CMO Spotlight | Beverly Jackson - Twitter
The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders.
Setup CEO, Joe Koufman, virtually sat down with Beverly Jackson, the Vice President of Global Brand and Consumer Marketing for Twitter, to share how she loves leading teams to success, how important active listening is, and how she learns from those around her.
Watch + Read the Recap Below
Q1 | Tell us about your career path.
Jackson started her career working in cause marketing on the account side for agencies working in product development. She moved on to work with startups and eventually ended up working in an “entrepreneurial environment” at a larger company called Tribune Interactive. She then moved on to working in the entertainment and media industries which prepared her for her role at Twitter. Although she doesn’t consider herself creative, her experience has given her a keen eye for good creative work.
Q2 | What is your superpower?
“I am the personality wrangler - I like to bring lots of different, eclectic people together to see what we can build together.”
Jackson’s superpower is her love for team building and being the best leader for the team. She explained that she is “always team first” and she doesn’t mind sacrificing herself for her team because she believes “if the team wins, we all win.”
Q3 | What advice were you given in your career?
“One of my bosses said to me, ‘It’s always better if you ask a big open-ended question, and just let them talk.’”
“Understanding the value of pregnant pause” was immensely valuable for Jackson, especially when she worked in business development. She appreciates the notion of listening to people more than talking. “It's that idea of listening and active listening…not thinking about what you're going to say next, and then the idea of tuning your hearing so that you're able to hear voices that are not as loud as other voices.” She added that she was advised not to be afraid to try new things and understand that it’s okay to not be an expert all the time. “Many times in my career, I haven’t been the expert in the room, and even when I'm the leader of the team I'm not necessarily the expert and I'm the apprentice…which means that I'm really sort of trying to figure this out with you.”
Q4 | Do you have any career regrets?
Jackson has held a number of impressive positions, one of them includes working as the Senior Director of Marketing, Strategic Alliances and Social Media for The Recording Academy. She worked for The Grammys and did amazing and transformative work by bridging the gap between social media and traditional media. The only thing she regrets is that she didn’t make a move to her next venture sooner. She explained that she was there for too long so she advises marketers, “to have enough confidence to be brave enough to move on to the next thing.”
For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Beverly Jackson, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW TO THE RIGHT.
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