Tamara Littleton 00:00
This is the Genuine Humans podcast brought to you by Social Element. I’m Tamara Littleton
Wendy Christie 00:18
and I’m Wendy Christie
Tamara Littleton 00:19
in our podcast. We’ll discover the stories of the leaders behind the brands and the trailblazers who are making a real difference in our industry. We’ll delve into how they got to where they are today,
Wendy Christie 00:33
and we’ll hear about the genuine humans who supported and influenced them along the way.
Tamara Littleton 00:45
Welcome back to Genuine Humans, and I’m here, as always, with my lovely co-host, Wendy. Wendy, how are you?
Wendy Christie 00:50
Hello. I’m really good. Thank you. I had a lovely weekend. Had the privilege to visit my brand new, two-week-old grandson for the first time. So lovely. Lots of cuddles. How are you?
Tamara Littleton 01:01
That sounds lovely. Well, I’m feeling like this is the usual combo of sort of relaxing and singing. That’s my usual thing.
Wendy Christie 01:08
Lovely.
Tamara Littleton 01:09
But we’ve got a fantastic episode today. We’re going to be chatting with the wonderful Kirsten McPherson, marketing director at Mondelez International. And Kirsten has got nearly two decades in the FMCG industry, she heads up the meals portfolio spanning two of the UK top brands and my favourites, Philadelphia and Dairylea. She spent her formative years at Procter & Gamble, where she created impactful campaigns like Always ‘End Period Poverty’. And she’s passionate about driving change and promoting purpose driven leadership. She’s also a fellow podcaster, hosting the inspiring podcast called, ‘What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’ which I definitely recommend that you check out. And she delves into what makes true leaders tick. And lastly, she’s a proud graduate of the Marketing Academy, which is where we actually met. So welcome to the podcast. Kirsten!
Kirsten McPherson 02:02
Thank you, it’s an honour to be here. Thank you for the invitation.
Tamara Littleton 02:05
So we’re going to jump in now. I know you’ve sort of heard our podcast before, and this is a bit of a favourite bit, where we just let you explain how you got to where you are now. And perhaps you’d like to go into a bit of your early career as well.
Kirsten McPherson 02:20
Yeah, I would love to. Well, thank you again for having me on real pleasure to be here today, as you already teed up so beautifully in that introduction, I am the marketing director for the meals portfolio at Mondelez, which does mean I get to eat a lot of cheese and drive the Dairylea and Philadelphia brands, which is just such a pleasure. You know, two of the top 100 brands in the UK. Fantastic team. Brilliant opportunity to do so much with two real icons of UK food culture, which is just fantastic. I get to sit on the Mondelez leadership team and do a lot with culture, as you already mentioned. So it’s just a really fantastic role, which, you know, like I say, I’ve got some wonderful people on the team that I get to work across innovation, comms, commercials. It’s really, you know, the full enterprise of the business, which I absolutely love, and Mondelez being a great place to work as well.
Kirsten McPherson 03:10
But as you said, I didn’t start there. So I joined Procter & Gamble straight out of university. I went to the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, where I know you live, Wendy, and absolutely loved it. I did International Business and Modern Languages. And in the final year, you know, met some people who already worked for Procter & Gamble had left Strathclyde and gone on to fantastic careers there. And you know, they sort of told me it was the place to be, to start your career in the industry. And tempted me into what was called customer business development at the time. And you know, it was all about these big, billion dollar brands and kind of real, you know, learning about how they’ve got to where they’ve got to, how you can take them to the next level. You also got to start with a fantastic graduate year group. So I’m a real extrovert, and just love the thought of having all of these people around me.
Kirsten McPherson 03:54
So it was a bit of a shock when I landed into P&G and actually started in field sales, selling pet care all around Scotland, was given a car the Yellow Pages and no sat nav, and told to basically build a cold file. And kind of, you know, drive around the country building up a network of independent pet shops to sell Iams and Eukanuba. And I think it was a big lesson to me. And you know, kind of things won’t always be what you think they’re going to be, but you can learn so much from everything, and had a really astute sales director at the time who said to me, “you know, this might not have been what you were expecting, and it’s going to be really tough. We haven’t covered this area for years. I know you’ve never had a cat or a dog, so you don’t know much about the product, and you’re going to have to work really hard just to get through the door of these retailers before you actually start selling them things.” And yes, you do have to go to Crofts, but, you know, I learned so much about resilience, communication, understanding others and and really, you know, it was a hard year, probably the hardest year I’ve ever had, because there were so many ‘news’ and first.
Kirsten McPherson 04:52
But did that, and then moved into their Harrogate office up north. And, you know, that’s where I think I really found the power of kind of community and in work, because it was a lovely office with 80 to 100 people, we were all kind of working with big retailers like Asda, Wilkinsons, Morrisons, etc, and, you know, kind of and selling those big brands together. And it was there that I kind of found, you know, a real community of like minded people, I think, in the industry, many of whom I’m still friends with today. So spent about four years up north working on that kind of sales side of the business, and then moved down to work on their market strategy and planning teams for health and beauty brands. So Oral B, Always, Max Factor, Tampax, all of that kind of stuff for the next seven years. And that’s where I think I really found my passion and my love for, you know, consumers, driving whole businesses, creating really big strategic roadmaps that you know could, could really change the course of a brand and a business, and doing it with these fantastic teams again. So that was my sort of Proctor & Gamble years.
Kirsten McPherson 06:00
And then I joined Mondelez in 2019 because, you know, the organisation, as you’ve mentioned, when you’re the podcast that I have is all about driving leadership. They’re on a huge mission to accelerate leadership, accelerate the brands, and just a really exciting one to join and have been part of. And that’s really what’s got me to where I am now. I spent a couple of years on Cadbury there as well, which, you know, again, if you think eating cheese is fun, eating chocolate is equally fun. I got to launch some fantastic products, some of the kind of flavour ranges for Twirl and work through the Covid years there, which were really testing, but brilliant. And another great learning experience. So yeah, 12 years at Procter & Gamble, six years at Mondelez, all of them have been fun and different learning experiences in different ways, I think, but very much a big community at the heart, challenge at the heart, and something different all the time.
Tamara Littleton 06:47
And I think that community just sort of thinking that you started in 2019 so just before covid times, I think they’re going to be so many people who started their jobs around that time. You know, just before that, you have to just build that culture and as an extrovert, that must have been quite interesting as well.
Kirsten McPherson 07:06
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was, you know, the year, I think, when the word of the year was perma-crisis.
Tamara Littleton 07:11
Yes.
Kirsten McPherson 07:12
You know, everything was unprecedented. But actually, I found it one of the best times to join an organisation, because everyone was working through everything you irrespective of your tenure or your experience, you were all in this uncertainty together, and you had to really trust quickly, and you build that kind of credibility and reliance on each other to get through it as a team.
Tamara Littleton 07:34
Definitely.
Wendy Christie 07:36
If you don’t mind, Kirsten, I’d love to go a bit further back before your early career, and think about what you were like as a child and how that might have shaped where you’ve got to in your career so far today. So yeah, what were you like as a child?
Kirsten McPherson 07:50
You know, I don’t think I was that different to how I am now. Actually, sometimes I do wonder, “Am I really a grown up?” I don’t know how old you feel, but I definitely don’t feel my real age. But I think as a child, you know, I was very energetic. I was the kid with all the hobbies. On a Monday, I was dancing on a Tuesday, I was ice skating on a Wednesday, I was swimming on a Thursday, I was playing chess. Friday, I was doing golf. I did everything. I loved it.
Wendy Christie 08:14
Wow!
Kirsten McPherson 08:14
It was a very broad spectrum of things I wanted to try and enjoy, and kind of always had that high energy, high pace. And you’re very curious as well, just to find out what you know, the world had to offer, and how I could kind of, you know, try everything. Like I say, I was quite conscientious. I think both my parents were teachers, so not trying hard at school was not an option. So that kind of, I guess, energetic, curious, conscientious are probably the three words I think if you ask my parents, they would use to describe me, although I’m not sure they would maybe put as much emphasis on the last one.
Wendy Christie 08:48
Right.
Kirsten McPherson 08:48
Definitely the first.
Wendy Christie 08:50
And did you have any idea when you were a child what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Kirsten McPherson 08:55
Well, I think you know, I was in the era of Saturday night TV, and I used to be a huge fan of the Gladiators, you know, do you feel the power of the Gladiators? No one is happier than me that these have come back. And I remember my mum said, when I wrote on my primary school, you know, what I want to be when I grew up, I just wrote “Jet” because she was that kind of strong woman, swinging from the rooftops, back flipping, you know, kind of taking everyone on. And I think it’s sort of that energy that I had, and that kind of enthusiasm for just learning and growing and doing lots of stuff was sort of embodied for me. And the power of the Gladiators, Wendy.
Wendy Christie 09:34
I absolutely love that, and I’m thrilled for you that they’re back. Other than Jet. Were there other people who you kind of looked up to?
Kirsten McPherson 09:42
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think, again, I think people who were kind of pushing themselves to try new and different things. And we’ll probably come on to it when we get to the sort of genuine humans, and you know, people that have influenced things that you do. But I think there were certainly people at school who I saw really pushing themselves to do new, different things in my environment, so kind of challenges abroad, or, you know, sort of young people’s leadership programmes. And it was people quite close to home that I looked at and thought, I can do that. They sort of role modelled and set a bar. So no one sort of specific, there wouldn’t be sort of, I guess, public figure names. But there were definitely people around me that I thought, if they can do it, I want to try and see if I can do it too.
Wendy Christie 10:22
That’s such a good point, actually. And I think you might be the first person who’s called out their own kind of peers as that influential group. I love that you mentioned the sort of genuine humans who have helped you in your career. So who are those people? Are there any specific people you’d love to call out as being particularly influential or supportive?
Kirsten McPherson 10:42
Yeah. I mean, I think I would sort of split them into three eras of kind of groups of people that have probably influenced me in my life. So I think if I go to that sort of school era, there was a charity at the time called the Fulcrum Challenge. I don’t know if you ever heard of it. I think it shut down in 2009 but it was an organisation that allowed students from around the country to apply for a leadership experience age 16, and it was a programme not dissimilar, probably to the Marketing Academy actually now, where there’s a series of residentials and, you know, a bunch of things that go around it. So you would do a leadership course at home. You would then go abroad for two weeks, and you’d have to fundraise in order to pay for your place.
Kirsten McPherson 11:24
So in my year, I went to Borneo for two weeks.
Tamara Littleton 11:28
Wow!
Kirsten McPherson 11:28
Which aged 16, with a group of, you know, 29 kids and a few adults that I didn’t know. It felt quite daunting. But I thought, I’ve got to do this. And I had to raise £1500, which in 2001 or whenever it was probably about 5-10, grand now, who knows, in real money? So, you know, I had to a) push myself out of my comfort zone to go on this experience. b) get a bit quite entrepreneurial to raise this money. I was literally bagpacking in shops at the weekend, you know, and seeing if my friends would come and help me. And then there was a piece as well, where they gave you a work experience. And you know, my work experience through school had been a week on the shop floor in Principles, which was brilliant in learning, you know, how to deal with the general public and tidy up a shop floor. But these guys sent me to a marketing agency in Glasgow, so I spent a week working for a company called BD Network. And you know, just like I say, I came from, you know, full teacher background. So I’d never experienced an office or all of these things, and it just pushed me out of my comfort zone in so many ways.
Kirsten McPherson 12:27
And I think the people that ran that organisation, you know, they did it in order to enable those kind of experiences. It wasn’t a big money enterprise, it was a charity. And I think to have the drive to set something like that. Up for young people, you know, they probably have no idea the impact they’ve had on hundreds, 1000s of us, however many did it across the years. But I just think that is the kind of work that you know makes you a real, genuine human when you can genuinely bring to life a programme like that that touches so many, and it was so long ago, I feel shamed that I can’t name these people by name, and the organisation is shut down now, but if the founders of the Fulcrum Challenge are listening to this today, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for you know that start that you kind of gave me and so many others, because you know that experience, I guess, taught me what Real good leadership looked like, and also I used that week’s work experience to then get an internship in my penultimate year of university, which then I think, helped me get my job at Procter & Gamble. So they probably have no idea that the butterfly/domino effect, whatever we want to call it, you know, giving me a place on that programme had, but it was really phenomenal. So yeah, definitely the founders of the Fulcrum Challenge. I owe a lot of gratitude to you.
Wendy Christie 13:42
I would love to be able to say, “and they’re here today!”
Kirsten McPherson 13:49
Yeah, well, do you know what me too, a really phenomenal organisation. I think anyone that does work like that deserves a huge shout out. The second group of people, I think, would be in my kind of early career era. So I mentioned, you know, that work that I did in the Procter & Gamble Harrogate office, where it was a really brilliant community. And I kind of landed there, you know, straight out of marketing and French degrees. It was international business and modern languages, but I sort of specialised in written stuff. There wasn’t much numeracy involved. Then gone into field sales, where it was all about kind of selling and relationship. And all of a sudden was, you know, being asked to financially model the future of the Duracell business. And I was going, what is a model, and how do we use Excel? And I remember all these people around me, and that would be, you know, an example of the pace at which, you know, the P&G mantra was a real job from day one. And they really, really meant it. You were really chucked in at the deep end. And the way to learn was through that community, that network that was around you. So I think I owe so much to the genuine humans who you know, really supported and helped me in those early years, when the pace of learning has just never been so rapid and so daunting.
Kirsten McPherson 14:56
I mean, I think if I get stressed now, it’s not thing compared to how I probably felt in 2007-2008 when, you know, I really had very little experience of anything useful in the workplace and the, you know, the sort of time, the wisdom that that they donated to me is, is was fantastic. And a few of them were still very close to now, sort of godparents to my child, you know, me to theirs. So that kind of community that we built there was fantastic.
Kirsten McPherson 15:24
And I think also that, you know, the managers that I had in that era, they really taught me how culture is made in the micro-moments. And I think, you know, for me, people talk a good game on work-life balance, but what does it really mean then, you know, I remember being in the office at 17:10 or whatever, still trying to figure out something that I’d never done before, and being tapped on the shoulder by a manager I had and they said, “Why are you still here?” I said, “Well, I’m doing my work. I want to do it well, I want to get it finished.” And they said, “No, but this has been two nights this week, and you know, clearly we need to take something off you or give you more support.” And you know, when people talk a good game on certain things, but can’t walk the walk. I really felt that support, that walk being walked. And for me, you know, it was a real example of how to be a genuine human. And you can’t just say things, you have to show up. And it’s the small things that really matter. So I think the community that I had around me, particularly in those early days in Harrogate at P&G were, you know, just full of genuine humans, probably too many to mention. But really, you know, kind of then shaped, I think how I operate now, and how I try to role model and behave with support and kind of micro-moment thinking, as well as just those big, big piece statements.
Kirsten McPherson 16:34
And then I think the third data, if I come to kind of present day, I obviously have some amazing people around me at Mondelez, one of the things they’ve enabled me to do is to go externally and become part of the Marketing Academy community, which, as Tamara mentioned, was where we met each other. And I think that’s, you know, a really wonderful community within the industry. And I know that, you know, Sherilyn has built up 1000s of alumni, but particularly the kind of 30 that I had in my cohort, we formed a really strong bond and really supported each other.
Kirsten McPherson 17:07
I think Sherilyn Shackell is a genuine human that I think everyone should call out because the work that she did, and if anyone doesn’t know, the story of, you know, the founding of the Marketing Academy, where she believed the world could be a better place if marketers could be better humans, and essentially set up this entire not for profit programme to benefit all of these 1000s of people across the globe. Just phenomenal with the, again, the ripple effect that that has had around the world, and particularly I see it in myself and my cohort and the support that we have for that kind of day to day, but also the kind of big life decisions that you know, often people need or are forced to make to have that kind of similar grounding and experience in life is invaluable. And I don’t know another organisation that perhaps brings people together on that scale in the way that it’s done. So, yeah, I think you know early era founders of the Fulcrum Challenge for me, absolutely. Thank you. You gave me so much early career. My community at Procter & Gamble were just phenomenal. And now I think you know, the Marketing Academy community alumni founders, just unbelievably genuine humans.
Tamara Littleton 18:15
Well, let’s stay with the Marketing Academy, then, if you don’t mind, and, and, yes, I know that apologies, because the first time that we met was I was putting you through a crisis simulation, and it was one of those things that you know, because people don’t always know what’s going to happen on that agenda. And I think everyone sort of rolled with it, but since then, we sort of stayed in touch, because we’re working on this like a manifesto. So my question to you is, what still needs to change in the industry, and do you want to perhaps, go into a bit more detail about what is the work that you’re doing as the alumni?
Kirsten McPherson 18:52
Absolutely. So the Marketing Academy, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a, you know, at first, a year long programme, and at the end of that year, your cohort, create a showcase event to show the world what you’ve learned, and then afterwards, you can roll onto the alumni programme in that showcase, I think, as a result of the teachings that we’d had from Penny Ferguson at The Living Leader from all of the fantastic speakers we had, including you, Tamara, what we’d really learned was, you know that leadership needs to change for the better, and it’s about human-centric leadership, and we wanted to rebel against the bad industry norms, and not to say that that’s everywhere, but there is some shocking research from Marketing Week that you may or may not have seen that said roughly half of marketers feel undervalued and overwhelmed, leading to burnout, and that can be changed. We can have a positive impact through culture if we rebel against the behaviours that you know, people can get into when they’re stressed or when they’ve had a bad role model, or whatever that may be. So we wrote a Rebellion Manifesto, which Tamara just alluded to, which if you don’t mind, I’ll read to you now to give you a bit of context, and then we can pull out some of the important sections and discuss them.
Kirsten McPherson 20:07
So this is where we get dramatic. “Can you feel that? Because we can. The movement’s been building, but now it’s time for a rebellion, a new era of leadership. We know what got us here. Won’t get us to where we want to be, and we need you, all of you, we are here today to shape the leaders of tomorrow. This is our rallying cry filled with hope. It’s our promise to you as we stand before you, ready to challenge old leadership norms, the toxic traits, the ones who speak more than they listen, the ones who accept the status quo because it’s always been so. Our mission is to redefine the course of leadership in our industry and beyond, leaving an indelible mark on those we meet along the way. Our pledge is to build up those around us. You, yes, you the ones with the fire in their belly that burns when you know things need to change leadership, real leadership, starts with humanity. It basks in the success of others. We will stand boldly for what is right. We will stand strong for what we believe in, even when we’re the only one standing. We will collaborate before we critique or compete. We will bravely step into our vulnerability and always use our authenticity as a lighthouse to show others the way. We won’t just tell you to be the change you want to see. We will be that change for you to see. For you future leaders, we are the rebels, but we have a cause to change the course of leadership and pave a new path for those who will follow us to be better, because you deserve better, and our rebellion for better starts now.”
Wendy Christie 21:47
Oh, I love it. Goose bumps. I really love it.
Tamara Littleton 21:52
It’s amazing. And yeah, and I’m so excited for where that’s going to go, because I know that it’s all being worked on at the moment, and what it means for the industry, because the industry does need that change, and so I’m really sort of so pleased that all of you are driving that so let’s make it more personal. What does true and brave leadership look like for you? And how do you actually create an environment yourself to bring it out in others?
Kirsten McPherson 22:20
Yes, it’s a great question. I mean, I think true and brave leadership happens when people are conscious of what they believe needs to change, and they have the courage to step into the space to make it happen. And you know, the way as a leader, we can do that is to take some of those pieces of advice from the manifesto around seeking to consciously build others up around you thinking, are we collaborating before we’re critiquing or competing? You know, asking those questions of yes and or, have we considered versus why? Or something that you know may immediately squash an idea. It’s the, you know, those kind of real response moments, I think, that we can consider, and also this piece around, you know, basking in the success of others. How much of what we do is ever a solo sport? Probably none of it. And I think that’s where, you know, actually openly, loudly, celebrating the wins, building confidence, driving that learning, but doing it in a way that others feel they are being pushed from the ground up, not pushed down. I think it is so, so important.
Tamara Littleton 23:27
And slightly off on a tangent. Now, let’s talk about podcasts. Because I mentioned in the intro that you have your own podcast, which is called, ‘What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’ Now, how has that been as an experience? Because I know that Wendy and I have got so much out of, you know, doing this podcast that we started in lockdown, I feel like everyone should, should do a podcast, because it’s a great experience. But what has it been like for you, and how has it maybe changed your own leadership style?
Kirsten McPherson 23:55
Yeah, well, I love the plug that you did in the beginning. Sadly, it’s not available outside of Mondelez, but that was kind of a conscious choice that we made. So it was born out of the Covid times when we were on a big leadership mission to really help everyone accelerate their own leadership. But we couldn’t come together. So we did it internally in Mondelez, and we did it as a live recording, so that when you joined, you could ask questions, you could, you know, pop some things in the chat box with the guests. They could see you, you could see them. It was like being in the room together, and then it was always saved and shared out to the organisation afterwards. But I agree with you, I think everyone should do it, because I think we had 30 guests across the course of three years, and the amount I’ve learned from each and every one of them has been absolutely phenomenal and so different. You know, we had guests like Mark Evans come on and talk about the intersectionality of purpose and how, you know, you really define your purpose. And, you know, we’ve had guests like Kathryn Jacob from Pearl & Dean come on and talk about, you know, how she drives the most energetic and fun culture across Pearl & Dean that you can just see using from her pores. And you know, it’s been a phenomenal learning experience for the audience, but for me as well, and being up close and personal with those people you know, as I’m sure that you do with all of your guests, even having those intimate pre-connects where you could ask the, you know, the extra questions that you would perhaps never otherwise get access to. I learned a phenomenal amount.
Tamara Littleton 25:25
Yeah. Definitely. It’s almost like, yeah, as you said, the pre, pre meetings is when you get to sort of know someone a bit more and and also perhaps see someone being a bit more vulnerable. Because, you know, you can imagine that everyone is very, very comfortable doing podcasts, and that’s just not the case. People are always a bit, got some fear and some worries and everything. So I think it connects you absolutely.
Kirsten McPherson 25:25
We had entrepreneurs on there. So we had Alan Barratt, who co-founded Grenade, built that business up and sold it to Mondelez for £200 million. A few years ago, we had the founder of Scamp & Dude, Jo Tutchener-Sharp come and talk about running a real, purpose driven clothing brand, having run her own PR firm before. So I just, it’s a phenomenal learning experience. And I completely agree with you, if you have the chance to do it, go for it.
Wendy Christie 26:11
So we’re going to move on to the last section of the podcast now. So we’ll get it a little bit more personal with some quick fire questions. So let’s start with, what’s your idea of a perfect weekend?
Kirsten McPherson 26:22
Oh, well, I think tomorrow you described your weekend as, um, what did you say, singing? And it was a bit of singing and, uh, just chilling, I think, a bit of singing and a bit of chilling. So I think mine would probably include a bit of singing, a bit of skiing, and maybe a little bit of Glastonbury chuck in a bit of sunshine. And I think I know that’s not too much to ask, right? We can have all of those elements.
Wendy Christie 26:41
Absolutely!
Kirsten McPherson 26:42
I think that would be my idea of a perfect weekend. I love all of those things in equal measure.
Wendy Christie 26:47
That does sound fun, it sounds fun, but a lot of energy needed.
Tamara Littleton 26:51
I’m still trying to work out how you get the skiing and Glastonbury together, but maybe it’s a dry ski slope.
Kirsten McPherson 26:56
Maybe, yeah.
Wendy Christie 26:57
I think so. Or maybe there’s, you know, we can have Star Trek style, transporters and things involved as well.
Kirsten McPherson 27:03
Yeah, I just, I’ve spent a year in the French Alps when I was at university doing business and languages, and I just fell in love with the fresh air, the feeling of gliding down the ski slope. So maybe the only option is to ask Emily Evis to start running Glastonbury in the Alps. Maybe that could, you know, work? I don’t know.
Wendy Christie 27:22
Yeah, well, let’s make that happen. Okay, so on a different, different track. So if you were walking on stage, let’s say you were coming on to do your TED talk or something like that, and there’s an intro track playing, what would it be?
Kirsten McPherson 27:37
Well, I am an eternal optimist and a child of the 80s. So I think I would have to pick, “Don’t stop believing” that banging intro, the big chorus, you know, everybody singing it with you. You can feel the stadium, you know, rocking. I think it would be that.
Wendy Christie 27:53
Perfect, perfect.
Tamara Littleton 27:54
Now, how would you fare in a zombie apocalypse?
Kirsten McPherson 27:59
Oh, well, I think I’m a good planner, so I would probably have, you know, before we’d come out of whatever place we were initially hiding in to, you know, make our ascent. I think I would have a good strategy, but I would need a really good team to help me execute it. I’m not the world’s most practical person, so I think if you were allowed a luxury item, I’d probably take my husband, because he’s the opposite. He would do all the doing. I could do all the planning, and together, we would be a fantastic team. It’s either that or, I think just, I don’t know, wear a lot of sequins, and hope that, you know, the bling distracts them to the extent they can’t actually see me and I just run through it. Maybe it’s that.
Tamara Littleton 28:39
the very unknown sequins strategy!
Kirsten McPherson 28:41
Yeah.
Wendy Christie 28:42
Distinct advantage there, because no one else is going to be doing it. If you could wake up tomorrow with one new skill or ability, what would you like that to be?
Kirsten McPherson 28:53
I always say if I could have a superpower, it would be teleportation, because I am such a people person. I love my friends and family, but, you know, living in Surrey, coming from Scotland, having done business and languages, my friends are all over the world, and I would love to be able to just teleport to see all of my loved ones whenever I could take my family with me.
Wendy Christie 29:17
That makes skiing and Glastonbury so much more possible as well
Kirsten McPherson 29:22
That’s how we’re going to do it, yes!
Wendy Christie 29:24
How would your friends describe you?
Kirsten McPherson 29:28
Oh, this is a hard one. I actually asked my marketing Academy peers for a few words, but they were so nice. I’m too embarrassed to repeat any of them, because they were very lovely to me. I think some of the ones that, you know, kind of came out and probably through the themes we talked about in childhood as well. I think energetic is, you know, one of the main ones that people always say first, when I ask them to describe me in two or three words, because I do have a lot of passion for the things that I do have a lot of energy to execute them. So that was definitely one that came out.
Kirsten McPherson 30:00
Fun. I think life is too short to make it dull. Whatever you’re doing, there’s going to be a way of enjoying it, and we can actively seek that and make it come out and be trustworthy. Was one that I was very proud of, because I think you can count on me to do what I say I’m going to do. And that was one that they sort of played back to me. So yeah, there were others as well, but like I say, I can’t possibly say them. I’m just going to keep them from my little you know, the day you need a pick me up box.
Wendy Christie 30:26
That’s a lovely idea. And they’re not your words though, right? So, I mean, you’re just repeating what other people have said. It’s totally fine.
Tamara Littleton 30:34
Now, is there something that you’ve always dreamed of doing that you haven’t done yet?
Kirsten McPherson 30:40
Oh, it’s a good question. I think, I mean, like I say that, you know, I think life is too short not to enjoy it. I think I would love to do something that brings joy to the masses. So whether that’s some kind of, I don’t know, festival, karaoke bar, up a ski slope, that sounds fun, doesn’t it? Tamara, you know, something like that, where I think people can just be their true selves. I would love to create a space that kind of enabled that.
Tamara Littleton 31:06
Okay, well, let’s stick with karaoke, because you do know that it is a favourite of mine. Yeah, and you’ve, you’ve mentioned it yourself, I know that I’ve always got a dream that there will be, like a karaoke yacht at Cannes, that’s going to happen one day.
Kirsten McPherson 31:18
Yes.
Tamara Littleton 31:19
Have you got a karaoke go-to song?
Kirsten McPherson 31:22
Well, when I was at Procter and Gamble, I was in the Proctor & Gamble corporate band. So we called ourselves Groom Armada, and our claim to fame was that we played the Grocery Aid Barcode Festival twice. So we sort of jokingly boldly tell everyone we supported Jessie J and the Kaiser Chiefs. So I’ve got about over the years. I did it for eight years. I’ve probably got about 50 songs that I could do by heart, and not all brilliantly, but they’d be fun. But if I had to pick one, I think the one that you know always gets people on their feet singing along, dancing along, is ‘Proud Mary’.
Wendy Christie 32:01
Yes!
Kirsten McPherson 32:02
When you get to that rolling on a river section, there’s no one who’s not dancing with you, and it just creates that vibe. So I think it would probably be that one.
Tamara Littleton 32:10
Fantastic. Well, that’s one of my faves as well, actually, as it happens. So yeah,
Kirsten McPherson 32:13
Can I come to your yacht? That sounds amazing.
Tamara Littleton 32:15
Yes! Definitely. We’ll do Proud Mary together.
Kirsten McPherson 32:18
Yes, love to.
Tamara Littleton 32:21
Thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. And before we go, have we covered everything? Is there anything that you wish that we’d asked you or I’m going to otherwise leave you with to share any closing thoughts?
Kirsten McPherson 32:34
No, I think just, you know, in a world where we’re dominated by conversations of AI acceleration, the role of humans in the future, I think, just this focus that you have in this podcast on the, you know, the heart of humanity, and the things that I don’t believe computers will ever do and will ever take over from us on I think, is so important to remember. And you know, when you hear those shocking stats from marketing week of half of marketers feeling overwhelmed, undervalued and burning out. The way to changing that is through the combination of this laser focus on the rebellious leadership culture that I think you guys drive through this podcast, and consciously curating those cultures, as well as all of the technological stuff that we do, because no doubt we’re all going to have to upskill move in that direction, and it will have an advantage, but so does positive impact on humans. There’s a huge link to business output, retention rates, engagement, and that cannot be something that you know just happens without real attention being paid to it. So I think what the work you’re doing is absolutely brilliant. So thank you for inviting me to be a guest and be part of it.
Wendy Christie 33:48
You’ve been listening to Genuine Humans brought to you by Social Element, if you loved what you heard, remember to rate review and subscribe.