Oliver Duffy-Lee

Founder of Authority Agency & Komms | 800+ Agencies Mentored | Previous clients include Volvo, Porsche and Unilever

21six is a brand and purpose studio that believe the world needs Brands That Care. More than that, we know that genuinely caring isn't just a slogan, it's a commercial strategy – we call it The Care Advantage™. It’s our simple but powerful system for helping the world’s leading companies grow crowded markets by showing they care – not as a slogan, but as a living, breathing part of how they operate.

We’ve used The Care Advantage™ to help Johnson & Johnson, The North Face, and Philips with global projects, capture new audiences, and create work that actually matters. And we apply it to every brief, from rethinking a brand’s positioning to igniting movements people want to join.

The age of simply churning out campaigns is over. We’re here to transform the way brands connect with people; faster, smarter, and with more humanity than ever before.

Founder

Website: https://www.authorityagency.co.uk

Welcome to the age of Thought Leadership.

Most B2B brands are drowning in a Sea of Sameness, unable to differentiate themselves from their competition.

And so they spend their time:

- Scrapping for low quality opportunities
- Unable to build an audience
- Failing to fill their pipeline
- Struggling to sign new clients 
- Pricing their services too low
- Stagnating and not growing
- Struggling to make pay day

The problem isn’t caused by lead generation, marketing or sales…

It’s a positioning problem.

Strong positioning will:

✅ Differentiate the business
✅ Attract high quality leads
✅ Convert them into high paying clients
✅ Grow the business month on month

And the strongest way to position in 2024?

Build Authority.

If you want help becoming the Go-To Authority Thought Leader in your space, book a call below:

https://content.authorityagency.co.uk/

FINALLY found some time to write a post for LI this week*… Here’s a small update on how our year has started…

1. In Amsterdam this week with one of the most exciting players in Optical Retail 🙏

2. Had a lot of RFP opportunities land so far this year, many of them unexpected. I’ve never had a problem pitching, I actually enjoy it… Never understood the anti-pitch policy many agencies have

3. Also had some really nice new client wins, including TDK, Asus and UCL… Very grateful for these amazing brands putting their trust in us

4. We’re learning to navigate a world where client decisions take longer and involve more stakeholders… This can be challenging, but it’s definitely not changing any time soon

5. More and more we’re productising our IP… Not to sell as it’s own product, but to help explain the value of our strategic thinking - this is definitely an area of the business I’m most excited about

6. Lot of travel to happen this year (all over Europe and Asia)… My view is that international business and expansion is crucial for UK agencies looking to grow. UK market alone isn’t strong enough right now to bank on for strong growth

7. Fascinating to hear the conversations in the agency world on AI influence… It seems to be having an HR impact already, especially in junior positions, but hasn’t transformed our world yet (A convo for another post)

*This is BS btw, it’s about priorities… Content hasn’t been a priority for me recently, but will get back to it. How are things in your world? Let me know 👇

CEO at 21six | The Agency for Brands That Care

James Sweeney

AE @ Jargon Group 🧑‍💻 Founder of Sweeney’s Blogs 💬 Changemaker for The Youth Group 👐 Digital Storyteller 📚

Wondered what it feels like to jump out of a plane at 12,000 feet? 🪂

I’m James Sweeney, it’s lovely to meet you! 

Growing up in the Swansea valleys, I’m incredibly passionate about people - whether it’s our culture, background, passions or the ways in which we process and understand the world around us, it’s something that absolutely fascinates me 🌍

Having gone through life as somebody with a stutter, in addition to facing troubles with my physical and mental health, one of my biggest aspirations in life is to help shape a community in which I can help as many people as possible. 

I’m a very keen writer, starting my own blog page in 2018, called Sweeney’s Blogs, where I shine a spotlight on the topics that genuinely mean something to each and every one of us as people. The page has become a key part of my life, and is one of the reasons how I found out about LinkedIn too, as it goes ✍️

I run a weekly series here called Sweeney’s Song of the Week. For these posts, I shout out some incredible people, mixing in my love for music and making the world a better place at the same time. 

In October 2018, I jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet raising over £900 for The Alzheimer’s Society, which has to be one of the best (and scariest!) experiences of my life 🪂

Do you want to join me on my journey! Be sure to drop me a request and a message, I’d love a chat. 

Thanks for checking out my profile and I hope you have a cracking day 👋

Changemaker

A Sweeney in Gloucester...

Last weekend, 25 of us from the undefinable community travelled over to Gloucester for our Winter 2026 Retreat ☃️

Wonderfully organised by Cat, Jamie and Robert, this trip was focused on our shared value of Emotional Bravery. 

Here are some of my highlights from the trip ⤵️

🎧 Dan and Sanya ran us through a fab session all about music, and how it can trigger emotions that a lot of people aren't even conscious of at first. 

😊 Running the Saturday evening activity, all about the emotion of joy, with my fantastic co-host Emanuele Maccotta. 

Bringing people together and being intentional in talking about what brings us genuine happiness in life was so much fun to do - it's definitely something I'll be doing a lot more moving forward!

👐 Seeing the range of emotions covered was fascinating to me, with sessions on surprise, fear, sadness, joy, anger, love and a whole load more. 

Plus, seeing how everyone made space for one another, regardless of how they were feeling, was so wonderful to see. 

Emotional bravery, for me, is all about embracing conversations and experiences with honesty, connection and growth, even when staying guarded or perfectly polished may seem easier.

This was my ninth retreat with the Undefinables, and boy, what a journey these last three years have been. I wouldn't have it any other way 🩵

As Head of the Cleaning team too, very happy with how everyone got stuck in and helped out. Solid work team 🫡

Let's see what retreat number ten has in store, then! 

What does emotional bravery mean to you?

How's your week going so far?

I'd love to hear what you think 😁

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

PR and Comms Professional 🧑‍💻 Founder of Sweeney’s Blogs 💬 Mentor at One Million Mentors 👐 Digital Storyteller 📚

Want to know one of the most underrated parts of LinkedIn?

Connecting with and getting to know people from all over the world 🌍

I've been posting triweekly here for around seven years now, and in that time, I've had the pleasure of speaking to people from so many countries. 

Whether it's:

🇺🇸 Aidan, Carson, Manny, Sarah, and so many more from the US of A
🇩🇰 andreas and the Shield team out in Denmark
🇳🇿 Hamish, Lachie and the guys over in New Zealand

This is without even mentioning people originally from the UK who have moved overseas, like Ashley and Zack (Dubai), Joe (Thailand), Karla (Bali), and Joe (Florida). 

I could add way more names to the list, but I think you get where I'm coming from here 😂

Every person has their own stories, perspectives and cultures, and every conversation teaches you something new.

Content creation isn’t just about broadcasting your thoughts out into the world. It’s the listening, learning, and understanding experiences beyond your own that helps you become a better storyteller 🤝

One post from a small village in South Wales can reach people in Auckland, Copenhagen and even Texas.

It's crazy when you think about it 🤯

I get to be in the position where I can travel the world, and because of LinkedIn, meet up with so many fantastic people - it's such a cool thing to do. 

I am forever incredibly grateful for all the amazing people I have met and will go on to meet through this platform. 

Here's to loads more meet-ups, conversations and good times to come 😎

Who’s someone you’ve met through LinkedIn that you never would have crossed paths with otherwise?

I'd love to hear your thoughts 😊

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

What we say, and how we say it, matters more than we realise. 

Yesterday morning, Jessie Yendel appeared on Good Morning Britain to raise awareness of stammering, and to call for better support for people who stutter across the UK 🙏

If you haven't heard of Jessie before, she's a Welsh influencer who shares about her life and journey of living with a stutter online. 

After her appearance, the GMB team uploaded a video of her segment to their socials, which I've seen shared by numerous sources across socials. 

Reading some of the comments really disheartened me, and, to be honest, they were pretty frustrating to read at first.

While many people commented on how much they related to Jessie’s story, others took the opportunity to mock her stutter, question whether it was real, and dismiss her experience altogether.

As someone with a stutter, I genuinely thought it was brilliant to see Jessie go on national TV again and continue to raise awareness of the condition.

Having her speak to Ed Balls, who himself has a stutter, was a bonus 😎

Think of the difference their speaking can make to so many people who stutter, especially those who might not yet feel like they have a voice.

Let's use this as a good reminder for all of us to pause before hitting “post”, "comment," or “send”.

To think about the person on the other side of the screen 🤝

And remember that for some people, being visible, speaking up, or sharing their story already takes an enormous amount of courage.

Who's one person who's helped you find your voice in life? 

How's your week going so far?

I'd love to hear your thoughts ⤵️

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

When you wake up knowing it's Pancake Day... 🥞

Happy birthday Sweeney’s Blogs 🥳 

Tomorrow, Tuesday 3th February 2026, my lovely blog page, Sweeney’s Blogs officially turns seven years old. 

Starting the page back in 2019, I couldn’t be prouder of how ar the page has come over the last couple of years 😊

We recently passed over 76,000 views, gaining views from over 130 countries across the last seven years - now mad is that?! 

Creating Sweeney’s Blogs is part of what started me off posting here, and what a crazy ride that’s been 😎

Over 750 blogs and 900 LinkedIn posts later, I’ve learnt so much, but boy have I got a long way left to go. 

A huge thank you to everyone who’s helped the page along its journey, your support never goes unnoticed 🫶

To my team of writers, Giles, Isha, Matthew and Tom, thank you so much for all of your help!! 

Here’s to the next seven years, let’s see where they take us 🥳 

How’s your week ahead looking? 

What’s a piece of good news you’ve heard or celebrated lately? 

I’d love to know what you think ⤵️

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!

Time for Sweeney’s Song of the Week 🎵 🎶 

Every week, I pick a “Song of the Week”, which I feel perfectly reflects the news and events of the last seven days.

This week’s song: You’re Gonna Miss This - Trace Adkins

What’s in this week’s Sweeney Summary?

👉 Alex announced the rebrand of his business, from Truenorth to Rumbo - it’s been fab following along with this journey for you so far, Alex, can’t wait to see what’s coming next 🕺🏼 

👉 Chi announced that she has joined beehiiv as a Global Social Lead - huge congratulations Chi, hope you’re settling in okay 💃

👉 Freddie shared that he and the team at Ingrained Digital have just signed on their first fixed HQ in London. 

This sounds like a super exciting time for you all, Freddie!! Congratulations🥳

👉 I had a lovely introductory call with Matthew this week - so good to get a chat in Matt, here’s to loads more to come 🤝 
 
👉 Jack and the Tank team helped run a session, encouraging students at Nottingham to enter into a career in PR. 

Watching how this industry is evolving and how we can help improve the entryways for future generations is such a fascinating thing to chat about to me 🙌

Comms/ PR Tip of the Week: When working with freelancers, particularly remotely, how we phrase emails (on both sides!) really matters.

It’s easy for tone to get lost — whether that’s around a brief, constructive feedback, or a quick question that’s been typed in a rush. 

Taking a moment to reread a message and think, “How else could this land?” can make a huge difference to morale and trust. Thanks a lot to James for getting me thinking about this! 

Quote of the Week: “Don’t worry about the failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t try” - Jack Canfield

How’s your week been? What’s your song of the week? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts ⤵️

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

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The Battle

Oliver Duffy-Lee

James Sweeney

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The Battle

Oliver Duffy-Lee

James Sweeney

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Oliver Duffy-Lee's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreOliver Duffy-Lee's LinkedIn Performance