Over the past year, Virtuosi LEAP has brought together some of today’s most respected CMOs, growth leaders, board directors, and enterprise executives to teach inside our LEAP Flagship and LEAP Essentials leadership development programs.
The 26 leadership insights below reflect what these leaders have learned through real decisions, moments of tension, and hard-earned experience and are organized around our Six Pillars of Leadership, the framework that guides every Virtuosi LEAP program.
“Purpose is revealed by what you do, not what you say.”
– Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing & Corporate Affairs Officer, HP Inc.
“Your purpose is bigger than your position.”
– Kimberly Evans Paige, former EVP & CMO, BET
“As important as (purpose) is to help you to identify who you are, it's even more important to identify who you're not.”
– Tariq Hassan, former Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer, McDonald’s USA
“The best leaders flex their style depending on the moment, sometimes stepping forward, sometimes holding back, and often creating space for others to shine.”
– Zena Arnold, CMO, Sephora
“The best ideas in the world won’t matter if you don’t create the environment for them to succeed. That starts with listening.”
– Andrea Perez, former SVP, Global Marketing, PlayStation and GM, Jordan Brand — Nike
“When you understand the unwritten rules of your organization, you can accelerate initiatives… and understand which ones are likely to move quickly and which ones are going to be a slog.”
– Eric Schwartz, SVP and CMO, The Clorox Company
“Your authentic self can grow. You can say, ‘I’m not changing who I am, but I’m changing my point of engagement.’”
– Karin Timpone, former CMO, Major League Baseball and Global CMO, Marriott International
“Politics aren’t noise. They’re people. And connections with people are how work really gets done.”
– Michelle Hagen, EVP Global Partnerships, Paramount Pictures
“The smartest strategies fail if you don’t take the time to really understand the people and the culture first. But when you get it right, everything else accelerates.”
– Rebecca Messina, Board Director/Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Co, former Global CMO at Uber and Beam Suntory
“The best way to understand tomorrow’s business is to understand today’s humanity.”
– Rishad Tobaccowala, Author, Futurist, Senior Advisor, Publicis Groupe
“You clear the path for your team not by avoiding tension, but by facing it with empathy and resolve.”
– Danielle Lee, Board Director, former President, Warner Music and Chief Fan Officer, NBA
“Leadership is about clearing the path so others can run faster, freer, and farther than they thought possible.”
– Kory Marchisotto, CMO, e.l.f. Beauty & President, Keys Soulcare
“Vulnerability builds trust. Shared accountability builds capacity. That’s how you make it safe for people to be great.”
– Najoh Tita-Reid, Chief Growth Officer, Mars Petcare
“We know this as marketers, but we forget this internally. Your priority isn’t their priority. Everybody has their own obstacles they’re working on. If you’re not explicit, people forget.”
– Kellyn Smith Kenny, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, AT&T
“Transformation fails when silos protect themselves. Everyone wants credit, and nobody wants disruption.”
– Dave Edelman, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School; former CMO, Aetna
“When you hesitate to make moves and decisions, the whole team pays the price.”
– Nick Tran, President & CMO, First Round (Diageo x Main Street Advisors, Cîroc & Lobos 1707), former Global Head of Marketing, TikTok
"Your job as a manager is to get the task done while developing your people so that over time, you're gaining more leverage out of your organization."
– Vineet Mehra, Chief Growth Officer, Chime
“Leaders need to build a culture where people feel accountable to the team. The successes and the failures."
– William White, CMO, Walmart
“Insight gives you the facts. Instinct gives you the courage to act. Together, they build trust.”
– Charisse Hughes, former Chief Growth Officer, Kellanova
“Your network is your net worth — not because of politics, but because people trust you to show up and deliver in service of the greater good.”
– Daniel Cherry III, Global CMO, Vans
“The most powerful thing you can do as a leader isn’t telling your story. It’s listening to theirs.”
– Ken Turner, CMO, Fanatics Collectibles
“Find a homie who can be a truth teller for you and give you feedback. Become mutual advocates, but also sounding boards for each other in terms of how you’re showing up.”
– Kenny Mitchell, Global CMO, Levi Strauss & Co.
“By the time you need a relationship, it’s too late to build one. At that point it’s transactional. The power of a network is built on confidence and trust, long before you need it.”
– Mark Weinstein, CMO, Hilton
“The way that people believe in you in very difficult moments is not about the difficult moment you're in. It's actually about every act that you have before then.”
– Craig Brommers, CMO, American Eagle
“People draw their strength from the steadiness of their leaders. When you provide that anchor, the team can weather any storm.”
– Deborah Wahl, Board Director; former Global CMO, GM, Cadillac and McDonald’s
“When the spotlight is brightest and the criticism loudest, resilience comes from staying true to purpose.”
– Tim Ellis, CMO, NFL
To go deeper behind these insights, explore our Virtuosi Voices series where many of the leaders featured here share the context, challenges, and thinking that shaped their perspectives.
These 26 insights are just a small sample from the deep, powerful lessons these leaders and others teach during our transformative Virtuosi LEAP leadership development programs. Whether for yourself or for senior leaders on your team, learn more about our six-week LEAP Essentials course and our most immersive program, LEAP Flagship.