Why you can’t afford not to Nominate your emerging talent for the Marketing Academy

While at a recent and absolutely brilliant Merlin lecture by Richard Jolly, I met some potential future scholars who said that they really wanted to be part of the Academy and felt they had the potential, which was great to hear, but unfortunately they had concerns that their bosses were a little reluctant to give them the time to commit to the Academy fully. I suppose it does make some sense… I mean, in order to be nominated for the Academy, the nominee will be young, bright, motivated, ambitious and talented, which in turn makes them a valuable asset to their company and integral to how it runs.

However, if you are thinking but are unsure about nominating a potential scholar to commit to 20 days of the year for learning and development as part of the Marketing Academy, below are 6 reasons why it will be the best thing you ever do, not only for your nominee, but your company, your wider team and yourself.

1. Be a true leader yourself

The definition of leadership that the Academy has instilled since day one is that ‘a true leader leaves their mark of outstanding leadership not just by their own leadership but by how many leaders they develop along the way’, so you can demonstrate true leadership ability and be integral to creating the leaders of the future by nominating

2. Keep your best talent

Look at any recruitment study and you often find that in the modern environment, the best people are attracted to the companies that offer the best training and development opportunities, not necessarily the biggest pay packet. The effect of Generation Y coming into the workplace has meant many of the top companies have ensured workplace flexibility and training is at the heart of the programme. No one wants their star performer moving companies just because they offer more training, so by nominating a rising star to have access to the world class training and networks the Academy brings will in return receive an increased level of loyalty and motivation as you have actively invested in their future development, ensuring you retain your best talent

3. Bring vital knowledge into your company to facilitate growth

I have seen, read and experienced many times that the modern workplace no longer allows a lifetime career in one company and instead seeks talent that has had a broad breath of experience in order to bring in new perspectives to their organization to ensure future growth. For example, at British Airways, they dramatically improved customer satisfaction around their attitude to queuing by adopting an idea from Disney to ‘snake’ the queues back on themselves, making them look shorter and install info screens to keep customers informed. A simple idea adopted due to insight and awareness of how another company solved a similar problem, proved invaluable and this is one of many cases of the benefits this broad insight gives. If you nominate a successful scholar, they will be meeting and learning from some of the best the industry and country have to offer and they will quickly build up a powerful network and level of insight. This new wealth of knowledge will be brought back into your company and can be implemented via their newly acquired leadership skills. Being part of the Academy allows the best of both worlds – having an employee gain a broad breadth of industry insight and experience yet they remain working for you and sharing this with those around them, adding to the growth and development of your company and not someone else’s

4. Increase the whole team’s performance

The scholar will bring back into the workplace new skills learnt around leadership, influencing and developing others that will positively affect the entire team. The stats speak for themselves as a motivated workforce with strong leadership is many times more productive than those that aren’t, so the combined contribution to your newly energized team will more than compensate for the days out of the office by your scholar

5. Gain a ready-made leader for your company & save on recruitment

When it comes to promotion time, it has been very evident this year that many of the scholars have been promoted within their own company, and even more so for the Alumni. Good leaders who nominate their young talent to be a scholar have realised that this is an investment not only in the individual but the company too, as by the end of the scholarship they have someone who was already really competent, that has been trained and nurtured to reach that next level, meaning they are the obvious choice take a more senior role. Also, if the scholar has applied the Academy’s leadership philosophy and developed future leaders below them, then there will already be someone to step into their big shoes that they leave behind, meaning you now have a strong and experienced team and only need to recruit at the most junior levels which come with a lot less risk and cost to recruit, saving you a lot of precious time and money in recruitment

6. Do what the best do

If you look at the best companies and most successful leaders, they all build time into their busy schedule to stop, reflect and learn, giving them access to their true potential. Google is the most famous for this and the evidence shows that a number of Google’s new products were developed by employees in this ‘Learning time’, leading to true innovation and new income streams. ‘Breakthroughs happen when people attend to their professional curiosities and set aside time for deliberate learning’ so why not do this for your staff and your company, as who knows where it could take you?

Summary

The truly successful companies in this time of austerity will be those that continue to invest in their people, who will then in return invest themselves as individuals in growing the company. Therefore, when considering whether to nominate your best talent to be a potential scholar for 2012, it is not a case of can you afford to lose them for 20 days a year, but more a case of can you afford not to nominate them?

Nominate now – http://www.themarketingacademy.org.uk/nominate

Full details of the programme – http://www.themarketingacademy.org.uk/the-scholarship

It’s been a year! I got less funny. From a low base.

Hello,

About a year ago, I wrote this post about why you should apply to the Marketing Academy.  Since then my year as a scholar has come to an end, I’ve jumped the fence to join 101 London, I’ve got half way through the IPA Excellence Diploma, and I’ve written fewer blog posts than I’d like.  Now that nominations for the 2012/2013 scholarship are open, it felt like a good time to remedy that.

All 28 reasons to apply that I wrote about last January still hold true.  It’s an incredible opportunity that I’m truly grateful to have been given, and worth it for the Singstar opportunities alone.  Plus One Alfred Place’s canapés selection continues to go from strength to strength.  At the same time, when you’re no longer receiving regular mentoring and coaching it becomes clear what, of the stuff you learned, rises to the surface on a day to day basis.  Undoubtedly different for every individual, but here’s a few of mine:

Just chill out a bit, yeah?
There’s an interesting tension between the drive that singles you out in your very early career, and the need to either change or temper that drive as time goes on.  I think I probably went into the Marketing Academy with a strong career-oriented drive, partly because of my competitiveness and partly because the corporate world and all it’s hierarchies plays to that kind of individual.  Having come out of it, my drive has changed to focus on different things (and stop caring about others), and it probably looks a bit different on the outside.  It might have taken me another decade to realise that needed to happen were it not for the Academy and its many wisdomful mentors.  Or I’d have burnt out and had to go to my back-up career, Starbucks barista.

Life’s too short to let it be dull
In the words of famous and influential philosopher Sheryl Crow, “every day is a winding road.”  How far ahead of her time she truly was.

Most of the people I met through the Academy told me, in one way or another, to stop looking at my work in a formulaic way and to be more adventurous.  Amanda Mackenzie from Aviva told us all to “risk it for a biscuit” and not worry about the things you do, only those you don’t.

If I hadn’t had that kind of chat from people on the Academy, when I was considering leaving Diageo for 101 London I’d have only thought about what I was risking by leaving the comforts of a huge, inspirational company with an unparalleled stable of brands to join a start-up whose office is, frankly, too tall and thus has far too many stairs.  It’s turned out to be a move that’s made me incredibly happy, and given me thighs of steel.

Importantly, that’s not to say the Academy leads you to leaving your job.  The majority of scholars from my year remain with the employer they started with, and have moved up into increasingly challenging roles.  Given the churn rate our industry faces, a positive result for all concerned.

Be a nice person
Syl Saller from Diageo told us that good relationships start with positive intent – set out to help people and they’ll be there to help you when you need them.  I can pull out lots of other quotes from the people I met that form a theme of just generally trying to be nice.  It helps.

Consciously remembering to both embark on interactions with positive intent, and assume that positive intent exists in others, has been big for me.  We all get frustrated when something goes wrong – with a project, a conversation, a lunch order.  Reminding myself that, behind all of that, people don’t set out to get that outcome has helped me avoid that frustration*.

*A bit.  I still carry around a Timmy Mallet-style mallet to deal with such instances, obviously.  As the people of Pret Tottenham Court Road will tell you.

So one year on, I’d still heartily recommend you either apply for a scholarship, or nominate someone you know for one.  If nothing else, just think of the free biscuits all those mentoring sessions will involve.

Challenging yourself – by Josh Connell

It was a privilege to attend the recent Lunch & learn with Adam Crozier, chief executive of ITV. Adam shared his career journey to date along with ten expert leadership tips that my fellow scholars and I were eagerly writing down in our notebooks.

Throughout Adam’s career he has placed himself in extremely challenging positions. And like many Marketing Academy mentors and speakers he consciously focuses on ‘learning’ and ‘exposure’ as a means of career progression. It’s hard to comprehend how difficult Adam’s roles must have been at times, but through exposing himself in this way he has intensified his learning immeasurably.

Over the next few years I aim not just to take on difficult situations and challenges but to actively seek them. As Adam advises; the only question I need to ask myself is “do I think I have the ability to learn?”. Hopefully I can do so with the fresh thinking and calmness that he brings to his roles.

Rewriting the rule book – by Camilla Woodhouse

It was The Marketing Society’s Annual Conference 2011 speaker line-up that first grabbed my attention… …the only way to describe it is stellar.  Willie Walsh from International Airlines Group, Andy Fennell from Diageo, Keith Weed from Unilever, Dan Cobley from Google, Heston Blumenthal, the list goes on.  All would be seen as a keynote speaker coup for any other event but at The Marketing Societies Day of Global Leaders they were just another name on the bill.  With a line-up this illustrious this was going to be day of unparalleled inspiration and learning. 

The day focused on a number of themes; international leadership, the emerging BRIC markets, the global consumer, but the main theme that I took from the conference was that marketing is currently undergoing a big and fundamental change. 

The marketing rulebook that has been the comfort blanket for many marketers over many years is no longer relevant.  The global economic changes that have rocked the world over the last few years have created unprecedented challenges for brands, leaders and marketers.  The speakers, all global leaders themselves, highlighted how they are tackling these challenges head on.

Mark Brittain, Global Head of Commercial at Syco Entertainment talked about how social media and brands make content more powerful.  This “Brand Fusion” focuses on emotional similarities rather than physical differences and puts passion into marketing – something that is resonating with audiences globally and which Syco take advantage of through their TV formats.

Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Unilever spoke about how his company are dealing with the challenges of illiteracy in some of the world’s developing markets – if someone can’t read the adverts, how they know if they want the product?  Unilever’s solution is to bring back door to door sales people.  A sales and marketing technique that many had thought had died with the era of the internet but in the 21^st century it’s solving a problem.

 Roberto Giolito, Design Director at Fiat echoed Keith Weed’s marketing solutions when talking about how he reinvented the Fiat 500 in the millennium, “Sometimes you need to plunder the past to reinvent the future”. 

Ironically it was non-marketer, Heston Blumenthal, who highlighted innovation as a key to the future. He gave us a sneak preview of the new online experience you’ll have if you are lucky enough to get a booking at his restaurant The Fat Duck – an animated roller coaster ride through the inspiration behind his meals.  It’s bringing an entirely new brand experience into going to a restaurant that will lead to growth (although as he receives 30,000 table booking requests a day it won’t make getting a Heston meal any easier!)

 I feel that Andy Fennell, CMO of Diageo, summed the day up when talking about the potential these changes can bring to marketing and leadership by saying “I’m more excited by what’s possible than scared of what could go wrong”.  It is this attitude that will cause great things to happen, new paths forged and new strategies realised.  The old rulebook may no longer be relevant but for the bravest marketers and leaders there’s a new rulebook to invent!

Bottling the Magic…….. by Sarah T

Yesterday, I stood up in front of my company on a Monday morning to tell them about the Marketing Academy and what I’d learned. It’s a pretty tough gig, the Monday meeting. Some people would rather be trawling through the emails. Most people would rather still be in bed. Everyone is a little bit sad that it’s not the weekend any more. Trust me, we’re a very enthusiastic bunch on the whole, but the 9am Monday meeting doesn’t show us in our best light.

All the more credit then to the Marketing Academy and the incredible people that make it happen that the response I got was extraordinary. My inbox was flooded with messages from people who wanted to know more. I had to hold another meeting to field questions. Then I had to hold three more, just to fit them all in.

The consensus was always the same – “it sounds brilliant”. And it is, utterly and completely brilliant. Which leaves me, sitting down to write a blog about it, with a challenge. How do you bottle that magic? How can you distill all that into a few paragraphs? All the training, which changed my mindset. All the mentors who inspired me to push myself harder than I’d pushed myself before. All the other scholars, a fantastic network of brainboxes. And my amazing business coach, Adrienne Candy, who devotes so much time and skill to helping me make sense of it all.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to write about it all. You can wake yourself up and keep reading.

 I just want to focus on one of the lessons I’ve learned about  what it takes to be a good leader.  It was the first lesson I learned. It’s the lesson I still struggle to live by every day. If it was the only thing I learned on the Academy (it’s not) then it would still have made the whole experience worthwhile. For me, it’s the foundation of good leadership.

That is, to listen.

I bet you think you’re a good listener. Most people do. I certainly did. But I wasn’t, not at all. I interrupted people all the time. I paid attention to them with half a brain, while the other half wondered what I was going to say next. I went to meetings with my own agenda, and I wasn’t always flexible about having that opinion changed.

It’s actually quite hard to listen to someone actively, with absolute commitment. But it’s entirely necessary if you want to foster collaboration in your team, facilitate strong performance and spark brilliant ideas.

In the spirit of sharing, here are some of the techniques I find useful. Next time you are in a meeting, try:

1)   Closing your laptop and forgetting that item on your to-do list which has been niggling at you for the past hour. Give your total focus.

2)   Allowing double the time for the meeting than you would ordinarily allow.

3)    Ask lots of questions. Not the kind of questions designed to lead the discussion to your own agenda. The kind of questions which encourage the speaker to interrogate and develop his own idea further.

4)   Summarize what people have said. It lets them know that you’ve understood what they wanted to get across.

5)   Build on what they’ve said. Collaborative thinking is about letting different perspectives get to one corker of an idea.

My business coach, Adrienne, taught me what it felt like to be listened to by someone who is very good at it. It feels amazing. It’s like you’ve been speaking a different language to the rest of the world, and finally someone comes along who has taken the time to learn it too.

In practical terms, I have less meetings than I used to have. I want to make sure I take the time to develop our new concepts with the whole team, and that needs commitment. The sessions take longer, but they are doubly effective.  All the best projects I have managed this year have been a true group effort, and better for it.

And it’s helped me get the most out of the Academy too.  Listening and learning is essential to my experience. Recently, some of my mentors have kindly offered to spend time with me after the Academy too, and I truly believe that that’s because I listen and engage with them in a much more genuine way than I did at the beginning. The more mentoring sessions I go to, the more I get out of them. The more I listen, the more I get back. 

Why Stuart Baggs “the brand” didn’t have it completely wrong

Now admittedly Stuart Baggs “the brand” (from The Apprentice) was a bit of a wally, and that is putting it mildly, but he was right about one thing. He is a brand. As we all are.

This was one of the talking points brought up during my mentoring session with Andy Routley (Managing Director of Church & Dwight) yesterday. In a shortened hour-long session we managed to cover a lot, but these are the points that really stuck with me:

Aim for the perfect balance

At the Academy we’ve been extremely fortunate to meet and hear from a number of great leaders. All have displayed an unflinching honesty, and Andy was no different. He was extremely open in discussing his career to date and the steps he’d taken to get to where he is now – Managing Director of a £90m (& growing) business.

During the conversation he mentioned that we should all strive for a balance in any professional role. It’s something we discussed in our first bootcamp but I really like the simplicity of the concentric circles. From meeting him & discussing his role he has obviously managed to hit that sweet spot and the benefits for him & the business are abundantly clear.

Refine your own elevator pitch

In business you get great at selling a brand, product or service because you have to do it all of the time. Whether it is during an internal meeting, a pitch or talking directly to a customer you constantly refine it and it gets slicker and slicker.

But when someone asks you about your own elevator pitch what do you say? Does it come as naturally? I put Andy on the spot, after all he brought it up, and he very easily rolled off what he is all about. Without buzz words or business speak it was concise, memorable and clear.

Fortunately for me he didn’t ask me to do the same but he did stress the importance of being able to convey to others what it is I bring to the table. A useful exercise that I will giving some thought to.

Be able to switch it on

During an initial chat I found out that Andy had a full day & evening ahead of him with colleagues from the US over for the day to discuss big plans for Church & Dwight. Then a complete stranger rocks up for a mentoring session.

Despite the time constraints & the pressures ahead Andy showed no signs of rushing. He was calm, easy to talk to and made me feel like I had all the time I needed. That ability to make people feel important, and block out the other things going on around you, is an amazing skill & a mark of being a great leader. Apparently it was one of Bill Clinton’s trademark skills.

In short. Mentoring sessions rock. Bring on the next one.

When are you at your best as a leader? by Selina

The idea is that, whether you like it or not and whether you know it or not, everyone is a leader. You lead someone when you influence them. It doesn’t matter whether you manage a cast of hundreds or are part of a small team.

The interesting question is what kind of leader are you? And the answer to that is very personal. There is no blueprint to being a great leader because it is all about being authentic and true to yourself.

So when I met the amazing mentors I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with I asked them ‘When are you at your best as leader?’ in the hope they could help me answer that question myself.

At the risk of misrepresenting them, here are a few of the answers and ideas I have received so far. They are all phenomenal leaders so there are some great nuggets of wisdom in there!

Andrew Walmsley had some sound advice when he talked to me about celebrating success and making sure he valued the contribution of every person in his team. I think everyone who has been ‘led’ would recognise that as being important.

When I met Sally Cowdry from O2 she said that having fun and doing the stuff she loved was key to her being at her best. This has really resonated with me; it is easy to forget to have fun when there is so much going on day to day – but it makes total sense that getting the best out of yourself involves enjoying yourself!

Cilla Snowball, from AMV.BBDO, had a great mantra around ‘being useful to your followers’; it was really inspiring to hear about how she focuses on helping her team rather than the other way around. She also talked about consistently being yourself so that you can lead by example, which from meeting her I can say she does in bucket loads!

I loved what Katie Vanneck-Smith, from News International, told me about having confidence in your instincts. I think this went really well with another piece of advice I got from her about not being afraid to ask for support when you need it. This combination of trusting your gut but knowing when to ask for and accepting the support of others is a form of leadership I really admire.

Mike Hughes from ISBA shared so much of his leadership wisdom with me. One key point that has really stuck was about leading a team towards a vision. Mike talked about being at his best when he can ‘stand’ his team in that vision. I loved his analogy: ‘standing at the top of the hill looking down is a much easier place to plan your route up’.

I was really inspired by Gail Gallie, from Fallon, when we talked about how you could be at your best by investing in your own wellbeing.  The importance of life balance came across from a lot of the mentors I have met. But hearing Gail describe it as seeing yourself as your own greatest resource, and therefore treating yourself in that way, was a fantastic tip!

Paul Brown from The Prince’s Trust believes he is at his best when he is stretching himself, and not staying in his comfort zone. Stretching himself is something he has done lots of in his career. He also left me with one of my favourite tips so far – ‘I’m probably at my best as a leader after my second diet coke’! I love it!

Grabbing it by the ball ponds

The Marketing Academy introduces the scholars as ‘the future leaders of tomorrow’. Blimey. No pressure there then. It’s been an interesting journey since hearing that line; it’s quite easy to see how our thoughts on the definition of this terrifying title have evolved.

We began with an awful lot of self-reflection: what kind of leader am I? Hated? Admired? Lazy? Bossy? We looked to our mentors as the shining beacons of Ultimate Leaders. Our analysis was probably a little superficial, based purely on our own ego. How did we want to be seen by others? It was all about self-promotion and inevitably drew on our own shaky self-confidence in an increasingly fast moving professional environment.

As the months of the Marketing Academy have sped by I think our focus has broadened. With increased confidence about our own abilities and strengths, we’ve started to talk more about a wider definition of ‘future leader of tomorrow’. It’s not all about us anymore. The shift from self to others is a fascinating one, and a massive motivator. As a leader, how can we influence others and how can we make a positive impact on the companies we work for?

Personally, I find this endlessly interesting. I’ve spent my last couple of mentor sessions discussing office environments and how to nurture a culture of innovation.

Momentum’s Julian Ingram and I spoke about the importance of accepting risk and failure within a workplace. He was insistent that even in such tough times, we must must must experiment and encourage others to do so. Being a leader isn’t about coming up with these bonkers ideas, but instead empowering others to do so. Mike Hughes from ISBA spoke of how he used to walk the factory floor asking employees what they’d like to change and giving them the power to make it happen. Both Julian and Mike believed in flat corporate structures, and the belief that ideas can come from anywhere.

This week Peter Jones explored what makes a millionaire on his BBC show, meeting Innocent’s Richard Reed and Ultimo’s Michelle Mone. The two entrepreneurs have very different views on how to run a business: Innocent employees walk shoeless around the office with Astroturf underfoot, Ultimo employees enjoy a very traditional, shiny, super tidy corporate dream house.

Having just moved from agency side to client side it was good to see the contrast. In my first week I was sure someone had just forgotten to point me in the direction of the ping pong table, the free breakfasts and the games room. I was utterly confused as to why meetings happened at desks and not in the pub.

The point that I think Peter Jones possibly missed was not that a ball pond is any better or worse than a glass desk at making millionaires, but that being a great leader means being able to define the company you work for and introducing that ethic within everything the company tackles. My new working environment is FAST. It has to be, but the lack of ping pong table doesn’t mean that we don’t have a culture for innovation. It just happens a lot more speedily. Got an idea? Quick, get it done, we’ll see if it works. Don’t ponder it in the games room, get it done. It makes sense for us.

So, as the next months inevitably zoom past, I’m going to start thinking about this a little more. What can I do to foster the right environment at work? What even is that environment? I suppose the first step is to find out what the big wigs think it should be! I’m not in charge of these decisions just yet!

by Helen Lawrence

A year and a half on – by Neil Costello

“Do you know what; I’d like to have a shot at that”, those were the words that came forth when I was briefed on the inaugural Marketing Academy scholarship over a year and a half ago.

I was not long back in the working environment after a huge period of personal reflection following a tumultuous year in 2009, an aneurysm bursting on the brain had overhauled my life just months after tying the knot and a wonderful honeymoon on the west coast of Barbados – you could say that things had certainly taken a little turn for the worse as I signed disclaimers against all sorts of horrible implications from surgery about to take place under the skull. Months of recovery later, astonishingly supportive colleagues and workplace, and here was a truly fresh opportunity staring me in the face.

Several rigorous selection processes late; including the realisation that a suit, even a Paul Smith one, was not the clothing of choice in an agency environment of dogs, sunglasses and dripping with creativity and style. So the journey began.

Now I’m not going to preach how incredible the scholars, mentors, coaches, sponsors and our founder are; you see they all know that really, that’s why they’re involved. What I am going to preach about is putting the learnings into practice.

Before we get started, between you and I, the period of personal reflection touched on was the very serious contemplation of moving out of the pressure of the corporate environment, the turbulence of financial services and marketing. Yes, leaving this fantastic profession to pursue a life less frantic perhaps.

A year and a half on and I’ve made the right choice to stay. The Marketing Academy taught me more than I could ever imagine. Every day, wherever I go, I carry the learnings, literally on a dog-eared piece of paper in the back of my Moleskine. On this piece of paper are the qualities of, and advice from, inspirational leaders and scholars that I couldn’t hope to meet just year and a half a go. I’ve interpreted this advice for me and adapted it within my own marketing leadership approach.

I coach mentees the thinking I have absorbed, particularly from my fantastic coach Caroline Montagu, to give back to my organisation and I have watched them flourish and go onto bigger and better things. I guarantee you there is no better feeling than seeing this happen in the workplace.

Now I find myself living the learnings and I’ll list the ones that have resonated and impacted the most, those that I hold dear to my heart and that I try to instil no matter what the pressures of work become:

• “If our lives lack a clear sense of meaning, if we are not engaged in some larger purpose, we will not be fully satisfied, regardless of whatever else we may have.”

• “Use behaviour that you expect others to model”

• “Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination”

• “When you feel yourself coming in from the edge, reach for more. Don’t be afraid to sh*t yourself a little bit”

• “When choosing roles you need to understand..
 What is their vision for the role? The bigger, the bolder, the better
 Will you have the ability to take people with you?
 Will you have the ability to execute your thinking? The ability to make the change you want”
 Define the job – don’t let the job define you”

I have more, plenty more, and I wish I could attribute these to the specific mentors but a dented memory has stifled that. These are however the ones that hold true with me.

The trick I have found is to constantly applying your learnings to the point that they will become your natural behaviour. You’ll intuitively know when it’s happening and you’re really living the values as those around you will let you know, one way or another. As I’ve said; and more than ever, I now mentor several junior members of our organisation; this not only ensures others can be influenced positively by the Marketing Academy but also enables me to regularly check in on my own leadership behaviours – ‘sharpening the tools’ I believe the textbooks call it.

And so to close, I want to share what a member of my team wrote in a leaving card as I move into a new role that I fundamentally believe would not have been there for me to pursue without the Marketing Academy; I hope she won’t mind, “Thank you for all your support Neil, for believing in me, you have given me so many opportunities and I can’t thank you enough, I can honestly say you have been the best leader in my 9 years with the company”. Now I can honestly say that would not have been written about me a year and half ago and that is exactly why I get up for work and continue to tackle the challenges that marketing in financial services and this economic climate brings. Right there in one sentence. It’s emotional and personal trumpet-blowing stuff; so it should be.

So there you have it. My year and a half journey that still only feels like it’s just starting, a phenomenal opportunity to learn from the best.

 

This post was written by Marketing Academy Alumni, Neil Costello – Aviva

Paying it Forward: The Marketing Academy Ethos

From day one of being part the fantastic family that is the Marketing Academy, the  definitions of leadership that we are all aiming to aspire to are:

1. A leader leaves their mark of outstanding leadership not just by their own leadership but by how many leaders they develop along the way

2. A leader is someone whose actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more

Therefore, as scholars of the Marketing Academy, we have all been given this great gift. A gift of knowledge, sharing of wisdom and a network of people from all areas of life to offer us all help and advice for free as they themselves demonstrate true leadership in trying to develop others. This network ranges from influential CEOs of multinational corporates to passionate founders of small non-for-profit organisations, allowing us all to truly get a great understanding of so many facets and challenges of life – business and personal. These insights are from not only a marketing perspective, but from a leadership one too, meaning we are increasingly becoming equipped with a toolbox to solve anything we are faced with.

Having this gift and staying true to what a good leader is, I felt compelled to share this with as many people as possible to make them think differently, take a step back from their everyday ‘doing’ and ask some key questions about themselves and how they can be who they want to be.

Juggling a full time, demanding job, embracing everything the Marketing Academy has to offer and general everyday life, is definitely a challenge, but all the mentors in the academy can do all of this and still give their time for others, which made me realise I can too! I think it was more an issue of confidence (or lack of) in my new found gift than anything else! This lead me to go out and start speaking to a number of people to share my experiences and learnings with them. The response has been fantastic and I urge anyone else with something to offer to do the same.

The people and organisations I have or will be working with in the coming weeks up until Christmas are:

1. Education: I am a mentor to a second year student, Philip, at Aston University, and a Masters student, Jana, mentoring them on their current career aspirations as they plan their future either for a placement year or full time role.
2. Non-for-Profit Organisations: I am a hosting an open discussion on leadership at the end of a 3-day emerging leaders course by a non-for-profit organisation – Common Purpose. Here I will be one of five people who have experience in leadership roles and I will be able to share my insights especially from the Marketing Academy on what it means to be a good leader and will build on what they have learnt in their course.
3. Professional bodies: I teamed up with members of the CIM in Birmingham through Aston University and held a talk to MSc students on what life is like in marketing and the professional world, the personal challenges I have faced and any advice for them going into the very competitive career market upon graduation. The feedback was great and have been asked back to do further talks.
4. Corporate: I am taking some of the learning from the academy and sharing it with my internal teams, extended teams (agencies) and new graduates into the business (Jaguar Land Rover recruited more than 300 graduates this year), whether this be over a 1:1 coffee with a new starter or my whole team on inspiring them for the year ahead or what the latest trend in Social media is
5. Charity: I am just about to start working with the ‘Little Princess Trust’, which provides wigs for young children who have lost their hair through cancer. This is a great charity that brings a level of normality to the lives of sick children, and the founder carries so much enthusiasm, it is infectious! I feel privileged to work with this charity, offering marketing advice to increase awareness and donations. So… a shameless plug to get the ball rolling, anyone who is reading this and thinks this is a worthy cause, please donate what you can via their website (http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/) as it will make a huge difference.

I did all of the above, not as a tick box exercise or because we were told to, but because I wanted to. I think it also goes without saying that my fellow scholars also embrace this mindset and are committed to the journey of being the best we can, not only as a leader, but marketer, friend, parent, partner, sibling or whatever facet of life we operate in. By sharing this information and in a way teaching what I have learnt, reinforces it within myself, meaning that as time goes on, my leadership and personal brand gets greater clarity.

Its not hard to see why the founder of the Marketing Academy, Sherilyn, picked up the award last week for the ‘CIM Women In Marketing Special Contribution Award’, as she has founded something that has and continues to develop future leaders, who in turn develop future leaders around them. The impact this is having on UK plc is tremendous with my only negative view being that I will only be a scholar for another 6 months!

The Marketing Academy: Not even at the end of its second year already consists of a dedicated founding team, 86 Mentors, 30 scholars, 30 Coaches, 28 Alumni, 20 Judges, 36 Companies, 30 Charities, 2 Apprentices, 12 months of learning and an owl (Merlin). As we all go on to share what we have learnt and develop leaders around us, means the Marketing Academy has already created 100′s of aspiring leaders of the future. With a few more years under its belt, just think what the impact could be….