Debbie Laskey's Blog: HOLIDAY LEADERSHIP SERIES

With the arrival of the holiday season, it's time for the memorable end-of-the-year advertising campaigns and familiar music to hit the airwaves; our TV's, radios, and computer/tablet/smartphone screens will be bombarded by reminders of the season. Since I've been honored to share several inspiring series on my blog over the last year including my #FallBacktoReadingSeries, #SpringLeadershipSeries, and #OlympicsLeadershipSeries, I've decided to end the year with my #HolidayLeadershipSeries.

I've asked 10 thought leaders to chime in and share some of their holiday thoughts as they pertain to leadership and marketing specifically during the holiday season. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

And now, for today's post, I'd like to introduce Melanie Bell, based in Houston, Texas. Melanie is the Co-Founder of Strategic Piece, a company that helps B2B businesses generate outstanding revenue growth by bringing together their marketing, sales, and service teams around an information-driven customer experience. However, Melanie is not only about marketing. She founded Leaders Who Fiction, a virtual monthly book club (where we met!), while running Strategic Piece. Through Leaders Who Fiction, Melanie helps people develop leadership skills by reading fiction and participating in intellectual, business-oriented conversations centered around a selected novel. Prior to Strategic Piece, Melanie was President of Marketing Interface, which she founded in 2014, after serving as Director of Marketing at SURGE Accelerator/SURGE Ventures. Melanie earned a BA in International Development from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA from Rice University in Houston.

QUESTION: What BRAND or PRODUCT is the most memorable during the holiday season?

MELANIE BELL: I had fun brainstorming answers to this question: Reese's, Hallmark, Butterball, and the Salvation Army came to mind. However, what I thought of first was Lexus. They do a fantastic job advertising their "December to Remember" sale every year. The ads are run frequently during sports games, and the rhyming name of the campaign makes it memorable to the viewership.

QUESTION: What is your favorite holiday ADVERTISEMENT?

MELANIE BELL: An ad entitled, "A Very Merry Mistake #MirryChristmus" from Air New Zealand a few years ago. The humor is so effective at getting the message across. I just love it. I think both New Zealanders and non-New Zealanders can appreciate this ad. I'm glad you asked this question because it gave me an excuse to watch the video again!

QUESTION: What is your favorite piece of music or SONG during the holiday season?

MELANIE BELL: My favorite guilty pleasure song is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas." Please don't judge me too harshly! My all-time favorite holiday song is Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." I would love to see some more Thanksgiving-related songs because I have a strict rule to not listen to Christmas music until after U.S. Thanksgiving. I'm not a fan of the "Christmas creep" (Christmas extending into October and even earlier). However, I could listen to either of these songs at any time of the year and immediately get into the holiday spirit. They inspire nostalgia and festiveness.

QUESTION: Whose PERSONAL BRAND stands out during the holidays? (Think outside the box and do not share any religious choices.)

MELANIE BELL: I hope people will agree that fictional characters can have personal brands, in which case I nominate Charlie Brown (though The Grinch is a close runner-up). He is in holiday movie classics for Halloween (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown), Thanksgiving (A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving), Christmas (A Charlie Brown Christmas), and New Year (Happy New Year, Charlie Brown).

Across generations, he has played an important part of many people's holiday season from start to finish.

QUESTION: And lastly, since this is a leadership series, what is your favorite LEADERSHIP QUOTE, and why?

MELANIE BELL: There are so many great ones! As I was scanning through options, this one jumped out at me, so I'll call it my favorite (for now, at least):

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." ~Lao Tzu

To me, what separates leaders from non-leaders is the ability to inspire, motivate, and activate people around you. To accomplish this to such a degree that your followers don't even see that dynamic happening is ideal, and one of the key things required in this scenario is that the leader's ego can't get in the way.

While there are many flavors of this quote available from many noteworthy people, Lao Tzu’s version strikes me as simple and artful.

Debbie Laskey's Blog

Monday, December 2, 2024

HOLIDAY LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring Melanie Bell

SHARE THIS: What separates leaders from non-leaders is the ability to inspire, motivate, and activate people around you. ~Melanie Bell (@bell_melanie_a) #DebbieLaskeysBlog #HolidayLeadershipSeries

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