Leaders today in big and small organizations around the world are navigating multiple unknowns. What might have felt weird before this pandemic is now the norm. Did you ever think that you would be relying on Zoom to present a high-stakes innovative idea and then an hour later hop on a parent-teacher’s conference online? Me neither and not whilst in my sweatpants. You will certainly want to jot down insights and key questions to ask yourself from this week’s guest Beth Comstock. She is a marketing and innovation legend who has witnessed weird and been part of GE teams that have leveraged many “weird” market insights into a normal (and often better) way of doing business.
Here’s more about Beth’s illustrious corporate career. Beth Comstock’s mission is to understand what’s next, navigate change and help others do the same. By cultivating a habit of seeking out new ideas, people and places, she built a career path from storyteller to chief marketer to Vice Chair. She currently works as an advisor, director and storyteller.
As GE's Vice Chair of Business Innovation and previously Chief Marketing Officer, she led efforts to accelerate new growth, develop digital and clean-energy futures, seed new businesses and enhance brand value. As President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, Beth oversaw TV ad revenue and new digital efforts, including the early development of hulu.com.
Beth is a director at Nike, trustee of The National Geographic Society and former board president of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum. She has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Center for Science and Society. She graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in biology. Her first book, Imagine It Forward, about summoning courage and creativity in the face of change, was published September 2018.
Share this episode with three people leaders who are in the trenches focused on ensuring their business goals are met and their professional ambitions achieved even now.
Show Notes
Courage: What kind of courage do we need to make change happen today?
Why: Why us? Ask yourself this question and other key questions leaders must consider.
Effective Leadership: How to offer your team clarity yet admit when you don’t have answers
Social Capital: How to give people some space yet create moments of serendipity
Working Parents: Good leaders make readjustments based on changing realities and work with their team’s new needs
Hiring Practices: The case for hiring talent from outside your sector.
Roles: What’s a “figure it out” role? What’s necessary to facilitate success in these scenarios?
Risk Mitigation: Let’s do a project or bring in a “spark.” Some ways to mitigate hiring risks are expressed.
Feedback: Sometimes outsiders can become targets, how to work through this common occurrence.
Professional Goals: How to vouch for yourself even now. Good leaders will be open to your initiative.
Agency: Give yourself permission to get what you need right now. Reimagine that commuting hour for whatever YOU need.
Permission Granted: How to step into weird zones to test yourself to learn new things and get a handle of where change is coming from.
“Weird Exercise:” Explore a new phenomenon. Ask yourself: what might I learn from this?
Open Challenges: Great way to source the best ideas that can come from anywhere!
Opportunistic vs. Sincere: Does someone really need this? Will someone be better if we solve this? Plus, other questions you must ask yourself before creating anything.
Creativity: How much conflict/tension do we need right now to beget the best creative idea in this tense historical moment?
Marketing Lay-Offs: How to rethink your career into a portfolio career and be more entrepreneurial, step one is discussed
Essential Marketers: What is a marketer’s role? Let’s start there and harness this to feel essential again.
Working Moms: How being a parent can impact your leadership fingerprint
Help: Why asking for help (informal vs. formal coaching) can be key to unleashing your biggest potential?
Mom Advice: Craft your own guiding question. Here’s mine: how can I nurture myself?
Links to quench your curiosity:
Learn more about Beth
Check out Beth on Instagram
Follow Beth on LinkedIn
Stay connected to Beth on Twitter
Want to continue the conversation?
Now you can by following me on Instagram! There I jump on an IGTV Live every Wednesday! You’ll catch me reporting LIVE on-location (so far in a gas station on a highway, a modern art museum, and my local fruit smoothie shop) OR hosting a LIVE “after-party” with the week’s guest! Who knows where my next episode will take me or what else you can learn from this week’s amazing guest? Come along! I want YOU to join me on my next adventure. I’m easy to find on Instagram @careeroutcomesmatter
Rather keep it professional?
Let’s connect on LinkedIn. I encourage every single podcast listener to connect with me.
Ready to pivot into a new marketing full-time role this year?
Register for a complimentary masterclass entitled: The 5-Step Strategy Marketers Use To Pivot Into Their Dream Marketing Career (Without Undervaluing Themselves)!
