How I Made it in Marketing Marketing Leadership Lessons: Kill snakes, create the category, assume noble intent (podcast episode #61)
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I love a really good turn of phrase.
Hey, as a writer, I’m a real sucker for words.
So when I saw this phrase on a podcast guest application it grabbed my attention – “Kill snakes.”
I gotta admit, that is not one I have heard before. So I went to the Google, and it served me up… a lot of… how to kill snakes around the house.
So then it was time for AI. And according to ChatGPT, “’Kill snakes’ is an idiomatic expression that means to tackle or deal with a difficult or unpleasant task or situation in a direct and forceful way. The phrase is often used to describe someone who is brave, decisive, and not afraid to take action when faced with a problem. It can also be used to encourage someone to be bold and take action instead of being passive or hesitant. The expression is most commonly used in informal contexts and is often associated with a sense of urgency or importance.
I thought that description was the perfect way to set the tone for the discussion with Shafqat Islam, Chief Marketing Officer, Optimizely (https://www.optimizely.com/).
Islam manages a team of 100 with a $30 million marketing budget. He had zero CMO experience when he got his current role.
Optimizely is owned by Insight Partners. Insight acquired Episerver, NewsCred, and Optimizely. It combined the companies into one, which it branded as Optimizely. Insight Partners is a private equity and venture capital firm with $90 billion of regulatory assets under management.
Stories (with lessons) about what he made in marketing
Some lessons from Islam that emerged in our discussion:
- Never, ever, ever give up
- Category creation Is hard
- Kill snakes
- Assume noble intent
- Give people outsized opportunity and they will make you proud
- Have a plan, communicate it, stick to it, and just execute like crazy for as long as it takes
Related content mentioned in this episode
Marketing: Sometimes you have to throw the business model out (podcast episode #34) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-business)
About this podcast
This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages (https://meclabs.com/course/) free digital marketing course.
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