An Interview With Dina Aletras
Align your thought leadership focus to your expertise and, very importantly, your passion. If you don’t love it, it will be a chore to speak about it.
As part of our series about how to become known as a thought leader in your industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Emond.
As Demand Spring’s founder and CEO, Mark has a tremendous passion for helping marketing leaders transform their Revenue Marketing practices, enabling them to be strategic leaders in their organization. Over his 25 year career, Mark has been an executive and strategic marketing leader advising high growth organizations and Fortune 500 brands.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us! Our readers are eager to learn more about you. Could you provide some background information about yourself?
Sure. I’m the Founder and CEO of Demand Spring, which is a B2B Revenue Marketing consultancy that helps CMOs and their executive teams drive pipeline, revenue, and exceptional client experiences. We work with some of the biggest and fastest growing B2B brands, such as Fidelity Investments, Boston Consulting Group, Staples, Office Depot, WTW, Nasuni, Veeam, and others.
I spent 17 years as a marketing leader in the technology industry before starting Demand Spring. In my last few years in that industry I was with Cognos, a leader in the business analytics space that was purchased by IBM. We did some amazing things on the marketing side at Cognos that really inspired me to start Demand Spring.
I live in Ottawa, Canada with my wife, our 16-year old daughter, a dog, and two cats. In my spare time I coach youth girls basketball.
What establishes you as an authority on thought leadership? Could you briefly share your expertise with our readers?
My career has spanned 28 years at this point. I have worked for, and with, some of the biggest B2B brands and seen (and been responsible for) a lot of really great marketing strategies and a lot of not so great ones. Experience has been a great teacher. I also really love teaching and coaching, so when I share my knowledge it comes from a place of trying to give back.
Can you recall a funny mistake you made when you were first starting out? What lesson did you learn from it?
Absolutely. I started my career at Corel in the technology industry. It was a young culture. Like many people there, I was promoted into a leadership role before I was ready for it. I’m sure I made mistakes daily on the path to growth and learning how to better lead and support the people I work with.
What are the most significant disruptions you foresee in your industry over the next five years, and how can businesses adapt to these changes?
Without question it’s AI. I think it will significantly change how people work and the technology we use. We are really excited about the AI opportunity. We have just rolled out a set of AI services that help drive both quick wins aligned to key marketing use cases, as well as a more strategic approach to considering how to drive productivity, performance, and innovation with AI. We think AI can really augment and assist marketers in many ways, including: more precise selection of their ideal client profile; content ideation, production, and repurposing or atomizing; AI-powered SEO; AI-driven social media content calendars and post optimization; automated competitive and market trend analysis; and AI-assisted marketing automation capabilities like lead and account scoring.
Can you explain the benefits of becoming a thought leader? Why is it valuable to invest time and resources into this?
I look at it first and foremost from a knowledge sharing perspective — being able to share insights that help others. It can also obviously benefit your brand by showcasing your expertise and driving more engagement and consideration. Throughout my 12 years leading Demand Spring, I have found a strong correlation between the amount of time I spend on thought leadership (in the form of blog posts, LinkedIn posts, and speaking engagements) and growing our business.
Can you share an example of a significant challenge you faced in your career and how you leveraged innovative thinking to overcome it?
I think it was really when I made the decision to leave IBM and start Demand Spring. IBM was a 400,000 person company then, a great global brand, and I had a really great job. But I wasn’t happy. I have a get things done mentality and approach to life overall. A company of that size naturally has to have a lot of processes and consensus-driven decision making. Instead of staying on the road more traveled, I decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship. My wife was very supportive, for which I am so grateful. It turned out to be a great decision. I have loved building a company.
Now that we have covered that, we’d love to hear your advice on becoming a thought leader. Can you share five strategies that someone should follow to gain recognition as a thought leader in their industry? Please include examples or stories from your own experience for each strategy.
- Align your thought leadership focus to your expertise and, very importantly, your passion. If you don’t love it, it will be a chore to speak about it.
- Identify what differentiates you. There is so much noise today in all channels, so it’s critical to cut through with unique thinking.
- Frequency is important. The best thought leaders have an ongoing narrative with their audience.
- Be authentic and be human. Show emotion. Let your audience in on who you are and they are much more apt to be interested in what you have to say.
- Believe in yourself. If you put yourself out there, you will get love…as well as comments that are not so loving.
How do you foster a culture of innovation within your organization, and what practices have you found most effective in encouraging creative thinking among your team?
Having a growth mindset and fostering that across the organization. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s how we learn, grow, and innovate. As the author Adam Grant wrote in his book, Originals, the great innovators in history — Einstein, Edison, Shakespeare, Ford, etc. — had many more misses than hits. They were resilient and kept learning on their path to great success.
Who do you think is an outstanding example of a thought leader? What specific qualities impress you about this person?
John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach. He never considered himself a thought leader. The term didn’t exist in the 1960’s and ‘70’s at the height of his career. But he absolutely was. He was a teacher first and foremost. He was innovative in his approach to the game and to teaching and coaching. And he shared his thoughts not only with his players, but with the world through his Pyramid of Success and the many books he published. He still influences the coaching approach of many of the world’s top coaches today, 49 years after he retired.
How do you stay informed about the latest trends and developments in your field, and how do you incorporate this knowledge into your strategic planning?
Far and away the number one way I do so is by talking with CMO’s and B2B marketing executives. I try to speak with 5–7 senior marketing executives one-on-one each week about what is keeping them up at night and what they see as opportunities for growth. There is nothing like engaging in a great dialogue about marketing strategies and practices with top marketing executives.
Some people feel that the term “thought leader” is overused and has lost its impact. What are your thoughts on this?
That’s a great question. My answer is that it is overused when applied to people who are saying what everyone else is saying. There are great thought leaders out there — Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, and Brene Brown to name a few — who share original thinking and provocative ideas. For people like that, it is not overused.
How do you balance short-term business goals with long-term strategic vision, especially in a rapidly changing market?
In my opinion, in a well-run business they should align. Your short-term business goals should support your long-term vision, or the path you are taking will not lead you to your vision. It’s really important for CEO’s to step out of the weeds and ensure the two are aligned. It’s easy to get mired in the details of the day-to-day in the business and lose sight of where the compass is pointing.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? How has it been relevant in your life?
I have so many. A big part of my focus as a youth basketball coach is to share life lessons to help grow the young people I serve. One that I heard recently that I really love is “choose your hard” by Mano Watsa, the President of PGC Basketball. Essentially it’s about the impact of making easy or poor choices now, which can lead to hard outcomes later. Choose the hard path (e.g., work really hard in school) to create easier choices and better outcomes later.
Many influential figures in business and entertainment follow this column. Is there someone you’d love to have lunch or breakfast with? They might notice if we tag them.
If I had the opportunity, I would choose John Wooden, Dawn Staley, the brilliant leader of the South Carolina Women’s Basketball team, and my dad, who passed away years ago. Ideally it would be for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as they would have so many lessons that I would just sit, listen, and absorb.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Our website, demandspring.com, and my LinkedIn page are the two best ways.
Thank you so much for your insights. This was very insightful and meaningful.
Thank you. It’s been a lot of fun!
About the Interviewer: Dina Aletras boasts over 20 years of expertise in the corporate media industry. She possesses an in-depth understanding of growth, strategy, and leadership, having held significant roles at some of the UK’s largest media organizations. At Reach PLC, the UK’s largest tabloid publisher, she served in various director capacities. Additionally, she held leadership roles at The Independent Magazine Group and DMGT. Her extensive knowledge spans editorial, digital, revenue, sales, and advertising.
Upon relocating to Switzerland, Dina took on the responsibility of managing and promoting the international section of Corriere del Ticino — CdT.ch pioneering the English page “onthespot.” She also was the Co-Editor of Southern Switzerland’s first official Italian and English bilingual magazine.
Mark Emond of Demand Spring: 5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.