CEO Diaries: The Lessons I Wish I Knew at the Start of My Career…

Summary

Summary of "CEO Diaries: The Lessons I Wish I Knew at the Start of My Career…"

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Host: Steven Bartlett
Guest: Jessica Jensen, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at LinkedIn
Release Date: June 18, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of The Diary Of A CEO, Steven Bartlett engages in a compelling discussion with Jessica Jensen, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at LinkedIn. The conversation centers around pivotal lessons in B2B marketing, the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), effective content creation strategies, and the unparalleled significance of LinkedIn as a marketing platform. This episode distills essential knowledge for entrepreneurs, marketers, and business leaders aiming to navigate the modern business landscape effectively.

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Embracing AI: Opportunity or Threat?

Steven Bartlett:
“One of the most used terms in my circles at the moment of entrepreneurs has been this time AI. And there's a mixed reaction. There's a lot of people that see it as a threat and are kind of leaning out the ostrich with its head in the sand. And then there's a group of people that I have in my close circle that are excited and leaning in. What is your advice for entrepreneurs that are trying to contend with this new thing called AI?”

Jessica Jensen:
“AI will become the air we breathe and the water we drink, just in the way the Internet has. Can anyone imagine business or life today without the Internet? I don't think so. [...] If you're trying to raise money, not being versed in AI I think would be rather challenging today.” ([01:31])

Jensen emphasizes that AI is becoming as essential as the Internet, positing that integrating AI into business operations is no longer optional but a necessity for efficiency, innovation, and attracting investment. She advises entrepreneurs to proactively adopt AI to harness its benefits and mitigate potential threats.

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Proactive Engagement with AI

Steven Bartlett:
“If you lean out, then it is a threat, but if you lean in, it is an opportunity. [...] One thing we've done at the moment is We've set this AI agent challenge, which is for the next 60 days, every single team in every single department is implementing AI and AI agents to improve and automate their workflows.” ([03:00])

Bartlett shares his strategy of embracing AI by creating an internal challenge that encourages all departments to integrate AI into their workflows. This initiative fosters a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement, demonstrating a proactive approach to technological adoption.

Jessica Jensen:
“Flexibility is the foundation.” ([04:33])

Jensen concurs, highlighting flexibility as crucial in adapting to and leveraging AI advancements effectively.

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Content Creation in the AI Era

Steven Bartlett:
“In the world of AI and large language models where we can generate content now, it becomes very, very tempting to go for quantity. [...] I was like, there was this title for this piece of content we're producing and I said, can you just like uncapitalize it and like, just make it a little bit messier so people know that we wrote it?” ([06:09])

Bartlett discusses the temptation to prioritize quantity over quality in content creation due to AI's capabilities. He advocates for maintaining authenticity and human touch by introducing imperfections that signal genuine human creation.

Jessica Jensen:
“Great creators are like great communicators at any time in history. They know what they want to say, they have something to say. It's interesting, it's different, it has an angle.” ([06:31])

Jensen underscores the importance of clarity, uniqueness, and audience engagement in content creation. She stresses that while AI can facilitate content production, the essence of effective communication—human emotion and judgment—remains irreplaceable.

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The Undeniable Power of LinkedIn in B2B Marketing

Steven Bartlett:
“There really isn't another shop in town if you're trying to do B2B marketing or you're trying to build your personal presence. [...] It's your most important platform because the most important thing in business is obviously acquiring customers. It's hiring great people.” ([09:21])

Bartlett extols LinkedIn as the premier platform for B2B marketing and personal branding. He advises founders to prioritize mastering LinkedIn before expanding to other platforms, illustrating it as the bedrock of a robust marketing strategy.

Jensen adds that LinkedIn's continued focus on professional communication and discourse keeps it relevant and highly effective, contrasting it with other platforms that have diversified and lost their specialized edge.

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Utilizing Analytics for Continuous Improvement

Steven Bartlett:
“Having a positive relationship with analytics turns the lights on and you can start to post, look, learn, iterate, improve and post again. [...] That’s what’s made me a better creator, is just having a nice feedback loop on what I’m doing and why it's working.” ([08:35])

Bartlett emphasizes the critical role of analytics in understanding content performance. By leveraging data on retention rates, engagement metrics, and qualitative feedback, creators can refine their strategies to enhance effectiveness continually.

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Final Insights and Takeaways

Steven Bartlett:
“These are the lessons I wish someone had shared with me when I was first getting started in B2B marketing.”

The episode concludes with Bartlett summarizing the key lessons discussed, reiterating the importance of embracing AI, leveraging LinkedIn effectively, and maintaining a data-driven approach to content creation and marketing. He encourages listeners to implement these strategies to avoid common pitfalls and accelerate their business growth.

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Notable Quotes

• Jessica Jensen:
  “AI will become the air we breathe and the water we drink.” ([01:31])

• Steven Bartlett:
  “There really isn't another shop in town if you're trying to do B2B marketing or you're trying to build your personal presence.” ([09:21])

• Jessica Jensen:
  “Great creators are like great communicators at any time in history.” ([06:31])

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This episode offers a treasure trove of actionable insights for entrepreneurs and marketers, emphasizing the necessity of embracing technological advancements, particularly AI, and leveraging professional platforms like LinkedIn to build and sustain successful business operations.

Transcript

[A]

The Diary of SEO is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states in today's moments Episode I'm sharing some of the most important lessons I've learned about B2B marketing. The lessons I wish I'd learned earlier in my career. A few weeks ago I was in New York and sat down with LinkedIn CMSO Jessica Jensen for a LinkedIn Live. We spoke about everything from how to target and reach the right people to how to avoid wasting your marketing dollars and our tactics for building real influence. This is the stuff every B2B marketer today needs to know. But instead of learning it the hard way like I did, you can hear it all right now. Jessica Jensen, it's so wonderful to meet you and you have one of the most interesting jobs and careers that I think I've ever encountered. Chief Marketing and strategy officer at LinkedIn one of the most used terms in my circles at the moment of entrepreneurs has been this time AI. And there's a mixed reaction. There's a lot of people that see it as a threat and are kind of leaning out the ostrich with its head in the sand. And then there's a group of people that I have in my close circle that are excited and leaning in. What is your advice for entrepreneurs that are trying to contend with this new thing called AI?

[B]

Yeah, I think that AI will become the air we breathe and the water we drink. Just in the way the Internet has. Can anyone imagine business or life today without the Internet? I don't think so. And that has upsides and downsides. I think AI is the same. It will be. It will power so many things. Personally, professionally, I can't imagine starting a company now without leveraging AI in some way either to save yourself incredible amounts of time or to create product prototypes. Certainly if you're trying to raise money, not being versed in AI I think would be rather challenging today. I think all investors are viewing it as a must have. It allows you so much more creative power and efficiency. Regardless, you could be producing flip flops or selling digital software. So I think anyone who thinks they can avoid it, I would Encourage them to jump over the line. How do you advise founders and startups that you talk to about how to use genai?

[A]

So I always think that the opportunity and threat are in the reaction. So, and I've seen this over the. My brief career in, you know, there's been certain waves that have come into shore. Like social media was the first wave, then it was this thing called the blockchain, and now the, the third wave that I've observed is artificial intelligence. And in all three of those examples, the opportunity or threat was in your reaction, I. E. If you lean out, then it is a threat, but if you lean in, it is an opportunity. And so for me, the most important thing, whenever I experience that dissonance that comes with something new that I don't understand, that is technical, and it comes with words I don't understand, is to, like, lean in and mess around. So feel the dissonance. Lean in. And for me, leaning in and messing around just means, like, make sure that my LinkedIn algorithm is. Understands that that's what I want to be served. So I start engaging with AI content. Yeah, it's, it's, it's giving me more content in that regard. It means speaking to my team about it. And one thing we've done at the moment is We've set this AI agent challenge, which is for the next 60 days, every single team in every single department is implementing AI and AI agents to improve and automate their workflows. And we're all sharing it in this new channel. And at the end of the 60 days, there's going to be this big presentation where every team presents how they've implemented AI agents into the workflow. There'll be this big prize that I'm handing out with a judging plan of like, AI experts coming into our company. But I. Did you just click?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's so cool. I didn't, I didn't see that. So cool. And I'd say, I think it all comes down to your relationship with change. And in the world you're heading in, you just got to have a really healthy, positive, optimistic relationship with change.

[B]

I think, I think flexibility is the foundation.

[A]

Yeah. Amen. Amen.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And in the world of AI and large language models where we can generate content now, you know this, it becomes very, very tempting to go for quantity.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And, like copy and paste, cookie cutter, perfect M dash text.

[B]

Right.

[A]

What would you advise us as marketeers in such a world where the cost of creation goes to zero and we can churn out?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm so excited about what Gen AI is doing for marketing and will do for marketing. And I also think people can smell a rat. So we're leveraging it. So many marketers are. It does lower cost, you're able to concept faster, you're able to edit and try new things more quickly. But when you are trying to convince human beings to take action, you will need to convey human emotion and human judgment. I firmly believe human marketers will have jobs and that knowing what is real and what is fake is going to be so important. Especially somebody like you. Right. People are trying to fake you every day. And so I think as business people and as marketers, we need to view AI as an expediter and a creative fuel and never lose human oversight.

[A]

I have been pondering this idea for the last couple of weeks about how, like, I'm not good at spelling. I've never been good.

[B]

I'm horrible. I'm a horrible speller.

[A]

But I now see it as an advantage because when you. It's so funny because I was outside.

[B]

I'm gonna lean into it myself.

[A]

No, but I literally, I said to my team earlier on the way here, I was like, there was this title for this piece of content we're producing and I said, can you just like uncapitalize it and like, just make it a little bit messier so people know that we wrote it?

[B]

Interesting.

[A]

Because everything is so perfect. And whenever I see something that's perfectly formatted and has perfect grammar now, part of my brain discounts it totally. What do good content creators do? Whether they're B2B content creators or B2C content creators or just individuals, what are some of the things that you notice that they do? Well, in terms of just like base.

[B]

Level principles, I think that great creators are like great communicators at any time in history. They know what they want to say, they have something to say. It's interesting, it's different, it has an angle. They know who they're trying to talk to and who they're trying to engage. They convey information and human connection. They are real. They show themselves and their ideas openly. And then I think in this day and age, they are using multiple form factors, right? They're using text, they're using photos, they're using video. And video, I think, becoming more and more prominent. So many of the principles of being a great communicator and a great marketer and a great creator are the same. What's your answer to that question?

[A]

I really liked your. Your way you started at the Top of that with this idea of having something to say because I think sometimes people overlook this. And you know, it's very easy to speak before you've, you've got something to talk about.

[B]

Don't get me started on this topic.

[A]

And I think the best creators that I, that I've met have, have gained clarity on what their message is. And it's a unique message, it's a cliche proof message. One of the phrases we use a lot on our team is if the world has heard it before, then we don't need to add it again. And as a nice principle for like knowing what to post and what, what the world needs, if the world has heard someone say it before 10 times, 100 times, we don't need to add to it. So we add, if we have something unique to add to the conversation. And then I think the other part I agree with everything you said is just analytics and data, which helps us to create a nice feedback loop.

[B]

Because how do we know that it's working?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. As a creator, sometimes it can feel like you're at the roulette table with the lights off when you're making content because this did well. And then for some reason this did well. Then this one got loads of comments that one had loads of views that one crashed and burned. But with a perspective, a positive relationship with analytics, it turns the lights on and you can start to, you know, post, look, learn, iterate, improve and post again. And that's what's made me a better creator, is just, that's a great having a nice feedback loop on what I'm doing and why it's working. So I look at everything from the retention of the videos we post to the engagement metrics, what people are saying in the comments as a qualitative measure. So having a positive relationship with that I think is imperative.

[B]

Can I ask you a few questions?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

You are a leading entrepreneur, thought leader, media personality on LinkedIn. What do you find has been the most powerful tools or formats for you on the platform?

[A]

Yeah, I just think there really isn't another shop in town if you're trying to do B2B marketing or you're trying to build your personal presence. And I'm actually surprised. This is a strange thing to say, but I'm surprised that LinkedIn has remained so effective and dominant at that in particular. And I also see LinkedIn as both being the healthiest platform in terms of communication and comms and discourse, but I also see it as being the most effective as it relates, relates to being building a business in all regards, from a comms perspective, from a hiring perspective, from an internal and external personal branding perspective for your company. As an executive. And I have for many, many years told people that I thought the opportunity of LinkedIn would at some point passed. It passed because that's typically what I've seen from other platforms. They kind of lost their way. They've got into too many things. But it just hasn't been the case with LinkedIn. And that's been the most surprising thing of all for me and I think for really any founder out there, I think it is your most important platform because the most important thing in business is obviously acquiring customers. It's hiring great people. It is, you know, marketing the company itself. And I tell all of the founders in my portfolio that until you've cracked LinkedIn and you've got this system up and running, the flywheel, the video sort of content flywheel, the recruiting side, you filled out your profile. Really don't think beyond that. So when my founders come to me and they say, I want to start a podcast, I shut down the podcast and I say, you're not using LinkedIn properly yet. So, like, it's. I have always just. I draw this picture out, which I've drawn so many times. It's a pyramid. And at the bottom of the pyramid is LinkedIn, if you're a founder. So, like, make sure your LinkedIn strategy is on point only until you've completed that. That part of the pyramid. You move up to level two, which could be newsletters, which are a big part of LinkedIn now as well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You've got to figure out what's going to yield the most and then relative to the yields, which platform is going to require the least investment? Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's not. You don't need to have 20, 30 people, a pretty big production team to get started on LinkedIn, and the return of investment is so high relative to the investment that it is the best place to start. And then you move on. Yeah.

[B]

Building from there.

[A]

Yeah. I hope this conversation has given you some clarity because honestly, these are the lessons I wish someone had shared with me when I was first getting started in B2B marketing. If you're ready to dive deeper and take the things you've learned today and put them into practice, our sponsor, LinkedIn, is offering $100 ad credit. Just head to LinkedIn.com diary to get started. That's LinkedIn.com diary. It is a really interesting time to be running a business tariff and trade policies are in flux. The pace of innovation is relentless and staying relevant means constantly reinventing how you operate. If your business can't adapt in real time, it risks falling behind, which means leaders need complete clarity across every part of their operation at all times. This is what our sponsor, NetSuite by Oracle already delivers to 41,000 companies. NetSuite is an AI powered business management suite that brings accounting, financial management, HR and project planning into one platform. And because you've got this one source of truth, you can make fast decisions based on real time data. Or if you're looking ahead, NetSuite's forecasting tools give you a clear view of what's coming next and how to Prepare for it. NetSuite helps you spot bottlenecks, manage your margins and stay agile. So if your business is generating seven figures or more, download the free ebook which is called navigating global trade. Three insights for [e-mail] Bartlett that's netsuite.com Bartlett.