CMO Spotlight | Doug Zarkin - Pearle Vision

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 Doug Zarkin, the Chief Marketing Officer for Pearle Vision, a division of Luxottica, to talk about his leadership vision, career path, and more. 

“You have to be transparent, you have to be authentic, you have to be genuine - both in your personal life, in your business and when you don’t, that’s when things go sideways.”

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW AND READ THE RECAP BELOW. 

Q1 | Tell us about your career path.

“I knew coming out of graduate school that I eventually wanted to lead a business, lead a brand,” stated Zarkin. 

After graduating, a friend offered him the following advice: if you want to eventually be in the in the C-suite, get on at the back end and work your way to the front so that by the time you are in the C-suite, you'll understand all the roles and functions that go with leading a brand. You'll have done many of them, and most importantly you'll be in a great position to motivate those people in those roles.

Zarkin began his career on the agency side, working his way up from Media Planner to starting a division at Grey Advertising. He then moved to client side working as the Marketing and Creative Services Director for Avon. Zarkin worked in wholesale apparel for some time before finding his way to Luxottica. He has now been with the company for nine years and currently serves as the CMO of Pearle Vision.

“There is no right way or wrong way to migrate your career forward, there’s just a way. For me, if I look back at the early part of my career, I was probably working 60 hour weeks. I wanted to work harder and work smarter to really make a difference and get noticed, and hopefully through that, find my way to opportunities.”

Q2 | What is your superpower? 

“I have an amazing BS detector,” Zarkin answered. “I probably can look at a document and just smell out nonsense quicker than anybody.” 

Zarkin understands that success is a result of learning from failures. “I know being successful is not about just generating success, it's how you handle adversity. There are such things in your life and in business as a successful failure, and I would qualify that as not having the same failure twice. So welcome those learning experiences, trim back on the mistakes, and when things happen repeatedly that's when you really need to have a hard conversation...but you know my finely tuned [ __ ] detector is exactly that.”

Q3 | Is there a piece of advice that you would like to pass onto other marketers?

Zarkin’s advice is brief and to the point. “Focus on the hustle. Outwork, out-think, and eventually good things will come.”

Q4 | What values are important to you as a leader?

“It begins and ends with passion.”

Zarkin wants passionate people who are eager to learn and use their knowledge to contribute and grow themselves and the company. “I hire for passion, I celebrate progress, not perfection, because perfection is highly unlikely and the most important thing is - I want somebody who has a sense of purpose.” 

He firmly stated, “Purpose is a requirement - that purpose to make a difference as a person. Purpose in the decision making and the way in which you behave both internally and externally. Purpose for what you believe.”

“I want passionate drivers, people who want to make a difference, people who like to win.”

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Zarkin also brought up his admiration for Rudy Ruettiger (the inspiration for the 1993 film Rudy) because it is a story of hard work and resilience - values he continually lives by and encourages. 

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 Doug Zarkin, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.