Tell me about Atlassian, its work and projects…

Atlassian is a software company on a mission to unleash the potential of all teams. No matter where or how you work, Atlassian’s tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Trello enable teams of all sizes to optimize their work, together. Atlassian was started in Sydney Australia by two college grads and is now a global company with customers in every country in the world.

What are the challenges within the Marketing industry today?

People are tired of being sold to. And talked at. That is such a challenge for marketers because we have to sell products! It requires us to change our approach and do marketing with an audience-first perspective that proves value before asking for attention or a purchase.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way you go about business? What trends do you see for the future?

The biggest thing Covid taught me is that we are all intricately connected and dependent on each other. There is no use denying it, and there is no value in creating systems that only benefit a select few. That knowledge has changed me as a marketer because it helps me approach my work from a systems approach. When I publish a blog post for my target audience, I am now thinking about them as a mother, or father, a caretaker, and a citizen of their communities that are always facing challenges. It’s made me more empathetic and aware that nothing – including my marketing campaigns – exists in a vacuum.

As a company, we see the trend of remote work that was spurred by the pandemic continuing and growing. In fact, we have embraced remote work in our company with a new policy that allows Atlassians to work from where they want, and doesn’t force people back into an office.

And more than where you work, we have observed a trend of worker empowerment and advocacy. We enacted our new remote work policy because of feedback from our employees about where and how they wanted to work. I think we will see a big delta between retention in companies that listen and act upon the feedback of their employees and those that don’t.

What is your biggest objective as a speaker?

I want to tap into people’s core desires and what motivates them to come into work everyday, and give them inspiration and ideas for how to accomplish what they long for in their jobs.

Could you share with us the points of discussion (the input that you provided) during the panel(s) at the Digital Marketers Organization conference? 

Sure! My talk was about how to create a mission-driven marketing strategy, and it was really about how to let your core company mission and values inform the marketing activities you pursue. I shared some great industry examples from mission-driven companies like Patagonia, Dove, and my own company, Atlassian. And then I walked attendees through the steps they could take to discover their company missions and create marketing strategies from it.

As a leader, what are the factors both professional and personal that drive you? What keeps you going?

A few years ago I discovered a personality assessment called the Enneagram and found it wildly helpful. I am an Enneagram 1 which means that I am driven by my core values and my principles. When applied to work, it means that I am motivated by the big picture objectives that we are pursuing, and the values that guide how we get our work done. Whether that be the values that guide how we treat our people, or the goals that we have in serving our customers, for me, having a connection to the big picture goal gets me excited for work every day.

In your opinion, do digital events give you a similar level of feedback/result vis-à-vis the live versions? What would you say were the biggest pros and cons of both formats? Which do you prefer?  

What I love about digital events is the accessibility. It’s kind of amazing how you can tune in to an event anywhere in the world and hear from some incredible speakers. I still remember when TED hosted an interview with Bill Gates when Covid first struck out and nobody knew what was going on. Being able to learn from him from the comfort of my living room (when we were on lockdown) was inspiring. I hope we continue seeing that model of people opening up information in a digital space.

But, as we also learned in the pandemic, in-person connection is essential. It wasn’t until it was ripped away from us that we all realized how much we needed each other. And that’s what makes live events so energizing and engaging.

As we move forward, I hope we do more in-person events, but in a new way. I don’t think we can go back to the old model where in-person events, especially in the world of B2B, are about attending a lecture and being talked at. I think there’s a ton of opportunity to re-imagine in-person events by focusing on high-quality interaction, using events as meaningful networking opportunities, and sharing and telling our stories that bring us all together.

Eventible.com is a review platform catering to B2B events. Given how review-driven our lives have become today, do you think reviews will bring in a level of transparency to the events industry? Would you rely on event reviews from other speakers if you had to make a speaking decision?

Yes.  

Finally, do you have a favourite mocktail or drink? We’d be delighted to know. 

Kombucha