Cyber Exchange 360 – Insights and takeaways

Last week I had the opportunity to join an afternoon packed with interesting conversations at the Cyber CMO 360 Meet-Up and Cyber Exchange 360 - ‘Talk to the board’ session, hosted at the Science Museum, London. The event provided a new invaluable chance to connect with peers, share strategies for maximising event success, and engage in meaningful discussions.

CyberCMO 360

Gathering heads of marketing, the CMO roundtable, hosted over a delicious lunch, presented the perfect opportunity to talk with other seasoned marketers and engage in a lively debate about the challenges facing sales and marketing teams, and aligning KPIs - specifically around events. The hotly contested topic of attribution continues, as does the desire for marketing not to be consider as a cost centre, but for sales and marketing to potentially report into a CRO. This approach would ensure teams are aligned, and trusted communications and good relations are at play – after all, marketing is a revenue generating part of a business.

Talk to the board

Following the roundtable, I was able to attend and hear Board Directors from Enterprise and Technology companies at ‘Talk to the Board’ session, part two, in which many questions were put to by the moderator, Steve Hill, former global CISO, Credit Suisse, to the panel of experts. Forming a formidable line-up, the panel included Lorraine Heggessey, former controller of BBC1, Roger Flynn, Chairman, Cooke Optics, former CEO and Leader in Transformation Change, Virgin, British Airways, Prudential, Haydn Brooks, CEO and co-founder, Risk Ledger and Rupert Lee-Browne, Chairman and group Chief Executive Officer, Caxton.

There were so many insights to capture but here’s some sound bites from the ‘Talk to the board’ session, where they touched on the subject of mental fitness and the rise in the importance to talk more openly.

Key takeaways

• Learn how to deal with stress in your own way, and in a positive way - there’s no such thing as a stress-free job
• Be there for your team, they also need to be there for you - foster a culture that’s transparent, compassionate, empathetic and supportive
• If you enjoy what you’re doing, stress can be viewed in a different way, we can thrive on it
• Make sure you enjoy your job - we all have a choice where and how we work, empower yourself - take license over your own destiny
• Leaders have a responsibility to empower their people and teams - install a culture that’s supportive. As a leader, you have to be able to lean on your team for insights, guidance and advice
• The importance of executive coaching - from being a leader in your field to executive level, it’s imperative to work on your weaknesses. Learn how to lead and be a great leader, understand the bigger picture. If your organisation offers it, say yes to executive coaching
• Transparency - where do we draw the line, to keep staff motivated and on board. How far do you go with it?
• Company culture - If I was forced to choose one key takeaway, it is this. When growing or running a successful business, focus on your company culture, everything flows from here - it’s a foundational and core piece to your brand strategy - a subject I’m passionate about.

Unlock potential, create change

Thank you to Pulse Events for hosting, and to Amanda Coles and Sarah Moss, founders of the Sphere network – a platform designed to bring together a community of great people to build meaningful connections in cybersecurity and data security marketing, for the invite to join and for hosting an insightful CMO round table discussion. Also, it was great to spend the afternoon with one of my clients, MD and founder, Paula Elliott from disruptive-tech PR agency C8 Consulting.

For those who don’t know me, I help forward-thinking, innovative MDs and founders build brand value by unlocking potential and creating change. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and say “Hello”.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich, Pixels.