Jeff Hernandez, Marketing Communications Manager at Telus, believes you need humility, trust and support to be an effective marketing leader.

When I began my Chartered Marketer journey in 2021, I had three goals:

1. Supplement my limited formal marketing education.
2. Brush up on my perceived lack of technical or data analysis skills.
3. Aid in any semblance of job security (having lost jobs twice in one decade).

If you asked me at the time, becoming a Chartered Marketer had nothing to do with becoming a leader. Yet here I am, taking on more leadership opportunities in my work and spending time reflecting on mistakes I’ve made and lessons learned.

Three Things You Need to Lead

When our class met with the Summit advisor panel earlier this month to discuss leadership, a lot of my ruminations were reinforced by the panel’s honest advice. What makes an effective marketing leader? It ultimately comes down to three things – humility, trust, and support:

Humility

You’ll never have all of the answers. The ability to reflect, recognize and be open about failures can empower your team to dare to fail too.

Trust

Arm your team with a foundation of 20% and let them build the remaining 80%. Make sure they know you’re there for them, determine how often you’ll check in with one another, and then let go. Trust they’ll get it done, and trust they will come to you when they need to.

Support

Failure is inevitable because we’re human and we’re fallible. When failure occurs, back up your team. As a leader, your team’s successes are your own, and their failures are yours too. When team member knows that you have their back wholeheartedly, they’ll consistently do their best work.

With my journey to become a Chartered Marketer nearly complete, I look forward to continuing my development as an effective marketing leader – and I look forward to supporting fellow marketers on their own journeys.

 

Jeff Hernandez
Marketing Communications Manager
Telus

 

Tags: Blog, CM Candidate