Heather Vadgama -''For me, it’s important to really build a strong team culture”

Heather Vadgama- Chief Marketing Officer at Walkers

When our guest on this episode of Leaders With Ambition was starting out, marketing and business development were relatively new to the world of legal services. Today Heather Vadgama, Chief Marketing Officer at Walkers, takes pride in the fact that it’s a discipline studied at university. As she shares with Host Nicky Acuna Ocana, Heather’s understanding of the profession has advanced along with her confidence in an evolving global skill set that showcases her resilience.

Additionally, as a board member with the Legal Marketing Association, this C-suite leader is focused on helping junior colleagues begin building robust networks to ensure ongoing growth and opportunity. You’ll learn why Heather believes giving team members a sense of safety – including permission to fail – is critically important to effective leadership and how a stint in the world of Big 4 consulting pushed her to do what she does best: take on challenges and navigate unfamiliar situations.

“Deep down I think I feel most comfortable … when I’m in an environment that is uncertain,” says Heather. “I think it’s some sort of drive to get through it and succeed. That’s really what I enjoy!”

If you enjoyed this discussion, please click here to find previous episodes of Leaders with Ambition.

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Key Takeaways 

Starting out

How Heather’s early multi-cultural experiences and work in the tourism marketing space in Australia evolved into an exciting international career within the legal industry.

Why Legal marketing

About the emerging career path that intrigued Heather, who was interested in exploring global work in a professional services context.

Key sponsorship

Why early mentors were critical to advancing Heather’s career – inspiring her to pay it forward by proactively coaching junior staff and encouraging peers to do the same.

Why the LMA

What her role as a board member for the Legal Marketing Association means in terms of communicating the professionalisation of legal marketing and communications.

London-bound

About the opportunity to work in Asia, where Heather leveraged her multicultural skill set and developed her leadership capabilities.

Amazing opportunities

How building out Simmons & Simmons’ network of offices in Europe and Asia provided a unique chance to innovate a cutting-edge industry program.

Career stretch

What it was like moving to KPMG, a completely unfamiliar Big 4 workplace environment that exposed Heather to new marketing and BD expertise.

Personal sacrifice

About the toll doing business globally can take – on relationships, health and fitness (although it must be said: the upside benefits are also substantial!) and how the pandemic brought an opportunity to deepen her life in London.

Blank sheet

Why moving to Walkers ticked a number of boxes – including the chance to shape a brand new role as their first-time CMO and originate a robust, multicultural team.

Leadership trait

How being comfortable with being uncomfortable has fuelled Heather’s ability to take on challenging roles and push beyond her comfort zone in pursuit of growth.

Current challenges for CMOs

Managing accelerating new technologies and pressure to drive revenue; keeping up with marketing and BD demands – while demonstrating value-add – across ever more channels; and communications overload.

Building resilience

How Heather encourages team members to take risks and embrace failure as integral to growth and, ultimately, success.

Evolving up

About the combination of experience and hard-won confidence that imbued in Heather the traits she needed to step fully into her role as a leader.

Critical piece

What Heather’s peer network has provided (and continues to provide) in terms of confidential support, mindshare and long-term success through career transitions.

Primary challenges

Why Heather believes whatever bumps she’s had over the course of her career were valuable “opportunities” for growth and development.

Words of wisdom

Keep building your network across all levels of the organisation; be brave enough to speak to others who are more senior; cultivate sponsors as well as peer support.

Key Quotes

• “I was very fortunate to find (mentors) among my managers and other senior people who believed in me more perhaps than I believed in myself (early on). They really pushed me forward towards opportunities.”

• “It’s really incumbent upon leaders and managers to be looking after and really sponsoring junior talent.”

• “You get out as much as you put in, so if you are going to belong to an association like LMA then go to the events. Don’t just build a network. Nurture your network.” (Nicky)

• “The opportunity to work (at KPMG) with professionals and specialists in very niche areas really helped to … make me a stronger business development and marketing professional today.”

• “Multi-generational team management is huge. There are five different generations in the workforce and whether it’s an actual or perceived difference, there are always going to be some nuances along the way.” (Nicky)

• “Deep down I think I feel most comfortable when I’m uncomfortable; when I’m in an environment that is uncertain. I think it’s some sort of drive to get through it and succeed. That’s really what I enjoy! I don’t like being in a comfort zone and getting bored.”

• “Letting people fail is so important because that’s how we learn. And you’ve got to be in a safe environment to feel that safety and keep developing.” (Nicky)

About Heather

Heather leads a global team of talented business development, marketing and communication professionals. She has over 20 years of experience in business development, sales and marketing in a multinational B2B environment, including law and accounting firms.

Prior to joining Walkers in 2021, she worked with a number of leading global professional services firms, including KPMG, Baker McKenzie, Mayer Brown and Simmons & Simmons. Most recently she was the COO for KPMG’s Clients & Markets function across Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

About Nicky

Nicky has led high-performing recruitment teams for over 25 years. As the Regional Managing Director, US, UK & Europe, she leads a team of highly-skilled recruitment consultants who specialise in Business Services functions within Professional Services and are experts in their niche specialist areas. 

With an extensive network of senior and board-level contacts, she is also heavily involved in Executive Search, focusing on Director-level appointments across Business Services for a range of Professional Services firms.

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