Seven soundbites from Dubai Lynx

As this year’s Dubai Lynx draws to a close and arguably the great and good of the creative industries pack up and go home for another year, here are 7 soundbites worth reflecting on.

1. “Sometimes you have to trust that what is happening is right” - Molly Peck, General Motors CMO on stage with The Marketing Society CEO Gemma Greaves and fellow CMOs revealing their personal secrets and the failures that have inspired brave leadership, when faced with not getting the job she wanted (spoiler alert: she subsequently went on to get a better one a few years later)
    
2. “If a crisis happens and the internet goes down, no AI on the planet will work. Although it is a tool, it is not a tool to depend on” – according to Samer Shoueiry, Chief Digital Officer at Publicis, AI should be approached by marketers with a dose of realism and is only as good as the data it’s given
    
3. “Be brave enough to tackle your biggest fear head on” says Hala Badri, Special Advisor to Dubai Expo 2020, whose bravery came from admitting she didn’t know, and most importantly putting her hand up and asking for help
    
4. “Have the courage and confidence to admit and reflect on your own failures before you move onto the next thing - take an entrepreneurial approach to your own life” – Susan Jain, IBM CMO who showed a human side to leadership when she confessed she wasn’t from a marketing background
    
5. “Marketers have the power to change mindsets (and build their brand at the same time)” – Sharifa Yateem MSc and a board certified behavior analyst and inclusivity activist, feels strongly that this goes even further, and that marketers and communicators have an obligation to create inspiring content to showcase people of determination in a positive light
    
6. “Brands are emotions, without them they're just a product or service” emotion is the secret ingredient that matters most in advertising according to creative leaders from Hug Digital, Mayar Foods and TV channel Fatafeat
    
7. Enhancing creativity comes down to 7 things says Bas Korsten, Creative Partner and Global Creative Lead at JWT “Taking inspiration from nature, mindfulness, exercise, changing our default mode of operating through neurofeedback training, moderating ideas and not throwing away the ‘bad ideas’ too soon, taking on opposing views and good nutrition to feed the brain”

By Rachel Dunn – Marketing Society Dubai board member and Deputy Managing Director, Weber Shandwick Dubai