7 Retired CMOs Share Advice To Their Younger Selves

Albert Einstein once said, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” These marketing leaders have collectively spent several lifetimes learning, taking risks, occasionally failing and frequently having incredible success. Each has finished their full-time career and now spend their time advising companies, sitting on boards, assisting non-profits as well as sailing, fly fishing, golfing and playing with their grandchildren. The wisdom they have acquired is invaluable. Here are seven lessons they wish they had learned earlier in their careers.

“Fewer. Bigger. Bolder.”

David Roman retired as global CMO of Lenovo after communications leadership roles at HP, NVIDIA and Apple. His reflections, “Looking back on my career there is one simple “mantra” I would give to my younger self: Fewer, Bigger, Bolder. Whatever marketing project you are working on – product messaging, market segmentation, a TV commercial, a speech, etc. – you should always look at how you can ruthlessly simplify it until you can focus on the one most relevant element. Then you can make that one thing much bigger and much bolder. This is easy to say but very difficult to actually do, partly because it requires you to mostly say “NO” to the people you are dealing with. But, when you get it right, you create the opportunity to drive truly heroic marketing that really matters to your key audience.”

“Give voice to your ambition” 

Denny Marie Post parleyed her senior marketing and innovation leadership roles at Burger King, Starbuck and T-Mobile into becoming CEO of Red Robin. Her encouragement, “For most of my 40 year corporate career, I looked to others to offer opportunities and guide my development. I was fortunate to have a series of champions who “pulled me along” based on my known value but I did not take control of realizing my aspirations until the last decade. When offered an opportunity for a lateral c-level move, I made it clear that I was only open to that if a clear path upward existed to leading the organization. For the first time, I voiced a clear vision of my capacity to lead rather than assuming my strengths would be acknowledged in due course. I often think had ai done so much earlier in my life if I’d achieved my dreams earlier. Today I counsel young talents, particularly young women, to “give voice to your ambition, early and often.” Clarity creates opportunities to grow and engenders support. 

“There’s no limit to how much you can accomplish or how far you can go if you don’t care who gets the credit “

John Costello completed his full-time career as president of global marketing and innovation at Dunkin’. He honed his marketing skills successively at P&G, Neilsen, Sears and Home Depot. His advice, “Early in your career, much of your success is determined by personal accomplishments. As you progress, your success and satisfaction is more determined by your team and the people around you – your direct reports, boss, peers, mentors, advisors, etc. How you lead and motivate them will drive your success as much as anything you do personally. Surround yourself with people smarter and better than you.”

“Invest in your team and reinforce their successful behaviors”

Trish Mueller finished her full-time career as CMO at The Home Depot after various marketing and advertising leadership roles at The Sports Authority, ShopNBC and Montgomery Ward. Her perspective, “Through the early years of my career, I always felt I was too crunched for time and funds to spend time and budget on developing people. I thought it was the associates’ responsibility to develop themselves because that’s what I did. Times changed, and I realized successful leaders demonstrated genuine interest in their team members and invested in their growth and success. Once I learned this, I consistently spent time with my team to support their development plans, invested in them financially, and I publicly recognized their accomplishments. It made my team feel valued and motivated, results improved and my job became far more rewarding. Now that I am retired, I realize the success of those team members was my greatest and most lasting accomplishment.”

“Beware of your comfort zone “

Peter Horst recently retired as CEO of PSB, a research and analytics consultancy, but had spent most of his career as a CMO at Hershey, Capital One Bank, TruSecure and TD Ameritrade. His suggestion, “My career was defined by seismic shifts across industries, company type and geography. I was always glad for the stretch and learning that came by stepping out of my comfort zone. Likewise, I look back at some times and ways that I doubled down on my area of strength and wish that I had pushed farther into unfamiliar territory. Marketing changes at such a blinding rate that you shouldn’t allow yourself to settle too comfortably in any one place.”

“Always have a plan, but never be afraid to change it”

Blair Christie had a long and illustrious career at Cisco culminating in the CMO role. She encourages,

“The best application of ‘Always have a plan, but never be afraid to change it’ is around new opportunities. Amazing opportunities rarely present themselves at the “right time”, so don’t let a preconceived plan hold you back. After all, is there ever only one “right time” for something great?”

“Believe in yourself!”

“Looking back, I wish I would have believed in ‘me’ as much as other key advocates did,“ shares Karen Quintos, former CMO of Dell Technologies. “These sponsors included my husband, the incredible bosses that I worked for at Merck, Citibank and Dell, and close network friends. They saw leadership qualities in me that, very early on, I was blind to or just didn’t believe.  I believe the best skill we as women leaders can teach other future leaders are the gifts of confidence and humility.”