Ep #34: Leading Marketing by Example & Succeeding Through Followership w/ Rossa Shanks

Leadership is something we talk about a lot, but according to Rossa, something that doesn’t get enough focus is followership. He knows that much of success can be about ensuring your boss looks good and is empowered to do the tough work. As a marketer, he understands the importance of marketing himself to ensure he is nurturing his professional connections, and categorizes people into two groups: radiators and drains. The people he seeks out for his team are radiators -- they are eager to learn, promote a positive atmosphere and remain nimble and adaptive through challenges. Rossa attributes some of his success to ensuring he makes a good impression with everyone he works with, whether it’s his boss, a peer or even a report. The world is small, the industry is smaller and he knows it’s not just about who you know, but also about who cares about you. While it’s clear that emotion and creativity are important in marketing, Rossa is also focused on ensuring that marketing is driving value and is solidified as a core business pillar driving success for sales and operations. 

Key takeaways from this episode: 

• “Followership” can be just as important as leadership -- we need to go above and beyond for our managers and our peers to promote a great environment and drive success.
• In business, you never know when a connection is going to matter. It’s important to always put your best foot forward and make a good impression with everyone.
• Personalization is about adding value. Without relevance to your market any personalization is really just for the sake of itself.
• It’s important to think of marketing as a core pillar of your business but emotion also plays a huge role in decision making so creativity and relationship building can be just as important.

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