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Speaker 1: You're listening to math and magic production of I heart radio.

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Speaker 1: My advice to people, especially females. We are trained to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we were protecting ourselves right like not

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Speaker 1: putting ourselves into places that we feel like that we

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Speaker 1: could be exposed, and I've learned you have to push

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Speaker 1: yourself to those uncomfortable places because you'll never grow and

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Speaker 1: you'll never learn and you hold yourself back from so

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Speaker 1: much good opportunity if you don't get uncomfortable. Hi, I'm

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Speaker 1: Bob Diffman. Welcome to math and magic. Stories from the

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Speaker 1: frontiers and marketing, where we explore the lessons learned from

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Speaker 1: those who use the analytics and creativity of marketing to

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Speaker 1: drive business and societal successes. Today we have someone who's

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Speaker 1: used the marketer's mind across many industries and has always

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Speaker 1: come up a winner. It's susie daring, global CMO for four.

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Speaker 1: Susie grew up down south and went on to have

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Speaker 1: a pretty remarkable career all over the US and industries

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Speaker 1: ranging from Telco to home improvement to tech. She joined

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Speaker 1: four in the middle of the pandemic, so I'm certain

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Speaker 1: she'll have some lessons about learning a new job in

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Speaker 1: those conditions. She's tackled tough challenges again and again, but

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Speaker 1: always has done it with her famous smile, thoughtfulness and empathy.

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Speaker 1: She's definitely a one of a kind. Welcome, Susie. Oh,

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Speaker 1: thank you, Bob. It's so exciting to be here with

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Speaker 1: you today. Well, we've got a lot to cover today

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Speaker 1: on this episode, but before we jump in, I'd like

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Speaker 1: to do you in sixty seconds. You ready to go?

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Speaker 1: I'm ready. Do you prefer early riser or night owl? Both?

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Speaker 1: MIAMI OR ATLANTA? Atlanta, introvert or extrovert? Absolutely extrovert. Silicon

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Speaker 1: Valley or the motor city? A little bit of both,

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Speaker 1: because it's merging. CEO OR CMO? CMO. Call her text.

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Speaker 1: Definitely text. Disney world or Disneyland? Disney world, slow and

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Speaker 1: steady are pedal to the metal, pedal to the metal.

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Speaker 1: Bulldogs are gators? Bulldogs for sure. Okay, it's about to

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Speaker 1: get harder. Childhood hero, my mom, favorite Disney movie, Lion King.

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Speaker 1: First job, babysitting. First car, MAZDA GLC. The smartest person

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Speaker 1: you know besides you, ha ha, Jim Farley. Favorite food, Mexican.

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Speaker 1: Favorite model of car right now my Mustang make e

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Speaker 1: GT guilty pleasure, chips and dip. And the final one,

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Speaker 1: your favorite place to visit in the entire world. Italy,

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Speaker 1: the coastline of Italy. which part of coastline? The Amalfi coast? Okay,

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Speaker 1: let's start with today and what's in the news electric vehicles.

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Speaker 1: I think we must have hit the inflection point when

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Speaker 1: my elderly cousin in Mississippi was first in line to

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Speaker 1: get the electric F pickup. How is the consumer thinking

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Speaker 1: about electric cars and are we really at that moment

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Speaker 1: when it all begins to change? We are at that

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Speaker 1: moment when it all changes and I think that a

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Speaker 1: big part of the why we're at that moment is

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Speaker 1: because of the f Lin fifty lightning. It changed everything.

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Speaker 1: It took what was very familiar in the most popular

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Speaker 1: and best selling truck in the country and it went electric.

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Speaker 1: And all of a sudden that was something that people

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Speaker 1: could look at and say, hold on, that's familiar to me,

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Speaker 1: that feels comfortable, I can make that step. And because

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Speaker 1: it was so dramatically different than what they were the

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Speaker 1: competition was, for those that were early adopters it was

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Speaker 1: an easier transition too, because it gave them something more

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Speaker 1: than what they had today. You mentioned the point that

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Speaker 1: this is the familiar. What is the consumer afraid of

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Speaker 1: in this pivot? The biggest fear is range anxiety and

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Speaker 1: the charging aspect. Instead of running out of gas, everyone

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Speaker 1: is fearful of running out of battery and we know

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Speaker 1: that that's a big challenge because for consumers, they know

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Speaker 1: where a gas station is. They don't necessarily see charging

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Speaker 1: stations the same way or at the same amount that

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Speaker 1: they see gas stations, and so that's the biggest barrier

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Speaker 1: from a mindset perspective that customers have to to start

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Speaker 1: to accept. And I'd add one more thing to that. Yes,

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Speaker 1: public charging is a big component of it. But what

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Speaker 1: the big shift that we know that we need to

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Speaker 1: educate consumers is you actually are basically leaving your home

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Speaker 1: every day with a full tank, a full charge, and

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Speaker 1: you tell me how many times in a week do

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Speaker 1: you leave the house every day with a full tank

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Speaker 1: of gas? Probably not. Ever, it's very often that you've

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Speaker 1: got a quarter of a tank or a half a tank.

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Speaker 1: So it's a big shift as to how we use

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Speaker 1: our vehicles and the expectations of how we're actually maintaining them,

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Speaker 1: and the shift from gas to electric. It sounds like

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Speaker 1: that as a market or your real challenges to get

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Speaker 1: people to realize they really don't need charging stations that much.

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Speaker 1: But how big a problem is it for travel or

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Speaker 1: how many times will they really need that charging station?

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Speaker 1: And how does that infrastructure get built? Is it public

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Speaker 1: or is it private? Yes, we still do need public charging.

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Speaker 1: The infrastructure does need to be built because you are

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Speaker 1: going to need to take your vehicle on long distance.

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Speaker 1: I think the balance there is a couple of things, Bob.

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Speaker 1: One is yes, we are working very closely with the

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Speaker 1: government and with many partners within the energy space to

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Speaker 1: ensure that we can get the right infrastructure obviously deployed

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Speaker 1: across the country, very similar to early days of having

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Speaker 1: to build out gas stations, because obviously when the model

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Speaker 1: t was created and we saw the adoption of cars,

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Speaker 1: that created a whole other stream of infrastructure, highways and,

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Speaker 1: you know, gas stations and so forth. We're at that

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Speaker 1: same pivot point with electrification. So it's going to be

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Speaker 1: a combination of obviously many different entities coming together working

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Speaker 1: collectively to solve that infrastructure challenge of the future. How

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Speaker 1: does the consumer think about the electric car are they

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Speaker 1: excited about it? Do they enjoy driving it? What is

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Speaker 1: it that interest them? There we know if we can

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Speaker 1: get a customer inside the cab and behind the wheel,

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Speaker 1: it's game over and it's so exciting for me when

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Speaker 1: I can sit in a cab with someone who's never driven,

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Speaker 1: you know, an electric vehicle and it's almost like their

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Speaker 1: eyes just light up. It's like being a Disney world

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Speaker 1: and you go on that first you know, space mountain

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Speaker 1: ride or you know, you get to have this incredible

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Speaker 1: experience that you weren't expecting. That's the feel of it

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Speaker 1: and I think I can describe it, but until you

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Speaker 1: actually experience it you can't get the full appreciation. So

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Speaker 1: does the test drive take on a new importance? Yes,

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Speaker 1: and it's interesting because I would say that it's maybe

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Speaker 1: a little bit more about not test driving the actual

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Speaker 1: one vehicle. It's about test driving electric but I think

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Speaker 1: initial stages is getting people to just experience it from

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Speaker 1: a category perspective of electrification. And you know, Bob, I

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Speaker 1: will make a really interesting parallel to this, which I

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Speaker 1: think you and I have talked about this in the past.

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Speaker 1: The parallels of US going from ice to electric are

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Speaker 1: so incredibly similar for me as going from landline when

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Speaker 1: I was at verizon, going from landline to wireless, and

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Speaker 1: you know, it's infrastructure challenges and same thing in this regard.

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Speaker 1: You know, wireless phones, nobody really understood why do I

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Speaker 1: really need it? Until there was that need or you've

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Speaker 1: got the first experience. There were differentiations, you know, between carriers,

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Speaker 1: just like there's differentiation between the vehicles and the design

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Speaker 1: line and the overall structure of the vehicle. But really

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Speaker 1: out of the gate it's getting those people who say,

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Speaker 1: I don't really understand what the buzz is all about.

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Speaker 1: They just need to experience electric. So talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit about the difference in strategy. How do you contrast between,

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Speaker 1: you know, the pure electric car companies and the other

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Speaker 1: auto giants that are also making a shift? What sets

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Speaker 1: forward apart? Well, I think number one, are hundred and

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Speaker 1: nineteen years of experience and know how an expertise sets

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Speaker 1: us apart from many of the startups. Number one, because

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Speaker 1: we understand the discipline that goes into, you know, building

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Speaker 1: vehicles and building quality and building vehicles that people really want.

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Speaker 1: You know, we've been making seats inside the vehicle and

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Speaker 1: interiors and paint and all of the metal for years

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Speaker 1: and years and years, and now with a lot of

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Speaker 1: the the startups, those are all learning curves. Right now.

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Speaker 1: They're doing a lot of other things that we, as

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Speaker 1: an o e m, are just now really starting to perfect,

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Speaker 1: which is digital and, you know, transforming software and creating services.

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Speaker 1: You take the competitors, that are the startups. That's where

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Speaker 1: they started and then they built a shell around it,

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Speaker 1: whereas we're the complete opposite of that. You know, the

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Speaker 1: know how and the expertise that we have of building

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Speaker 1: quality vehicles for safety and other things and making it

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Speaker 1: so that it's the interiors or pleasure and it gives

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Speaker 1: you that that incredible welcoming sense when you step inside.

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Speaker 1: Now we're having to combine that with the know how

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Speaker 1: of digital expertise and software, as well as understanding the

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Speaker 1: hardware side. So it's a really interesting kind of balance

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Speaker 1: of what we're seeing. So I want to take a

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Speaker 1: step back and talk about the car. Second most expensive

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Speaker 1: purchase after a home, and more people obviously on a

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Speaker 1: car than own a home, something most people use a

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Speaker 1: lot every day. Often it's a part of work as

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Speaker 1: well as getting the work. How do you see this?

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Speaker 1: Fundamental relationship of a car and the customer. I see

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Speaker 1: the relationship evolving dramatically. I'm not sure if you'll remember this,

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Speaker 1: that when I first took the job, you and I

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Speaker 1: were having a chat about, you know, the excitement of

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Speaker 1: what this role could be and how exciting from a

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Speaker 1: time frame, you know, of coming in and the transformation

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Speaker 1: and disruption. And one of the things you and I

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Speaker 1: talked about was, you know, it's a lifestyle and really

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Speaker 1: wanting to embrace becoming a lifestyle brand, and I really

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Speaker 1: believe that's one of the biggest pivots for us right now,

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Speaker 1: because lifestyle brands become part of your everyday life. We've

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Speaker 1: been that, but it's been more in a functionality Um

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Speaker 1: component versus it truly being in a surprise delight but

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Speaker 1: your everyday moments. We now have the opportunity to truly

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Speaker 1: make this ecosystem, you know, that is connected digitally to

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Speaker 1: help create experiences. That transforms us into a lifestyle brand

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Speaker 1: and so that, to me is a real massive pivot

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Speaker 1: from a marketing perspective and also one that starts to

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Speaker 1: introduce a very different relationship with our customer. And there's

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Speaker 1: a very different customer when we're talking to our retail

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Speaker 1: customers versus our commercial customers, the vehicles that create that

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Speaker 1: are part of work, that become part of our commercial story.

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Speaker 1: There's a very distinctive purpose and capabilities and productivity that

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Speaker 1: we need to ensure that we're creating on behalf of

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Speaker 1: that customer. And so we're taking all of those pieces

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Speaker 1: and saying then, you know what, how do we continue

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Speaker 1: to lean in on that and create this lifestyle brand

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Speaker 1: that becomes an ecosystem for you, as a owner and

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Speaker 1: as a customer to forward versus it just being sheet metal,

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Speaker 1: and that's a really unique place for us to lean into.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting coming post pandemic. I think all

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Speaker 1: of us, every company, you're looking at what is the

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Speaker 1: new work environment? We know it's not going to be

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Speaker 1: what it was, and at our place I think we

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Speaker 1: are seeing so many of our folks using their car

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Speaker 1: as sort of a mobile office. If you will, can

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Speaker 1: you give us the download on the connected car? And,

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Speaker 1: as you mentioned, twenty years ago a mobile phone was

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Speaker 1: for making calls. We certainly moved our phone from making

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Speaker 1: calls to managing our life activities. What do we have

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Speaker 1: in store for us with this car of the future. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think that what we have in store is very

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Speaker 1: similar to what we've seen in the transition from, you know,

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Speaker 1: cell phones are being sent to end and then the

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Speaker 1: transition to taking photos, and then the transition to data

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Speaker 1: and utilizing the Internet and now managing, to your point,

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Speaker 1: pretty much multiple aspects of your life, working and personal.

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Speaker 1: The other interesting thing that I think here is the

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Speaker 1: vehicle has always been more geared towards the draw iver,

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Speaker 1: not as much to the passengers. You're starting to see

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Speaker 1: that change inside the vehicle now. I think that that's

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Speaker 1: where this pivot starts to happen very quickly, because content

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Speaker 1: can be consumed in many different ways, in shapes and

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Speaker 1: forms inside the vehicle. I start to look at it

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Speaker 1: more if it's your office from a commercial standpoint, where

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Speaker 1: we're obviously putting in even in our fund fifty trucks,

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Speaker 1: we have a desk that can fold out, you can

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Speaker 1: actually do your paperwork and so forth in the comforts

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Speaker 1: of the cab. We do that with the back and

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Speaker 1: the tailgates where we create services for you to be

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Speaker 1: able to to obviously work. But you're singing that same

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Speaker 1: exact thing on the retail side. Of the house, where

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Speaker 1: it's becoming a lot more integrated into your multiple facets

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Speaker 1: of your life. Can you take the best Webex call

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Speaker 1: from your car? Yeah, you should be able to do that.

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Speaker 1: Can you multitask if you're sitting, you know, stationary somewhere

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Speaker 1: where you can leverage the screens in the car? Yes,

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Speaker 1: you should be able to have that capability. So I

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Speaker 1: think that's really where this connectivity and the data that

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Speaker 1: we can capture to better predict those moments for you,

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Speaker 1: you know, just as our phones have become that that's

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Speaker 1: really where I believe we have the most opportunity and, candidly,

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Speaker 1: from a customer standpoint, is super exciting. Moral Math and

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Speaker 1: magic right after this quick break. Welcome back to math

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Speaker 1: and magic. Let's hear more from my conversation with Susie deering.

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Speaker 1: I'm want to go back in time to get some

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Speaker 1: context on you. You're from Miami. moved to Atlanta when

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Speaker 1: you were fourteen, two cities that have major transformation since

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Speaker 1: that time. Can you paint the picture of that time

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Speaker 1: and those places? Absolutely, growing up in Miami, I was

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Speaker 1: still born into a family that was a southern family.

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Speaker 1: My family was from Kentucky, but we lived in Miami

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Speaker 1: and Miami had obviously so much vibrancy to it. I

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Speaker 1: grew up very low middle class, but I would have

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Speaker 1: never been able to tell you that Bob a child

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Speaker 1: because I felt like I had a wealth of love

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Speaker 1: and support. So I never felt like I did without

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Speaker 1: and that love and support. You know, when my mother

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Speaker 1: made the decision that she felt like it was better

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Speaker 1: for us to move to Atlanta, she was doing it

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Speaker 1: to give us a better wife. She felt like that

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Speaker 1: she could get a job, she was a primary breadwinner,

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Speaker 1: she had been married twice and she had four kids

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Speaker 1: that she raised on her own. You know, managed to

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Speaker 1: go to work and cook and clean and take care

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Speaker 1: of us and ran us back and forth to events

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Speaker 1: and everything else. And I had a very tight knit

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Speaker 1: family and my grandmother and I were very, very close,

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Speaker 1: my aunts, we were very close. So when we made

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Speaker 1: the move, the entire family made the move. Everyone made

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Speaker 1: the move to Atlanta. I had always thought that I'd

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Speaker 1: live and die in Miami because that's what I knew

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Speaker 1: and I loved it. And then when we moved when

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Speaker 1: I was fourteen, where we moved in Atlanta was just

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Speaker 1: a suburb called Roswell. It was such a quaint community

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Speaker 1: and everything was wrapped up in that community. When I

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Speaker 1: lived in Miami, we can I commuted to school because

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Speaker 1: my mom wanted to put us in a private Christian school,

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Speaker 1: so it was a long commute. Um then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden I lived and went to school and my

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Speaker 1: my whole world was around the city, this little Roswell,

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Speaker 1: and I fell in love. It was just easy. I watched,

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Speaker 1: you know, my mom flourished from a professional perspective. She

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Speaker 1: just had a lot more opportunities and it was just

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Speaker 1: really fascinating, you know, to watch that as a child

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Speaker 1: and candidly as a young woman, to see such a

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Speaker 1: strong woman who had managed through so much hardship and

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Speaker 1: came out on the other side of that. And I

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Speaker 1: think that, to me, is what when I think back

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Speaker 1: in those two kind of moments in my life, Gosh,

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Speaker 1: I feel really blessed. Well, it sounds like your mom

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Speaker 1: is the major influence, but what other major influences were

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Speaker 1: at work that created the you of today and what

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Speaker 1: in your childhood would best predict what you are today

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Speaker 1: in business? Yes, my mom was a huge influence. My

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Speaker 1: grandmother was a massive influence, she ran a company she

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Speaker 1: we're gonna gift shop when I was younger, called the

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Speaker 1: Bee Hive in Miami Beach and as a child I

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Speaker 1: can remember, three and four years old, going to the

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Speaker 1: bee hive that I was so excited to watch her

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Speaker 1: work and she'd give me jobs like ompening up the

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Speaker 1: packages that would come in, helping sort, you know, all

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Speaker 1: the items. Gosh, I loved the adding machine. I remember

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Speaker 1: as a child learning the old fashion adding machine. I

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Speaker 1: learned how to do that really quick because I loved

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Speaker 1: the sound of it, like when she would be doing bookkeeping.

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Speaker 1: And then even it was so silly. I can remember

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Speaker 1: when I was in second grade we had our desk

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Speaker 1: like you would do boardwork and Bob I would literally

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Speaker 1: set my desk up like an office. I would pull

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Speaker 1: out things and set it up. My teachers would always

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Speaker 1: ask what I was doing and I'd be like it's

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Speaker 1: my office, and then I'd go to work. I would

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Speaker 1: do my board work. So I think that it was

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Speaker 1: just always inherently in me. I think some of the

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Speaker 1: other influences were when I was in Atlanta, my aunt

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Speaker 1: worked for the Coca Cola Company and she worked in

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Speaker 1: marketing and I can remember early on just being so

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Speaker 1: mesmerized by the customer stories that she would tell and

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Speaker 1: the product introductions that she was working on, and I

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Speaker 1: fell in love with it. It was like a good novel.

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Speaker 1: Every Sunday night, when we had our family dinner, for

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Speaker 1: her to come to the House and tell the stories

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Speaker 1: of what she was working on just felt like I

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Speaker 1: was reading a good book. So I think that those

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Speaker 1: were bits and pieces of it. But you know, there's

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Speaker 1: many people in my life that I look at, mainly women,

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Speaker 1: strong women in my life, but you know, as my

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Speaker 1: career started, were you know even you know, I worked

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Speaker 1: all the way through high school. I paid my way

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Speaker 1: through college. There are so many people along that journey

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Speaker 1: that I just stopped and think about often and they

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Speaker 1: don't even probably realize how big of an impact they had.

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Speaker 1: You have this, as you probably well know, your reputation.

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Speaker 1: Have this infectious smile and you're always seen as this

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Speaker 1: really positive person, positive frame of mind. Where did you

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Speaker 1: get that? I think I get that from my faith,

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Speaker 1: which came from my grandmother. Oh Gosh, you want to

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Speaker 1: talk about a smile. She had an amazing smile and

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Speaker 1: she had these blue eyes that just absolutely sparkled when

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Speaker 1: she smiled and she was always that person that you

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Speaker 1: went to, you know, with whatever challenge you faced, you

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Speaker 1: went to her because the very first thing that you

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Speaker 1: would see is that smile would open up and it

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Speaker 1: just embraced you. You know, you could talk about some

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Speaker 1: really challenging and troubling things, but there was always that warmth.

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Speaker 1: When I look back, I feel like that spirit, in

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Speaker 1: that mindset really did come from her. My Dad was

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Speaker 1: a methodist minister, so I always have a great interest

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Speaker 1: in religion. Did you grow up with it, did you

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Speaker 1: discover it or did it discover you? I grew up

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Speaker 1: with it and then I would tell you that I

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Speaker 1: discovered it. It was part of our rituals. As a child,

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Speaker 1: we were in church every Sunday morning, very often Sunday evenings,

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Speaker 1: and back again on Wednesday nights. But I think, Bob,

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Speaker 1: when I graduated from college, I remember feeling that there

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Speaker 1: was this void and that's when I would say that

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Speaker 1: I feel like I discovered it. I really discovered what

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Speaker 1: I had always had but all of a sudden had

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Speaker 1: such incredible purpose. Late eighties, early nineties, you went the

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Speaker 1: University of Georgia, you studied advertising. Were you preparing for

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Speaker 1: this career? I wasn't preparing necessarily for this because, wow,

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Speaker 1: I had no idea. I was preparing for Disney. I

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Speaker 1: wanted to get a university of Georgia, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: be an advertising and marketing major and I wanted to

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Speaker 1: work at Disney, and I did that. That was what

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Speaker 1: I was preparing for. Ob Honestly, I did those three things,

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Speaker 1: and I mean I wouldn't have traded it for the world,

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Speaker 1: because it was the best stepping stone for me to

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Speaker 1: really truly get a sense of customer and marketing and

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Speaker 1: the empower of experience and brand right fresh out of college. Well,

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Speaker 1: you actually worked with customers. You were on the front

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Speaker 1: line there and some of your jobs, or at least

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Speaker 1: part of the job. Yes, in fact, I did my

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Speaker 1: internship with Disney and the college program which they put

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Speaker 1: you into the parks. You're either working attractions or food.

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Speaker 1: I worked at the emporium on Main Street and so

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Speaker 1: you had day to day interactions with the guest and

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Speaker 1: then when I came back, I was brought back on

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Speaker 1: a program called career start. So I came back in

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Speaker 1: the same thing and they put you back out into

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Speaker 1: the park, because at that point in time you could

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Speaker 1: never have just walked into the marketing group, and it

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Speaker 1: was there that I met the director of marketing who

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Speaker 1: invited me to come in and, you know, see what

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Speaker 1: it was all about, and that's what opened up the

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Speaker 1: door to my marketing career at Disney. After Disney, you

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Speaker 1: worked at on Atlanta Ad Agency, where you worked on

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Speaker 1: the air touch salut or account, and then you joined

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Speaker 1: verizon in two thousand and one. Did you see this

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Speaker 1: huge Telco Revolution coming? No, I definitely did not. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the funny little secret of that is when I left

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Speaker 1: Disney and I went to the agency side, I had

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Speaker 1: never thought of myself being on the agency side, but

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Speaker 1: I realized at that point in time that it was

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Speaker 1: good for me to understand the full aspects of marketing

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Speaker 1: and advertising and seeing on both angles. So I went

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Speaker 1: to the agency side. I was working on Atlanta Braves

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Speaker 1: and new business and they came to me and said Hey,

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Speaker 1: we think that we really would be great working on

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Speaker 1: the air touch business, and I laughed because I was like,

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Speaker 1: oh Gosh, how boring. I remember thinking this is awful.

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Speaker 1: I just went from entertainment too. Now I gotta go

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Speaker 1: work on this wireless stuff. Well, needless to say, I

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Speaker 1: was a little wrong on that one because I quickly

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Speaker 1: realized it was anything but boring. But I didn't see

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Speaker 1: it at first, I really didn't, but I will tell

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Speaker 1: you it quickly came. I was right there at day

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Speaker 1: one when the true transformation from a wireless standpoint started,

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Speaker 1: and as soon as you saw it taken off, it

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Speaker 1: was like, okay, this is a rocket ship. We gotta

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Speaker 1: hold on. What did those lessons at that moment tell

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Speaker 1: you about a connected car revolution? You mentioned a couple

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Speaker 1: of them, but it seems to me that probably of

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Speaker 1: your background, that this probably is the most relevant to

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Speaker 1: what you're doing today with a connected car. It definitely

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Speaker 1: is the one real obvious place that I look at

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Speaker 1: and think marketing wise is the customer pain points. Dropped

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Speaker 1: calls was one of the biggest areas of pain for

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Speaker 1: the customer because you could give me this device, I

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Speaker 1: could pay this money, but now I can't even hold

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Speaker 1: a call for very long because that infrastructure, the network quality,

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Speaker 1: wasn't there. We're in that same exact place when I

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Speaker 1: look at the shift from, you know, combustible engines to

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Speaker 1: electric because infrastructure is a barrier. You know, the mindset

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Speaker 1: of you know, understanding how to utilize the vehicle the

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Speaker 1: right way, the services, what we provide from a service perspective.

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Speaker 1: There's all pain points and barriers there that are very,

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Speaker 1: very similar to the same thing that we saw on

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Speaker 1: the arless side. Left Verizon, you did a short stand

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Speaker 1: at home depot and then you took over a CEO

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Speaker 1: of the largest digital advertising agency in the southeast. How

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Speaker 1: did it feel making the jump the CEO and taking

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Speaker 1: on the ultimate P and l responsibility, and any advice

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Speaker 1: from that you'd give folks making that jump for the

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Speaker 1: first time? It's funny because one of the very first

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Speaker 1: responses I had when I got the call from my

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Speaker 1: dear friend Dave Pinsky about the role, I said, I

432
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,560
Speaker 1: don't know anything about running an agency or a company.

433
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: He was like, what are you talking about? Yes, you do.

434
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,640
Speaker 1: You've been doing this your entire career. I just need

435
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,439
Speaker 1: you on the other side of the table for once.

436
00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: And my husband was the first one who looked at

437
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,679
Speaker 1: me and said, why are you shutting yourself down so fast?

438
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: You can do this. You got it, and I think

439
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 1: that's my advice to people, especially females, we are trained

440
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,679
Speaker 1: to make sure that we were protecting ourselves right like

441
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 1: not putting ourselves into places that we feel like that

442
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: we could be exposed. And I've learned you have to

443
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: push yourself to those uncomfortable places because you'll never grow

444
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 1: and you'll never learn and you'll hold yourself back from

445
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 1: so much good opportunity if you don't get uncomfortable. Ebay,

446
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 1: you became CMO in two thousand fifteen. You moved to California.

447
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,719
Speaker 1: I mean you really went into your discomfort zone. You

448
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: were all in. I remember your time there and wow,

449
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,720
Speaker 1: are you articular about it. What attracted you and what

450
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: was the biggest challenge there? That obviously got you excited.

451
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,880
Speaker 1: What attracted me there was how Lawton, who I had

452
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 1: worked with for a very short period of time at

453
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,360
Speaker 1: emp depot and he and I just hit it off

454
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 1: and stayed in touch. When I had left emp depot

455
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 1: and went to Moxie. He took the job as president

456
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,639
Speaker 1: of ebay right after the paypal split, and so he

457
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 1: called and said, Hey, look, I'm out here and I

458
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,960
Speaker 1: really want you to come join me as the CMO.

459
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: It was really exciting because at that point in time,

460
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: because of the split from paypal. It was giving a

461
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: new life to Ebay. Ebay had been giving everything to

462
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,639
Speaker 1: build paypal for so long and that now it was

463
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,359
Speaker 1: time to put the time and the money and the

464
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 1: energy back into building Ebay and the brand and repositioning it.

465
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,920
Speaker 1: And so the opportunity was just phenomenal and I kept thinking,

466
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: there's no way I can't make that move to California.

467
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: I had said no too many Disney jobs in the

468
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,640
Speaker 1: past that would have taken me to California. And at

469
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 1: this point my daughter was a second semester junior in

470
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,920
Speaker 1: high school and my son was at seventh grader and

471
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,399
Speaker 1: we had already moved a couple different times before, and

472
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: so I thought this is not gonna be good. She's

473
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: not going to talk to me for the rest of

474
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: her life and moved across the country and shockingly enough,

475
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,960
Speaker 1: I offered it up to Madison. I said here's the

476
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 1: opportunity that has come to me. She said, mom, you

477
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 1: should absolutely go take a look at it. I would

478
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 1: be all supportive because I'm going to go to college.

479
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 1: So what's the difference? I just make it sound like

480
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 1: that I go one year earlier, which blew me away,

481
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,080
Speaker 1: and so I did. I went out, they were all in.

482
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,160
Speaker 1: I was all in. So let's talk something about your philosophies.

483
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 1: What role does corporate culture play for you and how

484
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: do you design it and use it? Corporate Culture is

485
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 1: challenging because there's so many different flavors of it. I

486
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 1: think the part for me and my philosophy is I

487
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 1: need to be true to my leadership style and I

488
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 1: want to ensure that I'm building an organization and a

489
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: team that doesn't lead from fear, but they lead from Opportunity.

490
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 1: I want to ensure that there's a safe place to

491
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,119
Speaker 1: where you know there can be very honest conversations, because

492
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: one thing I will tell you that has always been

493
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 1: very evident to me is in order for there to

494
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: be transformation, you have to have respect and you have

495
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,159
Speaker 1: to have transparency and you have to make sure that

496
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,399
Speaker 1: everybody feels that they're aligned. And I may not be

497
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,320
Speaker 1: able to influence that across the entire corporation, but if

498
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: I can establish that within my own team and influence

499
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 1: the teams around me, then great, but I won't falter

500
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,120
Speaker 1: from really making sure that I can at least establish

501
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 1: that piece of it that I can have direct influence over.

502
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 1: How about diversity? What's the special power that comes to

503
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: a company from a strong focus on diversity and inclusion? Well,

504
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 1: it becomes a secret power because, I mean, if you

505
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: imagine that you can bring in diverse thinking and diverse

506
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: people and cultures and backgrounds and really apply it differently

507
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: to your to one just you personally, it makes you better,

508
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: it makes you a better leader, it makes you a

509
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 1: better human. I know there's so many stats out there

510
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: about the more diverse the leadership team is, the more

511
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 1: profit the company sees. Candidly, I feel like that we

512
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,760
Speaker 1: still treat it as a pet project and I don't

513
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: think that's what it is. It's part of your strategy

514
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: and it's part of how you just operate, think and perform.

515
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 1: I know you put a great value on family. How

516
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: do you manage that work life balance? Well, I first

517
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 1: realized that it isn't balancing. If I was striving for

518
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,960
Speaker 1: something impossible, that was never gonna, you know, gonna help Um.

519
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: I do look at it as making sure that there's

520
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,200
Speaker 1: as much harmony and that I can, you know, live

521
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 1: up to the priorities that I set for myself and

522
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: I'm very straightforward with my team about that and to

523
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,480
Speaker 1: those that I work with that my priorities are God,

524
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 1: family and work in that order. If the first two

525
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 1: things get out of whack, the third thing gets really

526
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: messed up. And so as long as I can keep

527
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 1: myself honest to that, and I expect even my team

528
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: members and my family to hold me accountable to those priorities,

529
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: that because my guide post, doesn't mean that there aren't

530
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: long hours there, doesn't mean that there's not moments that

531
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 1: I have to pull away from the family to take

532
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,719
Speaker 1: care of something. It's just that I do that with

533
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 1: respect and understanding as much as I possibly can. Can't

534
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 1: tell you get it right all the time by any means,

535
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 1: but you know, I also expect that I get back

536
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,479
Speaker 1: those moments and being present when I am with my family,

537
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 1: because if I'm doing that for work, then it at

538
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 1: least expected that I can make sure that I'm doing

539
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: that back for my family. Let's go back to Ford,

540
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: one of the Great American Business Success Stories. Very rich

541
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: backstory about a founder whose family is actually still central

542
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: to the company, very rare in business. How have you

543
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 1: found it and how did you find your way into

544
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: that very tight neck club? There's something very, very special

545
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: about the forward family that I don't even know that

546
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,719
Speaker 1: I can truly put full words to explain it. You

547
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, you know, coming into auto industry, which I

548
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,840
Speaker 1: am not. That's not my background, as we've just established.

549
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 1: The other thing was I came into Ford during covid

550
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 1: every one of my interviews was conducted via video and

551
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 1: what I found really fascinating was immediately, I mean even

552
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,120
Speaker 1: through the interview process and then even my first week

553
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 1: on the job, Bill Ford reached out, as at Soul

554
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: Ford reached out, Elana Ford reached out, each family member

555
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 1: reached out to create a personal connection and that was

556
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: mind blowing to me. It's really pretty special and something that,

557
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 1: you know, I had the pleasure of speaking with bill

558
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 1: before I took the role and I was amiss, a

559
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: little kind of awe struck, if you will, and now

560
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: just to think that, you know, it's an every day

561
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,360
Speaker 1: that involvement that the Ford family has in one way

562
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:30,960
Speaker 1: or another is really very unique and special and it's

563
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,520
Speaker 1: truly what I look at and say it's one of

564
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 1: the key differentiators for us as a brand, not just

565
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: as an automotive company, but as a brand, because there's

566
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:44,040
Speaker 1: a signature, a Ford signature that is stamped on every

567
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: single one of our products and there's a Ford Signature,

568
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: a human signature, that I get to see prominently on

569
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 1: the building and prominently in every artifact within our company

570
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: that just keeps reminding you of the humanity, the humanity

571
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,840
Speaker 1: that are and stands for. You, as you mentioned, started

572
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 1: your job in the pandemic. What did you discover during

573
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 1: that experience that has changed really the work conditions, and

574
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: what of those change work conditions do you think are

575
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: probably permanent and positive changes to the new work environment?

576
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing for me was that it

577
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 1: taught me very quickly the power of relationships and breaking

578
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 1: the screen. I immediately jumped on a plane two weeks

579
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,920
Speaker 1: into my role. Even when they told me headquarters was

580
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 1: closed and that I couldn't come into the building, I said, okay,

581
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: we're still going to let me into the city of Detroit,

582
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: so I'm coming. So I I came here. I said,

583
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: I don't care, even if I just stay in the

584
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: hotel and I work all day, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna,

585
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 1: you know, reach out to people to see if we

586
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: can go on walks, and I did. I started meeting,

587
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 1: you know, other team members. I was able to go

588
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 1: into the facilities that you know, we still had front

589
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 1: line workers, even a pete see into our production facilities,

590
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 1: and so I dove into where I could because I

591
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 1: knew for me, it's not just that I was coming

592
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,640
Speaker 1: in during the pandemic. I'm coming into a company that

593
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: has most people. The longevity here is like twenty five years. So, Bob,

594
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:22,920
Speaker 1: I was walking into relationships that were deep, deep rooted relationships,

595
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: and I could be the organ that they completely spit

596
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 1: out if I wasn't careful and didn't take it with

597
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 1: the same energy and pride of understanding that I needed

598
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 1: to learn and that I needed to acknowledge and I

599
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 1: needed to be part of this culture and this family

600
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: of people. I can't let you leave today without asking

601
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 1: you if you could give your twenty one year old

602
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: self some advice, what would it be? Don't be so

603
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 1: hard on yourself. I think very often I'm probably my

604
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,320
Speaker 1: worst critic, which I like in many respects, but I

605
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 1: think some times I beat myself up way too much.

606
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 1: And I've talked often about the impostor syndrome, because it does,

607
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,440
Speaker 1: it festers that you know it'll infester this thing of

608
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'll doubt myself. If I could be

609
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,720
Speaker 1: my twenty one year old self now. I wish somebody

610
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:18,760
Speaker 1: had given me that advice and almost kind of saved

611
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 1: me for myself. In many regards. We end all episodes

612
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 1: of math and magic with a shout out to our

613
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:28,520
Speaker 1: heroes and influencers, and we break it into two categories.

614
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 1: Those who are the greats and looking at the world

615
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 1: of business through analytics, we call those are the math people,

616
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 1: and those who see the world or business through the

617
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:41,839
Speaker 1: prism of wildly creative ideas, call them the magicians. Can

618
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: you give me your choices for the shout out for

619
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 1: the math side person and the magic side person? Absolutely

620
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 1: my math side would be Gary Vynerchuk. I think he's

621
00:34:54,640 --> 00:35:00,440
Speaker 1: just amazing. Great Business Person, great marketer, Great Leader. He

622
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: really has just a special combination to him. And on

623
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:06,880
Speaker 1: the magic side, the person who comes to mind, and

624
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 1: this is really very funny, is Ryan Reynolds. I have

625
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: been absolutely amazed by someone who is very skilled, creative,

626
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: talent Um. One of my dear friends works for him

627
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:25,279
Speaker 1: and very closely is his his partner, and I just

628
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,239
Speaker 1: had been so shocked because there's a lot of obviously

629
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 1: you know, actors that try to get into other professions,

630
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 1: but he has such a skill and creativity to him

631
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:39,080
Speaker 1: that he's created almost new Ryan Reynolds lookalikes or kind

632
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 1: of little models because of just how many different businesses

633
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,400
Speaker 1: he's been able to really expand himself into. So I

634
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,840
Speaker 1: really admire that. Susie, you have had a great career

635
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 1: and I'm inspired and challenged so many folks along your journey.

636
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences and congrats on

637
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,759
Speaker 1: all your successes. Thank you, Bob, and you've been a

638
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 1: phenomenal partner or a mentor for me, so I really

639
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Here are a few things I picked up

640
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 1: in my conversation with Susie. One, turn challenges into opportunities.

641
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: The pandemic has affected every business, and forward is no exception.

642
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 1: During this time of change, susie is helping forward adapt

643
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: to consumers needs by creating new offerings that transformed forward

644
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:31,479
Speaker 1: vehicles into mobile offices and match this new behavior. Two,

645
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 1: history does repeat itself. To develop the marketing strategy for

646
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 1: electric cars at forward, Susie is borrowing from retirement for rising.

647
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,480
Speaker 1: When the mobile phone replaced the wire line, susie learned

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Speaker 1: the principles of getting consumers to make that transition is

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Speaker 1: the same no matter the technology or product. Three, get uncomfortable.

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Speaker 1: Susie's biggest piece of career advice is to speak up

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Speaker 1: about your biggest ideas, even if it scares here. It's

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Speaker 1: the only way that you can truly grow and four,

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Speaker 1: less work life balance and more work life integration. Instead

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Speaker 1: of separating the most important parts of your life, integrate

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Speaker 1: them into how you drive your business. This has been

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Speaker 1: a successful strategy for both Susie and at Ford, where

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Speaker 1: the influence of the Ford family brings a powerful layer

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Speaker 1: of humanity and continuity to the company. I'm Bob Pittman.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. That's it for today's episode. Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for listening to math and magic, a production of

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Speaker 1: I heart radio. The show is hosted by Bob Pittman.

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Speaker 1: Special thanks that Susan Ward for booking and wrangling. Are

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Speaker 1: Wonderful Talent, which is no small fiel Marissa Brown for

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Speaker 1: pulling research, our editors, Derek Clements, Mary do and Ryan Murdoch,

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Speaker 1: our producer, Morgan Levoy, our executive user, Nicky eat word and,

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Speaker 1: of course, Gail Rhul Eric, Angel Noel and everyone who

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Speaker 1: helped bring this show to your ears. Until next time,