Leading the Charge: Leila Woodington: Marketing Director Europe, Facebook: Inspiring Leadership Interview with Jonathan Bowman-Perks
Podcast Details
Top Tip
Leila Woodington, Marketing Director, Northern Europe, Facebook
Leila has been at Facebook for over 9 years, initially leading B2B marketing efforts in the UK before taking on responsibility for Northern Europe. She’s had the privilege of growing into a senior leadership role while at Facebook. Prior to Facebook she spent almost 6 years at PayPal, where she was responsible for B2B acquisition marketing, with a focus on large enterprise businesses and top tier SMEs.
Top Tip: Listen more than you talk. And unless you are literally saving lives, always remember it’s ‘PR not ER’ – perspective is essential. Leila believes that to be a truly effective leader, you must lead by example, not command and control. In her experience, the best leaders do not whip their team into shape from the back of the pack. They lead the charge, while carrying their share of the weight.
Leila has been heavily involved in the work of the marketing Academy where she is highly respected. It was so interesting that her podcast was listened to a lot and people drew a lot of wise advice and comfort from it.
She raised fascinating themes – about Share of Voice (leaders speak too much) in crisis situations. Remote First – rather than working from home. The future is likely to be 3–2 three days in the office 2 working from home and 2 days off. Also many will fully work from home with visits to the office every 2 weeks for a day. Facebook found it easy to adapt to the Pandemic yet still find it a challenge for those with children and living alone. The team has become closer and more connected – more inclusive, more efficient and connected.
Communicate before the event – trust he pre-reads. We dont want to go back to normal – we have to go forward. Inclusivity and we need divergent thinking. Vote first like David Marquet – fist to 5 who are the outliers. HIPPO – highest paid persons opinions.
Leila’s parents came from Iran and settled in the UK.