You’re MarketingKind with Mark Evans
On Wednesday June 9th we had the pleasure of hearing from Mark Evans, Managing Director of Marketing & Digital at Direct Line Group, in our You're MarketingKind gathering on how professional extracurricular activities help to build influence and leadership.
In addition to his day job Mark is involved in an incredible range of activities. He created the Sprintathon, which aims to beat cancer faster and this year will take place on September 14th with The Marketing Society. He is the co-host of The places we'll go show, Chair of The School of Marketing, mentor at the Marketing Academy, on the Advertising Association's Front Foot Board, and has various other mentoring and advisory roles.
You can view Mark's short introduction from the gathering below and in the rest of the session MarketingKind members put their questions to Mark and discussed the value of extracurricular activities.
We all acknowledged that the term extracurricular activities can sound a bit ‘naughty’. And some businesses may see them as a distraction, but Mark shared with us why he feels that when the right activities are done in the right ways at the right time they can support and enhance the day job.
Some key takeaways from the conversation:
Do the meaningful things along the way, not just at the end of your career.
Extracurricular activities can make you fundamentally better at your job. They give you perspective and a network. They give you breathing space, new influences, new skills and make you a better marketer.
The social and environmental issues that have become particularly important over the past year also make many extracurricular activities even more relevant to the day job.
Be selective, organised and where possible get your organisation's blessing.
Many of the most valuable things you may get involved with won't fit under KPIs, so make sure to leave room for serendipity for you and your team.
Choosing what to get involved with is often a heart based decision. And it make sense to get involved in things with people you'd quite like to spend time with.
Don't worry about mapping out your portfolio of activities, one thing will naturally lead to another.
'Some people are much better at bending time than others.' - Mark Evans