Executive panelists at the “Getting to the Top in Marketing” career development program echoed what Product Marketing executives said at the program a month earlier: knowing the customer is key. These executives continued to add insight to the skills that set them apart on their progression to top roles: vision setting, delegation, adaptation, measurement of results, and stakeholder management.
On March 7, 2006, senior executives in marketing shared their experiences in reaching senior marketing posts in major Silicon Valley corporations. The panelists were:
- Tom Bobitch - General Manager and Chief Services Officer at Visage Mobile
- Melissa Dyrdahl – SVP Corporate Marketing and Communications at Adobe
- Judy Kirkpatrick – VP International Development at eBay
- Denise Peck – VP Marketing Operations at Cisco
- Marlene Williamson – VP Americas Marketing at Symantec
Know thy customer.
To start the program, Denise Peck answered that to be a marketing executive you must develop your customer sensing skills. Don’t ignore the data you learn on customers. Judy Kirkpatrick described the most important marketing discipline with the terminology ‘customer driven innovation’: a product or service is only good if the customer will use it. She also shared an example from Intuit’s early days of Quicken. Data suggested that home checkbooks were being used in small businesses. The company discounted these focus groups, avoided the data and this segment for two years; the small business segment is now a major portion of their business.
Tom Bobitch joked that at Clorox he was constantly hearing how he needed to understand, “…what Mabel at the Moraga Safeway wanted, and what my boss’ wife wanted.” However, warned Kirkpatrick, focus groups are only one data point so don’t rely on the data exclusively. Melissa Dyrdahl added that focus groups can tell you what doesn’t work but can’t envision what is needed in product direction.
Set a vision.
Williamson shared that as the senior executive, “You need to be comfortable creating a road map because you won’t get a road map.” You need to set a vision and have the leadership qualities to inspire others to that vision. Bobitch stated that for a marketing leader, it’s not necessarily the marketing specifics that are important but the vision of what’s next. Put together a picture of where you need to go.
Delegate.
Initially, you will be rewarded for your marketing prowess. Later in your career, you need to be able to lead, not do. Dyrdahl offered, “You get to a high level position because of your expertise in management as a leader, not a doer.” Set the vision, divide the tasks amongst your team, lead and support the team.
Williamson echoed that marketers need to be comfortable with gray areas. “You trust that people will accomplish their objectives, not in your way, but they will get there.”
Adapt to cultures and change.
Williamson who has worked at large and small companies told the audience to, “Adapt to the culture you are working in. The Apple culture, Taiwanese culture, IBM culture are all radically different with different leadership styles.” Understand the culture you are in and develop your marketing leadership to work within the culture.
Peck learned the most about marketing in a role not in marketing: investor relations. She asked to take on this role marketing the company’s stock, not marketing a product. She took a risk and applied marketing techniques to Wall Street to help the street understand the company’s strategy; this differentiated her company from the rest of the companies in the market. Both Peck and Williamson shared that taking jobs sideways is as important as moving up.
Kirkpatrick shared, “Change is inevitable, especially on the Internet, in new countries.” Develop the flexibility for change as Kirkpatrick has when her role expanded to doing electronic commerce in China.
Measure impact.
Williamson spoke of the need for marketing executives to be comfortable with metrics. She said that rather than being “…perceived as drunken sailors spending the company’s profits”, marketing should show the value the group creates for the organization, understanding operations and metrics and the group’s impact on the organization.
When the panel was asked what measures should marketing be accountable for, Bobitch answered for all, “Revenue.” Many of the panelists added that as marketing departments they have revenue responsibility. Educate and show the rest of the company what marketing does.
Manage stakeholder expectations.
Peck presented the important concept of managing stakeholder expectations of marketing within large organizations. How does marketing deliver value to product development, engineering, manufacturing and other divisions? Dyrdahl confirmed that she does a lot of this. In small organizations you might do more marketing but in large multi-division corporations you set expectations and manage processes. Look at your job at a higher level, building stakeholder value and get buy-in from other groups or they will complain when there are changes. Evangelize and train the organization on what a marketing division does. “You’re in a middle integrator role,” as Bobitch offered, “bringing together all of the divisions with the marketing vision.”
Current Searches
Kathryn Ullrich Associates, Inc. recently completed searches for SVP and VP level consultants. Current searches are as follows:
- VP Product Marketing – Leading enterprise software company (Manufacturing Systems, Supplier Relationship Management, Service Oriented Architecture, Process Industries)
- VP and Managers, Internal Consulting – Fortune 500 diversified financial services company
- Regional VP Sales – Call center solutions company
- Corporate Controller – Public biopharmaceutical company
Kathryn Ullrich Associates, Inc. focuses on C-level, VP, Director, and Manager level hires across the functions of Product Marketing/Management, Marketing, Sales, Engineering, and Consulting for technology and professional services companies.
News
To help individuals acquire professional skills needed to reach higher job levels within marketing and sales professions, Kathryn Ullrich Associates, Inc., together with Alumni Career Services at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Highland Team, a marketing strategy consulting firm, presents Getting to the Top. This series explores the skills and knowledge successful sales and marketing leaders leverage in their careers to get to the top.
The remainder of the Getting to the Top series will be offered evenings in Palo Alto on the following dates:
- June 6 Getting to the Top in Public Relations
- September 7 Getting to the Top in Strategic Alliances and Channels Management
- November 9 Getting to the Top - CEOs
Upcoming Events
Some coming Silicon Valley events that may be of interest: