Disrupting Ford By Starting From Scratch - Suzy Deering, Ford, Chief Marketing Officer

Sep 27, 2022

“I started this meeting every Friday that was called Marketing Modernization, but, really, it was kind of almost like an open mic type of meeting, because I had teams come in and they could make a choice as to what topics (we would talk about). I'd say, ‘What is it you feel that we're not doing that we should be doing? Or what's holding you back from making some of the changes we need to make?’ It's my favorite meeting of the week….It's not just my team, it's multiple different people across the organization.” 

Suzy Deering on Electric Ladies Podcast

 

Ford, GM and other major automakers committed to going all-electric by around 2035 – but how? How do you do it – without losing your core customers? How do you know the right approach? To answer these questions Ford brought in a woman with no experience in the auto industry. Literally.

Listen to Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Officer at Ford Motor company in this extraordinary interview with host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast as she takes us into the room as she disrupts how Ford thinks about marketing vehicles. It might change how you do your job too.

You’ll hear:

• How coming from totally different industries helped Suzy disrupt Ford to reach different customers
• What Ford has in common with Verizon and tech other companies might surprise you
• Why “what are we missing” and “what are we spending too much time on” can transform the conversation, the processes and the outcomes.
• How to drive change in a big organization – even as an outsider coming in.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Number one, go learn something from scratch and get really, really get dirty. Like get in there and understand from a scrappy standpoint. You're going to fail and you're going to learn things and then some things are going to work, some things aren't….if you're not uncomfortable, then you're not growing. And if you're not growing, you're not learning. If you're not learning, you're not per, you're not progressing….and Don't chase the title.”

Suzy Deering on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Telva McGruder, Chief Diversity Officer of General Motors – on pivoting that 100+ year old company from gas-powered cars to electric cars
• Neha Palmer, Founder/CEO of TeraWatt Infrastructure on charging for EV trucks
• Maureen Kline, Head of Sustainability, Pirelli Tires, on smart and sustainable tires
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

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