan on Adobe Experience Manager.
• Email Marketing Automation platform – conceptualization, negotiations and launch of marketing automation platform (Marketo)
• Relaunch of Intranet/News Portal – launch and establishment of new News Portal with high adoption and engagement metrics
• Product launch of digital quotation tool (Quick Quotes) – global rollout (126 countries) and product communication, enablement and adoption for a digital product that moved 10% of global revenue online within 12 months

► Additional tasks:

• Formation and development of Digital Marketing team
• Develop and implement integrated digital marketing strategies on a global scale that increase digital channel reach, visibility and engagement by leveraging the most current technology in (digital, mobile, web, email marketing, marketing automation, SEM, SEA, SEO, display and social media)
• Development of email marketing and CRM strategy and rollout
• Responsible for the development of a new marketing tech stack including collaboration software, marketing automation platform, content marketing platform.
• Chief editor of newly created internal hub for digital content as one part of a push for digital education.
• Development of a global editorial and campaign planning for digital communication efforts

Manager, Digital Business + Transformation

Developed and implemented internal and external digital communication strategies. This included launching Social Media channels which delivered ~100k followers in under 12 months with industry-leading engagement numbers.

► Launch, rollout and adoption of Intranet News Board to drive employee communication and engagement. 
► Successfully developed and implemented the organization's Social Media and Content Marketing strategy [which now boasts just under 230k organically obtained followers 💪]
► Collaborate with multiple stakeholders, from design teams to develop creative assets, to IT developers to ensure that the business and user needs are considered
► Collaborate and manage projects with outside agencies
► Responsibility for the development of marketing and communication strategies with a focus on "digital"
► Copywriting for websites, press releases, blog posts and social media
► Responsible for content creation, monitoring and maintenance of social and website assets 
► Create and execute social media strategies and tactics to engage fans and drive brand awareness
► Deliver engagement, connectivity and conversions digitally, focusing on improving user experience through mobile apps, websites and Social Media.

Digital Communications Manager

► Responsible for the day to day handling of the Trans Atlantic Trade of our largest customer.
► Constant communication with customers and internal European and North American organization.
► Close cooperation with internal Trade Managers and European Sales organization to determine market, revenue, volume and country goals are being met by our Global Accounts.
► Continuous monitoring of all details of Global Account performance.

Manager, Global Account Management

My role is to manage and deliver Sales Training on General Sales, Telephone Selling and Solution. I am also responsible for providing learning opportunities to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the company's sales efforts.

•	Manage and deliver Sales Training on General Sales, Telephone Selling and  Solutions.
•	Provide learning opportunities to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the company's sales efforts.
•	Evaluation of external training providers to enhance the company’s training efforts.
•	Creation and development of Hapag-Lloyd Sales Starter Kit, geared towards creating a streamlined training process for new hires to the sales organization.
•	Development of new sales cycle process to convey a simplified cycle of customer development which would in turn be connected to a systematized training process.

Manager, Global Sales Development (Sales Trainer)

•	Work on Regional initiatives and coordinates actions to meet demands and ensure high quality regarding the implementation of sales initiatives into the Hapag-Lloyd organization.
•	Analyze Regional status and the development of improvements in CRM usage and implementation.
•	Expert in European Regional/Worldwide projects and Sales Training initiatives.

Manager, Regional Sales Europe

•	Team Leader for 3 Direct Reports
•	Area Sales Trainer 
•	Direct negotiations with Global Account base and secure major rate increases without loss of volume through building strong customer relationships 
•	Increase efficiencies in the customer booking process and adherence to contract agreements by monitoring SLA procedures for Global Accounts and initiating proper communication to local and overseas offices
•	Facilitate improved Yield Management through generation and review of market analysis

Global Accounts Management - Sales Analyst (Team Leader)

- Main pricing POE for designated customer base.
- Monitor service contract performance against budgeted volumes.
- Identify budget variance and develop plans in conjunction with Sales Execution to eliminate negative variances.

Sales Support Coordinator - Exports

Trade Management Coordinator

Brian Tomlinson (Online Marketing)

Consulting with online entrepreneurs and small and medium sized enterprises on innovative ways to grow their business and increase their bottom line.

- Social Media Marketing (Facebook Ads, Twitter, Linked In etc.)
- Creating a riveting online presence
- Generating targeted leads and new users
- Email Marketing
- Online Marketing
- Networking
- Sales and Persuasion

Online Marketing Consultant

Inspire 1 Solutions, LLC

Inspire 1 Solutions is a Digital Marketing agency providing specialized marketing campaigns for social media, mobile and video marketing.

We aspire to design a plan to take your business to the next level by harnessing the power of digital media.

We work with you to build a marketing plan that utilizes Social Media Marketing, Mobile Marketing and Video Marketing to help take your business to the next level and build more solid relationships with your customers.

    * Local search marketing: Ensuring that your local business is at the top of mobile local searches. Make sure that your customers are finding you when they are searching.

    * Mobile Marketing: SMS campaigns. Engage your customers and drive traffic to your mobile site or drive traffic to your store front with mobile coupons and specials.

    * Video Marketing: Offering a suite of video marketing tools allowing you to provide exceptional branding. Increase customer retention, cut marketing costs and improve your bottom line.

    * Social Media Consulting: blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Linked in, You Tube, Foursquare

    * Social media auditing, monitoring, measurement and engagement strategies

Owner

🚀 Head of Content, Staffbase | Change Communication, Marketing | I help digital leaders and corporations connect ideas, minds and metrics to drive meaningful transformations

Hi, I'm Brian 👋🏽,
I enable high-performing leaders and executives to unlock their true potential. Allowing them to communicate their personal and brand story, uplift their teams, and create impact.

When you're a leader, communicating your vision and rallying your team is crucial—but it's hard. Many companies suck at communication. 

Bad methods. 
Lousy content.
Pre-historic tools. 

You don't want to be that leader stuck in the Stone Age. 

You know who I mean. 

The leaders who:
→ Who don't embrace technology. 
→ Keep using old leadership methods. 
→ Who quits learning because you secretly think you know everything.

The good news if you're reading this? 

I help leaders like you overcome these obstacles with tailored coaching and strategies. 

So here's how I can help:

I have 22+ years of experience in sales, marketing, and communications. I've built high-performing teams, developed new leaders, and helped brands expand their reach. 

Successful brands and teams start with great leaders.

That's why I partner with leaders like you. To create sustainable growth in both your personal and professional life. 

We'll craft your personal brand story and express the value you bring to the world to help you stand out and lead with confidence. 

What I Can Do for You:
- Craft a powerful personal brand that sets you apart and resonates with your audience.
- Create engaging content that drives results and positions you and your brand as a thought leader.
- Transform your team's performance by optimizing processes and fostering innovative mindsets.
- Provide personalized coaching tailored to your leadership journey.
- Build leadership skills that inspire and empower your team to achieve excellence.
- Master impactful communication to influence and motivate others.
- Create cohesive teams that collaborate efficiently and stay motivated toward common goals.
- Leverage cutting-edge technologies to stay ahead and avoid falling behind.
- Achieve peak performance while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

If you're ready to unlock your and your team's full potential and drive meaningful change, let's connect. 

Feel free to send me a DM if you'd like to connect.

Amazing few days in Chemnitz last week, getting our content team together and recapping the year so far and planning for 2026. 

It’s always a great reminder that business and  communication is all about people. Technology can’t replace hand shakes, dances and good laughs. All of that makes for better work. 

Many thanks for taking the time to come together Emma Fischer, Michèle Ley , Tina Trebst , Derya Ayhan, Cheyenne Hock, Philipp Scherber , Kimberly Huang and to Lisa Mühsig and Robert Grover for stopping by. 🫶

I teach leaders how to reinvent themselves — faster than the world changes | Head of Content @ Staffbase | Coach | 🎙️Podcaster

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I just spent a day moderating three sessions on Employee Experience at the Boye & Company 2025 conference. 

Three totally different topics. 
Three different speakers. 
Three different companies.

What was interesting though is that every single session came back to the same core principle.

Your brand IS your culture. Not separate entities. Not parallel tracks. The same thing.

Session 1️⃣: Revisiting Psychological Safety and Strategy: Redefining the Employee Experience for the Age of AI with Morten Elvang

I'm always fascinated by Morten's ideas. He sees that organizations are going to have to change in the near future (future meaning today, aka right now) — with AI accelerating the way work gets done.

The revelation? You can't manufacture safety from an HR playbook.
It emerges when people see their actual work as the organization—not boxes, not silos, just integrated collaboration.

Here's the shift that’s here with AI:
→ Strategy becomes the scaffolding
→ AI handles coordination
→ Humans do the orchestrating
The rebel era is over (quote of the week?) Now we need people who can navigate uncertainty and change themselves instead of fighting the system.

Middle-out integration is replacing top-down cascading.

Session 2️⃣: Employer Branding with Emilie Prajakta Kamradt from Manyone. 
 
Stop inventing extra layers. Your EVP shouldn't be a reverse-engineered wishlist stacked on top of who you actually are.
When Austrian Airlines rebranded their Employer Branding they didn't become blue and yellow. They stayed red. They used real employees, not models. Result? Massive increase in talent attraction.
The formula? 
→ Transparency over transformation. 
→ Culture over campaigns.
→ Human first. Brand second.

Session 3️⃣: How Stibo Systems approaches Employee Experience with Randi Vestergaard

This session was a bit more tactical. But I find that it's always fascinating to look behind the curtain and see what other companies are doing. For a company that's 230 years old, it's quite impressive how much they've probably had to reinvent themselves over the years. Lots of inclusivity. Focus on learning and growth (Mind Fuel Days) as well as wellness. As the workplace evolves, we also have to evolve the way we take care of employees. Always changing and evolving, but always keeping people in focus. 

Outside of this, Margot Bloomstein also did a thought provoking keynote on “Trust” that really got me thinking. I'll probably write a separate post just on this, because in the AI age, trust is going to be one of the key factors for brands (and personal brands) to grow. 

As usual, there's nothing quite like getting out and meeting (new) smart people (Hey Mary Sandberg, Nina Mathilde Dyrberg 👋🏾), and old friends (Gavin Colborne, Chirag Patel, Joerg Schaeffer, Thomas Dugaro, Volker Graubaum just to name a few) exchanging ideas and helping each other grow. Thanks Janus Boye for creating one of the best environments to do exactly that 🫶🚀.

Learning feels broken.

You want to grow. You want to lead. You want to stay ahead.
But the traditional way takes too long.

Want to master a new skill? Read 50 books. Maybe 6 months if you're fast.
Want to pivot careers? Most people take YEARS to build expertise.

Meanwhile, AI is rewriting industries. Your competitors are learning faster. Your skills have an expiration date.

You don't have years.
You need months. Maybe weeks.

There's a tool that changes the game. It's free. Built by Google. And almost no one is using it right.

I used it to build expertise in a few weeks — without formal training, without a degree, without reading for years.

Dig in and get started.

*Hey friend 👋🏾, I highly recommend you read this week's edition online. It's a much more detailed walkthrough 😉. I love learning. But learning feel

Open article: How Top Performers Are Building Expertise 10x Faster with NotebookLM by Brian Tomlinson • 6 min read

How Top Performers Are Building Expertise 10x Faster with NotebookLM

Communications is a relationships business.
So why are we treating humans like they're logical?

Here's the thing about AI and automation: they're incredible tools for speed, scale, and efficiency.

But they can't solve the human problem.

Humans aren't logical. 
↳ We're contextual. 
↳ We're biased. 
↳ We're driven by identity, not data.

What works for someone in London won't work for someone in Tampa.
What works for me today might not work for me tomorrow.
That's why behavioral science matters.

It gives us the lens to understand why people think, feel, and act the way they do — so we can design communication that actually connects.

AI can help you move faster.
Turn scattered signals into usable data.
Put more control around your message and risk.
And extend your reach to every corner of the organization.
But without behavioral insight, you're just automating bad communication.

I recently sat down with Shayoni Lynn, CEO of Lynn Group and one of the leading voices in behavioral science and communications strategy, on the Staffbase Aspire to Inspire podcast.

We talked about how leaders can use science — not just intuition — to cut through noise, build trust, and create real behavior change.

Here's what stuck with me:
1️⃣ The vaccine campaign that shifted 77.8% behavior in 4 weeks — by reframing freedom, not facts Shayoni's team didn't win with data. They won by understanding what young people actually cared about: personal benefit, not community responsibility.

2️⃣ Why misinformation is the #1 global risk — and most leaders still don't have it on their risk register It's not a PR problem. It's a systemic business risk. And if you're waiting for a crisis to respond, you're already too late.

3️⃣ The one question every leader should ask before launching a campaign: "What's the barrier — capability, opportunity, or motivation?" Most campaigns fail because we skip diagnosis and jump straight to solutions. COM-B framework changes that.

4️⃣ Why "better framing, not better facts" is the only way to win in a world where truth is negotiable Fact-checking doesn't work when someone's belief system is under attack. You need to frame your message through their lens, not yours.

5️⃣ The one thing every comms and HR leader should do: shift from reactive to proactive resilience Stop waiting for misinformation to hit your doorstep. Build information resilience before the crisis.

If you're leading a team, launching a campaign, or trying to prove ROI on communication — this conversation will change how you think about your work.

Listen to the full episode here: [LINK in the comments]

What's one way you're using behavioral science to make your communication more human?

Drop a comment. I'm curious what's working (or not working) for you.

You'll set another New Year's resolution in six weeks.

By February, you'll quit.

Not because you're lazy.
Not because you lack discipline.
But because goals are procrastination disguised as planning.

Here's what actually happens:
You wake up every day in what James Clear calls "a state of pre-success failure."
You haven't hit your goal yet, so technically, you're failing. Every. Single. Day.

Miss one workout? The whole resolution feels destroyed.
Have one bad week? Your promotion suddenly feels impossible.
Goals create an all-or-nothing mindset that sets you up to quit.

But there's a better way.

Maya Angelou didn't write bestsellers by setting writing goals. She rented hotel rooms and showed up for seven hours. Every day.

Stephen King doesn't publish books by chasing outcomes. He writes 2,000 words. Every single day.

Dave Brailsford didn't win by wanting it more. He improved 100 tiny things by 1%.

In today's newsletter learn the 5 system shifts that replace goals (and actually work).

In 2003, British cycling was a joke. In 110 years, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France. Performance was so bad that a top European bike

Open article: Stop Setting Goals. Start Building Systems. (What Maya Angelou, Stephen King, and Bill Walsh Know That You Don't) by Brian Tomlinson • 5 min read

Stop Setting Goals. Start Building Systems. (What Maya Angelou, Stephen King, and Bill Walsh Know That You Don't)

You're not drowning in bad opportunities.
You're drowning in pretty good ones.

Meeting that could be useful. 
Project that might pay off. 
Side hustle that looks interesting.

All good on paper.
None of them essential.

And that's what's killing your momentum.
You're busy but not fulfilled. 
Productive but not progressing.

Marie Kondo taught you to ask: "Does this spark joy?"
I'm asking you to go three steps further.

Today's newsletter: The 3 questions that help you say no to good opportunities so you can say yes to the right ones.

Remember when Netflix mailed you DVDs? Three movies max. Back then, you had to be ruthless about what you actually wanted to watch. Your choices matte

Open article: Why Successful People Say No To Almost Everything by Brian Tomlinson • 6 min read

Why Successful People Say No To Almost Everything

Gratitude makes you MORE ambitious, not less.

Most people think it's about "being content with what you have." And it kind of is. But it's more about finding clarity in your journey.

Let's look at some examples: 
1. Marcus Aurelius ran the Roman Empire through plague, war, and betrayal. Every morning, he practiced gratitude — not because life was good, but because it gave him CLARITY when everything was chaos.

2. Kobe Bryant won 5 championships and felt empty every time. Until his final season, when he learned to be present in his pursuit. Then? 60 points in his final game AND a post-retirement legacy that went beyond basketball.

Gratitude isn't about being done. It's about being present in your pursuit.

Not soft. STRATEGIC.

When you practice gratitude in motion, you: 
→ Make better decisions (you see what's working) 
→ Stop wasting energy (you focus on signal, not noise) 
→ Sustain your ambition (you fuel drive with clarity, not anxiety)

Research proves it: People who practice strategic gratitude perform 50% better than those who don't.

Three practices. Five minutes a day. 

That's it.

Thanks for reading 😃

When it came to basketball, I had NO FEAR. What I mean by that is: if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporati

Open article: How Top Performers Avoid The Gratitude Paradox by Brian Tomlinson • 5 min read

How Top Performers Avoid The Gratitude Paradox

Patrick Rudolph

Leading an organization of more than 200 amazing product enthusiasts (such as product managers, designers, and engineers) to build a new generation of communications software. Our Staffbase platform allows communicators at companies of all sizes to achieve more by inspiring their diverse audiences across all channels.

https://staffbase.com

Chief Product Officer

Head of Product

Frontend Lead & Founding Employee

WhoHasAccess.com

WhoHasAccess is a free online service to analyze your Google Drive share options for all your files and folders, discover who can access what, and remove the people that shouldn't have access anymore. 

It has so far been used by more than 100.000 people and is recommended by The Next Web and Lifehacker. WhoHasAccess was initially a side project of the Hojoki GmbH but has since been spun off.

Smashing Magazine

Independent reviews on mobile-related topics as part of the Smashing Magazine Expert Panel.

Expert Reviewer

Hojoki

As Product Manager and Mobile Lead I was responsible for all client applications built by Hojoki, especially mobile apps. Our productivity apps were covered on Forrester, ZDNet, Lifehacker, TechCrunch, The Next Web, ReadWriteWeb, GigaOm and PCWorld amongst others.

Product Manager

Hojoki market launch at LeWeb conference in Paris as part of my bachelor's thesis.

Marketing

Chemnitz University of Technology

Chair of Business Information Systems | Various projects including research, SAP ERP, SAP BI & e-learning (teaching assistant), project management, twitter wall and web development.

Student Researcher & Teaching Assistant

Turtle Entertainment GmbH

Management of multiple gaming sections at http://www.esl.eu initially full-time on-site in Cologne, later part-time remote.
Tasks: Community management, editorial work, content, coordination of volunteers, web development, administration and organization of events (online and offline).

Gaming Community Manager

I'm excited about building high-performing product teams and bringing people together through communications. As CPO at Staffbase I can do this together with our wonderful organization and the thousands of customers relying on our solutions to inspire their audiences and reach their goals.

Aside of work my life centers around my beloved partner and our little son. I care deeply about sustainability and progressiveness, while having a weakness for organizing everything that crosses my way.

I have lived and worked across various locations in Germany and the U.S., while having managed teams across wide parts of Europe, North America, and Australia.

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