‘The hope in business’: Marketers on escaping the defensiveness trap
From embracing cross-functionality and the value of mentoring, to avoiding “immature” conversations, marketers can resist the urge to be defensive.
Constantly standing up for their work and carrying emotional baggage from relentless criticism, marketers can easily fall into a vicious circle of defensiveness.
At its worse, constant criticism can leave marketers feeling demoralised and ineffective, reluctant to push boundaries or act beyond the precedent of earlier, effective work. But marketers need to understand that little criticism of their work comes with any malice, says Cheryl Calverley, co-founder of youth club movement The Den Club and former Eve Sleep CEO.
“As soon as you move more broadly in a business, particularly businesses which are brand or marketing-led organisations – and anything which is consumer facing is inherently pretty brand and marketing led – you realise it is not an attack. It’s not coming from a position of ‘I don’t believe you’. It’s hope, because marketing is the hope in the business,” she explains. “The alternative is there is no growth strategy.”
