#31 – What’s really happening inside your GTM engine before opportunities are created? That hidden stretch - what today’s guest calls the pipeline black box - may be the single biggest blind spot in B2B growth.

Four-time marketing leader Carolyn Dilks (ex–VP Marketing, now Co-Founder at Passetto and co-host of GTM Live) joins host Mandy Walker to unpack how revenue teams can finally see what’s working, what’s wasting resources, and how to engineer predictable pipeline.

You’ll learn:

• The Pipeline Black Box: Why it matters and what most teams miss before opp creation.
• Handraisers vs. MQLs: Why meetings - not MQLs - are the metric that actually matters.
• Attribution Myths: Where attribution helps, where it misleads, and the better metrics to run your GTM factory.
• Pipeline Ownership: How to align sales, marketing, and RevOps around system-level accountability.
• Planning Implications: How to defend budget, stop vanity metrics, and prioritize what drives growth.

About our guest:
Carolyn Dilks is a four-time marketing executive and the Co-Founder/CEO of Passetto, an advisory + instrumentation platform helping B2B revenue teams unlock their pipeline black box. She also co-hosts GTM Live, where she and her co-founders share lessons from building modern go-to-market systems.

If this episode sparked an idea, share it with a fellow B2B marketing leader. And as always - keep activating growth for yourself and your company.

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Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#30 - In this episode of Growth Activated, Mandy Walker sits down with Bryna Dilman—a seasoned Growth & Demand Gen leader—for our very first live coaching session on the show.

We tackle four questions many B2B marketing leader are wrestling with right now - and break down practical, real-world strategies you can take straight back to your team.

Inside, we cover:

• Evolving roles in the AI era - are generalists making a comeback, or do specialists still win?
• Digital marketing in a noisy world - how to break through oversaturation and build real trust and connection.
• Brand vs. demand - why brand gets deprioritized, and how CMOs can prove the multiplier effect to execs and CFOs.
• Go-to-market essentials - the baseline foundations every team needs: ICP, target account list, messaging, offers, and a clear path to sales meetings.

If you’ve ever felt like your channels are noisy, your brand work keeps slipping to the bottom of the list, and you’re still under pressure to deliver pipeline, this candid conversation will hit home.

🎧 Tune in to hear what’s working, what’s changing, and how today’s best marketing leaders are evolving their playbooks to drive growth.

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Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#29 - AI is reshaping B2B marketing - but what does that actually look like inside a CMO’s org, plan, and P&L? Four-time CMO Ruth Zive (Voices; ex-Ada, LivePerson) joins host Mandy Walker to share practical plays marketing leaders can use right now across customer experience, brand, content, and go-to-market - without losing the human edge.

You’ll learn:

• AI in CX & Brand: Why voice is the next brand asset (like your logo) and how leading brands license voices ethically and at scale.
• Marketing Team + AI: Where AI accelerates content, research, and competitive intel - and where skilled humans still matter.
• Annual Planning in the AI Era: Ruth’s planning flow - start with revenue, set a few big bets, align pipeline ownership with sales, fund what works.
• Lessons from a 4× CMO: Ruth’s approach to sales–marketing alignment, org design, and why her mantra is outcomes over strategy.

About our guest:
Ruth Zive is a 4× B2B SaaS CMO who has built and led high-performing marketing teams across AI-driven products. She currently leads marketing at Voices, helping brands show up through voice in an AI-first world.

If this episode sparked an idea, share it with a fellow B2B marketing leader. And as always - keep activating growth for yourself and your company. 

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#28 - Few conversations are more high-stakes for a B2B marketing leader than proving ROI to the C-Suite. Nail it, and you win trust, credibility, and budget. Miss the mark, and you risk being seen as a cost center instead of a growth driver.

In this episode of Growth Activated, host Mandy Walker shares seven mistakes marketing leaders make when proving marketing ROI to executives — and exactly how to avoid them. Drawing on her experience leading teams from $1M to $750M in revenue, Mandy reveals the pitfalls that derail even seasoned CMOs and VPs, and how to reframe your ROI conversations to strengthen executive alignment and support.

You’ll learn how to:

• Avoid poor data hygiene that undermines marketing metrics and trust
• Give the right context before showing results to the C-Suite
• Define marketing attribution in a way Sales and Finance will stand behind
• Show ROI without pitting Marketing and Sales against each other
• Calculate ROI the way your CFO expects
• Move beyond vanity metrics to business outcomes
• Prove incrementality — the true lift your marketing delivers

Whether you’re a CMO, VP, or aspiring leader, this episode will help you master boardroom presentations and earn the credibility every marketing leader needs at the highest levels.

If you’re heading into planning season and want to strengthen your executive presence while building a marketing strategy that gets buy-in from the C-Suite, check out Mandy’s Lead Like a CMO program at growthactivated.com.

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Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#27 – The first 90 days in a new marketing leadership role can make or break your long-term success.

You’re learning a new company, navigating personalities and politics, absorbing new systems—and all eyes are on you to make an impact fast.

In this solo episode of Growth Activated, Mandy Walker is sharing the 3 priorities she focuses on in every new CMO role—priorities that help her align with the business, unite her team, and deliver quick wins without burning out.

Inside, we cover:

• How to prioritize alignment with the C-Suite so you’re focused on the right segments, solutions, and opportunities from day one
• How to get your marketing team rowing in the same direction and working toward shared goals instead of operating in silos
• How to leverage incrementality and quick wins to build trust and momentum while laying the foundation for long-term success
• The simple frameworks Mandy uses to depersonalize decision-making, clarify team priorities, and identify low-effort, high-impact actions

Whether you’re stepping into your first CMO role, moving into a new company, or leading a team as a fractional or interim CMO, these principles will help you start strong, earn trust, and set yourself up for measurable impact.

If you’re a B2B marketing leader who wants to hit the ground running in your next role—and lead with clarity and confidence—this episode is your playbook for the first 90 days.

🎧 Listen in, then go activate growth.

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Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#26 -  In this episode of Growth Activated, Mandy Walker sits down with Morgan J. Ingram — LinkedIn strategist, content creator, and founder of AMP Creative — to talk all things LinkedIn marketing, social selling, and building a personal and brand presence that actually drives results.

Morgan breaks down the five key components of a high-impact social selling strategy, the role of marketing leadership in enabling sales teams on LinkedIn, and how modern B2B marketing leaders can create alignment across sales, marketing, and customer success.

Whether you're just starting to explore social media as a B2B channel or looking to elevate your entire go-to-market motion, this episode is packed with tactical advice and strategic insight.

We cover:
✔️ What most B2B marketers get wrong about LinkedIn
✔️ The 5 C’s framework for social selling
✔️ How to align sales, marketing, and customer success
✔️ What content actually works today
✔️ How to pilot a LinkedIn strategy with your sales team
✔️ Why personal profiles matter more than company pages
✔️ The one thing every marketing leader should optimize today

Perfect for marketing leaders, founders, and anyone driving go-to-market strategy in today’s noisy, AI-driven digital landscape.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#25 - You can’t move fast if your team doesn’t know where they’re going - or if they’re stuck waiting on you to decide everything. In this episode of Growth Activated, marketing leader and Fractional CMO Mandy Walker shares one of her most revisited leadership lessons: the importance of “laying the tracks” so your team can run.

Drawing on a powerful metaphor from a former CEO - and lessons from leading B2B marketing teams and planning her own wedding - Mandy explores how effective marketing leadership starts with clarity and ends with trust.

You'll learn:

• 4 essential areas where marketing leaders must provide direction
• 5 practical ways to stop being the bottleneck and build team autonomy

Whether you're leading a small startup team or a growing B2B marketing org, this episode will help you empower your people, create space to lead, and build a high-performing team that drives results - without needing you in every decision.

If you're a B2B marketing leader ready to scale your impact, this one’s for you.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#24 - Welcome to a special summer mini-series on Growth Activated, where we’re keeping things short, actionable, and full of value for marketing leaders looking to elevate their impact.

In this kickoff episode, Mandy Walker shares one of the most memorable leadership lessons she’s ever received - something that changed the way she thinks about empathy, accountability, and what it really means to lead a high-performing team.

If you’ve ever wrestled with whether to keep an underperformer, dealt with a toxic team member, or struggled to let go of someone who “used to be great,” this episode is a must-listen. You’ll walk away with a powerful reframing to help you lead with clarity and confidence.

We cover:

• The leadership mindset shift that changed Mandy’s approach forever
• 4 common team scenarios that undermine morale and growth
• How to balance empathy with performance as a B2B marketing leader
• Reflection questions to help you assess your current team dynamics

Whether you're leading a marketing org or growing your career in B2B, this episode will challenge your thinking and help you become a stronger, more strategic leader.

🎧 Tune in for a quick hit of insight—and get back to enjoying your summer while still investing in your leadership growth.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#23 - What does it take to build a content strategy that actually drives brand, trust, and pipeline in today’s B2B landscape?

In this episode of Growth Activated, I’m joined by Erik Jacobson—founder of Hatch.fm, host of the 95% Content podcast, and content partner to B2B leaders like Chris Walker and Dave Gerhardt.

We break down what Content Strategy 2.0 really looks like—and how top B2B brands are using podcasts, LinkedIn, and YouTube to build lasting influence and stay top of mind with future buyers.

Inside, we cover:

• How to turn one 90-minute recording into a full-funnel content engine
• Why scroll-first content is outperforming traditional SEO (and what that means for your strategy)
• The ROI of long-game content marketing—and how to talk about it with execs
• Where AI fits into content creation (and where it goes wrong)
• How to build thought leadership even if your CEO won’t get on camera

If you're a B2B marketing leader looking to scale content without burning out your team—or if you’re ready to build brand equity that lasts beyond the quarter—this episode is packed with tactical insights and mindset shifts you can use right now.

🎧 Listen in, then go activate growth.

Lead Like a CMO - Group Coaching Lab: Join the Waitlist

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!

#22: The rules of SEO are changing—and if you’re a B2B marketing leader still focused only on Google, it’s time to expand your playbook.

In this episode of Growth Activated, I’m joined by Mark Goloboy, a fractional CMO and AI marketing strategist helping teams adapt to the new world of LLM Optimization—where tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity now shape how your brand shows up in search.

We’ll explore what this shift means for modern B2B marketing teams, how AI is reshaping the way buyers research, and where marketing leaders should invest to stay competitive.

Inside the episode:

✅ Why SEO as we know it is evolving—and what’s replacing it
✅ How large language models (LLMs) decide which brands to prioritize
✅ The rise of “Search Everywhere Optimization”—from PR to social to review sites
✅ How to rethink your marketing strategy for both Google and AI-powered search
✅ Where to invest when your paid media stops performing
✅ Two next-gen AI use cases—one built for content at scale, the other for customer retention

If you’re a B2B marketer navigating AI, marketing leadership, and visibility in an increasingly complex buyer journey, this episode will help you level up your strategy—and lead the conversation, not chase it.

🎧 Tune in to learn how to evolve your marketing approach in the age of AI.

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Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
Loved this episode? Connect with me for more insights on B2B marketing leadership and strategies to grow your business.

🌐 Visit my website: growthactivated.com
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: Mandy Walker
🔗 Get Your Free Marketing Planning Guide Today!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Growth Activated and share this episode with fellow marketing leaders. Let’s activate growth—together!