‘Don’t Be Scared Of Conflict’: Forbes CMO Leadership Talk With IBM’s Rashmy Chatterjee

What makes a successful marketing leader? In this interview series, Thomas Barta explores together with leading CMOs the secrets of marketing leadership, what works, and what doesn’t. He met Rashmy Chatterjee, IBM’s North American CMO, at the prestigious Marketing Academy Fellowship.

Thomas Barta: Rashmy, what is marketing’s reputation within IBM?

Rashmy Chatterjee: Thanks, Thomas. IBM has always been a transformative company, and marketing is highly valued as the function that leads in transformation. Today, we believe businesses are entering a cognitive era, and marketing is leading the work of repositioning the IBM brand across everything we do. In addition, marketing is recognized as the engine for customer acquisition and retention, lead creation and progression. And finally, marketing works with other teams to own the client experience and client engagement.

Barta: How do you serve both the needs of customers and the IBM C-suite?

Chatterjee: That’s an interesting question. Customer requirements in areas such as Cloud, Security, and Digital are growing rapidly. We have a huge portfolio, and different parts of the portfolio are relevant at different stages of our clients’ journey towards becoming cognitive businesses.

Internally, the focus of our North American leadership team is on growth. Are we getting new customers? Are we going into new spaces? Are existing customers buying more from us? Are we building belief and advocacy with our clients?

We focus our marketing on the overlap areas where both of us win—the client and IBM. We anchor on the client, their cohort, their journey to proficiency, what will define success for them, and how IBM can best help. It’s pretty much how you’ve described the Value Creation Zone in your 12 Powers book.

Barta: A recent study found that in many businesses, marketing is still misunderstood. How do you prove marketing’s worth within IBM?

Chatterjee: First of all, we hold ourselves accountable for the brand and as the external face of IBM, and have a brand health monitor tracks client belief, action and advocacy at a granular level. Second, we hold ourselves accountable for many elements of NPS (Net Promoter Score), especially as it relates to Digital. Finally, we constantly focus on improving the cost of a lead, and better results from every dollar spent.

Barta: Leading in such a dynamic environment like IBM’s must be challenging. How do you build your team’s confidence?

Chatterjee: To me, team leadership is about trust and empowerment. The people in my team are experts in their fields, passionate about winning, and constantly working on better outcomes. With that, I encourage them to challenge the status quo and take risks. I think that if you don’t take risks, your chances of success are much lower. I never want anybody in the team to hold back. We are all invested in the same goal, and I believe open dialogue and challenge fosters innovation and growth.

Barta: Sounds great—but how do you actually build that confidence?

Chatterjee: I believe the answer is that is we are well connected with each other. For example, we have a daily morning huddle, 7:45 to 8:00 a.m. Everyone participates. We rapidly go through anything we want to highlight and move on to the rest of the day. Occasionally, during peak periods, I have thought of cancelling the huddle, but invariably, the team wants it on. It takes away time spent on to-and-fro emails or calls and gets the team tightly aligned. Starting the day this way has made us more effective, and it also adds a bit of humor and perspective to the work day.

Barta: How do you keep the communication going in your team?

Chatterjee: I minimize conference calls! I find time spent informally is much more effective. If I have an idea, I pick up the phone and call. I think people find it easier to be honest when it’s not this official call. There are, of course, times that you have to share an update or review, and conference calls are good for that. But I make sure the calendar has a lot of time for informal discussions, for coffees, for walks … and my team does the same with their own teams as well.

Barta: What do you get wrong as a leader?

Chatterjee: I guess a lot, every day! In our team we have a very good level of trust and honesty. But what I sometimes get wrong is people’s aspirations. I sometimes assume that somebody’s aspiration is X, based on my own aspirations. Once, I was running the P&L of a business and I had the technical team reporting in to me. In one meeting, I said to our technical leader: “You would be a great candidate for general management in the future.” Of course, for me, general management is exciting. The person came to me later and said, “But I don’t want this. I love being a technical person. I want to be a fellow at IBM. I want to be a master inventor. I don’t want to go into general management.” This, for me, was a real eye opener. I’m always reminding myself to be careful not to assume that everybody has the same aspirations I have.

Barta: What is your leadership advice for the people reading this?

Chatterjee: Don’t be scared of conflict. Don’t take it personally. Sometimes when you’re driving towards a big goal, not everyone will agree with you—and that’s okay. Take the time to set a goal and set the vision. But after that, don’t get distracted by every skeptic. You have to listen. You have to understand. You have to address real problems if they arise. But don’t be scared of conflict. Because I’m Asian, and I’m Indian, and I’m a woman, I’m naturally uncomfortable with conflict, and that is the area I have had to work on the most. But if you set high goals and inspire your team, your team will come with you—and help you master the conflict on the way.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbarta/2017/02/03/cmo-leadership-talk-ibms-rashmy-chatterjee-dont-be-scared-of-conflict/

 

 

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