Fine Tune with Corby Fine

Hosted by Corby Fine

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Sep 2025

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About the show

Looking to 'Fine Tune' your business, your job, your team or yourself? Corby Fine offers innovative and thought provoking ideas along with real world examples, to address all kinds of different challenges and opportunities helping you innovate and succeed. Leveraging his two decades of experience, you will hear from industry experts and learn through case studies in marketing, digital transformation, analytics and leadership.

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52 recent

June 15, 2020Episode 1228 min

EP12 - Live Your Customer's Story with Tony Chapman

Tony Chapman won a multi-million dollar agency pitch with 40 pictures and a monologue. I was there to witness it, and ever since, have marveled at this marketing guru who is also one of Canada’s leading communication experts and one of the youngest members inducted into the Marketing Hall of Legends (2008). In this episode, Tony and I discuss the best ways to succeed, whether you are a large multinational or a small, local entrepreneur. Some of Tony's most important pieces of advice resonate across all verticals and businesses. He has many insights and thoughts on culture, the role of digital, and which brands are winning in today's world competing for customers and their constant attention.Some highlights of Tony's advice include:"Stop telling your story, become part of theirs" "Give the customer more of what matters to them, their life, their livelihood, their family, and do it with less friction""I think you can, especially with digital nowadays, have an incredibly purposeful career that will bring profit to you versus a profitable career that lacks purpose"Listen in to Tony Chapman as he shares his stories and opinions as an authority on how to build brands and sell strategically and profitably in today’s volatile marketplace. Then, listen to the rest of my podcast and let me know what you think about it by subscribing to my email list. I hope you enjoy listening. If you have any ideas for other interviews or topics, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

March 29, 2020Episode 111 min

EP1 - My Three Team Rules

Everyone is a population of 1.For me, that is no more evident than in my career path. Over 20 years, I have gone from coding databases to selling Viagra to running a 2MM customer digital bank.I have decided to launch this Podcast, FineTune with Corby Fine, for those of you who are looking to 'Fine Tune' your business, your team or yourself. I am going to offer innovative ideas, opinions and examples to address all kinds of different challenges, while identifying opportunities to help you innovate and succeed using my two decades of experience. You will hear and learn from the best interviews, case studies and ideas in marketing, digital transformation, analytics and leadership. I promise you that in every episode, there will be those one or two nuggets that you can action...not just theory, but challenges for you to tackle head on. Ready to learn something new...then let’s go...For today’s initial Podcast. I wanted to give a little bit of context to who I am, how I think, and why you should keep listening after this initial pilot episode...and there is no better way to start than to try and give you some context as to my leadership style and how I approach teams that work with me. How you manage people is a good sign of how you think and act in other areas of your life as well.

September 27, 2021Episode 3130 min

EP31 - Banks Need to Balance Automation and Human Advice to Win with Maja Neable

In a world where consumers are moving their banking transactions online and leaving branches as remnants of the past, how does one bank differentiate themselves from the other? According to Maja Neable, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Banking at BMO Financial Group, it is a combination of what consumers think about as a perceived convenience, and the distinctiveness that a bank can create to try and convince consumers that they are really different. The balance for automation and self-service, along with the need for timely advice, is something that banks are trying to figure out. The young Generation Z client believes that they will probably never set foot in a branch, though as their financial needs evolve and they mature in their financial journey, they often realize the need to ask for and get human advice. Therefore, for those value-adding conversations, banks like BMO need to figure out why people should choose to stay with them, and it is mostly a result of being able to simply provide the right advice and truly help them. As we know, many things happen in life and we often need help. That help may not happen physically in the branch. Consumers can choose to talk to somebody on the phone, through video chat or perhaps even text chat. There is a lot of assistance and advice that can be delivered through digital channels. Listen in as Maja and I discuss these and other topics around the future of banks. Maja Neable is well recognized as an innovative, action-oriented marketing leader with strong digital background. Prior to her current role, Maja was VP Digital Marketing at BMO and prior to BMO, Maja held successively more senior roles across the US, Canada, and Europe in a variety of industries, including technology (Microsoft and Expedia) and telecommunications (Rogers and Telenor). Maja is a mathematician who loves creativity, and this combination of left & right brain is what has guided her career. Her 20+ years of experience include digital marketing, design & product development, business & brand strategy and sales & service leadership. Maja sits on the Board of Soulpepper theatre and is Vice-Chair of the Board at Skills for Change. She holds B Math degree from the University of Waterloo, and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two sons, and enjoys skiing, running, and reading.

September 13, 2021Episode 3028 min

EP30 - BenchSci Wants to Bring New Medicine to Patients 50% Faster with Simon Smith

For anybody who is not familiar with it, there is a real productivity crisis in the pharmaceutical industry and they have even given it a name, which is Eroom's law, the opposite of Moore's law. Moore's law states that every 18-24 months, the amount of transistors you can get for the same or lower price doubles. In pharmaceutical, R&D is the opposite. Every 18 months, the price of getting a new drug to market DOUBLES! The goal of BenchSci is to help bring new medicine to patients 50% faster by 2025. They are solving the problem that about 80% of preclinical R&D experiments in pharma are unnecessary. Why is this important? Well, upwards of 1% of the global economy, and 10% of the G7's economies as measured in GDP are tied to pharmaceuticals, and it is growing faster than inflation. They are trying to solve it by using machine learning to read scientific literature like a Ph.D. scientist, then use the knowledge to guide scientists to run more successful (and therefore fewer) experiments. There aren't a lot of companies like BenchSci that are saying, well, we're not really trying to help find new biological targets or generate new drugs or optimize clinical trials. What they do is help scientists run better experiments, to move more quickly from having novel targets to testing that novel drug and getting it into the clinical environment. Simon Smith is the Chief Marketing Officer at BenchSci, where he oversees all of their marketing including commercial marketing, product marketing, employer branding, communications, events, and creative and content. He joined the company when it was just about 19 people and a few hundred-scientist users; they are now at nearly 200 people, and over 41,000 scientist users. Prior to BenchSci, Simon was the SVP Strategy at Klick Health, where he led digital strategy for a portfolio of pharmaceutical products, including the US launch of two novel drugs. His career spans over two decades working at the intersection of technology, life science, and communications. His passion about applying emerging technologies to improve human health, longevity, and wellbeing is what makes me so excited to have him on the podcast today.Oh, and did I say BenchSci is backed by F-Prime, Gradient Ventures (Google’s AI fund), and Inovia Capital. The platform accelerates science at 15 top-20 pharmaceutical companies and over 4,300 leading research centers worldwide. They are a CIX Top 10 Growth company, a certified Great Place to Work®, and top-ranked company on Glassdoor.

August 9, 2020Episode 1731 min

EP17 - Plumbing in the Cloud

It doesn’t matter whether the drain in your kitchen sink gets clogged, the toilet backs up, or the shower stops working: any plumbing problem brings with it a state of high urgency. For most people, the first course of action is to quickly look up the contact details of their local plumber, assuming of course they can navigate the complexity of choices and options shown with every Google search. Then the question is, can you get a service provider to come and resolve your issue quickly? As the leading North American plumbing and water cleanup service, Roto-Rooter has been a household name for many of us for decades. However, over the years it became increasingly important for Roto-Rooter to modernize their website and digital platforms so that they could continue to provide the best customer experience, both online and offline.The company’s platform had to understand the location of the customer in relation to the nearest service technician. It has to load quickly and make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for, otherwise they will search elsewhere.Roto-Rooter engaged with Microsoft and Architech, a Toronto based company who are experts in software development and digital transformation to take on the project. What they built was a new cloud-based solution that not only improved the customer experience, but also boosted the site's overall SEO, cut page load speeds, and allowed Roto-Rooter to scale reliably into the future. In fact, this solution was recognized by Microsoft on the global stage, winning the Global Partner of the Year Award for open-source solutions on Azure in 2020. Listen in as Sally Bayer, Vice-President of Marketing for Roto-Rooter, David Suydam, CEO & Founder of Architech, and Stephen Tanaka, GM Microsoft Partners, Microsoft Canada, discuss the state of digital transformation and the project that helped Roto-Rooter become even more capable of maintaining their market position as a leader in their industry.When you are done this episode, then listen to the rest of my podcast and let me know what you think about it by subscribing to my email list. I hope you enjoy listening. If you have any ideas for other interviews or topics, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

April 6, 2021Episode 2532 min

EP25 - Are You Really Listening to Your Customers with Shannon Katschilo of Medallia

Your customers have so many options, so many different ways that they can relay feedback to you. Sometimes they call you, other times they fill in surveys. If you're like me, sometimes you just go to Twitter and shout it out publicly and hope that the company is monitoring it. The ways in which your customers can provide feedback has never been more complex. Customers are communicating with businesses. They're providing unparalleled insights to inform brands, organizations, the companies that they deal with, with all kinds of information. Now, the question is, are you as someone working in that business truly listening? Sometimes you actually think you are, but are you really? Do you really know how to listen to all of those different channels of feedback?Shannon Katschilo is the GM and Vice-President of Medallia in Canada. She has a long career focused on all kinds of different verticals and industries where she has spent her time helping organizations understand what their customers are telling them. Shannon provides us with a great list of five things that leaders and businesses need to do to really understand their customers.Listen before you leadLeverage your employee insightsPulse check your egoPlace power in the positiveAsk the right questionsListen in as Shannon and I discuss what these mean and how you can apply them in your business so that you don't miss out on what your customers are trying to tell you.

July 25, 2021Episode 2933 min

EP29 - Maple is Canadian Made Healthcare IP For the Entire World with Dr. Brett Belchetz

The Canadian healthcare system is typically ranked as either the lowest ranked or second lowest ranked performing healthcare system of all developed world nations. Our physicians are great. Our procedures, world class. Then why such a low ranking?According to Dr. Brett Belchetz, the reason why we are so far behind in the rankings is access. Only about half of Canadian doctors work full-time. That is one of the main reasons why Canadians wait so long for care. The perception is that there simply are not enough doctors. In fact, it's because we're not using our doctors properly. Dr. Brett Belchetz is trying to tackle this exact issue. He is the CEO and Co-founder of Maple, Canada’s leading virtual care provider connecting patients and healthcare providers like doctors and therapists for online medical visits in minutes. He’s also a practicing physician in Toronto, and a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute. In addition, Brett’s passion for healthcare communication and policy have led him to work as an on-air medical expert for CTV and Global News, as well as a contributor to outlets such as the National Post. Previously, Brett worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.It is estimated that about 70% of the visits that people are making to clinics, hospitals and their family doctors can be digitized. Maple is out to enable that. As Maple continues to evolve, it is moving to a proactive model, where they can let patients know the frequency of visits that they need to have. They will tip you off when you need a screening test done or an intervention done. They will have resources available between those healthcare visits. So it's not just see a healthcare provider and you're kind of on your own until the next visit in a month or three months. It's an entire program. Best of all, Dr. Belchetz wants to make this made in Canada healthcare IP the basis of healthcare systems around the world.

September 3, 2025Episode 5230 min

EP52 - The New B2B Playbook: Matt Derella on Aligning the C-Suite for a New Generation of Buyers

Is your B2B marketing playbook built for a generation that's no longer in charge? With 71% of B2B decision-makers now being Gen Z or Millennial, the old strategies of white papers and logo-heavy content are becoming obsolete. The leaders who will win are the ones who adapt—and fast.This week, Corby sits down with Matt Derella, a pivotal leader in digital advertising who currently runs the ads business at LinkedIn and formerly served as the Chief Customer Officer at Twitter. Matt provides an insider's look at the massive shifts reshaping the industry and offers a new playbook for growth, leadership, and C-suite alignment.In this episode, you will learn:Why the rise of Millennial and Gen Z decision-makers requires a fundamental shift from logos to people and from text to video.How to get your CMO and CFO on the same page by ditching vanity metrics and focusing on what truly matters: quality pipeline.Leadership lessons on courage and challenging the status quo, forged during a crucial turnaround period at Twitter.How AI is "lifting the floor" for creative output and why human craft and trusted expertise will become more valuable than ever.Practical, non-negotiable principles for leading with respect and getting the best from your team.Tune in for a masterclass in future-proofing your marketing strategy and leadership with one of the industry's most insightful leaders.

February 5, 2025Episode 4920 min

EP49 - 2025 The Year of Choice and Control for Advertisers with Jon Finnie

Today, Corby welcomes Jon Finnie, the head of international sales for Yahoo Ads. With a rich background in Canadian marketing, advertising, and media, Jon shares his insights on driving revenue across Yahoo's diverse consumer properties, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, as well as its demand side platform, Yahoo DSP. Tune in to hear Jon discuss the evolving landscape of digital advertising, the importance of empowering buyers with control over their campaigns, and how Yahoo is navigating privacy regulations and the shift to a cookie-less environment. Discover how AI is revolutionizing campaign optimization and audience targeting, and get a glimpse into the future of marketing in 2025.Don't miss this engaging conversation filled with industry expertise, practical advice, and a touch of nostalgia as Corby and Jon reflect on the past and look forward to the exciting opportunities ahead. Subscribe now and stay ahead in the ever-changing world of digital marketing! 🚀

March 18, 2023Episode 4330 min

EP43 - Invent Status Quo with Sean Downey

Many of us strive to work at the intersection of really smart people, really strong technology advancement and differentiated thinking. That combination of elements ultimately leads to better results. Sean Downey, President, Americas & Global Partners at Google lives at that intersection.As Sean explains, you have to have a really innovative culture that has tremendous amounts of psychological safety, where people feel like they can come in and contribute ideas and that they belong. Only then will they feel really comfortable pushing the envelope on how to innovate and make things better. Oh, and he never punishes failure. As Sean states, "I love a healthy dose of failure and it's something that as long as we learn something, we can fall forward on it."Sean believes that innovative organizations strike a healthy balance between innovation and doing the common things commonly. He states that "we're here to invent status quo." What does this mean? Well, Sean likes to innovate on the edge, and he has a cycle that starts with incubation as an idea in the form of a test, which then he proves works. Then and only then does Sean think about growing it, along with a handful of other things that were also successful. And then, he thinks about scaling it. Once scaled, it become the new common and the new starting point for the cycle to start over. As President of Americas & Global Partners at Google, Sean leads the company’s advertising business in North and South America. Before this role he served as the Vice President of the Google Marketing Platform for the Americas, helping Marketers, Agencies and Partners leverage data and technology to advance their Digital Marketing Maturity and buy and measure media more efficiently. Prior to joining Google in 2008, Sean was the Vice President of Buy Side Sales at DoubleClick, where he led their agency and advertiser business. Sean has also worked in various ad technology and software startups, and over the course of his career has brought various evolving advertising technologies to market such as rich media and programmatic buying and analytics.