The digital dozen – Adam Corey, Chief Marketing Officer, Tealium
The Digital Dozen is a series of profile interviews with thought leaders in the technology industry. Here we speak with Adam Corey, Chief Marketing Officer of Tealium - the leading platform in real-time customer data solutions and enterprise tag management - about his career path and ask the question on everyone’s lips... what's your favourite doughnut?
1. Name your three best qualities.
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Creative
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Multi-tasker
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Problem-solver
2. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt in your working life?
People are who they are. While this seems a fairly obvious statement, when you are building teams and working in a fast-paced, ever-growing company, it is crucial to understand what motivates different people and how they respond to each other. In doing so, teams are optimised and strong bonds are forged.
3. What has been your best idea yet?
You mean besides joining Tealium? Digital Velocity, our data conference held in various locations around the globe, has a blended focus on product, engineering, marketing, and customer experience. Over the last couple of years, we brought a sprinkle of whimsy to the table — from bacon-tracking IoT devices to candy shops where you can purchase from your seat in the general session. You can read more about it here.
4. What advice have you been given that made a difference?
I've worked in digital for my entire career, and most of that has been in analytics. Early in my career, a CEO at the start-up company I worked for stopped me part-way through a presentation I was giving on the trends I had identified in our data. He took that moment to remind me that each pixel on my dashboard represented a person raising their hand to tell us something about our business. It’s easy to get caught up in reporting on key metrics and forget that, at the end of the day, we are all in the “people” business.
5. What’s the best thing about your work?
My team. I get to work with a fantastic set of people who come from diverse backgrounds, but all want to make a bigger difference today than they did yesterday. They want to learn, they want to grow and they want to make their mark. You don't always get that lucky when you manage a team.
6. What do you think will be big in media in ten years’ time?
I think we'll continue to see the barrier into the "media world" getting smaller and smaller, so more people are able to share a point of view. That being said, I hope that trusted organizations will be recognised as valuable for bringing news and insight into our world. It's hard to get insight into a complex world when you are only following a few YouTube stars.
7. What career path would you advise your children to follow?
I think we tend to know exactly what we want in life when we are kids, but then adults push us to walk more practical paths. I think if my kids can find joy in something that can also make them a living, that's their career path.
8. What career path would you be following if you weren't in your current job?
Most likely something food-related. I'm not sure I'd enjoy working in a restaurant day-in and day-out, but great food makes life worth living.
9. Which TV programme would you like to star in?
The Amazing Race. I love the idea of solving challenges and racing around the world.
10. Who would be your four perfect dinner guests?
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Tim Cook – To learn what it's like to take the reins and lead a $900B company
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Anthony Bourdain – He should be on every guest list, right?
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Tina Fey – I've always admired her wit, self-deprecating humor and writing style
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Kamala Harris – As my senator, I'd love to pick her brain about the state of our locale, and our country as a whole
11. What three items would you take to a desert island?
A fishing rod, flints for starting a fire (I'm making the assumption that there's wood somewhere), and my fully-loaded Kindle (there is power, right?)
12. And finally, the question on everyone’s lips... what's your favourite doughnut?
Hands down, the maple bacon doughnut at Voodoo Doughnut in Portland.