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Welcome to another special episode of the Marketing Vanguard podcast. Today, Jenny Rooney speaks with Marc Speichert, chief commercial officer at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.
Speichert shares his view on the importance of leading with empathy and care, how marketing leaders drive business growth, his enthusiasm for diving into and often creating new roles, and how delivering unscripted and unexpected acts of value creates “electric” experiences for Four Seasons guests.
“Having empathy and care raises the bar for yourself when you’re in a company, but it also makes you become a better leader, and a better human person in terms of how you show up to the company that you work with, but also to the broader ecosystem around you,” Speichert says on the podcast.
With over 20 years of experience across diverse industries, Speichert is passionate about marketing and enterprise transformation, consistently delivering value to customers and stakeholders. His career spans roles at Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oreal, Google, and GSK Consumer Healthcare. His expertise includes marketing communications, new business development, online marketing, and digital transformation.
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Key takeaways:
08:08 Leading with Empathy and Care — Empathy and care are at the core of leadership, both personally and professionally. Marc highlights how his time at Colgate and now at Four Seasons reinforced these values. He emphasizes that leading with empathy creates a supportive workplace and fosters personal growth. This alignment with company culture makes leadership impactful. It’s about how you show up for others, both in and outside of work and the lasting influence it has on how you connect with the world around you.
12:30 How Marketing Leaders Drive Business Growth — Speichert’s approach to leadership centers around shaping business strategy first, and then building the marketing capabilities to support it. In his role at L’Oreal, he focused on enabling the company to attract new consumers by aligning marketing efforts with broader business goals. Today, Marc continues to emphasize a consumer-centric approach in his work, underscoring the importance of aligning marketing, operations, and development for success.
25:25 How Embracing Diverse Perspectives Fuels Innovations — To succeed in any role, it’s essential to embrace collaboration and build strong relationships within your team. One of the most impactful ways to do this is by fostering psychological safety and trust. This involves understanding your colleagues’ unique personalities and strengths, especially those who think differently from you. Partnering with people who complement your skills can be challenging at first, but once you find that synergy, it becomes a powerful force for innovation and growth.
34:48 Unlocking Marketing’s Potential — Marketing must evolve to stay relevant by deeply understanding and addressing the needs of their customers or guests. It’s more than just about keeping up with trends; it’s about truly grasping who your audience is and tailoring your approach to meet their unique needs. Marketing leaders should focus on building a strong customer insights team, actively engaging with different market segments, and translating these insights into actionable strategies that showcase measurable results.
