Coaching with a Marketing Mindset

Recently, I completed the Executive Leadership Coaching & Organizational Performance Certification Program through Rutgers University Continuing Studies with Heidrick & Struggles. What does this mean for me, and why did I do this in 2020?

Last September, I became a member of Chief, the private network for executive women. I joined Chief because I have spent my whole career wanting to be a better leader and more successful, and have been seeking out answers centered around the HOW. How do you become a positive and effective leader? How do you balance opposing objectives to get team unification? How do you navigate through challenges - especially the tough and uncomfortable ones - to come out stronger on the other side? I started to joke that there was a secret book that all good leaders must have read and so, by joining Chief, I was hoping someone would let that secret slip and lend me a copy.

“I started to joke that there was a secret book that all good leaders must have read and so, by joining Chief, I was hoping someone would let that secret slip and lend me a copy. ”

And after my first core group session, wherein me and eight other women meet monthly with an executive coach to tackle similar challenges and build community, I felt like I had finally found the secret: a coaching mindset. The process of coaching - the inquisition, the curiosity - spoke to me on many levels, especially as someone who loves creative marketing. With this new interest in a practice and a function that I was not aware of, I surrounded myself with coaches and dug into learning about what this world is like. I started reading books and articles written by coaches, punchdrunk on insights and stories from leaders who created impact.

And then the global pandemic hit.

I no longer had a mind-numbing commute or ridiculous travel schedule. I had the time to think and reflect - and 4+ extra hours a day to do more. So instead of wasting that time and opportunity, I decided to prioritize continuous improvement - much like my past training on the Toyota Method has taught me to do. The Toyota Method, which I learned during my time at Pantone, is a management approach built upon 2 pillars: Continuous Improvement and Respect for the People. This thinking has influenced me in so many positive ways and provided the tools and structure to balance change - and now my new, more full schedule.

“The Toyota Method is a management approach built upon 2 pillars: Continuous Improvement and Respect for the People. This thinking has influenced me in so many positive ways and provided the tools and structure to balance change.”

As a first step, I started with online courses, such as edX’s Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) and edX’s Leading With Effective Communications, and wanted more. With my objective of becoming a better leader, and also someone who has personally sought inclusion and empowered teams, my first course was edX’s Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training). The information presented was simple yet powerful and has provided me with an incredible framework for how to encourage conversations about race and social justice - with colleagues, friends, and even family. Hooked on learning and with the confidence that I had found time to invest in myself, I started looking for more programs.

I found the Executive Leadership Certification Program through Rutgers University Continuing Studies with Heidrick & Struggles. As a resident of New Jersey, I knew of Rutgers and its reputation for professional development and business acumen. The fact that they were offering a 4-month program on the very subject I was becoming obsessed with was ideal. After researching programs extensively, the LCOP program also stood out as it was linked with Heidrick & Struggles, the global executive search and leadership development consulting firm. When I asked about the partnership in an informational session, the program’s response was simple: “At Rutgers, we know how to teach. At Heidrick & Struggles, they know how to develop leaders and coach. So we put it all together.”

The LCOP Program at Rutgers is centered around 5 Learning Concepts:
1. Leadership Coaching Foundation
2. Creating Awareness
3. Language and Emotion
4. Performance and Change
5. The Process and Business of Coaching

In reviewing this model, it seemed very similar to how I approach marketing - whether new brands or new campaigns.

It all starts with a challenge and a problem to solve: you have a brand with an offering (a product, a service, a thing) that will meet the needs of your target customer. But you need to get in front of them. You need to quickly help them understand what your brand is all about and how you stand out from the rest. They need to like how you look, what you say, and, especially now in our more empathetic society, they need to know that you stand for something. And you need to do this while working across a team of people with different skills and different motivations- but the same tight budget and aggressive deadlines.

Which is similar to the start of coaching: you have a challenge you’re facing. You already have a set of values that drive you - personally and professionally. You are moving quickly in an ever-changing world and need to be nimble, a strong leader and a human -- experiencing the same things as your employees. And you need to do this in a way that is consistent with your set of values.

So where do you start? To me, you start with a story.

I pursued marketing for my career path because I love storytelling and problem solving, especially when working with creatives and makers. I feel fortunate to have built my career in creative marketing for luxury, heritage and design brands that have solid stories, exquisite products, and incredible humans making all these things happen. My passion comes from figuring out all the angles of the story, working with creatives to make that story come to life, and then seeing it happen: go live, go viral, go to market.

And personally, this pandemic has been an accelerated period of change and humility - as my priorities and plans have been completely upended and have had to evolve very quickly. But evolve it has, and I now feel better prepared to continue with its evolution. 

There is so much change happening all around us and with that comes a new level of expertise, of leadership, of patience. This program has been an incredible addition to my marketing leadership role as the learning model accentuates my approach to marketing and my presence as a senior leader. Taking the time for learning has stimulated new ideas, expanded my openness, and strengthened me in countless ways. Even after just one week, I understood the coaching mindset more deeply. These learnings, which I will continue to share here, have helped me better consider: 

• My customers - the challenges they are facing in an uncertain economy, their emotional state, their reasons to believe, the environment they’re in. 

• My colleagues - how we are all pivoting, testing new strategies, and keeping communications impactful so that we can be nimble and effective in all that we do. 

• My approach to marketing in a pandemic world - quickly changing what I know of marketing to adapt to this new world, how to be empathetic in all my interactions as an individual and as a brand, how to quickly analyze the changing landscape and come up with solid strategies to drive growth. 

• Myself - how to stay optimistic even when the news shakes me to my core, how to use uncertainty to drive progress not stagnation, how to encourage conversations about race and inequity with fellow leaders looking to change, how to help friends in need who have been laid off, furloughed or just stuck in their current positions.

I was fortunate to have the time and means to do this right. I am grateful to be a part of Chief and to have my eyes opened. I am thankful for the coaches and friends who have supported me in this decision.

I pursued the executive leadership certificate to be a better leader, mentor, colleague and marketer myself. All while doing my day job, and my first love, of creative marketing. Because marketing with a coaching mind-set, and a little coaching with a marketing mindset on the side, is what I want to do.