Alan Hart, Podcast Host, Marketing Today with Alan Hart
I've been running towards problems and turning them into opportunities since I can remember. More recently, I've been solving them for Fortune 500 companies like Capital One, Sprint, Campbell Soup, State Farm, Sealed Air, Eastman Chemical, and many others.
I am a marketing executive and marketing thought leader unleashing growth potential and transforming organizations. My success is driven by my firsthand experience across industries and the knowledge I've gained through over 300 podcast interviews and research programs run for The CMO Club.
As Enterprise Brand Strategy Director at Capital One, I led a team spanning strategy, market research and analytics supporting all lines of business. In addition, leading the team to deliver advertising best practices and improvements for the company's $600MM in brand campaigns, brands, and customer strategies to improve awareness and customer acquisition of its $1.6B in marketing investment.
As Head of Brand Strategy at McKinney, a creative agency, I drove critical parts of the agency's turnaround efforts leading "business-to-creative" planning on new pitches, which the agency converted into a 1,500% improvement with new clients such as S&P Global, Choice Hotels, Corian, P&G, and ESPN. I added new strategy capabilities and taught the agency how to deliver consulting engagements as a new revenue stream.
Earlier, I founded Keen Decision Systems and served as Partner and Head of Marketing, directing operations and building client delivery teams. I led customer engagements with transformational results, such as enabling a 5X category growth for a major consumer brand, improving the customer value communication and capture for a global $8B manufacturer, resulting in two new business models and identification of $138MM in additional customer profit.
Before, as Chief Marketing Officer for Evofem Biosciences (previously WomanCare Global), I drove its global reorganization and increased its product portfolio and revenue streams. I started my career at Bell & Howell and then served as Engagement leader at CMG Partners, where I led the market strategy practice area.
I have an MBA from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and a BA from NC State. Additionally, I am a published author and produce a weekly podcast series interviewing the world's top marketing professionals and business leaders.
I have contributed the content or taught courses at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, UNC Executive Education, George Mason University, New York University, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
LinkedIn is my favourite because it is where business is done. It allows me to stay connected to former colleagues and podcast guests. It is also a great place to discover new thinking and content from other business leaders.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I'm the host of the Marketing Today with Alan Hart podcast. I love talking to other marketing leaders and thinkers and learning from them what is working and what is not.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
I've been studying for the role of chief marketing officer for well over 15 years now. It is the most complex role in the C-suite, and no role is just like the next. However, CMOS are the bridge in most organizations from inside-out thinking to outside-in thinking, or said another way - the role is vitally important to organizations staying relevant and maintaining market leadership.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
"If you're not growing, you are decaying" - Ted Fowler, former CEO of Golden Corral. He said this about the restaurant business, but I think it applies to your career and life as well.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I'm excited by opportunities, and I see them everywhere.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Many things, actually. I'm an Eagle Scout, the first to graduate with a four-year degree in my immediate family, first to go to graduate school, and I've had a good career thus far - both with entrepreneurial endeavours and in the corporate world. I'm also happily married and have a great teenage daughter, as well as two fun-but-needy dogs. It is a full life.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
LinkedIn works in these virtual times as a first interaction. Then I love to grab a beer/drink or meet via Zoom if we can't meet in real life.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
I think my empathy for others and being an active listener helped me in life and with the podcast. I try to understand the person, their desire and motivations, and how that translates to their behaviours.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
Building your network is as important, if not more important, than building your knowledge and expertise. Your network provides many of the opportunities you get in life, and your knowledge and expertise allow you to make the most of those opportunities.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
Someone that I look to and admire the totality of their work is James Lipton, best known as the host and creator of Inside the Actors Studio. More than anything, his style of interviewing and bringing forth the best from the actors and celebrities he has interviewed is something I try to do with my podcast. James also grew up and had to work early and made his own path in this world. That is something to respect and celebrate.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
My wife and daughter are most important to me. Doing or participating in things they enjoy together is the best part of life. We all CrossFit, and so we get to share moments of triumph or failure as we do the same workouts or "compete" in the CrossFit Open workouts. This year was my daughter's first official Open as she was old enough to register officially, although she has been doing modified opens for the past five years. It is a lot of fun to share these experiences together. We also all love to eat great food and travel. I'm looking forward to doing more of this post-pandemic.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
In many ways, it made the podcast easier to execute as we shifted to all remote interviews, and many of the executives I interviewed did not have demanding travel schedules. This made it easier for sure. The flip side is that as commutes went away, we saw a dip in listeners for a brief period of time before people began listening again, either on walks or while doing chores in the house. Like most things in life, patience and persistence were key just to keep moving forward.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
I've had many mentors in life. Some of them may not have known they were a mentor. I don't think people need to always have an official mentoring relationship. What I mean is we have all had people we've met whom we know we don't agree with their approach or behaviours, and those people can be just as important mentors as the ones we get positive inspiration or advice from.
On the positive side, I've had several early mentors in my life, from teachers to scoutmasters to first bosses. Because of this, I've also been a mentor to others, but I prefer to have them drive the relationship and be a good listener vs an advice giver. I think each person likely knows what they need to do next, but we often just need someone to listen to us work the problem out loud to figure it out.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
If someone is looking to start a podcast, I've told others to find something they are personally motivated to do versus thinking they will make money from it. My podcast is still not a full-time job; I would have given up many times if that was all I was hoping to get from it. Instead, I genuinely enjoy the conversations I get to have and like learning from others, and that is how I've created over 300 episodes.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
They don't enjoy whatever they are doing.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
One I like is "if you're going through hell, keep going" by Winston Churchill.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Professionally, I think the APG and IPA in the UK are leading places for good thinking in marketing with initiatives like Eat Your Greens book from APG and research coming out of the IPA. I wish the US trade organizations had similar depth, but I haven't seen them rise to the occasion yet.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
For me, success is learning every day. This is what motivates me and keeps me going. The hard part is translating that to something that earns a living and allows you to expand your horizons to keep learning.