One of the most frequent questions I get is how do you stay current? In the sprint of back to school, I asked 15 marketing leaders the question and documented their learning as well as my own.

1. How Top Marketers
Keep Current

2. One of the most frequent questions I get is
“how do you stay current?”
In the spirit of back to school, I asked 15
marketing leaders the question.
Margaret Molloy
Global CMO
Siegel+Gale
@MargaretMolloy

3. Filter, Not Fire Hose
"When it comes to staying
informed, think filter, not fire
hose. There's an almost
unfathomable amount of content
produced about digital
transformation and marketing,
so I focus efforts on identifying
smart people and customizing
digital tools to act as filters for
the latest and best ideas."
Perry Hewitt
Chief Digital Officer
Harvard University
@perryhewitt

4. Social Media
"The most useful place I go to discover
and follow the latest and most
interesting info about social media is…
social media! My favorite is Twitter,
where I can find out about an event on
the other side of the world that
convened brilliant minds on a topic like
data visualization, and by digging into
#dataviz I can find some new people to
follow and learn from going forward that
I might never otherwise have found."
Lisa Shalett
Advisory Director and former Head of
Brand Marketing & Digital Strategy
Goldman Sachs

5. Broad Perspective
“There is so much information available
today – it’s a question of deciphering
the good stuff from the noise. To inspire
new thinking, I often check social media
feeds of those whose opinions I value. I
also attend conferences to hear what is
going on in the marketplace. For
example, I just came back from the
Fortune Brainstorm Tech, where my
favorite session was on wearables. It's
not an obvious link back to my job -- but
thinking about consumers, what they
want, their motivations and satisfying
their needs is always interesting, no
matter the product -- because satisfying
a consumer need is in essence the
heart of marketing.”
Maryam Banikarim
CMO
Gannett Corp Inc.

6. Reverse Mentoring
"I find people 20 years younger
than me and watch them."
Deirdre Bigley
CMO
Bloomberg
@DeirdreBigley

7. Trusted Peers
“My secret for staying up to date is to
learn from other marketers I trust. For
example, I follow my friend Ramit Sethi on
the social bookmarking service Delicious,
which allows me to see all the articles he
deems worthy of saving; he then does the
same to me, allow us to learn from each
other.”
Chris Yeh
VP, Marketing
Pbworks
@chrisyeh

8. Mind Shift
"With so much information, you need to
shift your thinking in a few fundamental
ways. I used to spend time finding
information; now I focus on filtering
information. I ask myself, "What's not
worth paying attention to?" You also
need new mental models to make sense
of the information. "What are the
patterns in what I'm seeing?" Finally,
place more value on curation than
creation. It's easy to generate content
these days, but harder to have a point
of view that filters the stream in useful
ways. I surround myself with people
who have a high signal-to-noise ratio."
Mark Bonchek
Founder
SHIFT Academy
@MarkBonchek

9. Stay Connected
"Just as the channels we use have
exploded, the channels I use to
stay up to date on key trends in
the marketing space have evolved
considerably. CMO.com, my
LinkedIn and Twitter feeds, the
Bloomberg mobile app, and WSJ
digital edition are some of my top
go-to external content sources.
Relationships continue to be
bedrock. There are just more ways
to stay connected than ever
before."
Dan Marks
Divisional CMO
Sears Holdings

10. Study + Discuss
“There are three things I do. First,
I’m involved in four professional
associations: M50, CMO Club,
BMA, and B2B London. Second, I
study marketing everywhere I see it
and discuss with my teams. Third, I
read books.”
Phillip Clement
Global CMO
Aon Corporation

11. Back to Basics
“Read as much as I can from
various Marketing/Digital related
magazines and email newsletters.
Also attend conferences and
dinners where I feel relevant best
practices will be shared.”
Elisabeth Charles
SVP & CMO
PETCO Animal
Supplies
@ebcharles1

12. Engage Your Network
“Staying up to date requires persistent
social influencer engagement and curation,
which provides a valuable stream of real
time updates. Equally, networking while
travelling enables conversations about
what's changing is a valuable source on
new insights particularly in rapidly
evolving markets.”
Raj Rao
VP, Global eTransformation
3M

13. External Organizations
“I belong to two external marketing
organizations that allow me to benchmark
better marketing practices. These
organizations meet on a routine basis. I
also keep up to date with new literature
from books and periodicals.”
Victor Maurtua
VP, Strategy & Business Development
Pall Corporation
@VicMaurtua

14. Twitter
“I follow CMOs, marketers,
brands, agency execs, and
marketing publications on
Twitter. Using Twitter lists helps
me stay organized.”
Christine Cuoco
Director, Global Business Marketing
Twitter
@christinecuoco

15. Daily Routine
“I believe in a wide diversity
of information sources to stay
abreast of current trends and
new ideas in marketing. I
subscribe to fellow CMO
blogs, read the academic
Journal of International
Marketing, and start my day
with a news roundup email
relating specifically to my
company's industry sector. I
check LinkedIn regularly for
updates.”
James Latham
CMO
Electro Scientific Industries
@jlatham

16. Download Everything
"I am pretty insatiable with Marketing
alerts, newsletters and white papers. I
download everything seemingly
relevant."
Mark Hanna
CMO
Richline Group
@MarkCHanna

17. Aggregators
“Everyday, I read sites and social
media that aggregate the most
important stories for senior
marketers such as CMO.com,
McKinsey & Co. Chief Marketing &
Sales Officer, ePubs from Silicon
Valley (Silicon Valley Watcher,
AlwaysOn, etc.), and relevant
LinkedIn groups (CMO Network,
CMO Council, CMO Executive
Network, etc.).”
Steve Cook
CMO
Fision
@stevencook

18. Stay Close to Disruptors
“Marketing is a contact sport. My best
method to keep current is to immerse
myself in the startup/disruptor world. I
serve as a CMO judge for startup awards,
beta test new marketing tools, and attend
conference with emerging firms.”
Margaret Molloy
Global CMO
Siegel+Gale
@MargaretMolloy

19. Thanks to my marketing friends for sharing
their practices.
Now over to you…
“How do you stay current?”
Tweet me @MargaretMolloy
A version of this piece first appeared in Forbes

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