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When my marketing role evolved to include customer success and renewals, some naturally expressed confusion on why a CMO with established expertise and an already large remit would willingly take on more. This confusion was not among colleagues (Im fortunate enough to be part of a very supportive environment!) but among others inside and outside of my network. Looking back, that decision reinforced something I believe is a career accelerator and crucial in leadership. Its a lesson Ive shared with many young professionals and I believe others should take it to heart. Adaptability defines who will lead tomorrow’s companies and who won’t. Heres how to think about becoming more adaptable. Break artificial barriers Sometimes we box ourselves in with professional or personal labels. “I’m a marketer” or “I’m an engineer” or Im a mother becomes both identity and limitation. These labels feel safe in a chaotic world. They create boundaries, but they can also limit growth. I’ve seen smart, capable young professionals turn down opportunities with a quick “that’s not in my job description.” They build walls around their roles, thinking they’re creating safety without fully appreciating the downstream impact to their career growth. My shift from marketing into customer success happened deliberately. I wanted to understand the full customer journey firsthand. And now, every time I push beyond my comfort zone, I gain insights that change how I approach all aspects of our business. Look at the full picture Working across both marketing and customer success showed me connections I’d have missed otherwise. When you handle both sides of the customer relationship, patterns start to appear. You notice how your early marketing messages set expectations that affect renewal conversations months later. You spot the gaps between what attracts customers initially and what keeps them around. This full-picture view prepares you for executive roles in ways specialization can’t. Senior leaders need to synthesize information from across departmentstough to do when you’ve only seen one slice of the business. Ride the wave of change Young professionals today face relentless workplace transformation. Technologies reshape entire industries overnight. Business models evolve constantly. People who excel amid this chaos don’t resist changethey embrace it. When unfamiliar challenges crop up, they lean in rather than back away. This is something I strive to instill in my team and my children. When we are not afraid to take on unfamiliar challenges and we dont accept perceived limitations, we create permission for others to do the same. I’ve witnessed this ripple effect repeatedly. One person’s willingness to push boundaries inspires colleagues, friends and family to reconsider their own self-imposed constraints and embrace a growth mindset. How to build your adaptability muscles Getting comfortable with change takes practice: Jumping into cross-functional projects exposes you to different departments Consider sideways moves before focusing solely on climbing up Ask questions about parts of the business you don’t touch daily Find mentors with backgrounds different from yours Tackle unfamiliar tasks with curiosity instead of anxiety Reframe your professional limitations If someone requests your help with a task that falls outside of your area of expertise, view it as a chance to develop and expand your skills. Find new routes Adaptability opens doors that might otherwise stay shut. Reaching senior leadership often means finding alternate routes when traditional paths prove blocked. The biggest barriers to professional growth often aren’t external obstacles or lack of opportunity, they’re the invisible ceilings we build for ourselves. Connect the organization People who move between different functions bring unique valuethey bridge communication gaps. They translate between specialized teams that struggle to understand each other. They spot problems and opportunities others miss. Companies facing complexity need leaders who make connections. When you demonstrate this skill, you stand out dramatically from peers who excel only in their specialty. Get comfortable with discomfort Becoming adaptable means feeling uncomfortable regularly. Stepping into new territory triggers self-doubt, but over time builds your confidence to trust your judgment. But, here’s a poorly-kept secret: This discomfort never completely goes away, even for experienced executives. What changes is how you respond to it. You start seeing discomfort as a sign of growth rather than failure. Young professionals aiming for leadership positions gain an edge with this mindset shift. While others avoid challenging situations, you’ll build versatility that makes you increasingly valuable. I projectwith confidencethat well see leaders of tomorrow who continuously reinvent themselves, crossing boundaries, embracing challenges outside their comfort zone, and bringing diverse perspectives together. The real question: When unexpected opportunities appear, will you take them? I definitely think you should. Melissa Puls is chief marketing officer and SVP of customer success and renewals at Ivanti.
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E-Commerce
SharkNinja’s CEO, Mark Barrocas, joined Yaz and Josh on this week’s Most Innovative Companies exclusive video podcast to discuss how social media has become their number-one marketing tool, tariffs, and of course, the viral SLUSHI machine.
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E-Commerce
For more than 40 years, the investment banking firm Allen & Co. has attracted a selective group of moguls to Sun Valley, Idaho, for its annual Sun Valley Conference. The gathering calls on tech tycoons, entertainment CEOs, and an assorted whos who of billionaires to socialize their way through a four-day networking retreat. Despite the astronomical amounts of wealth represented at the event, the Sun Valley uniform has largely remained the same for the past decade: understated polo shirts, blue vests, jeans, and, every so often, a semi-interesting pair of sunglasses. As of July 9, the 2025 guest list includes Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Sam Altman, and Bob Iger. Compare the attire of this years attendees with that of the event’s guests in 2015 and, if not for a few familiar faces, you probably wouldnt even be able to tell the difference. Looking back on Sun Valley events of old, it seems that the gathering was a kind of progenitor for modern-day quiet luxury. While quiet luxury and stealth luxe have become buzzwords in recent years, this way of dressing has long been embraced among wealthy elites. Opting for simple, understated, well-made clothes can signal status without appearing gaudy. Quiet luxury was instantly adopted by the players in this space as a way to speak to their success through what they wear. It’s designed to go unnoticed, even if they’re publicly powerful and influential figures, says L.A.-based personal stylist Mary Komick. The color palettes are muted shades or monochromatic neutral, and their clothes are refined, clean-cut, and tailored. They’re showing off to each other, with their stealth luxe style noticeably recognized by those in these circles. Nowadays, Komick adds, the accepted dress code has become almost an ironic mainstay at Sun Valley. Men stick to canvas jackets, low-key tees, polos, and denim jeans, while women choose a similar combination of designer tees and tanks paired with tailored trousers. Here are a few of the common themes emerging this year. [Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images (Iger, Cook), Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (Nadella)] The polo club Those looking to play it as safe as possible at this years gathering have all turned to a timeless mainstay of tech bro fashion, the beige living room of tops: the polo shirt. Iger, Cook, and Satya Nadellathe CEOs of Disney, Apple, and Microsoft, respectivelywere just a few of the attendees who opted for a polo in either crisp white or blue for their arrival at the conference. The majority of attendees are deliberately choosing to wear nondescript, understated outfits in an effort to prioritize function over fashion, Komick says. They’re photographed in outfits purposely chosen to look like they’re heading to the golf course in Patagonia vests, going on a hike, or wearing Western hats meant for a scenic horseback ride. This is most likely preferred simply to reduce decision fatigue, because everyone is thinking about the next newsworthy tech or entertainment deal they’re making behind closed doors. [Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (Armstrong, Altman)] The humble (or not-so-humble) T-shirt Another popular look, which takes an even more casual spin on the popular polo and khakis, is the T-shirt-and-jeans combo. These shirts will make you ask, Does that T-shirt cost $10 or $600? And, chances are, your first guess is probably wrong. This years T-shirt wearers include OpenAI CEO Altman, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone, and OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor. [Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (Khosrowshahi, Wiedenfels)] The walking billboard Immediately upon arrival at this years retreat, a few attendees signaled that they were already members of the club by donning official Sun Valley merch. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stepped out in a Sun Valley hat, while Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels chose a navy Sun Valley-branded (you guessed it) polo shirt. Casey Wasserman, CEO of the Wasserman Media Group, took wearable advertising in a more personal direction by repping his own companys logo on his ball cap. They’re not going to be caught dead in a logo that isn’t their company’s, Komick says. [Photos: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images (Blakely, Trump)] Western cosplay In April, The Wall Street Journal dubbed 2025 as the year that the tech bro started dressing like a cowboyand it seems that a few brave attendees are bringing that trend to Sun Valley. Komick says both Western and sporty aesthetics have come to the fore this year. [Attendees are] cosplaying cowboys and cowgirlsfrom Ivanka Trumps silver Western belt to Sara Blakely in the Western hat against her white tee and dark wash Mother jeans, Komick says. The men are trading solid tops for plaid button-downs or terry overshirts. Sunglasses were the statement accessory this season. [Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images] The sunglasses are your outfit outfit The fashion may be predictably tame at this years Sun Valley, but that only makes it all the more visually jarring that a few notable names arrived sporting some of the wildest sunglasses money can buy. Altman chose to pair his casual navy tee with a $400 pair of Vuarnet Altitude 01 sunglasses, a design inspired by 1970s ski masks. John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari, donned what appeared to be a pair of vintage Tom Ford Cassius 78MM Pilot sunglassesan accessory so chunky that a passerby could be forgiven for mistaking them for an Apple Vision Pro.
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E-Commerce
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