Many senior executives will tell you the career path to CEO often isn’t a straightforward climb. The majority of large corporate CEOs aren’t brought in as outsiders. Most work their way up internally. That was certainly the case when Pip Marlow was appointed Managing Director of Microsoft Australia.
Pip was at Microsoft for 21 years where she held a number of key roles in Australia, as well as at Microsoft’s global head office in Seattle. This culminated in her role as the Managing Director of Microsoft Australia for 6 years.
Next step in her career path to CEO was as a divisional CEO at Suncorp, a leading financial services brand in Australia. Here Pip was responsible for driving customer focus into all aspects of Suncorp’s business including strategy, customer care, partnerships and innovation.
Today Pip Marlow is CEO, Salesforce Australia and New Zealand. As Chief Executive Officer Pip is responsible for ensuring Salesforce delivers on its values of trust, customer success, innovation and equality, for Salesforce’s customers and community in Australia and New Zealand.
Pip is also a non-executive director of Rugby Australia, sits on the Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Board at UTS, is a member of Chief Executive Women, and is an Executive Ally for Pride Diversity.
Needless to say I am so grateful to share my interview with Pip Marlow in the latest episode of The Females in Tech Show.
Pip is one of the most authentic, down to earth and inspirational CEO’s I have ever met.
In this episode we cover:
- What Pip was like as a little girl growing up, and her dream to become a doctor (06:38)
- Her career path to CEO of Salesforce, ANZ, including working for Microsoft for 21 years in Australia and their global head office in Seattle (9:27)
- Pip shares what she thought was the worst day of her career, missing out on the Chief Operating Officer role at Microsoft, and how it ultimately led her to becoming Managing Director, Microsoft Australia (13:00)
- Why aligning your purpose and values to your career is so important (27:03)
- The power of “and”, and how it can help fight unconscious gender bias (35:23)
- Pip shares a vulnerable story about being a female leader in a male dominated industry (37:39)
- And so much more!
Episode Resources
- Pip Marlow on twitter
- Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck
- Salesforce article, Fighting unconscious gender bias with the power of ‘and’
- Tim Ferris article, How to Say “No” Gracefully and Uncommit
- Paper by Chief Executive Women (organisation), In the Eye of the Beholder: Avoiding the Merit Trap
- Book, Women Kind: Unlocking the Power of Women Supporting Women by Kristin Ferguson and Catherine Fox
[Full Disclaimer: Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means we receive compensation, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through the link.]
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