Category Archives: people skills

210: Ronald Gaines: 6 Things the next generation of marketing ops leaders must learn

Ronald shares a framework for marketing operations leaders to move from reactive support into proactive systems authority by building influence through measurable credibility, structured intake processes, and disciplined governance. It argues that operational work should be managed like a product with clear boundaries, documented standards, and strong data discipline, which protects team capacity, prevents burnout, and makes impact visible to the business. More

193: David Joosten: The Politics and architecture of martech transformation

David learned that martech transformation begins with proof people can feel. Early in his career, he built immaculate systems that looked impressive but delivered nothing real. Everything changed when a VP asked him to show progress instead of idealistic roadmaps. From that moment, David focused on momentum and quick wins. Those early victories turned into stories that spread across the company and built trust naturally.More

192: Angela Vega: Expedia’s Martech leader on ADHD, discernment, and the art of picking battles in martech

Angela built her ADHD tech stack as a way to survive the noise in her own head, turning distraction into design. Her workflow (Offload, Shape, Prototype, Loop, and Anchor) channels restless thought into motion through AI tools like Whisper and GPT. After her second pregnancy and a diagnosis that reframed her chaos, Angela stopped fighting her wiring and built systems that worked with it.More

190: Henk-jan ter Brugge: The Head of Martech at Philips thinks martech has outgrown marketing and it’s time we lead like pirates

Henk-jan works like a pirate inside the navy, exposing inefficiency with data, redesigning roles around real capabilities, and breaking AI promises into measurable wins backed by clean data and clear standards. He treats composability as an operating model with budgets tied to usage, gives local teams autonomy within guardrails, and measures martech by how it serves people and drives revenue.More

165: Ashley Faus: Building content that matches actual human thinking by integrating lifecycle, content and product marketing

Marketing frameworks often fail because they ignore how humans actually behave. People don’t follow neat, linear paths; they explore, double back, and leap ahead based on genuine interests. Drawing from her diverse experience across corporate communications and lifecycle leadership, Ashley exposes how artificial walls between marketing functions create dysfunction while offering a solution. More

161: Angela Rueda: Meta’s Director of Martech on build vs buy, vendor selection and hybrid stacks

Angela walked into Meta’s engineering-first culture, discovering a sprawling mess of DIY custom martech solutions, and leading the organization through a fundamental mindset shift about build vs. buy decisions. She brings us through the technical and emotional journey of aligning more than 150 stakeholders ultimately forcing them to embrace a hybrid build-and-buy approach during a pivotal merger. More