ADAPT or die
When disruption hits, average leaders freeze—great ones adapt.
Former tech-CEO–turned-leadership-coach Andreas Pettersson sits down with C-suite executives, founders, and change-makers to dissect the exact moment they faced a make-or-break challenge, the mindset pivot that unlocked progress, and the measurable success that followed.
Every episode delivers:
- Challenge → Adaptation → Success — a tight, three-act story you can steal.
- A 60-second “Hot-Seat” mini-coaching segment that turns insight into action.
- Concrete metrics, battle-tested tactics, and candid reflections you won’t hear on the PR circuit.
If you’re scaling a team, steering a turnaround, or future-proofing your career, this show equips you to adapt and thrive—because in leadership, the alternative is extinction.
ADAPT or die
Graeme Watt: Creating Hope in a Crisis — and a New Creative Future
When COVID shut down every client contract and wiped out his production pipeline, Graeme Watt—Principal and Lead Strategist of the award-winning agency Anthem Creative—faced an unthinkable leadership moment. On this episode of Adapt or Die: Transformative Leadership Conversations, host Andreas Pettersson unpacks how Graeme chose purpose over panic and commissioned a self-funded storytelling project that became a viral beacon of hope.
From launching grassroots nonprofits to helping organizations like World Vision and The Chosen raise over $50 million, Graeme’s career has centered on human flourishing. But when the pandemic struck, his team’s future was at risk—until a 7-year-old narrator, a bold script, and a bet on creativity changed everything.
Challenge → In March 2020, COVID-19 brought Anthem’s entire film production slate to a standstill. Within 48 hours, client work vanished, and the team had no projects, no revenue, and no certainty.
Adaptation → Rather than lay off staff, Graeme and his brother lit their cash reserves on fire and doubled down on purpose. They wrote and produced Dear COVID-19—a no-budget, heart-first anthem of resilience voiced by Graeme’s 7-year-old niece, stitched together from archived client footage and crafted in lockdown.
Success → The film won multiple global film festival awards, reached people across the world in lockdown, and brought in a wave of new clients—helping to reignite Anthem’s momentum and pivot the business toward long-form, original storytelling. Today, the agency is producing docu-series for platforms like Prime and pitching seven-figure projects to Netflix.
🔥 60-Second Hot Seat:
Graeme shares why “empathetic imagination” drives his leadership style, why ruthless prioritization is the real definition of strategy, and how asking what will be more human in an AI-powered world is the key to future-proofing any business.
When the world hit pause, Graeme hit record—and proved that storytelling isn’t just branding, it’s survival.
Visit www.leadersadapt.com/adaptordie for show notes, free resources, and coaching programs.
Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
https://missionmatters.com/author/andreas-pettersson