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Spargle meets Ruth Coates
Book: Atomic Habits, James Clear
Podcast: ‘How to fail’, Elizabeth Day
Favourite quote: “It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives, it is not the strongest that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself”
“The importance of understanding that change is a process individuals work through – rather than a one time event – cannot be overstated!”
Tell me a little bit about yourself, what is your current role/function?
I’m originally from Ireland but have been living in the Netherlands since 2010. I currently work at Nike’s European Headquarters in Hilversum as a Senior Manager within the Nike Direct Acceleration Program Management Team. Our team focuses on the key strategic priorities for Nike’s direct-to-consumer business across both the stores and online (digital).
You recently started this new role, which is different from your previous ones. What skills from your previous positions did you take with you?
In the first 15 years of my career, I worked in marketing before moving into broader business program and portfolio roles. During that time, I led Marketing teams across campaign management and CRM, introduction and integration of Digital, large scale customer experience projects and through business model changes, mergers and acquisitions. I’ve found that the skills which helped me throughout these experiences – especially the analytical, decision making and communication skills I developed along the way – are very transferable for broader business programs and portfolio management.
What are your main challenges and how do you solve those?
The main challenge in my current role is to keep everyone moving in the same direction and managing competing priorities on an ongoing basis. You’re always keeping your finger on the beat! Teams are stretched during these times of constant change and reorganization. They’re often asked to do more with less, so it’s crucial that I’m always prepared in terms of how to focus efforts, filter out noise and bring people along with me.
As well as making sure there is clarity on vision and objectives plus putting clear governance in place on R&Rs, decision making, communication, measurement and optimisation models, I find that applying Change Management principles is really key. The importance of understanding that change is a process individuals work through – rather than a one time event – cannot be overstated!
I can imagine during a period of change, there are a lot of feelings running high. How do you manage imposter syndrome in those changes? How do you bring people with you that may feel like ‘imposters’ in those changes?
It doesn’t matter whether you have two or 20 years of experience. Honestly, in my experience, the reason that I have seen companies struggle the most no matter what the function is, is the communication between people. The best way to address that, is to listen and really try to understand where someone is coming from, share your own vulnerabilities, and show paths to work through the difficult points. We’ve all been there, that’s the reality.
“For me, it’s about getting familiar with the different tools, applications and case studies AI offers [… ]. I don’t believe in looking the other way and hoping it will go away”
What is your life motto or your favourite quote?
One of my favourite quotes is “It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives, it is not the strongest that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself” Most of us don’t like change – I think humans are actually hardwired to resist it! – but the reality is that things are constantly changing. If you can adapt, you’re going to be much better off. If you’re really rigid about your vision then unfortunately the world won’t listen and just moves on.
Did you always know you would be doing this?
I’ve always wanted to work in the sphere of business and marketing. As a kid, it wasn’t about a specific role: it’s just that I wanted to be in that environment. I used to actually cut photos out of my mum’s mail order catalogs of business women and even dabbled in entrepreneurship throughout school. I really enjoy the challenge of solving complex problems and what I love about marketing is the consumer psychology aspect. For example, What makes someone buy something?
Over the last five to six years, I’ve branched out from core Marketing into Marketing Technology Product ownership and into broader business program and portfolio management roles.
What I love about this is that I really learn more about the broader business ways of working and about Marketing’s role and contribution within a larger organizational context. I like learning and I’m always open to trying new things and looking at things horizontally to see where opportunities exist.
Do you mean horizontally like seeing what is out there instead of growing in one function?
I believe there’s a lot of value that can come from moving across functions and in the whole concept of being a T shaped professional which means you have a specialism depth in one area – represented by the vertical bar of the T – plus breath across multiple areas – represented by the horizontal bar across the top.
This approach gives you a broader point of view and a better understanding of challenges that might come up, and of where your specialism fits contextually.
The more you can expose yourself to those horizontal aspects, the more rounded the view you can develop – which I believe really helps with improved cross functional collaboration.
“I’m always open to trying new things and looking at things horizontally to see where opportunities exist. ”
What trends do you foresee this year within your role or in the freelance industry?
One obvious trend on everyone’s lips these days is AI. It has become such a buzz term and most people automatically think of the ChatGPT tool, but I’m talking about the trend of AI applications for Marketing in a broader sense. From a Marketing point of view, AI tools can be super useful to help boost a team’s productivity and save time. AI is already integrated into tools like GA4 (Google Analytics 4) allowing significantly enhanced predictive analysis for Marketers and Google ‘s launch of Search Generative Experience (SGE) earlier this year – which sees AI generated SEO answers in search results – pose a new challenge for marketers who will now have to compete with AI-generated content when optimizing their SEO strategies.
The second big trend I see upcoming – from a broader business point of view – is Sustainability. The coming years sees new sustainability legislation come into effect which will require organizations to offer and report on unsold goods and repair services: something they’ve never legally had to do before. Additionally, starting in 2027, brands will need to provide a digital product passport, detailing the environmental impact of each individual product. This legislation will require Organizations to introduce new operational ways of working. From a Marketing point of view, it’s going to be really interesting to see over the next couple of years, also with the greenwashing bans that are in place, how brands start to storytell around this.
How do you think things like AI and sustainability will affect your role specifically?
With AI, I think a lot of Marketing teams are already experimenting in that space. I actually just completed an “AI for Digital Marketing” course during the summer to stay up to speed with how this area is developing. For me, it’s about getting familiar with the different tools, applications and case studies of how others are using these. I don’t believe in looking the other way and hoping it will go away – but actually want to learn about AI and most importantly get my hands dirty in playing with the different tools out there.
With sustainability, ultimately this will mean new projects coming up across companies as they look at necessary changes to their operating models – which will be a super interesting area to be involved in from a program and portfolio management point of view!
What is your favorite podcast or book?
My favorite book is ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. I love it so much that I have it both in the physical version and audiobook! The whole idea is the power of small, consistent, incremental changes and how they compound over time. Whenever I feel like I’m getting in a bit of a rut, it’s really nice to just think: “I don’t have to solve it all today. I can do one tiny thing, and if I do that one tiny thing again tomorrow, I’m on a path”. That gets me back into a productive cycle.
My go-to podcast is ‘How To Fail’ by Elizabeth Day. She’s a British-Irish lady, and she interviews a lot of public figures and high profile people who talk about things that didn’t go so well for them and what learnings they took away from that. You hear people being real and vulnerable which I appreciate. We’ve all had failures, we’ve all had things that haven’t gone so great. Let’s talk more about how we bounce back and what we can learn from that rather than only celebrating successes!
