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When you listen to How I Made It In Marketing, you often hear me challenge a guest. Not because I necessarily disagree with them or think they are wrong, but because you must wrestle with an idea, and challenge it, to truly understand it. And that is what I try to bring you in every episode – not just a surface level, go-along-to-get-along soundbite.

We truly dive into the careers of marketing leaders, and unpack how they learned these lessons and, most importantly, how you can apply them in your own career.

I never stopped to think about where I got this approach, until I read the following lesson in a podcast guest application – “Don’t shy away from a good (respectful!) fight.”

I realize, I was raised (career wise) in the advertising agency world, where the mantra was ‘beat it up internally before the client ever sees it.’ And when you listen to How I Made It In Marketing, you are hearing that wrestling with ideas that is often hidden behind ad agency walls before you see the flashy presentation.

“Don’t shy away from a good (respectful!) fight” is a lesson from this episode’s guest – Jennifer Kim, Executive Strategy Director and Partner, TwentyFirstCenturyBrand (https://twentyfirstcenturybrand.com/).

Kim has managed teams as big as 220 in her career, and right now she helps run the US office at 21stCenturyBrand.

In the most recent year 21CB publicly shared revenue, 2019, the company reported $8 million.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

Some lessons from Kim that emerged in our discussion:

• Insights about what people DO are just as powerful as insights about what people THINK
• Don’t think of your customers as a ‘target’ to acquire, think of how you want to invite them to participate in something with you
•  Be aware of the biases, baggage and blind spots you may bring to a project
• Don’t shy away from a good (respectful!) fight  
• Managing people isn’t just about teaching the craft of strategy, it’s about helping people grow
• Who you surround yourself with matters

Related content discussed in this episode

Creative Leadership Ideas: A behind-the-scenes look at how 9 companies run their marketing departments and agencies (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/creative-leadership-ideas-behind-the-scenes-look-at-9-companies)

The MarketingExperiments Quarterly Research Journal (http://marketingexperiments.com/images/multifiles/journals/4th%20Quarter%20(2010)%20-%20MEx%20Research%20Journal.pdf)

Marketing Operations: Process is the foundation for success (podcast episode #58) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-operations)

Product Management & Marketing: Surround yourself with the right people (podcast episode #38) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/product)

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application