IBM CMO: "Being a leader is being a better person"

Thiego Goularte: Marcelo, what are you currently working on?

Marcelo Trevisani: Since September 2020, when I took over as IBM's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in Brazil, the company has been taking big steps to accelerate our clients' digital transformation and support them in innovation. I'm working closely with the business to simplify our relationship with clients. Marketing will be a very important partner to leverage our business partner ecosystem and enable IBM to continue growing with the open hybrid cloud and AI strategy. We are creating new customer experiences through modern demand generation tools with end-to-end insights. Our team around the world is committed to changing the way IBM appears to our clients and to society.

Thiego Goularte: We're living through COVID-19. How has this affected you personally?

Marcelo Trevisani: Like any new and challenging scenario, the pandemic was no different. In the beginning, especially, I think the biggest challenges were trying to understand what COVID-19 meant and its impacts, how to adapt and face the new changes that this disease has brought to all of us and its consequences. My priority was to be safe so that I could provide security for everyone and for my family. But today, almost a year after its discovery, I realize that I have managed to understand how to live at this time, in the face of so many changes and learnings.

Thiego Goularte: You work for a B2B company that is well known in the country. What was 2020 like for you?

Marcelo Trevisani: Throughout the year, IBM focused on the immense opportunity that the hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence represent, while worrying about keeping employees safe and clients operating in the best possible way, even remotely. We launched new features and innovations. We've had strong adoption of our hybrid cloud platform and we've also significantly increased our R&D investments and made a series of strategic acquisitions - 10 since April last year - to reinforce our hybrid cloud and AI strategy.

Thiego Goularte: During the pandemic, has the language and marketing strategy changed?

Marcelo Trevisani: If it hasn't changed, it should have, because customer behavior has changed. In today's fast-paced world, companies need to remain relevant in order to survive. That's why it's increasingly important for marketing to be this beacon. Learning quickly, experimenting with the customer, is fundamental in today's marketing operating model. So is reducing cycles. At IBM, globally, we have thousands of marketing professionals working in the agile model. I'll summarize how this "new" marketing, in my view, should operate:

• Promoting a culture of intrapreneurship.
• Eliminate what I call the "gravitational force" known as bureaucracy.
• Organize the teams around great opportunities for the client and the company.
• business.
• Have an appetite for risk and continuous learning.
• Giving autonomy at the top and working collaboratively to achieve goals.
• Focus on the client - the author is the client and we are the interpreter.
• Plan to change - if necessary - the classic "analyze, plan, execute" approach to strategy, as it is too slow and inflexible for today's environment.
• Focus on the purpose - be stubborn in the vision and flexible in the details.

Thiego Goularte: And what worked during this period?

Marcelo Trevisani: COVID-19 has caused organizations to accelerate their digital transformation, increasing the need to be digital-first in everything we do. IBM aligned on a set of priority offerings and around the strategy to deliver them, and we helped rethink how we present ourselves in the market. As a result, in 2020, we took a big step in our journey to be a more results-oriented, customer-centric and agile marketing team, conducting more dialogues, breaking down silos between areas and shifting our focus to higher-value activities. We learned that the best-performing conversations had a clear focus on the audience, delivered the best solutions to meet customer needs and worked across the entire customer journey. And, despite the huge impact on our work and lives, we carried this strategy forward, adapting to each new challenge that arose, while improving our Agile Health, NPS and engagement scores.

Thiego Goularte: Are you working with the remote team? If so, how has the exchange with the team been?

Marcelo Trevisani: We were able to quickly adapt to the remote scenario and, for this, more important than technology, digital solutions and methodologies was the collaborative culture we had. As I mentioned, I joined the team in September 2020, so my onboarding was completely online, I got to know the leaders, peers and team completely remotely and so far we've continued in this way, but the exchange with the team has been fantastic because of IBM's culture.

Thiego Goularte: After 2020, do you think marketers will change concepts about the market, consumers and the like?

Marcelo Trevisani: We're still living in a pandemic and we'll certainly be living in this scenario for at least a few more months. And it is precisely at this time that digital media remain important. The brand experience needs to be omnipresent. Consumer habits have changed and companies need technology to do just that. That said, AI and Cloud are coming to automate processes, optimize costs, maximize profits and provide
new experiences for consumers.
I see changes in concepts, services that will be increasingly focused on the
customer experience, for example:

1. Adoption of solutions that use AI to understand the customer journey.
2. Integration of all means and points of contact with the customer, making it possible to personalize products, services and customer care.
3. Creating new content, engaging customers, understanding what they want, at what point they are in the purchasing decision process. And then how you best deliver that content to them.

It's worth pointing out that each customer is unique, regardless of the channel. Each case requires
personalized treatment and technology helps to segment, integrate and scale.

Thiego Goularte: We're discussing data and digital is the gateway. How important is marketing data to you?

Marcelo Trevisani: There is no improvement without analyzing and activating the right data. That said, it's essential to integrate Big Idea + Creativity with Big Data (Analytics). Hypotheses are only relevant if they are based on data. As they say: "If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it", in other words, if you can't measure it, how can you improve your actions for the customer?

Thiego Goularte: Which skill will be paramount for the marketing professional from now on?

Marcelo Trevisani: In addition to the three soft skills most chosen by recruiters around the world, and which I fully agree with - teamwork, communication and time management - I believe that the skills needed by professionals in the field over the course of the year will be directed towards a sum of capabilities that were already in demand in the past, but not as highly valued as they are now.
With the avalanche of new products, new technologies and new ways of working in 2021, creativity will become one of the three main skills that people will need to have. It's important to consider that negotiation skills and flexibility will also be important, as technology, using big data and artificial intelligence, will start to make decisions for us.
I also see the importance of emotional intelligence, which will become one of the key skills. And in the face of the adversity we are going through, there is no better scenario to learn about adaptability, in other words, responding to the unexpected, learning, unlearning, changing, because anyone who has remained inflexible all these months has certainly missed out on unique opportunities to become a better human being and a better professional.

Thiego Goularte: You have a CMO position in one of the best-known companies in the world. What's the bravest thing you've ever done that you're proud of?

Marcelo Trevisani: I believe that the bravest thing I have done and continue to do is to confront the status quo. I have a very clear position that I am an agent of transformation and I try to implement this transformation in the best way possible. I try to execute what I believe in, which is the "new" marketing. As they say: politics is the art of the impossible. What I do most in the company is raise awareness, influence, convince, untie knots and inspire. To paraphrase Machiavelli, "people love change, but they don't like being changed" and to be that agent of transformation is to find the best ways and means for that change.

Thiego Goularte: What advice do you have for marketing professionals starting out in their careers?

Marcelo Trevisani: Today, as a CMO with more than 20 years' experience, I know the value of contributing and giving back to someone's professional growth. I lived in a "tougher" time, when a coworker was often seen as a competitor and the hierarchy didn't make room for exchange. Everyone was in their own position and doing their own thing. So, my advice is also my watchword: collaboration, because today no one piece of knowledge holds all the knowledge, we need to add up our visions, perspectives and views in order to solve increasingly complex issues
.

Thiego Goularte: You seem very confident. What gives you confidence?

Marcelo Trevisani: Actually, I feel challenged every day. From the time I started out on my professional path to the present day, I can say that everything I've learned has had to be renewed and this has meant that I've had to reinvent myself too. So today, more experienced, a father of two, with a few good falls and predominantly white hair, I have learned that having the most competent people and forming a brilliant team is what gives me confidence. To be a leader is to be a better person. I try to be the person who sits alongside, who thinks together, who has a human and empathetic look at his team. And obviously, revealing this "human" side of the leader causes fear, because we need to know ourselves and look inwards, so, more than confidence, I would say that I am a professional who is constantly building and who trusts in his decisions and in the team. After all, in order to generate a connection - and engagement - with people, you have to expose yourself, show yourself to be authentic, whole and real. When I have a team that gets on board with my ideas, that accepts and offers stimuli and dialog, trust is just another step.

Thiego Goularte: What advice would you give to the younger Marcelo?

Marcelo Trevisani: I can say that, especially in the face of a pandemic, every leader needs to focus on a relationship with their team, that is, the admiration, trust and respect that should be inherent in a "boss" will be a consequence of excellence in performance and not only that, you need to be present, respect their instincts and emotions.
I argue that self-knowledge is as important as an MBA, master's degree or something like that. I learned that late, but I learned it. Being a leader today takes more work, but leaves a much deeper legacy, yet I firmly believe that better people attract better people. In addition, here are some topics that I also think are fundamental:

• Before you can understand business, you have to understand people.
• Never trust someone who never makes mistakes.
• Be a problem solver.
• Never stop studying.
• Asking for help is necessary.
• Be bold and transgressive.
• Exchange experiences and learning.
• Build a network.