How many times have you heard somebody say “feedback is a gift” before excoriating your work?
It’s perhaps one of the most difficult parts of being a marketer. Everybody has an opinion on your work and, worse still, they want to ensure you’re well aware of it.
But applying the feedback you receive is one of the most important parts in anyone’s transformation into a marketing leader, according to BONDS’ head of marketing and first-time CMO Power List inductee Kedda Ghazarian.
“There’s nothing more powerful with a board than… showing how you can apply feedback,” Ghazarian told fellow CMO Power List-er Shaun Briggs, Specsavers’ director of marketing planning.
“That’s been a hugely valuable learning curve for me in not needing to always be the expert, knowing the right things when called upon but knowing when to pivot and roll with the punches, take that feedback and be open to feedback. That’s where I’ve learnt the most lessons in applying trust.”
That’s easier said than done, however, and requires a great deal of humility in leadership.
“It can be hard sometimes. Your ego can get in the way and hearing feedback from people not in your field can be tricky but it has been hugely for me to learn that skill. Ultimately, it’s meant that I’ve earnt that trust.”
Briggs himself noted that he could be “a lot better” at demonstrating the application of feedback, though noted that expressing the commercial value gleaned through marketing was just as important for leaders looking to take that next step.
“Once you’ve shown our interests in marketing are completely aligned to those of the business direction, that’s the main thing. Our credibility isn’t being questioned. We get things done when we should, it’s making sure that we’re crystal in that what we do is about advancing our overall goals and not some peripheral thing,” he told Ghazarian.
“Because we have ‘Should’ve [Gone To Specsavers]’, it’s really easy to misinterpret that as fun but it’s priming, it’s mental availability, it’s future customer growth, it’s quick conversions… But it’s something that could easily look like marketing fun. And it’s not.”
Read the full B&T CMO Power List here: B&T’s CMO Power List 2026, presented by atn
Or check out the rest of the B&T CMO-on-CMO interviews below:
Mim Haysom: Media Perpetuates Myth That CMOs Aren’t Influential Among Boards
Coles’ Michael Courtney: Clarity Is Better Than Certainty
Bunnings’ Justine Mills & CommBank’s Jo Boundy Talk Retail Media’s Transformative Business Effects
