In this episode, we welcome Sirpa Ikola, a seasoned business leader with a global career in the telecom, consumer electronics, and energy industries. She is currently the Country Director of Home & Distribution and Power Products for Finland, within Schneider Electric's Europe Operations.

With nearly 20 years in telecom at Ericsson, Nokia, and HTC, she has led international marketing and sales teams across Europe and Asia before transitioning to B2B marketing and leadership in the energy sector. In this episode, she shares her thoughts and learnings on how to succeed at the executive level and work with and in management teams.

One key factor for success is adopting the mindset that sales and marketing are connected aspects of a single spectrum. Both functions need to work together to realize their synergy in both the short and long term.

In this episode, you will also hear about Sirpa’s leadership philosophy and her perspective on the differences between leadership in B2C and B2B environments. Are there significant differences, or is leading simply leading? And what is good leadership? 

Additionally, Sirpa offers insights on how marketing leaders can navigate management teams, the challenges and opportunities they face at the executive level, and how to create a cohesive story that aligns with business value.

Reach out Sirpa on LinkedIn. 

This episode highlights a conversation with Patrícia Namba, Senior Global Marketing Communications Manager from Atlas Copco. With over 15 years of global experience in marketing, communications, and sustainability, she shares her thoughts on working in a decentralized company.

Patrícia has an interesting and somewhat unconventional background for someone in marketing. She studied law before switching to communications and marketing. As she puts it, "That's the beauty of academics: We learn how to learn." This background has equipped her with strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, allowing her to analyze various perspectives and understand the bigger picture before making decisions.

In this episode, Patrícia shares her insights on working in companies that operate in a decentralized manner. If someone were to start a new role in a decentralized company, what tips would she offer?

Working in a decentralized company is all about collaboration – joining forces to drive better outcomes. But how can you ensure that global and local teams work together effectively rather than operate in silos? How can you take successful local marketing initiatives and scale them for global impact?

You’ll hear more about the power of co-creation, collaboration, and scaling in decentralized marketing. Patrícia emphasizes the importance of working closely with customer-facing teams to achieve better outcomes. 

You’ll also hear how to balance structure and flexibility in decentralized marketing, and how to make global campaigns work across regions with vastly different team sizes and resources, why co-creation with local teams is essential, and what key lessons new marketing leaders in decentralized organizations should keep in mind.

Connect with Patrícia on LinkedIn.