What a CMO Wishes She Could Tell Her Younger Self

Last week Publicis Sapient CMO Teresa Barreira posted a video on LinkedIn talking about the advice she’d give her younger self when starting a career.

Her big takeaway?

Share your ideas and opinions now, whether in meetings or social media,” she says. “Your voice matters.”

It’s a wonderful message from Teresa about speaking up and expressing yourself, and it’s clear why she was named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in IT Service.

There’s something else I’d like to point out about her message though: Research shows that when senior leaders like Teresa are active on social, they financially outperform their competitors.

Why?

Let’s imagine two B2B companies, each of which is roughly the same size — let’s say 100,000 employees. One of these companies has a leadership team that doesn’t really prioritize the use of social. The team just doesn’t see it as important.

However, the other company has a leadership team that does see social as important — perhaps even critical — and prioritizes time (including their own) and resources to creating, sharing, and engaging with content.

Which company would you bet on?

Think about it this way:

• Which of these companies is going to have greater brand recognition?
• Which one is going to have a better understanding of market trends and their customers’ needs?
• Which company is going to be more successful at attracting and retaining critical talent?

I know which company I’d bet on.

The truth is that execs are responsible for 45% of company reputation and 44% of the company’s market value because everything starts with leadership, and social is no exception.

When senior leaders like Teresa prioritize social for themselves, they broadcast that it should also be a priority for everyone else in the company. And when everyone starts sharing, amazing things happen.

Ready to get your senior management active on social? Join me for my weekly webinar on activating execs.