18/09/2026
She quit the company she had spent her whole career building to go work for its biggest rival, and got publicly slammed for it. Years later, that rival merged with the company she had left, and she ended up running the entire thing.
Michelle Hutton is Global Chief Client and Growth Officer at Burson, one of the world's largest public relations and communications agencies, where her clients include L'Oréal, Coca-Cola, Visa, Emirates, Spotify, and the International Olympic Committee. This year, Burson won its first Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival, the top award in the industry, just three years after the agency was formed.
Michelle built her early career at Hill & Knowlton, rising to CEO of the Australian business, before a call from Edelman changed the direction of her career and put her at the center of an industry controversy.
On the latest episode of Full Tilt with Belinda Bradford, Michelle talks about the competitor move that made headlines, why she believes the biggest thing holding women back at work is staying quiet, and what AI is doing to the value of earned media. Her advice: speak up for yourself.
Full episode link in the first comment.