Last fall, I went one on one with Lara Balazs, the Chief Marketing Officer of Intuit, in my Lessons in Leadership series in Thrive Global. As CMO and GM, Strategic Partnership Group of Intuit - the maker of QuickBooks, TurboTax and Mint - Lara is responsible for global marketing and communications in support of Intuit’s mission to power prosperity for customers around the world.

When I interviewed Lara in 2019, she was Intuit’s CMO. In 2020, Lara’s role expanded to include running the Strategic Partner Group, which includes identifying and integrating strategic partners with Intuit’s global platform to deliver the benefits that matter the most to our customers. In this expanded role, Lara also leads Intuit’s Corporate Responsibility efforts which focus on diversity and inclusion, job creation and readiness, and making a positive impact on the climate. Prior to joining Intuit, Lara held marketing leadership roles at prominent companies including Amazon, Visa, and Nike.

The insights Lara shared in our conversation are as relevant today as they were then. Here are some excerpts:

Adam: What is the most important attribute of an effective CMO?

Lara: The CMO role is more complex and dynamic than ever before. In my experience, it’s been about figuring out the table stakes – knowing the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ that really makes you effective. There are the basics to give you the ‘what’: knowing your business inside and out; knowing the levers the drive the business; understanding your customers inside and out; knowing the customer journeys taken with and throughout your products. On top of that, you need to move with speed and agility – and that’s where the ‘how’ comes in. Marketing is a growth function, along with being a brand building function. A CMO needs to think about the full purchase funnel all the way to consideration, engagement, retention and referral. To do that with speed, you have to leverage the power of Martech. Your customers move faster than your marketing. This requires you to know the latest in technology to keep ahead of the customer. Bottom line, a CMO must know what drives company growth and how to motivate your customer behavior to drive that growth. 

Adam: What are three things people who work in marketing should understand?

Lara: 

• Creating customer relationships is key. As marketers, we need to connect with them emotionally while showcasing our differentiated product offerings. Only connecting with customers on a functional basis is not enough. We are more than a product or function to them, we are a part of their everyday lives: through their ups and downs, and their successes and failures. We’re with them on their first sale, their first employee and their first big deal when they make it to a next level business. That’s when we unleash the power of our brand and see results.

• Marketers today need to move with agility and speed. Things like approvals can slow down the creative process. This is where I like to suggest using a one-way and two-way door decision making process. If something is a two-way door, where you can make a decision and then reverse the decision, you probably need less people on the approval. If something is a one-way door, meaning once you walk through, you can’t go back on the decision, that may be something that requires more eyes and more of an approval process. Keeping this in mind will shorten your process time.

• Adopt a test-and-learn mentality. Testing, learning and failing is a part of the role of being a marketer or communicator. You must take risks and try things to achieve success. Don’t get discouraged by mis-steps. Consider it a test. Learn and pivot quickly.

Adam: What are three things everyone should understand about marketing?

Lara: 

• First off, more than ever before, marketing and communication efforts need to be a reflection of a true value-based company mission. If that mission is not authentic and not based on customer needs, your marketing will not drive growth and will not have the power it should among your customers, employees and all major stakeholders.

• Second, as marketers and communicators, we must be customer-driven. Our role is centered on truly understanding our customers with a deep level of empathy. 

• Third, marketing drives growth. We should shift our perception of marketing from being just an enabler function to thinking of it as a true growth engine.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Lara: Being customer-driven is the key to being effective as a leader – in whatever role. At Intuit, we view customer obsession as the most critical component to deliver financial products that not only function well but are well trusted and provide real benefits to our customers. We teach and coach every employee how to identify, understand and solve customer problems through a practice we call “Follow Me Homes” – which is where we shadow customers and observe their day-to-day behaviors to get a first-hand look into how they run their business. This practice drives us to focus on our customers’ problems and the benefits we can deliver through our financial products. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Lara: As marketers, we study our customers and learn about their nuances through a variety of different exercises. We map out customer journeys and over analyze the customer lifecycle. 

As a business or civic leader you can translate these activities into your own practice:

• Create personas to understand larger groups of customers or regions of constituents. 

• Start team meetings or briefings by sharing a new customer story or regional insight. 

• Get out there and meet people face-to-face. The best way to get to know customers or partners, their problems or concerns, and how you can best provide benefit is to go out and meet them in-person. 

You will only be as successful as the audience, the customers, the constituents you serve, so understand them inside and out and unapologetically support them.

Adam: What is one thing everyone should do to pay it forward?

Lara: If you’re fortunate enough to be in a place where you can help a person find out about an opportunity, an experience, or find a job, I really see that as a responsibility. I have a firm belief that everyone on this planet has unique gifts – their own superpower to share with the world. And when we collectively get to combine these individual superpowers the end result is something pretty incredible. We all as humans have a responsibility to acknowledge that within each other, and where the opportunity arises, take advantage of it and help your fellow person out.
 
As an example, I’ve always felt it was my responsibility to help women in pursuit of similar career goals, or who want to be a marketing leader. We’re a collective tribe supporting and helping each other, and then helping each other to pay it forward. I think it is really important.

For my full interview with Lara, visit thriveglobal.com/stories/tips-from-the-top-one-on-one-with-lara-balazs-cmo-of-intuit.