Women Execs Making
it Happen:
How do they do it?

The 2015 international Women’s Day
theme is “make it happen.”
+ Some of the top female
marketing and business leaders
from across U.S., India, China,
Spain, England, and Ireland weighed
in on how they make it happen.
Margaret Molloy
Global CMO
Siegel+Gale
@MargaretMolloy

Put the Customer at the
Center
“At HP our tagline is “make it matter,”
which is about enabling our customers
to do the things that matter to them.
We put the customer at the center of
what we do, be it storytelling in our
customer experience centers, user
centric digital experience design and
social engagement—they’re at the core
of what we do.”
Susan Popper
SVP Experience Marketing
Hewlett-Packard

Stay Ahead of the Pack
“Inspire a shared vision and clear
strategy for growth. Keep a close eye on
the rear view mirror and cultivate a
business environment that empowers
teams to innovate. Ask the right
questions, and have the confidence to
make decisions around what not do to,
as much as around what to do to gain
market share.”
Alison Metcalfe
Executive Vice President,
United States & Canada
Tourism Ireland
@metcalfealison1

Kelly Liang
Senior Vice President of
Business Development
SmartThings
Build Relationships
“To “make it happen” at work, I force
tradeoffs and do not try to do everything,
but rather focus on flawless execution of the
highest priorities. I obsess about the people
in my organization and make sure to reward,
recognize, and retain talent. Lastly, ensuring
alignment and transparency are key
ingredients to building strong working
relationships with internal stakeholders as
well as external partners.”

Seek to Understand
“This year, we are “making it happen”
by focusing our international marketing
and business development activities
around two themes, smart cities and
the connected consumer. These
themes draw on a combination of
Osborne Clarke’s in-depth
understanding of our clients’ industries
and our legal expertise.”
Fiona Sigee
Business Development Director
Osborne Clark

Niamh Bushnell
Dublin Commissioner for
Startups
@NiamhBushnell
Seek to Understand
“This year, we are “making it happen” by
focusing our international marketing and
business development activities around two
themes, smart cities and the connected
consumer. These themes draw on a
combination of Osborne Clarke’s in-depth
understanding of our clients’ industries and
our legal expertise.”

Embrace Simplicity
“We recently launched our new
branding, with simplexity as the
brand idea behind everything we
do. I am making simplexity
happen at Panda Security by
leading several cross-functional
volunteer groups who work
together to innovate by
simplifying.”
Paula Quiros
Marketing/PR Director
Panda Security
@pquiros

Be Forthright With Your
Opinions
“I am making it happen by being
authentic. I get things done by
sharing what I really think and
inviting others to do the same.
Whether I agree with an idea or not,
my experience in doing so builds
trust. When people know where you
stand you make progress faster and
develop stronger relationships.”
Elizabeth “Beezer” Clarkson
Managing Director
Sapphire Ventures
@Beezer232

Never Give Up
“Belief in yourself, persistence
and resilience is what is needed to
make it happen—never give up. At
Time Inc. India we are making it
happen for women by ensuring
that International Woman’s Day is
not just one day a year. We
encourage women at all levels to
take risks and fail forward.”
Sejal Shah Gulati
President & Managing Director
Time Inc. India
@SejalShahGulati

Avoid Distractions
“In a world where consumers and
business landscapes are changing so
rapidly, we are staying laser focused
on what will have the greatest impact
for our consumers, clients and our
organization. Distractions and
multiple priorities are the new
normal—focus and clarity on
delivering critical initiatives with
excellence makes all the difference.”
Marla Thompson
SVP, U.S. Strategy
Catalina

Believe in Yourself
“For me, “making it happen” starts
with believing you can do it, even if
you've never done it before and
being perseverant. My first
assignment at the China
Investment Corporation was
responsibility for private equity
funds in Europe, a market I had
never covered before. With self-
belief and hard work, I did it.
Women are often told what they
can't do, sometimes by
themselves. You have to get rid of
those self limiting thoughts in
order to make it happen.”
Olivia Ouyang
Managing Director
China Investment Corporation

Focus on Execution
“I work at a large media company and I
have often heard of good ideas/projects
being dismissed because they "won't
move the needle”. I believe that a good
idea, even if modest in size, combined
with great execution is always worth
doing if it advances an operational
strategy. Very few individual
ideas/projects/deals will "move the
needle" for a large corporation, but the
cumulative impact of many well
executed projects can be surprisingly
meaningful and achieve real strategic
and financial impact.”
Rachel Lam
SVP & Group Managing Director
TW Investments at Time Warner
Inc.

Build Relationships
“I'm making it happen by getting
up from my desk and talking to
people—building relationships
rather than writing emails. Before
I type any email, I have resolved
to ask myself, can this be done
better in person? It's shocking
how such a practice can make
things happen more quickly with
fewer misunderstandings.”
Christine Burke
Director, Runner Products
New York Road Runners

Use Your Strengths
“Everyone has strengths and
weaknesses, and the trick to
"making it happen" is to use
your strengths when
approaching an opportunity or
challenge. Good things happen
when you leverage the different
strengths (super powers) of
people in an organization.
Diversity is key to making really
meaningful things happen.”
Heather McGlinn Hansma
Head of Strategy Development and
Planning
Wells Fargo Virtual (Digital and
Contact Center) Channels

Cultivate Talent
“Women in leadership have an
obligation to develop business
models where everyone can
prosper—particularly the female
millennial. When talent rises to
top everyone wins. The
opportunity for young women
today in Irish business is
immense.”
Marie O’Connor
Partner
PwC, Ireland
@mocireland

Live your Brand
“Everything we do at Jive is
based on our own software,
resulting in an open,
transparent and honest culture.
We live Jive everyday. I’m
proud that we “make it happen”
for employees by listening,
acting on feedback and
consistently being a top-rated
place to work.”
Elisa Steele
CEO & President
Jive Software
@elisasteele

Focus on Talent
"We are “making it happen”
by hiring and nurturing the
strongest team and talent
possible, ensuring they have
all the resources and
support from me and the
organization to make it
happen."
Michele Law
Chief Revenue Officer
Castlight Health

Be Courageous
“I think female leaders that are
“making it happen” do it best
with courage. It takes more
courage to be innovative and
curious than to stay on the
same trusted path. It takes
courage to deliver long-term
value for customers when we
live an immediate result
oriented world.”
Terri Funk Graham
Board Director
Sprouts Farmers Market
@Tfggraham

Be a role model
“I strive to make it happen by
being the best professional I
can be. For me it’s about aiming
for excellence and seeing that
example as the precedent and
expectation for female
accomplishment.”
Margaret Molloy
Global CMO
Siegel+Gale
@MargaretMolloy

www.siegelgale.com
Thanks to these women executives.
I’d love to hear how you are making it happen
at your organization.
Tweet me @MargaretMolloy
Siegel+Gale is the simplicity company. We
are a global strategic branding, design and
experience firm.