Christine Tran’s Post

A former colleague of mine was about to pay for a pricey executive coaching program. I'm all for having a coach! I finally started with one last year and he's been someone who's helped me navigate some tricky leadership and career situations. I partly chose him because he's been a CMO and a CRO, so could help me understand the perspectives of two of my key stakeholders at the time and help me get to the next level. When she told me who the coach was, I looked this person up on LinkedIn. This person had certainly been an executive with 2 VP and 2 heads of roles (if you count that). But they hadn't been in any of those positions for more than 18 months. So my question back to my friend was: How is this person going to help you be a successful executive if they haven't been at a company long enough to work through a few cycles, see the longer-term impact of their work, grow from failure, and deal with the things you can only see when you've put in the time? This isn't a dig at ppl with short stints on their resume. We all know so much of that is out of our control, esp in the tech world. But when I was hiring an exec coach, I wanted to work with the person who's done the work I want to do. Have you had a diff experience? Prove me wrong! 😀

Funny thought I had over the weekend: Do you remember the times when technology had a profound impact on you? I remember 3 times vividly: The first time I saw the internet! I was a graduating senior who'd just gotten accepted to Cal. My techie brother said: "Hey, let me show you something cool. Have you ever heard of the world wide web?" 🤣 and proceeded to type www.berkeley.edu. I distinctly remember the large hero image of Sather Gate load (I wonder how long that took 🤔) and I thought: "Whaaaat....?" It wasn't until more than a decade later.... The second time was when I was an expat working in Vietnam. It was a couple years after Facebook and Twitter became mainstream. I had created accounts and used them to connect with the tech community in Saigon. I started attending tweetups, and met Tim Ferris at one because we chased him down to meet us after he tweeted he was visiting. 🇻🇳 The third was during my first tech job. I implemented Marketo as a first time head of marketing. I was BLOWN away by how it automated my webinar program and I fell in love with Marketo's foldering structure, tokens, and cloning. It changed my work life! I loved it so much I went to work for Marketo next! Just a Monday musing... seriously, think about it: When did technology have a profound impact on you? Would LOVE to hear your stories. 🙌

A little personal update: Today is my husband Steve's one year anniversary of owning a record and vintage video game store, Retroactive! I'm so inspired by him and and proud to be part of his journey. It's a cool story: For nearly his entire career, he was an educator, mostly teaching adults with cerebral palsy. 👨🏫 When we had our first kid and moved to a new city, he took time off to be a dad and our house manager 🏠 🍼 When we had a second kid, he extended that time off. 🍼 🍼 When the pandemic struck, he extended that time off again! Then in late 2022, he saw a For Sale sign at the local record store he'd been shopping at for years. He called the number, got to know the owner over several months, and they really hit it off. On June 1, 2023 he officially took it over! I love this story because: I'm proud of my husband for starting his own small business. It's a LOT of work. I'm inspired that he turned his passion and ridiculous wealth of music knowledge into a dream job. I'm thankful that he was our family's anchor through our first home purchase, two kids, a pandemic, and my stressful tech jobs. If you're in the Bay Area and ever driving up the 80E to Sac, drop by Retroactive Records & Games in Suisun City, buy or sell some records or vintage games, and say hi to my husband Steve! 🎮 📼 🎸

A long time ago, a manager and mentor referred to me as a "quiet giant" on stage at SKO in front of all my executives and GTM peers. She meant it as a compliment, but I didn't think of it that way. Because quiet doesn't have a great connotation. 😶 People think you're not confident, you're unengaged, you don't add value, or worse, you're not smart. So I really took that as feedback to speak up more. Yet, STILL to this day I have trouble consistently speaking up. As recently as the last couple meetings I joined with senior leadership. All I can say is: Fight that urge to sit quietly. Find something to say. Know that what you're sharing will add value. And if it didn't feel like what you shared was appreciated, remind yourself that not everything that comes out of everyone else's mouth is appreciated by you either! It happens. Keep sharing, find your voice, find your confidence. People NEED to hear from you. And to managers of "quiet giants," coach them. Encourage them. PUSH them. Ty all mentors who constantly pushed me. And to my former manager and mentor to this day who called me a quiet giant: 😘

A product marketer's worst nightmare? 😱 A CxO comes to you and says: We are a next gen platform. (Circa 10-20 years ago) We are an all in one platform. (Circa 5 years ago to today) We are an AI-powered platform. (Circa 2023 to ?) ☠ 😵

Joy of missing out 💙 Instead of joining that meeting with no agenda, skip it. Instead of being a third team member on a project, empower a direct to lead it. Instead of looking at everyone else's career trajectories, set intention on what you want and ignore all that noise. Instead of reading "fast media" (social, news), read "slow media" (books). That last one is something I did very intentionally four years ago, e.g. quit reading daily news, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and started reading more books. Best thing ever! I know, I know. I haven't quit LinkedIn yet. 🤣

TIGHT BRIEFS. What's the first thing you think about? 🤣 If you're a marketing leader obsessed with increasing creativity, agility, and efficiency across your marketing team, you might think of: The really tight CREATIVE brief. 😎 I heard a panel yesterday at Knotch's Pros & Content event where the topic of tight briefs came up: - Don't assume everyone knows how to write a tight brief - Don't assume everyone understands why it's so important A tight brief can help energize the creative team. Reduce spinning and cycles. And ultimately, lead to better marketing impact. Here's a great recommendation and all credit goes to panelist Erika White: 👉 Take the time to invest in training everyone on the marketing team on how to write a creative brief. Simple and obvious, but I've never personally gone through or led this! 👏 👏 👏

I'm having a ton of fun following the LinkedIn discussions of brand vs demand, where to invest, and how to value the impact of marketing activities. Follow these folks for some hot takes 🌶 : Jon Miller Chris Walker Dale W. Harrison Crissy Saunders Liam Moroney But where does that leave product marketing? I became a much stronger, well-rounded product marketer and marketing leader when I started studying up on brand and demand. Yes, everything ties back to the customer need, the desired outcomes, and the differentiated value = product marketing. Yet so much of product marketing is expressed through great brand work and demand campaigns. Be careful of staying too much in your own lane. Be a better partner to your marketing peers.

The simple yet powerful act of asking for what you want and how NOT doing that is often the biggest thing that holds us back... This story of Kenneth Berger, the first PM at Slack who got fired 3x, is a great example of the power of: 1. Articulating what you want. 2. Asking for what you want. 3. Accepting the response. I especially related to the last one being the trickiest, e.g. did you really hear what the person was saying: Was it a hell YES, or a yes, maybe? If they said no, was it a no never, or a no not now or no not yet. And were you so afraid of the response that you never even asked in the first place. A great weekend podcast from Lenny Rachitsky. https://lnkd.in/gceTCYng

Marketers always be writin' like marketers. As I read copy written by marketers, I think: That sure sounds like it was written by a marketer! No offense, marketers. I'm a marketer too and I'm guilty. Here's what I do: I imagine a real person. Maybe that cranky colleague. I write to that person. I read my copy out loud. Would I actually say it in that way to my husband, sibling, mom? Now, I send that email to my own inbox. I open it as if I were that cranky colleague. How does it read? Squash that marketing voice. Write like you're talking to a (cranky) person.