Emily Silver (Dick’s Sporting Goods) | Sports, Leadership, and Thriving Through Change | From the Vault

24:49What are we providing our athletes and how do we truly enable that sports change their lives and that we help become the greatest sports company? So it does give us a North Star that you can turn to in the moments, in the days, in the weeks of chaos, which I think is natural for any company. And to your point, in a macro environment, it's only getting more dynamic, I'll say. One thing I remember from our podcast, which we did six months ago or so, is your two years at the company or so, you came in and your CEO, who's remarkable, said to you, don't hurry to change anything. Take your time. Get to know us.

25:29Build relationships. Understand the business. Get to know your people. So I'd like you to talk about that in the context of how you came in two years ago and created your priorities, your job scope. Of course, this had a major role in it, what we're looking at on the screen. But you talk a bit about your early months and the power of that advice. Yeah, I think it's incredible advice. I think it's also very consistent with a company that knows what its culture is and knows what will work and not work. Again, not right or wrong, very different from my other company where you get a new role and you're inspected within 30 days to make massive changes.

26:02That's sort of how they operated. And it was very refreshing. Lauren Hobart, who is an incredible CEO, did say that to me. She said, don't change anything. Just learn, sit, understand, and then figure out where you want to lean in. And I think I took that to heart. My team could tell me whether that's true. But it is such an incredibly well-run company. And there are some priorities that are so clear that you don't need that person to come in and change. You need that person to understand where the environment's going and how we can be additive as a CMO and as a collective team to that. and to continue to drive growth and find those pockets of growth where you can really lean into.

26:43It was not a marketing department that was broken. It was a fantastic marketing department. My predecessor was incredible. And so it's just taking that now to the next level, leveraging everything that's coming out, marketing from a technology perspective, from a macro environment, from all the tools we have to talk to consumers and the expectations of consumers that are changing. Now, I know one of the big themes for Adobe is personalization at scale. That is an expectation of consumers and what we call athletes right now. And so how we do that is where I'm focused and not on change for change sake, which is something I think a lot of leaders do still make the mistake of.

27:21They change for change sake. We're showing a slide now starting in 1948 up to the present. This is the history of Dick's starting with one store in Binghamton, New York. Great brands are not built in a day. This slide certainly proves that. But Emily, I would first like you to reflect on that. And are there any insights, lessons, learning we should draw from this walk through the history of Dicks? I'll just say I was so impressed with Ed Stack, who started and grew the company after his dad opened that first store in Binghamton. When you go up to the store in Binghamton, which I had the opportunity to do about a year ago, it is so striking to walk into this store and realize it truly could be any mom and pop sports store in any town in America.

28:03I mean, we had a few of these where I grew up. And the fact that it's now this almost$14 billion empire built by one man and his vision, it's just, it's humbling and it's exciting. And I think it's just, you know, not to get cheesy about it, but I think it's just such a great representation of the American dream of how you can build. Not cheesy. It was interesting because I did that a year in and it was just like, wow. You know, you're every day in these beautiful stores that are what Dick's Sporting Goods is today. And you go back to this first one and it's just, it's just striking. That said, we're still a relatively new company.

28:40We're still a relatively new brand. When you think about when we really started marketing the Dick's brand, which was probably around 2010, 2011. So there's so much opportunity and the company's done so well. And it's really got a spot, I think, in the minds of athletes in America. But there's so much more to come. There's a great lesson, many lessons, what you just said. but any of you working in a brand always go back to the beginning. Yes. Where did it start? Why did it start? Who started it? What was their motivation? What was their purpose? What was the idea in their head? It's endlessly interesting, gives you more credibility, and there's always insights in it.

29:20Hi, everybody. I'm Andrea Sullivan, the CEO of Vive, and we have produced the CMO podcast with Jim Stengel for many years. And I'm sitting in his seat right now. It's so exciting. I wanted to tell you a little bit about one of our programs that's called Vive by Vayner. It's a 12-month program that's designed for C-suiters and founders. And we want to help people to grow their businesses, but also to grow themselves. And so we bring in people from Shark Tank to talk to our founders. But we also focus on wellness. We want to make sure that people are leaning into becoming their best selves, their best and happiest selves.

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30:18Okay, we're going to flip a little bit. We just talked about Dix as a case of a company thriving in these times. we're going to talk about leadership and thriving in these times. And we have a great leader up here on stage with me. And I want to set an overall context about what's going on with CMOs at large before we narrow in on Emily. And I have the great joy of doing a show every week. So I talk to top CMOs around the world. We've gotten a lot of requests over the last several years for me to be interviewed. So in the five-year anniversary of the show, we flipped the microphone and Jonathan Mildenhall, who's one of my favorite CMOs and they're one of my favorite people in the world, interviewed me.

30:54This is very Jonathan. He studied my career and he studied the shows. And of course, with AI, we can analyze these shows like crazy. I know what the big themes are in the last 12 months, six months, 18 months. He did that. He structured his interview of me, what he called the C print, the success, the C print for successful CMOs. It's seven C's. And I'm flashing them on the screen right now. And Jonathan and I talked about each one of them. And so to me, this represents to give this context a bit about what's going on with all of Emily's colleagues around the world and the kind of analysis or compendium of the things that drive a successful leader, successful CMO in these times of change.

31:38So Emily, I'd like to turn to you and ask you, how do you react to that first? And I'll stop at that. How do you react to that? And then we'll go on to something else? I think it's a great list. I think they all feel very important and leaning into them at different times and different strengths is going to be critical for any CMO now and in the future. I think the one that's really popping for me that probably would not have been on that list 10 years ago is commercial success. And the expectation, I would argue rightly so, of CMOs, not just to create brand campaigns, but to really help drive growth and enable growth and lead the growth, leveraging all the tools in our toolkit.

32:20Is there any one of those of the courage, creativity, curiosity, commitment, confidence, community, commercial success that you think right now for you in March, 2025 is on fire for you or needs to be on fire? I think as a team, and this is credit to the team, not to me, our creativity is on fire in a positive way. We're launching a new campaign tomorrow. I wish it was today because I would show it. That I'm just so proud of building on what I think was an incredible year last year. You saw some of the clips in the video with our holiday campaign with JJ Watt and what we did with Will Arnett and Catherine Hahn on the e-com campaign and our creative around the Olympics.

33:03I think our team is just on fire on creativity. Personally, where I would be focused in the next year is on commercial success and courage to really enable the vision that we talked about going from sports retailer to sports company, because that requires different internal partnerships, external partnerships. It's a transformation. So it takes time. And in a questionable economy, you know, Day to day, you've got to stay committed to the long term and not just the short term, which I think Dix does very well. But that's one I think we're really going to have to and I'm going to have to stay true to.

33:39Is there a beacon for you as you think about moving Dix from a great sporting goods company to a great sports company? The athlete. I mean, it's somewhat an obvious answer, but it truly is the athlete. And what does that mean to them and what do they need from us and from other partner brands to really enable their athletic journey and truly make sports something that can change their lives for the positive. You talked about creativity, being on fire. Say a bit more about why. What was the catalyst? What's driving it? Was there a milestone, a person, an event? I think the team had the courage and the commitment, we'll go into some of the other words, to feel that we can and should be amongst some of the most iconic brands, at least in this country.

34:28And lean into celebrity in a different way and lean into sports moments with big spend on TV with creative in a different way. And so it's just it's a confidence that I think allowed us to get there. Now, when I had Emily on the show six months ago, she shared four lessons with me that are profound for her and that she put together for a presentation she was doing with some women leaders. And I want to share those today with you. Get to know yourself and be comfortable with it. Find your style or personality and make it work for you. Set high expectations with support for people to reach them.

35:07And develop a continuous learning mindset. So Emily, we talked about these six months ago. Now as you look at them, is the list still valid? And is there anything else you would add to this? Or is there something in there that you would like to underscore today? Good list. It's a good list. I didn't think it would change. To your point, when I talked about this originally, it was specific to a female audience. I don't think it needs or should be. I think the first two are the ones I keep coming back to, that in any position, you really have to spend the time to get to know yourself, who you are, what makes you tick, what makes you frustrated, how you react under stress, how you react when you're happy, how you try to balance work and life.

35:56And understand that, and I do mean be comfortable with it. That doesn't mean, and this gets to the second one, that doesn't mean you shouldn't or don't need to flex that when you're in different situations, particularly a corporate situation. But, you know, I'm relatively open that I'm quite an introvert, which is not traditional for a CMO. It's not traditional for a CMO at a conference in Vegas. but you get to know yourself and you get to get comfortable with it and you you make it work for you and i flex quite a bit in in different situations to not be introverted and then i need to retract to who i am and and get my energy being alone and i've learned that over time that high expectations with support for people to reach them this is something that my favorite leaders and bosses over the years have done for me that it's not a test that it's really giving people the confidence and the courage to do more than they think they can do and making sure you're building them up so they can achieve that.

36:56I think that's the greatest gift a leader can give. I certainly have a lot of gratitude for the people that did that for me. And then continuous learning mindset. I think that speaks to the theme of this day and this conference. I mean, the world is changing. The world is changing so fast. I cannot wrap my head around so many of the things that or day-to-day in the news, but I think we have to try and not get overwhelmed. How do you do that? How do you build time for reflection and insights and thinking, especially in the kind of job you're in, which is retail? You have to put it on your calendar.

37:30I live and die by my calendar. I mean, my calendar flexes a lot, as everyone knows, but I do set time to do it, and I enjoy it. So it's not a chore for me, but you have to do it practically, and you have to do it pragmatically. Okay, I'm going off script here for a minute. I want to go to your team over here because we're talking about personal leadership and thriving in times of rapid change. Leaders are really only effective if the people that they're leading are inspired by the vision, by the person, by the culture, by what's going on. So I want to ask you all over there, a volunteer or two, what's Emily like as a leader?

38:05And listen, she's a very honest person, so you don't have to be political here. I know you won't be. But what's she like as a boss? Anyone? Just stand up and go to the mic and say. Kate would know. Anyone else from the Dix contingent can weigh in. But I do think Emily is very, very, she talks about supporting her team and having people support her. I think she is incredibly supportive as a leader in terms of sharing in the success, setting them up, setting high bars for the team, and then making sure they have the resources to go and get the goals. So I think that's the word that came to mind first.

38:43Did you ever find her napping between 12 and 1? I haven't, but now I sit outside her office. I got to get a couch. Anyone else? Thank you, Kate. Sorry to put you on the spot. Have a different thought? I'm actually in a different part of the organization, so I don't report in through Emily. But I think what's impressed me and that I've seen her do is really prioritize and the hard part of that as well, which I think is stopping to do things that may have been done historically. So I know you made a comment, Emily, about Dick being very clear on our priorities, but we have a lot of them. And so really prioritizing and making sure the time and energy is invested on the most important ones is so important.

39:24And I think something I've seen you and your organization do well. Thank you, Josh. I appreciate that. Hey, let's go to the general crowd here, not the Dick's Sporting Goods people, although you can ask questions, too. So we have a few minutes left. We have mics here. I'd love to come to you with anything on your mind for Emily or myself. We're both very open, transparent people. So anything is fair game. So anyone want to ask anything? David Shing. Shingy. Hello, Emily. Hello. How are you? I'm great. Thanks very much. If you're talking about the thing that you want as your legacy to be top of mind sports brand, athlete seems to be your road you're going in.

40:00As somebody who isn't built like Nick Law and isn't an athlete, that's quite masculine and strong. So if 80 % of the U.S. population are in sports in some capacity at early age, what are the things that you would say in a rapidly changing time of how they access sport? What is the things that you would say and the themes that Dick would take on that would allow those who aren't athletic to feel athletic? Good question, Chingy. Thank you. It's a great question, and you're genuinely having me thinking about whether that is an off-putting word to some, to be honest. How would I encourage anyone to be athletic or be involved in sports and focus on the things that may not be, to your point, just about the physical?

40:48I talk to my kids a lot because one of them is not the best athlete, but being part of a team and the lessons they can learn from coaches and friends and being there to cheer for each other and the community aspect of that, I would focus on messaging that piece of it and not just the strong athletic piece of it. That's where my head is going, but you've got me thinking about that.

41:22so going back to tennis is there any lessons from your matches that you bring back to your personal life to the workplace you know you're about to go into the board meeting and you're like if only i won that point maybe you can speak through um how those two worlds collide and how you know sports you try to bring back that culture a little bit so who are you i love that where are you rob jensen avid tennis fan okay at steel all right that's super super i have a thought on that you want to start you start i have a thought too but you go first it's such a mental game it just is 80 mental and i when i was at png we brought on roger federer as an ambassador for the company and it was in my tenure where we did that and I got to know him and his family and his agent and I was having dinner with him once and he just said this was at the time the greatest you can argue he's not anymore but he's still great a great human being one of the greatest tennis players of all time he said to me I never think about the last shot I have the discipline to put it out of my mind.

42:30I never get down on a shot or a point that was awful. And he also said, I always keep in mind that in any given day, someone I play may just have their day and it's not my day. And even when I'm losing, I keep thinking this might turn. So his mental attitude of look forward, keep going forward. Don't let anything drag you down. I'm down 6-1 or 1-6, 2-5. It might turn. So, and you could tell that in how he played. And I think it's great lessons for life, great lessons for tennis. And the guy, I think the other lesson, he loved the sport. He loved it and respected it. And I saw him moved by many things of people who've gone before him.

43:19So he was in a career that he was extremely well-suited to and passionate about. I'll build on that. I agree with everything you said. What I find interesting with tennis is when I'm practicing or I'm in a clinic or I'm hitting for fun, I can hit the ball pretty well. And I can hit the ball pretty hard. When I get into a match where people are watching me, I can't hit. Mental. It tense up. Mental. Tense up. I don't like people. I get very, it's just, so that, trying to remind yourself to relax and have fun. and just think through what you're doing is just, I think, such a good analogy, not just for business, but for life.

43:57Great question. Thank you. Yeah. Hello. Really nice conversation I'm having. My name is Amit. I'm a founder of a company, Imagine. You have to spend a lot of money to get customers in D1 ROAS or D30 ROAS. Return on ad spend is very less. I'm talking about the B2C market. Most of the competitors generally raise a lot of money to make the maximum, take most of the customers, right? And they make money later on in the years. So for a bootstrap company, how we should be doing our marketing in order to remain on top, that's one of the questions. Because many developers have a lot of money to spend and get on top and they get triangle.

44:39That's one question. Second, as a CEO of a company, I have a passion of music, right? As you guys are talking about TAN is amazing. You know, you guys are professionally CMOs and, you know, manage somewhat your passion, how to manage both things. And if some, I feel I'm super crazy in music as well and in my entrepreneurship as well. Thank you. So the question was, how do you balance your passion for music and entrepreneurship? You try to find time in the day or the week, and there's going to be some weeks that are out of balance and some weeks that are not. But my guess is that your passion for music and being involved in music gives you energy to do the entrepreneurship.

45:12I think that's, you find your balance and you find what works for you and what energizes you. That's the name of the game, staying energized. And your first question, marketing when you're small and you're a startup and you're a challenger and people have bigger budgets and so on and so forth. I mean, I would embrace who you are. And you saw the slide up here we had on Dix about their belief, their purpose. You can tell what that company is about and everything they do emanates from that. I find so many young companies don't go through the discussions, the debates, the talking with consumers, customers to get to that clarity of who you are and why you are different.

45:51And then once you have that, it doesn't often take a lot of money to build affinity with people. And so, so that's what I would do. Make sure you have the rigor to get to whatever your one pager is. You saw Dick's Sporting Goods today, whatever that is. And if you don't have that, you'll get very distracted. You won't build a brand. You might build a transactional business. that she won't build a brand. I'm Jamie from Kelanova, also from Michigan, previously Unilever. So we've always been. Oh yeah. Emily, I'm really curious when you presented the seven C's and Emily, you had already talked about your goal of becoming the epitome of sports and your values as an organization around kids and youth, our country and where we're at right now is in a state of turmoil, right?

46:39With our people. To me, I thought you were going to say community because sports has always been a way to bring communities together. So how do you as a leader make those hard decisions of when you join a conversation of where, like where we are today in our country, given the critical role that sports has played over years and generations of our families and communities. Yeah, look, it's a really good push. And community is a really important part of our strategy as a company, also as a strategy for marketing. We have community marketers throughout the country to do just that. I think, to your point, there is a non-political purity to sports and this idea of community that's hard for most people to argue with and is positive.

47:26Most people see it as positive for all. So leaning in there and enabling sports, both through our foundation and through the work we do with the company, is a place that you'll continue to see us push. That's good. Okay. We're going to wrap this up. I want to ask you, Emily, for one final thought to this audience that you want to leave them with from this wonderful discussion we've had today. Well, one, thank you for listening to Jim and me. Thank you, Jim, for having me again and inviting me. The world's changing. It is changing fast. My thought is for any of the leaders in the room, we don't have all the answers.

47:58And so I think we have to go back to the basics on leadership, listening to our teams, enabling our teams, staying calm in the face of all of this change and trying to wade through all the information out there to have some point of view on where this is all going. Whether we're right or wrong, this remains to be seen. But cool under pressure and be good leaders to your team. I love that one thing. You know, this little session we just had here today, a question gave Emily an idea. And so the fact that you're out, you're listening, you're asking, you're talking with people you don't normally talk with, more of that is needed.

48:37and we can't get into our holes and get into our igloos, you know, just so that's what, thank you Adobe for making this happen, but we should be doing this more and more because we'll learn, it's curiosity, we'll open our mind, we'll get ideas, we'll be better leaders, and I think we'll have a better world. So on that note, thank you, Emily. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Adobe colleagues. Thank you, Dick's Morning Goods people. Thank all of you. Great session. Really good fun. That was my conversation with Emily in front of a live audience. Three takeaways from this one for your business brand and life.

49:10The first one is just relax. I loved how Emily talked about giving advice to her younger self and that advice would be to just relax. Don't get too worked up. I love that. I hear that, by the way, from a lot of CMOs. Second takeaway, we talked about brand purpose and it only works if everyone truly believes in it and acts on it. And that is going on at Dick's, which is the reason the culture is so good and the business is so strong. And third takeaway, learn how to be an additive CMO. I love that thought. Emily was counseled by her CEO when she came into the role not to come in and hurry to change things.

49:46Listen, learn, get to know people, develop relationships. And that is the reason Emily's had a great start at Dick's and we had a bunch of her employees and associates in the audience. And when they spoke about Emily, you could tell that they were very fond of her, very inspired by her and very motivated by her. That's it for this episode of the CMO Podcast. If you found this helpful and entertaining, I would be so grateful if you could share our show with your friends. And I would be super happy if you subscribe so you can be updated as we publish new episodes. And if you really want to help, leave us a five-star rating and a positive review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

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