4 things that have helped me be successful, according to Citi CMO Alex Craddock

Following is a transcript of the video.

Alex Craddock: I think as I sort of reflect on my career, there’s probably four things that have really helped me be successful.

One is being curious. I think as a marketer in a world that is evolving very, very fast, you need to be endlessly curious. And I think that means being willing to sit at home and engage with the world and culture and find out what’s going on and where it actually can be helpful. So be curious

Be courageous — and what I mean by that is be bold and be brave and be willing to act on those insights that you glean from your curiosity. Sometimes you’ll get it very right, there’ll be sometimes you’ll get it a little bit wrong. But one thing is for sure — by being courageous and actually taking the risk, you will move forward as a marketer, as a leader, and you will move your team forward and give your team massive opportunities to grow

Be highly collaborative. I think what is interesting about the world that we work in today, whatever function you are in, no one can actually deliver on their own. It’s just not possible. And if I think back in my career very early on, I think there were functions that actually could act completely autonomously and do whatever they were going to do and everyone would be grateful. I think nowadays everybody has to work together. So building that collaborative muscle within your function across the business with partners, think about the ecosystem you need around you to be successful. It’s so big and broad now as a CMO, you can’t do it on your own. So that collaborative muscle has got to be incredibly important.

And then last but not least, be kind. I think as a leader, we’ve learned a lot in the last five, ten years about leading with compassion, really connecting with people at a human level, not just at a business level or a professional level. And I have to say, I look back on my career, I always thrived when I had a manager who connected with me at a human level and actually took the time to get to know me. And it’s something that I’ve always sort of bought into my leadership approach. And I think if you want to be a successful leader, you’ve got to be kind and you’ve got to be able to lead with compassion and create that human connection. And remember the fact that half the time we’re not saving lives. We’re actually here to have a lot of fun and get obviously some great work done that has a commercial impact, but we’ve got to be able to enjoy the people we’re working with. And I think when you create that environment, significantly better things happen.