College Experiences That Helped A Group Vice President Strategy At Huge Inc Succeed
Sarah, a GVP of Strategy at Huge Inc., emphasizes the crucial skill of "driving buy-in" from both internal teams and external clients, tailoring "your story to the specific audience." The importance of embracing failure, "failing up," particularly early in one's career, is also highlighted as key to growth and learning.
Executive/Leadership, Communication, Teamwork, Overcoming Challenges, Problem-Solving
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sarah McMains
GVP, Strategy
Huge Inc
USC, 2006
CSULB, MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology; UCLA Anderson, MBA
Psychology
Consulting & Related Professional Services
Business Strategy
Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Driving stakeholder buy-in is crucial for success, both internally and externally. Tailoring communication to different audiences is key.
2. Don't be afraid to fail; it's better to try early on and learn from mistakes than to avoid risks altogether.
3. Mentorship and air cover from senior colleagues can help junior professionals navigate early career challenges and failures.
Transcript
What is one lesson that you have learned that has proven significant in your career?
This relates to the industry I'm in, where driving stakeholder buy-in is really key. That goes for both internal and external audiences.
When you're collaborating cross-functionally with other disciplines, especially enrollment, it's crucial to ensure everyone is aligned. This includes technologists, creatives, and data scientists on your team. They need to believe in the recommendations and insights for successful client delivery.
It's also important to get clients to buy in. This typically involves not just the client paying for the work, but also their leadership. Often, we work with a CMO or brand owner, someone senior in the organization. They'll buy into our recommendations, and then we help them take those recommendations to their leadership for buy-in.
Knowing how to drive buy-in at each of those levels or for each audience is very important. This isn't something you learn on day one; it takes years of experience. Recognizing that you should always tailor your story to the specific audience to drive buy-in is key.
The second lesson is more on the softer side and probably applies across industries: the importance of "failing up." This might sound cliché, but it means knowing you won't always be perfect and you will make mistakes. Especially when you're early in your career, you have insulation and air cover from your managers or mentors.
It's better to try early and fail than not to try at all. This allows you to do better work later in a project.
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