The Whole Marketer podcast

Episode #160. Today's episode is a personal understanding topic on career development, empowering marketers to take the reins of your career by ensuring we are building skills and behaviours to achieve our ideal role and also our future career goals.

Abby's guest is Veronika Kryuchkova, Global Head of Capability for Reckitt. As a global marketing and transformation leader with two decades of experience launching, scaling and turning around brands including at Johnson and Johnson, Teva and Reckitt - and podcast host of Get Superpowered - she is passionate about the human side of transformation, helping teams and organisations build the capabilities they need and career development.

In this episode, Veronika explains being intentional in career choices, key skills for marketers of the future and creating a culture of learning. Plus she introduces the concept of the capability stack and core, human, and future capabilities

Plus Veronika shares her career high and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Career Development

00:03:00 Defining Career Development

00:05:04 Intentionality and the Capability Stack

00:09:12 Core, Human, and Future Capabilities

00:14:15 The Importance of Marketers Owning Their Careers

00:15:49 Forces Shaping Marketing Careers

00:21:58 Key Skills for Future Marketers

00:25:43 The Role of Curiosity and Collaboration

00:33:13 Embedding Skills Beyond Training

00:37:42 Leadership's Role in Learning Culture

00:39:45 Veronika's Career Highs and Lows

00:43:56 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Veronika Kryuchkova | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #159. Our first episode of 2026 is a personal understanding and leadership topic on authentic leadership with advice from a senior marketer on key leadership skills and finding your style.

Joining Abby is her guest David Enwright, Marketing Director at the Post Office and a long-time advocate for inclusive, human-centred leadership. With a career spanning HSBC, RBS, Allianz, and the Post Office, he has built a reputation for delivering commercial impact while creating environments where people feel safe, valued, and genuinely able to thrive. As a recognised role model for inclusive leadership, David leads with honesty and empathy, and brings lived experiences and candour to some of businesses most complex challenges.

In this episode, David shares his definition of authentic leadership, the importance of deep active listening, trust and psychological safety, and how he has developed his authentic leadership style. Plus, David's career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Authentic Leadership

00:02:47 Defining of Authentic Leadership

00:05:00 David's Leadership Style

00:06:25 The Importance of Deep Listening

00:08:28 Creating the Right Environment for Conversations

00:09:46 Arriving at an Authentic Leadership Style

00:12:08 Learning from Mistakes and Personal Loss

00:16:05 Recognizing and Preventing Burnout

00:17:51 Building Psychological Safety and Trust

00:21:11 Benefits of Psychological Safety

00:23:09 Encouraging Bold Ideas and Growth Mindset

00:24:47 David's Career Highs and Lows

00:26:58 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: David Enwright | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #158. Today's episode is a technical skill on effective brand building and the considerations and competencies you need to build a brand; including the importance of clarity on your strategic choices and the movement you want to make through SMART objectives to ladder up to the commercial objectives.

Abby's guest is experienced, award-winning marketing leader and friend of the podcast Andrew Geoghegan, Group Chief Marketing Officer at William Grant & Sons and ex PZ Cussons and Diageo. His paper on creating a culture of effectiveness at Diageo won Gold, Best New Learning, and Best Use of Data from the IPA and he has been recognised as one of the top 100 marketers by Marketing Week.

In this episode, Andrew shares his experience of brand building and practical advice from his book 'Effective brand building' including organisational context when brand building, making strategic choices, meeting your consumer where they are and how to win/keep winning.

Plus Andrew's highs and lows (since he last appeared on our podcast) and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Andrew Geoghegan | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #157. We're focusing on burnout on today's episode, an issue we regularly and will continue to raise awareness of in our profession. We are passionate about providing support to empower you with the signs and actions you can take to aid in prevention and recovery in our fast-paced, challenging yet rewarding marketing profession.

Joining Abby on this episode is guest expert Dr Richard Duggins, Associate Medical Director for culture and leadership at Kent NHS Foundation Trust and a leading voice on staff wellbeing. A psychiatrist, psychotherapist and leadership coach, Richard has spent nearly two decades helping healthcare and other professionals recover from burnout, anxiety and depression. His work blends clinical expertise with deep insights into organisational culture and he leads a specialist regional wellbeing service for over 175,000 health and social care staff and works with the NHS practitioner help.

In this episode, Richard shares insights from his book 'Burnout-Free Working: Your Expert Guide to Thriving in Stressful Workplaces' and discusses what burnout is, warning signs that you're on the edge of the burnout cliff and 5 ways to avoid it. Plus practical frameworks like the "exhaustion funnel" and "drain and radiators" and finding a decompression activity to boost your energy.

Plus Richard's advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Introduction to Burnout

00:02:31 Defining Burnout

00:04:22 Recognizing Burnout in Ourselves and Others

00:07:32 The Exhaustion Funnel

00:09:16 The Burnout Cliff

00:13:00 Personal and Professional Factors in Burnout

00:17:36 Impact of Perfectionism

00:21:42 Resilience

00:21:50 Radiators and Drains Model

00:29:09 Five Ways to Prevent Burnout

00:35:11 Looking Out for Others: The Three L's

00:39:09 Building a Supportive Culture

00:40:02 Final Advice for Marketers

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Dr Richard Duggins | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #156. This episode of personal understanding is a skill for marketers in our ever-changing, challenging yet rewarding profession.

We're discussing resilience - not to be confused with endurance. We believe building resilience is about individuals feeling empowered to proactively put in place what they need to ensure that they have the energy and wellbeing levels to deal with day-to-day life and setbacks when they inevitably occur.

Abby's guest expert on this topic is Drew Povey, author, leadership coach and mentor with over 25 years professional experience in multi-sector, executive level leadership across a wide range of sectors including elite sport, corporate, nonprofit and government settings. Drew's recently published book 'When the Clouds Come: Dealing with Difficulties, Facing Your Fears, and Overcoming Obstacles' includes his models and tools to support leaders with resilience.

In this episode, Drew shares his definition of resilience, building resilience like a muscle and practical models from his book, including the "Five H's" for effective leadership in tough times and BEST LIFE for well-being.

Plus Drew's advice for marketers of tomorrow to build their tolerance to change.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Resilience

00:01:11 Defining Resilience vs. Endurance

00:03:41 Drew Povey's Perspective on Resilience

00:07:30 Resilience and Well-being

00:12:06 Drew Povey's Book: When the Clouds Come

00:15:21 The Cloud Analogy

00:20:32 "BEST LIFE" Model

00:23:01 Building Resilience Like a Muscle

00:28:03 Perspective and Leadership During Change

00:33:40 The Three P's Model for Difficult Times

00:38:10 Change as a Process, Not an Event

00:38:56 The Five H's for Dealing with Difficulty

00:47:55 The Power of Pause in Leadership

00:51:32 Summary and Final Reflections

00:52:07 Final Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Drew Povey | LinkedIn

When the Clouds Come: Dealing with Difficulties, Facing Your Fears, and Overcoming Obstacles: Dealing with Difficulties, Facing Your Fears, and Overcoming Obstacles: Amazon.co.uk: Povey, Drew: 9780857089175: Books

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #155. Today's focus is a personal understanding topic on the importance of marketers owning and sharing their authentic voices - especially on platforms like LinkedIn.

Joining Abby is her guest Nicola Kemp, Editorial Director for Creative Brief. Starting her career as a financial journalist, Nicola has worked for titles including Campaign, WGSN, M&M Global, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Guardian and The Observer. Today, Nicola is a passionate advocate speaking out for diversity in all its forms in the creative industries. A respected voice, Nicola won the Woman in Marketing Journalist of the year award, named as one of the 200 women redefining the creative industry by The Dots, an #EverydayAction award winner by Bloom, a Pitch 100 Superwoman, a Power Part Time winner and a Campaign Trailblazer of the future.

In this episode, Nicola shares her definition of sharing your voice, overcoming internal doubts, external barriers like misogyny, and the need for diversity of thought and positive change in marketing. Plus, practical advice on building confidence, starting small, and focusing on personal strengths.

Nicola also shares her career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Owning and Sharing your Voice

00:02:28 What it Means to Harness the Power of Your Voice in Marketing

00:03:40 The Social Responsibility of Using Your Voice

00:04:47 Barriers, Backlash and Self-Editing

00:15:31 The Importance of Community

00:18:14 How to Start Sharing Your Voice

00:20:54 Humility and Curiosity

00:29:30 Building Clarity and Self-Understanding

00:32:42 Developing Confidence

00:35:58 The Power of Vulnerability and Authenticity

00:37:48 Nicola's Career Highs and Lows

00:42:17 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Nicola Kemp | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest thinking, technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to see how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team

Episode #154. We're back! Season 9 kicks off with a fundamental technical skill for marketers growing the brands and businesses of tomorrow… we're discussing marketing's role in leading the long-term commercial agenda, what you can do to build trusting and collaborative relationships with your finance department and how to build the link between marketing and commercial results.

Abby's guest expert is Naomi Walkland, Chief Marketing Officer at Motorway, which is the UK's fastest growing car marketplace. In her role, she oversees the company's brand and product marketing, growth marketing, creative communications and business marketing team. Previously, Naomi served as the VP of Bumble, where she led the international marketing team, driving new customers and revenue growth outside of the US. Naomi is an Honorary Fellow of the Marketing Society, and has been recognised by Marketing Week and Campaign Magazine as one of their top marketing leaders in the UK.

In this episode, Naomi shares what it means to lead the long-term commercial agenda, developing your financial literacy, building relationships with finance and modelling this with your teams, and the importance of transparency and shared responsibility with your CFO.

Plus her experience at Bumble and Motorway, career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Marketing's Role in Leading the Long-Term Commercial Agenda

00:04:27 Importance of Sustainable Growth

00:06:05 Building Evidence of Marketing's Impact

00:08:53 Building a Relationship with the CFO

00:10:07 Transparency and Shared Accountability with Finance

00:14:52 Taking Calculated Risks

00:17:49 Honesty and Trust in Marketing Leadership

00:19:34 Developing Courage and Humility as a Leader

00:23:10 Educating Teams on Commercial Understanding

00:24:02 Investing in your Financial Literacy and Development

00:28:24 Naomi's Career Highs and Lows

00:31:58 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Naomi Walkland | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole.

Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service.

Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to hear how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing.

Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team.

Episode #153. This topic is a technical and human skill that all marketers should strive to develop in order to solve problems and inspire new thinking, ideas, products and experiences for your consumers and your organisation… we're talking about creating a culture of creative excellence – what it is and how to get started.

Abby's guest expert is Rich Atkinson-Toal, VP of Global Brand and Marketing at Amex Global Business Travel. His marketing and communication leadership experience extends across B2C and B2B brands including Barclays and Barclaycard. Over the last 18 years, Rich has worked across all marketing and management disciplines, including media, creative, marketing, technology, production, communications, planning and activation. He is also deputy chair and non-executive director of the Data and Marketing Association and as a growth orientated, passionate and ambitious leader he believes culture and purpose are key components of brand and business success.

In this episode, Rich shares his definition of creative excellence, the process he puts in place as a leader to make time and space for creativity, reviewing and aligning creativity, starting your creative excellence culture and how to engage your team.

Plus his highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction Creative Excellence

00:04:15 Defining Creative Excellence

00:07:04 Clarity and Alignment in Creativity

00:08:06 Creativity as a Mindset Across the Organisation

00:10:01 Practical Steps to Shift Creative Culture

00:14:53 Creative Reviews and Consistency

00:19:13 Measuring External Creative Excellence

00:25:10 Skills and Behaviours for Creative Teams

00:30:35 Protecting the Creative Team Environment

00:34:12 Lessons Learned in Creative Transformation

00:38:08 Career Highs and Lows

00:42:27 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Rich Atkinson-Toal | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com

Episode #152. Today's focus is a technical skill on advertising – specifically the significant implications of uninspired advertising and how to overcome dullness in your work.

Abby's guest expert is Adam Morgan, legendary marketing strategist, speaker, podcast host and author of Eating The Big Fish (which first popularised the term challenger brands some 20 years ago). As founder and partner of Eat Big Fish, an international consultancy that specializes in bringing a challenger mindset to client problems in the area of strategy, culture and innovation, he is passionate about helping brands overcome mediocrity. His latest project, The Extraordinary Cost of Dull, a collaboration with Peter Field, Jon Evans and Dr Karen Nelson-Field, delves into just how costly it is for brand owners and marketers to be dull. In his podcast entitled 'Let's make this more Interesting' Adam speaks to fascinating people who excel at engaging their audience.

In this episode, Adam shares the background to his 'cost of dull' project and research showing that dull campaigns require higher media spend to achieve results. He discusses the reasons why dullness persists, five key questions to help marketers create more engaging, distinctive work, and embracing the mindset of a challenger.

Plus, his career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Advertising and the 'Cost of Dull' project

00:03:19 Defining the Cost of Dull

00:04:39 Dullness as Exclusion & Societal Impact

00:06:33 Why Tackle Dullness

00:10:57 Prioritizing Where to Be Interesting Framework

00:13:30 Findings from the 'Cost of Dull' Research

00:18:24 Why Dullness Persists: The Five Drivers

00:25:52 How to Avoid Being Dull

00:26:20 The Five Questions to Ensure Engaging and Effective Communication.

00:38:31Challenger Brands Mindset

00:42:31 Career Highs and Lows

00:45:04 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Links

Lets Make This More Interesting — eatbigfish.

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Adam Morgan | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com

Episode #151. Today's focus is a technical skill on how to step change growth of your brand or business. When we refer to step change, we don't mean incremental movements in growth, but a bold, substantial shift; whether that's a significant reversal of brand decline or stepping out into new categories and territories in pursuit of brand-new growth opportunities. It requires a real mindset shift – plus bravery and curiosity – to step change growth of your brand of business.

Joining Abby is her guest Jo McClintock, award-winning marketer and Trainline's VP Brand and Marketing. Jo is known in the industry for her strategic thinking, combining brand purpose and commercial strategy for brands such as Moonpig, Skyscanner, Screwfix and today at Trainline. This has really shown up in big ideas such as the award-winning 'I Came By Train' sustainable train initiative to get more people out of cars and planes and onto the rails, as well as scaling Trainline into four new international markets.

In this episode, Jo shares her definition of a step changing growth, how to bring new ideas to your team, building a collaborative culture that supports bold ideas, helping others to visualise to bring to life and making space for curiosity.

Plus, her career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.

00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Step Change Growth

00:02:42 Defining Step Change Growth (00:02:42)

00:04:15 Approach to Achieving Step Change

00:05:36 Culture of Curiosity and Psychological Safety

00:07:05 Critical Thinking and Accountability

00:09:31 Building and Evolving Ideas Collaboratively

00:12:33 Examples of Step Change at Trainline

00:17:21 The "Four Worlds" framework (customer, culture, business, category)

00:18:40 Permission to Think Big

00:20:00 Jo's Strategic Thinking Process

00:25:03 Career Highs and Lows

00:27:31 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow

Book Recommendation: Where Ideas Come From

Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn

Guest: Jo McClintock | LinkedIn

The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. For more info go to www.thewholemarketer.com