Laura Marx is the CMO of RSA Security and has built and led global marketing teams throughout her career. As a remote worker for over a decade, Laura shares her thoughts on how to be a leader from afar, offers some solid advice to aspiring first-time CMOs, and shares her own journey from being a marketing professional to a leader.

Key Takeaways:

[2:00] Laura got her start as a tennis instructor, how did she go from that to becoming a marketing lead?

[4:30] How did Laura develop her skills as a leader while she was working from home over the last decade?

[6:20] At one point in Laura’s career, she was told she’d never be VP because she was remote. Leadership ended up changing and they were located all over, and she was later promoted. The mindset has to start from the top.

[7:30] How do you foster a connection when you have a remote team?

[12:00] Product marketing is really the center of the business. A good CMO should get good at this aspect of marketing.

[14:00] Should CMOs have an MBA?

[16:10] Why is Art of Possibility one of Laura’s favorite books?

[17:20] You have to question your assumptions.

[19:10] What does a high-performing team look like?

[26:20] Mistakes have to be part of the ecosystem that you’re in.

[29:15] What marketing challenges are keeping Laura up at night?

[32:30] As a parent and executive, how does Laura find the right balance between work and parent life?

[36:20] Laura answers some rapid-fire questions!

[40:40] Being a leader means you have to make very difficult decisions and you’re not always going to be liked for it.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Rsa.com

Laura on LinkedIn

The Art of Possibility, by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander