In conversation with Colleen Moorehead

AMA-Toronto’s latest entry in its quarterly Legendary Leadership event series was held on November 5th at the LoyaltyOne head office in Toronto. Aimed at giving the community direct access to members of the Marketing Hall of Legends, this event series offers insights into a legend’s success, and how their ideas and contributions to marketing and brand building have made an impact in the marketplace.

This time, the Legendary Leadership speaker was Colleen Moorehead (Chief Client Officer, Osler) in conversation with John Clinton (Principle, Clinton & Co., former Chair, Edelman)

“Cool Ahead of Cool”

The discussion started with Moorehead’s time as head of E*Trade Canada in the 1990s, and how she was running an exciting, disruptive company before ‘disruptive’ was a term.

She credited out-of-the-box hiring, as well as the freedom to work outside how things were usually done in the stayed financial services world. “We could take action where big institutions couldn’t,” she said. “And we had something to prove.”

The company culture was ahead of its time, as well, which got buzz and helped recruit. “It was cool ahead of cool,” Moorehead. One unique perk, for example, was that the employee of the month was rewarded with a month’s use of a brand-new Volkswagen Beetle, the “it” car of the time.

“Everyone Else Has Your Customers”

At the time, a single competitor accounted for 75% of the market, so there was a need to do things differently to win customers away from them.

Clinton cited Moorehead’s emphasis on direct, sometimes aggressive advertising. “She always asked, ‘Who will this upset?’ If it didn’t raise a stink in the industry, Colleen wasn’t going to approve it,” Clinton said, laughing.

“You have to be different,” Moorehead replied. “Everybody else has your customers. You steal customers away by saying, ‘the experience here is different,’ and by honouring those customers.”

From Corporate to Entrepreneur

Moorehead described those early years at E*Trade as the most “effervescent fun” of her career. But when it came time to sell E*Trade, she found that the shift from owner to employee to be difficult. She had contractual commitments to remain on board for a time but missed the ability to be in a genuine leadership role.

That’s when she made a move into private equity for a new challenge as entrepreneur in residence. She was all-in with her own money, so the success or failure was hers to bear. She had the advantage of raising capital in a long bull market but was always aware of having all her eggs in one basket, knowing that market corrections can come at any time.

Choosing What’s Next in Your Career

Moorehead and Clinton discussed the building blocks of a career, and what a career path looks like. They agreed that rather than a straight line, the typical career path is more of a jagged line of ups and downs.

“Your next gig won’t be like the last one you had,” said Moorehead. “And you have to kiss a lot of frogs.” 

When considering her next role, Moorehead looks at whether companies have problems to solve that she finds exciting and that she can help solve differently than others have done in the past. And she always asks herself, “Where will I have more fun?”

Her move to a law firm came because she felt they had problems she could solve—the need to build a tech backbone and automation for law firms. And she’s looking at ways to apply her lessons from financial services to bring a more team-based play to law firms, where traditionally, it has been more of an individual, partner-based approach.

“And the Light Shines Back”

Discussion then turned to Moorehead’s interest in values-based leadership and in bringing teams along by open, honest communication. “It’s about defining ambition differently,” said Moorehead. “Collective ambition is a positive. When you’re ambitious for your company, when you’re ambitious for your team or your leader—ambition for yourself comes out of that. And I think much of my success has been because I’m ambitious for other people, and the light shines back.” 

They also spoke of Moorehead’s work with The Judy Project, one of Canada’s leading executive forums, designed to support and prepare women who are ascending into executive leadership and C-suite positions.

Inspired by the memory of the late Judy Elder, a Microsoft Canada executive and a respected Canadian business leader, the Judy Project was established by Moorehead and others who had considered Elder a mentor. Over the last eighteen years, 450 people have been transformed by this program and each year a new network of 30 female leaders forms thanks to this project.

Members of the Judy Project recently produced a book on values-based leadership that has sold over 10,000 copies and reached over 3000 people during live events and readings.

Lasting Brand, Lasting Career

Moorehead and Clinton were then asked some joint questions by Vickie Raptis (Director, National Marketing and Sales Support, Deloitte Canada) around the evening’s theme of ‘Lasting Brand, Lasting Career.’

Asked how she became so fearless and risk-taking, Moorehead emphasized that her time at E*TRADE had forced her to learn to be more daring. Now, she always tries to push herself one step beyond wherever she’s comfortable. She feels this is especially important for women in business as a means of pushing back against the ways in which women and girls are socialized to be more risk-averse. 

To help build fearlessness, Moorehead recommends trying to find some safe ways that you can take a little more risk in your business. For example, could you set up a short-term pilot program? If it fails, you haven’t risked too much time or too much capital and can move on to something else.

Clinton recounted some of the best advice he ever received came after a string of setbacks during his very first week as a first-time president of an agency. Anxious about making the wrong decisions, Clinton’s mentor pointed out that, yes, he was going to make mistakes. Not every decision would work out, his mentor pointed out, but not making decisions was a sure recipe for disaster. So, his mentor encouraged him, if he was going to screw up, he should screw up quickly and get on with the job. Clinton found this permission to fail freeing.

Personal Success

Asked to define personal success, Moorehead said that she needs to achieve and be proud of what she’s accomplishing in her company. But she also needs to have a multifaceted life. She needs to do charity work, to sit on corporate boards, to act as an investor in other companies that she believes in, and to work with the Judy Project.

Likewise, Clinton said that he can’t stay in one lane, as other parts of his life inform his work and vice versa, making each better and more productive. Clinton is also an accomplished painter and sculptor, and he relies on his art to help restore his focus. He feels that this kind of balance leads to his feelings of personal success.

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 Join AMA-Toronto’s final event of the year on December 9th for Looking Ahead to the 2020 Marketing Landscape. Hear from a panel of the industry’s biggest movers and shakers about the trends and challenges that marketers will face in 2020. For more details, visit the AMA-Toronto Events page.

This article was brought to you through the partnership between the AMA-Toronto and HeadStart Copywriting.