About this episode

Sophie Devonshire discusses the importance of ambition in marketing for 2026 and shares insights on personal and professional growth.

Ambition is the watchword for The Marketing Society in 2026: “Ambition for our businesses, our careers and our country.” In this episode of The Persuasion Game podcast, we welcome Sophie Devonshire, CEO of The Marketing Society, for a conversation not to be missed by anyone working in marketing who has ambitions for a great year in 2026. We discuss the growing role of CMOs, why leading marketing teams is more like rugby than football, and why we all need to make more time for learning. Sophie also shares her views on why personal ambition isn’t about “killing yourself at work”, but should focus on how it fits in with the rest of your life goals. Sophie spent years working in marketing roles at Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola and agency side, before becoming a CEO and published author. Reading list: “Superfast, Lead at Speed” by Sophie Devonshire https://www.amazon.co.uk/Superfast-Lead-speed-Sophie-Devonshire/dp/1473661862 “Drive” by Dan Pink https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Daniel-H-Pink/dp/184767769X “It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be” by Paul Arden https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-Not-How-Good-Want/dp/0714843377 "The Whole Marketer" by Abby Dixon…

People in this episode

Host: Forge

Guest: Sophie Devonshire

Topics covered

• ambition
• marketing
• CMOs
• learning
• technology
• human connection

Keywords

• ambition
• marketing
• CMOs
• learning
• technology
• Sophie Devonshire

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Marketing Society, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola

Books & works: Superfast, Lead at Speed, Drive, It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be, The Whole Marketer

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