Issue #12: The Weight Nobody Talks About
Welcome back to The Customer Continuum.
Issue #12: The Weight Nobody Talks About.
A few years ago my remit changed overnight.
Two teams were becoming one. I was asked to lead the combined function. More scope. More people. More responsibility than I had carried before.
I said yes.
Then I had to figure out what that actually meant.
What I walked into was a team that had been through a difficult period. Talented. Capable. But the trust was thin and the energy was low.
Nobody was waiting for a strategy deck.
They were waiting to see who I was.
That was the moment Adobe did not prepare me for.
I spent years at Adobe getting comfortable. Great brand. Strong team. Clear runway. I was good at the work. Delivered results. Built programs.
But I had never walked into a room where people needed to believe in leadership again before they could believe in the work.
I set up an all hands. Walked in not knowing what to expect.
Someone asked me directly: what are you like as a leader?
I had never been asked that so plainly. In a room full of people who needed a reason to trust again.
I did not have a perfect answer.
What I had was honesty. I told them I would not have all the answers. That I would protect them from noise they could not control. That I would tell them the truth even when it was hard. That we would figure it out together.
What I did not say, but know now, is that I was just as unsure as they were.
I just chose not to show it.
That is the job.
Not having certainty. Giving it anyway.
What nobody tells you before you become a VP
Adobe prepared me to be good at customer marketing.
That role prepared me to lead.
There is a difference.
Being good at the work means delivering results, building programs, proving value.
Leading means showing up for people when the ground is moving.
It means making principled decisions when the playbook runs out.
It means trusting your gut when nothing is certain.
It means sitting in a room full of people who need confidence you do not fully have. And giving it anyway.
Here is what that actually looks like:
You filter. Between what leadership is deciding and what your team needs to hear. Not everything gets passed down. Your job is to separate signal from noise and give people what they can act on.
You absorb. Reorgs. Budget cuts. Leadership changes. Strategy pivots. Your team does not need to feel all of it. They need to feel you.
You reflect. When your team is panicking they look at your face first. Your calm is not weakness. It is data. It tells them whether to run or to trust.
You carry. The weight does not go away. You just get better at holding it quietly.
The duos principle
When I brought those two teams together I did not open with a strategy deck.
I opened with Clifton’s Strengths.
I wanted every person in that room to see themselves clearly first. Before the org chart. Before the new structure.
Then I introduced a concept I called duos.
Two different people. Two different strengths. Coming together to build something neither could build alone.
2 + 2 = 20.
Not because of a framework. Because of trust.
I paired people intentionally. Strengths next to gaps. Skeptics next to believers. People who were tired next to people who still had energy to give.
It did not fix everything overnight.
But it gave people a reason to show up for each other instead of waiting to see what happened next.
That is how you rebuild after disruption.
Not with a perfect plan.
With a reason to trust the person next to you.
You may have heard of the framework: forming, storming, norming, performing…this was exactly how it was playing out IRL.
What I want to leave you with
If you are a Manager, Sr. Manger or even Director reading this and the VP title feels like the goal, here is what you are actually signing up for.
Not more strategy. More weight.
Principled calls when the playbook runs out.
Confidence you give on the days you need someone to give it to you.
It is worth it.
Because the moment a room full of people who had stopped believing in leadership looks at you and exhales; nothing manufactures that.
You earn it by showing up. Over and over. Even when it costs you.
Everything works out in the end.
And if it has not worked out yet. It is not the end.
P.S. If this resonated, forward it to a customer marketer navigating uncertainty right now. They probably need it more than they are letting on.
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