Ten tips for leading with soul

Throughout my two decades of working across Unilever, Mars, Diageo and HP, I had fantastic opportunities to work with amazing leaders. They ranged from self-made successful entrepreneurs, regional CEOs, regional CMOs to the mavericks Chief Creative Officer. Many of them became my mentors and sponsors.

Through working with them, I learnt a lot about ‘servant leadership’ and how to ‘humanize’ growth and I formed my own leadership brand through trials and experimentation.

I call this “leading with soul”.

Meet my first book: Building brands with soul: A CMO’s journey to humanizing growth and creating lasting impact.

In this book, I share my journey as a marketing leader committed to building brands that resonate deeply with their audiences. It offers a blueprint I wish I had when I embarked upon this exhilarating career journey to becoming a CMO.

This book shares my journey with leading brands and business, and I dig deep to share my mastery of purpose, as well as learnings from building teams, businesses and brands.

I hope to inspire future marketers by sharing a blueprint for the creation of meaningful, impactful brands and businesses.

Here’s a sneak peek to the top 10 tips of how to lead and build brands with soul:

1. Start with self-mastery: Know your own purpose, your own strengths and own derailers.
2. A brand with soul requires multi-stakeholder impact to create a meaningful legacy.
3. Lead as a servant leader: this includes mastery of getting the right people on the bus, creating a culture of trust and inclusion and leveraging the power of community.
4. A great brand with soul needs to drive growth and create sustainable pricing power. It is both art and science.
5. Leverage the power of customer voice to build growth.
6. Leverage the power of creativity for building brand growth and transformation narratives.
7. To lead with soul, you need to foster alignment and inspire courageous storytelling to drive fellowship.
8. Don’t forget the power of reframing. Reframing builds resilience.
9. The importance of a continuous learning mindset.
10. A leader with soul needs to be able to lead changes through the power of influence.

If you like to know more on these tips, please check out www.soulforprofit.org

"Building Brands with Soul": A CMO’s journey to humanizing growth and creating meaningful impact

"Building Brands with Soul" aims to educate readers on the pathways and wholesome impact of building brands with soul, while adopting a human-centric approach to business growth. 

Through personal anecdotes, proven methods and practical advice, Siew Ting aims to inspire and equip future marketers with a blueprint to create meaningful, impactful brands and businesses that resonate with markets and society. 

The book outlines Siew Ting's experiences in global multinational corporations including Unilever, Diageo, Fonterra, Mars and HP Inc. It also highlights the importance of understanding and fulfilling human needs, blending creative vision with analytical rigour and fostering a growth mindset with trust.

You can order Siew Ting's book via Amazon in Singapore or outside of Singapore here.

Siew Ting is a member of The Marketing Society Singapore

Published 21 November 2024