Driving Change Needs Constant Feeding and Adapting: Interview with Barri Rafferty, CEO of Morrow Sodali Americas
I recently went one-on-one with Barri Rafferty. Barri is the CEO, Americas of Morrow Sodali and was previously the CEO of Ketchum.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Barri: There is always a complex answer to this question. Most people take a circuitous route, testing roles early in their career until they find a place that is a cultural fit. I worked at a large communications agency, in-house, and then a small boutique agency, before going back to a large agency for a two-decade run. There, I exemplified the career map, having done every role from client service to leading a profit and loss center. My decision with young kids to opt out of a global role I had coveted and move back to Atlanta (where I grew up) to run Ketchum’s office was career-changing. My willingness to move and engage in a new role led me to realize that I enjoyed going beyond client service to being the conductor of operations, finance, firm offerings, and talent. This role felt like a puzzle, putting the pieces together effectively to drive growth and optimize profitability. I also embrace change, which is not always the norm, and that led me to roles where I could apply my communications and marketing skills to support client work and improve business outcomes.
I then became an intrapreneur - the person the agency would turn to build new offerings and businesses. I successfully built a sports and entertainment group and then tried to create a multi-cultural unit which failed. I analyzed this situation to understand the failure: was it the wrong leader, services, pricing, or macro-environment? After multiple tries, I ultimately spun it back into core client work. As digital technology emerged, I volunteered to lead it for the agency. At the time, I was running the largest office in New York, and leadership questioned if I could do both. I convinced them that this was the future of business and that these services needed to be embedded in everything we do. That was accurate and showed me that diving into something new can be scary but also fulfilling. Being an avid learner is critical; it pays to go beyond your comfort zone and lead in areas where you are not the expert. Those early learnings helped me have the confidence to leap from the comfort of the place where I had grown up and become the global CEO of Ketchum to one of the tougher corporate roles helping Wells Fargo turn around its sullied reputation.
My next chapter started at the outset of Covid after shifting a large global agency to work from home to leading a 500-person in-house communications and marketing department at a bank with 250,000 employees. I did not anticipate I would not meet the CEO or my team in person for seven months, but I knew my role was to modernize the department. I had to reorganize and identify best-in-class talent, teach them how to be visual storytellers, decide how to measure progress, and cut tens of millions of dollars from the budget, all from a desk in my bedroom. This role took resilience as issues and crises arose daily, and I had to make big decisions relying on all of the skill sets I had developed throughout my career. I also had to build relationships and trust while remote. Two years went by extremely fast but were draining, and I realized that although I felt I had made an enormous impact, the culture was not allowing me to show up every day as my full self. We decided for me to leave which was hard for my ego, and the talent I had recruited. For the first time in my career, I did not know what was next.
Taking the time to evaluate what I wanted in my next role was important. I had used my network to go from job to job but had really never had the time to think about what would personally be important. I decided not to move since my family and friends were close and dear. I also wanted a growth company that would allow me to leverage my skills and put my imprint on the culture and trajectory. I wanted some skin in the game but wanted to avoid starting my own business, and I ensured I had the right mix of work-life integration. (More on that later.)
My newest role is CEO, Americas, at Morrow Sodali. When the recruiter first called, I gave them names, but months later, after several discussions with the private equity firm TPG, who had bought the company, I opted to interview for the role. I knew I would have to learn many parts of the company, but I had done that before. I had never worked for a PE-owned business, but my role reporting to a holding company would be similar. I had grown and scaled a business and loved being a change agent for culture. Being the Americas CEO at Morrow Sodali has allowed me to do these things and I am now eight months into the role.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Barri: First, you need to ruthlessly assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the current business model. This requires fearless listening and openness to opinions, ideas, and complaints. Sometimes I find the complaints to be rich in information for the future. Then, you need to decide how you can leverage the strengths, eliminate weaknesses, or build around them, and develop a roadmap to leverage the opportunities.
Second, you must evaluate talent. Who are you going to bet on to lead growth? Where are your change agents and internal influencers? Where can you upskill, and where do you need to bring in new talent? What positions can you put top talent in to unleash growth? Are you leveraging all talent levels and not just focusing on those at the top of the organization?
Third, it is important to set clear business goals and ways to measure them through KPIs. If you can’t measure growth and the team does not know where the goalpost lies, you cannot drive forward. A good growth leader sets and communicates a clear business vision, unveils a game plan with room for leaders to make it their own, and sets the right financial goals.
Fourth is eliminating siloes and encouraging teams to cross-sell and support each other. I have learned that in some years one division thrives, and the next could be another. Being nimble and leaning into trends that drive growth can be the difference between single- and double-digit growth. I have also seen the importance of stellar client service and know that repeat business is much easier and stickier than new clients (but you need both).
Fifth is the team dynamic. My favorite business book is a true story called “The Boys in the Boat” which I have had leadership teams read for the past decade. The story of this Olympic rowing team demonstrates the need for people to hold their positions and build trust. Nothing feels better when a team finds “the swing” - a rhythm where they are all in sync. I’ve had leadership teams that have found that level of trust, can be candid with each other, agree to disagree, and are fully motivated to win together. There is no better dynamic. It is not easy to build this type of team, but when you are lucky enough to do that, growth is always within reach.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Barri: First, I am most satisfied with watching those under me thrive and take on new roles. I see myself as a teacher and coach bringing out the best in my team members daily. That means fast feedback, being open to their way of doing things but helping them auto-correct when they veer off the track. It means having their back when they make mistakes and helping them learn from failures and setbacks. It means giving them space to talk things through and share diverse opinions. Meetings are more than updates; they are brainstorms on what can be better and what strategies are next. As a leader, I see my role in thirds, focused on strategy, clients, and talent.
I am also a huge fan of talent assessment tools, and I prefer the nine-box. Once you identify your highest potential talent at all levels you need to focus your time on that list and help them get career experiences that put them in key seats in your organization. Talent drains should be dealt with, but leaders who invest in top talent with their time are often the most successful.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?
Barri: I think you need to learn how to style flex as a leader in several ways. First, lead from the front on some days and be a servant leader, leading from the back on others, letting your team be out in front. It means that your direct reports may be motivated differently, and you need to understand that. Some need time weekly to think through ideas, whereas others prefer bi-weekly meetings and less oversight. Some come with detailed agendas and others are free-form thinkers. You need to set the agenda, but how you interact with peers, direct reports and teams can vary.
To build teams, you also need to get to know people individually and work to build camaraderie and trust. That means taking time for teams to form and norm through open dialogue on how they prefer to work, understanding what motivates them, and finding ways to engage them in fun activities that bring out personalities and allow them to form deeper human connections.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topic of communications?
Barri: Most leaders do not communicate or listen enough. Driving change needs constant feeding and adapting. Communicate through diverse channels with the same message, repeat, and underscore key themes. Provide direct examples through case studies and team examples of what good work looks like and how you expect people to behave. Continue to underscore the same communications until you hear others in your company repeating the concepts back to you.
In today’s world, where it is nearly impossible to keep people’s attention, it’s imperative to be concise, clear, and visual. Minimize words and tell stories that connect and resonate with people.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of communications?
Barri: First, ensure your sales and marketing teams are clear on objectives, understand the target buyer or client implicitly, and ensure all outreach is measurable. Today, micro-targeting and being precise in your outreach are key to efficiency. As you build a budget, leave room to take advantage of opportunistic trends or memes each year. You must also think about a multi-channel approach with initiatives being articulated in diverse outlets and adapted so what is right for Instagram is different than what resonates on LinkedIn or in Forbes, for example, both paid and unpaid media, as well as tapping key influencers and building strong relationships with a wide array of stakeholders is key. Companies that understand the ecosystem they are doing business in and the top stakeholders who can influence success have the greatest control over their future.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Barri: The single best piece of advice was a hard one for me to learn. As a leader, “it is better to be trusted than liked.” As a woman who grew up in the South, being popular and well-liked was ingrained in me. However, as a leader, building trust is more important. Ensuring people understand why you are making tough decisions has helped me develop loyal followers and be a successful leader.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Barri: Do not stay if you are not thriving in your current role. Work is such a critical part of my life and who I am. It is hard to leave a company or a role where you feel people depend on you, but if you are compromising your principles or the job is draining your energy, seek out a culture, manager, and role that allows you to bring your full self to work. When you have the right balance of work and life, allowing time for yourself and your role, it is even more fulfilling.
Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.
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