Samsung Nexts Angie Lee on finding the balance between rigor + freedom to iterate in the age of interruption

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We are headed for a market correction that will reduce the speed of transformation and in its place a disruptive era will emerge, where change occurs, but does so in a more measured way. It seems that after the pandemic has accelerated the pace of transformation, while raising consumer expectations, brands need to take a step to process the enormity of the changes that have occurred and begin refining them into strategic acts of disruption.

Samsung Nexts Angie Lee on finding the balance between rigor + freedom to iterate in the era of … [+] Interruption

Billee Howard

Because of this watershed moment, I thought it would be helpful to talk to someone who has sat at the intersection of measured innovation and rapidly evolving transformation throughout his career, as well as, more specifically, in his new role as Global Head. of Brand + Marketing for Samsung Avanti. Angie Lee is a career marketer who has a unique perspective on how to take the best of the past and marry it with the future, while also building teams that have the qualities of both startups and legacy brands. She is an industry veteran who has worked as a senior marketer at brands such as Industrious, General Assembly, and IDEO. Below is a summary of our conversation:

Billee Howard: Great talking to you Angie! Let’s start with you telling me about your role at Samsung Next and some key trends you’re seeing.

Angie Lee: It’s nice to catch up, Billee. To start, let me explain that Samsung Next is the organization within Samsung that focuses on investments, acquisitions and partnerships with the world’s most daring startups. We are truly focused on a longer time horizon where we help shape the future by identifying trends that indicate the direction technology is headed.

I am the Global Head of Brand & Marketing dealing with two key areas. The first is to make sure the story about what Next does and what we hope to achieve is clear to the outside audience. We are focused on making sure that, as a brand, we are growing our presence in the tech community, especially with the founders. The second part of my role is to really support our portfolio companies. When you join the Next ecosystem, you join a community of world-class founders and business partners who are actively shaping the future of technology. I run a brand marketing communications practice that provides consulting services for all of our portfolio companies, at no cost to them.

Howard: With this very unique point of view and going back to a lot of what we discussed in our initial conversation, I would like to talk about the market correction point we are in right now, where we really need to strike a balance between stability and transactional innovation. and transformation at breakneck speed. What I call it is a disruptive new leadership point and time for measured change. What are your thoughts on this?

Lee: I love that you mentioned it, because I think it’s something we’re seeing widely across the industry. My career has actually spanned both companies and startups. The interesting thing is that both sides tend to downplay the experiences or benefits of working in the other. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard: OK, you did a great job, Mr. Founder; now is the time to bring the adults. The suggestion is that you need to have a business leader who comes in with more business experience to lead the company into the next stage of growth. This is such a disservice to the immense effort all of these founders have made. They faced the challenge of revolutionizing an industry and invented entirely new business models to think of a new way to serve consumers around the world.

On the contrary, we often hear a startup say that we don’t want to work with companies because they are slow and lack the ability to innovate. However, I think we all know that companies like 3M and others have a long legacy of innovation. Also take Samsung, which has an immense legacy of innovation, having grown from humble roots in selling dried anchovies and groceries to a mega conglomerate. I think what we need is to have some restraint in between. The best things happen at the crossroads of these two, embracing change, experimentation and a breakthrough mindset, with also the measured discipline and resources that go along with a great company. I think there is an opportunity for us to redefine innovation and transformation through a breaking lens, which is a form of restraint with respect to both extremes.

Howard: Excellent points and very well said. If you had to identify the best qualities to be taken by both startups and legacy companies to best face the new era of upheaval that is upon us, what would they be?

Lee: I think it’s a great point. To find that form of moderation at that midway point, you have to choose carefully and hopefully find ways to integrate the best qualities and processes on both sides. What makes startups so powerful and unique is their desire to revolutionize classic industries. This stems from their willingness to approach solutions to problems from a different perspective. They are not burdened with how things have been done in the past and can focus on how things can be done in the future. It’s just a completely different mindset and I think it’s actually quite powerful. The other quality is precisely that of embracing the idea of ​​experimentation and iteration. In the sense, what I have observed is that with startups there is often less fear of failure. You’re willing to listen to market feedback and then quickly repeat that original approach as a process, instead of being often burdened with established processes and ways of working.

On the other hand, I really appreciate that companies have the rigor and discipline that comes with planning; that comes with a truly measured thought. So on the one hand, you might say, let’s run this experiment. However, there is also a complement to this, where people might say, well, how can we design the experiment to be as thoughtful and measured as possible among our many and diverse stakeholders? Such discipline, while it can slow the process down at times, actually improves the employee experience. One of the biggest weaknesses for employees in startups is whiplash, the way individuals’ whims and fantasies are changing their minds. You really need to have a more measured approach to change. Large companies think more strategically and really take the time to think through the design processes and community response to it.

Howard: Finally, what I want to get into, especially where you sit from, are the key technologies that marketers, or leading organizations in general, need to stay abreast of over the next 12-18 months so they can drive the outage. and also doing that you and I both have a passion for, which is striking that right balance between art and science.

Lee: Yes, it is always difficult, because everyone wants to know if there is some sort of clear line with this when evaluating the different opportunities that present themselves. I think the adage that often comes to my mind is what brought me here won’t get me there, in the sense that when you get to some point in your career working in branding and marketing, you often say, you know, I was successful because I did things a certain way. It is much easier to say, let me point out these things in the past that have been successful and then I can say that these same things will also be successful going forward.

However, you cannot ignore that disruptive technology will redefine the way we all work and live. For example, take the blockchain. Many people did not understand how blockchain could be applied and were quick to label it as a trend. Even today, there are naysayers who reject cryptocurrencies due to its volatility. This is a really dangerous mindset for everyone, especially marketers, because they miss the fact that these new technologies will change the way people interact with the world. And if you don’t understand your customers, you miss the opportunity to excite or inspire them.

I think the second area that is driving this factor is the fact that demographics, as we all know, keep moving forward and are constantly changing. The next generation of leaders are emerging in the space and understand that consumer values ​​are changing as rapidly as their expectations. As a result, they will make decisions differently. I think brand marketers really need to constantly challenge themselves to be open to real listening and see the sense of possibility with different platforms, with different marketing, communication and storytelling opportunities for consumers.

My way of approaching new technologies is with a form of moderation. I’d say you should treat it like an e, not an o. For example, I don’t have to trade the New York Times for a Substack strategy. It goes without saying that we abandon conferences entirely so that we can focus on some of these emerging new technologies or platforms for social media. It must be said, how could these two be complementary? How could this different tactic integrate more traditional means so that we can then do the right level of experimentation?

More practically, this means allocating a certain amount of your budget to just one pool for experimentation. Or by assigning projects to your team members who are genuinely excited about emerging technologies and giving them the freedom to test new things. That way you can keep learning and gathering those insights and putting them back into your strategy iteratively.

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