CMO Spotlight | Leana Less - Aveda (an Estée Lauder Company)

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The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high performing marketing leaders. 

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Setup COO Amanda Thompson sat down with former Coca-Cola colleague Leana Less, who is currently the VP of Global Consumer Marketing at Estee Lauder. The full conversation covers how her South African upbringing led to challenges in the business world, and how, as a leader, she is constantly innovating and optimizing her team to meet their full potential.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW AND READ THE RECAP BELOW. 

Q1 | Tell us about your career path.

Less started working in the advertising industry in South Africa. Her tenacity and relationship with one of her clients, Coca-Cola, led to her taking an opportunity overseeing Coca-Cola’s media for the African continent. From there, she transitioned to Istabul, Dubai, and then relocated to Atlanta. Less especially found Coca-Cola’s reorganization efforts every few years helpful because it gave her a chance to grow and master different areas in marketing. 

At Coca-Cola, Less found herself asking, “Do I need to also find an opportunity where I can be closer to consumers?” Her desire to have more of a consumer-focused role led to her current position as VP of Global Consumer Marketing for Estee Lauder at Aveda where she is also able to serve as less of a specialized marketer and more of a generalist. Aveda also enables more consumer involvement since there are multiple facets to the brand to create an “emerging experience” for the consumer. “There's so many exciting things. This brand has such a unique route to market - you've got your salon business which, if you're a marketer, it is a dream. It is a dream to have that part of the business where consumers can come in and be a captive audience for a minimum of 45 minutes in an environment where it is all about them, where it's all about giving them that experience and giving them that wellness moment.” 

Q2 | What is your superpower? 

“An activator,” she stated firmly. Less made a point to explain that she doesn’t wait for permission or a green light to get going. 

“I'm going to start and if I get to that stop street I'll figure out what to do and I'll continue to move, but I don't wait for the green light.” She mentioned how so many people wait for everything to be perfectly aligned in order to make a move, but how that mindset can ultimately hold people back because nothing will ever be perfectly set up. 

Less also added her ability to position her team in roles with tasks that would beneficially serve them and best utilize their strengths. 

“[As a leader], you need to be able to see what people are good at and task them to do that. Number one, the team is more productive. Number two, people feel more rewarded.”

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

“Do the things that you’re brilliant at doing and continue to do that even better. That’s what people need to do is hone that skill.”

Less expressed that she wishes someone told her that it was okay to speak up and ask questions to seasoned leaders in order to learn more at the beginning of her career. 

“I realized that I had such a cultural block. You grow up in Africa, it's a very structured environment. Everyone wears their uniforms and there's a great respect for your elders. And I brought so much of that into my career...where, I would say, in the beginning years of my career, I would never engage with senior leaders because I wasn't senior enough to have that. My respect for them was so high that, unless I was spoken to, I would not speak up, I would not seek them out, I would not contribute in meetings because it was not my place.” 

She eventually learned that “there's a difference between respect and still being respectful versus saying that there's a hierarchy and you need to play in your zone.” 

Her advice to others is to:

• Set boundaries

Less is a firm believer that leaders should not praise overworking and that they should, instead, live a balanced life as an example. “It gives people permission to be their whole self, and I think when people are their whole self, they bring a better part of themselves to you as well.” 

• Optimize your strengths

“Stay on your gold list. Do the things that you're brilliant at doing and continue to do that even better. That's what people need to do is hone that skill.” During conversations with some of her team members, Less notices that they come prepared to talk about what they’re bad at and what they promise to do better at. She instead encourages them to stay true to themselves. “That is not who you are and that's okay. But let me tell you who you are and that is brilliant. Please don't lose that.”

Q4 | What challenges do you encounter in your role?

The Beauty Industry is constantly evolving, so marketing teams need to innovate at a rapid pace, adjusting to the consumer preferences and seasonal changes. They need to be on the pulse of what the consumer desires or what they should desire, and not miss a step. 

Less mentioned the need to be creative to push the brand forward while also working with a lean team and avoiding mistakes. “Execution has to be perfect every day to ensure that every dollar is delivered and yet you need to dream big enough so that you are moving every day.”

Q5 | What are the most important values that you demonstrate as a leader, or that you may even demand from people on your team?

Less leads with transparency, resilience, and joy.

Transparency

“We are very transparent of what we want to achieve, we're very transparent of if we are getting there/we're not getting there.” If Less sees a problem or an opportunity that would lead to better results, she communicates that to the team and encourages her team to do the same. 

Resilience

Less steps up when her team may be faltering. “I don't get thrown off if things aren't going well...let's find a solution.” 

“[Leadership is] believing that anything is possible, it’s just the path is not always necessarily the way that we’ve defined it...and having the flexibility to pivot if we need to.”

Joy

It is easy to become discouraged when the bigger goal is years away. Less believes in celebrating the little wins and communicating her team’s powerful impact regularly so that they continue to stay motivated.

“Strategy is as much about seeing the big picture, but also distilling it into those smaller steps and into those bite-sized chunks so that people can start and not get overwhelmed and that they also have joy along the journey versus just having that big end goal. You need to be super clear about the little winning moments every day and to make sure that people stay motivated.” 

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Other highlights include how the influence of nature drives the Aveda brand and inspires the team, impactful campaigns such as Coca-Cola’s involvement with the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and Aveda’s relationship with marketing agency partners.

For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of a Beauty Industry marketing executive, be sure to watch the full interview with Leana Less, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.