Women in the Automotive Industry: In conversation with Anita Fox

Welcome to the second ‘Women in the Automotive Industry’ blog!

Welcome back to our second ‘in conversation’ with another highly accredited female leader from both the automotive and technology industries. This blog focuses on ‘women lifting women’ and how creating a fearless environment aids success. The annual Wo-Men Automotive Summit in Stuttgart, Germany, is a global event for leading women and men in the automotive industry. One of the 2019 guest speakers, Linda Jackson (CEO of Citroen), stated “you have to seize opportunities, you don’t wait for things to happen…you have to dare to do things that are not predestined.”1 All too commonly boundaries are self-inflicted as opposed to environmental; our own self- doubts often stand in the way of ambition. Gaining the optimal balance of confidence is easier said than done. As later discussed, the path to confidence is not a linear one. Some naturally start with too much confidence, abruptly lose it as they conform to rigid bureaucracies or transition into a different role, then regain it later on. Others have to build confidence over many years. Whilst it is vital to find confidence from within, a supportive, fearless, and championing network certainly helps bolster confidence.

This month we are thrilled to announce our guest speaker is Anita Fox, Head of Automotive, Facebook UK. Interestingly, Anita started off in the automotive industry with Volvo, working her way up to become Head Marketing Communications, for Volvo Europe, and then later joining the Jaguar Land Rover as Head of Global Marketing Communications. Anita’s extensive experience within the automotive industry plays a key role in her latest position at Facebook. By understanding the dramatic difference in project lead times, Anita and her team are able to confidently guide manufacturers into the future of communications and marketing – no small feat. Our conversation mostly follows Anita’s career in chronological order, giving you the chance to fully understand how one becomes top of their field.

“You go into that role with a huge amount of impostor syndrome and doubt that you can deliver. You have to trust in the people who recruited you and have confidence in you.”

Please enjoy the following interview with Anita, whose unconventional success story and transparent passion makes for a highly engaging read.

Who: Anita Fox
Company: Facebook
Position: Head of Automotive
Years in position: 1 year 7 months (6 years with Facebook)

Questions:

1. How has your education helped you get to where you are today?

‘I went to university studying business, covering all spectrum’s: finance, accounting, law, economics, business development, marketing. I thought I would end up in a traditional profession, such as accounting. Whilst I was doing well at all the different functions, I found some of them really boring. My love for story-telling aspects of law and marketing made me want to transfer to do a law degree after my first year. My tutor was actually running the marketing faculty and said she didn’t want to lose me which really shaped my career.’

‘Confronting educational crossroads at a very early stage helped me understand I could do a great many things but focusing on my passion was the most beneficial step forward. Do something I was happy to study at home, and spend more time focusing on because I was more interested in the books. With marketing it was all around me, I saw posters and adverts, it was real. So, I followed what I loved, as opposed to what I was strictly good at.’

2. You started off working for Xerox, an innovative tech solutions company, how did you find this as a first job?

‘So I came out of university and joined a London creative advertising agency which gave me exposure to Xerox. Xerox was a client I was put on, that wasn’t through choice. I was a twenty-one-year-old female, working for a really reputable brand that sold photocopiers to IT departments and office managers. It just wasn’t the glamorous world of marketing I thought I was joining. Sometimes these things just happen, you fall into them or someone puts you into a set place. However, I was really fortunate to have a female mentor, she was my client and ten years older than me. She was building her department within Xerox and looking to integrate all the different divisions. I was working in the agency and all the managers of these different divisions were my clients, so I had this skill set which was really going to help her bring all the different marketing teams together. That was the start of my IT career, direct marketing in a business world with multiple decision makers that you had to influence.’

3. How did you transfer into the automotive industry?

‘Tech to Automotive was all about following passion. I did four years in tech but there was a dual part of my career, I was employed by the London creative agency and quickly progressed up the career ladder. I’d gone in as an Account Executive, then became Account Manager, implanted into Xerox for one year, then returned to the agency as Account Director. So, I moved within four years very quickly because I had a clear vision, I knew I wanted to be account Director by twenty-five.’

‘But on achieving that, I found I was bored; there were airlines, car companies, financial services, and all these other big brands who were clients of the Agency. However, I’d become so specialised with Xerox and was good at my job, I got stuck in it and knew I had to make that break. Really, I wanted to go into travel or cars as I wanted to market things I was passionate about, so I had to abort and went to a recruitment agency. The recruiters said to me, we won’t get you placed in another field, because you’ve specialised in IT. I had opportunities to move to IBM and some start-ups but wanted to get out of IT and into consumer facing marketing. Hats off to a lady called Sarah Owen, who founded Direct Recruitment. She saw my passion and put me forward for a role going at Volvo Cars. I went for the Volvo job and it was just so clear that my passion was to work for a car brand, I secured it against an all-male interviewee selection. All the other candidates had car experience, were older than me as I was only twenty-six at the time. I guess I stood out because I had different experiences and qualities. You have to stick by your guns and passions. I had really good offers – Xerox had offered me a permanent role with a very good salary, especially given my young age. A lot of recruitment consultants want to put you in jobs they’ve got because it is just easy. Don’t give up on finding someone who is going to find the job you want and not the one they have to give you.’

4. Did you have a female mentor at Volvo?

‘Volvo was a great place to be a woman. I wasn’t the typical candidate for the role so was very glad to be recruited by a female manager. Volvo’s culture doesn’t have some of the same hang ups as some of the other OEMs, used to have in the past because of its Swedish heritage. It was very equal, and the hierarchy was very flat. You went into quite a small company; as a manager I had a lot of responsibility, from the day I joined through to being promoted to leadership team. As a company Volvo didn’t display bureaucracy in part due to its flat structure .’

‘Volvo hired people that could come in, manage teams and get things done. There was never a feeling of fear or risk-taking that would hold you back. What’s great about my early career is I was someone who had a lot of confidence and as I later found out, confidence was taken out of me, the further along the career path I went. If you came into Volvo with a lot of confidence and ability, you could just influence people and make things happen. That’s what I became known for – seeing things that weren’t working optimally, having a great idea as to how it could work better and bringing in the right people to make it happen. It was a small enough company that someone quite junior could make a difference and see results quickly. That got you fame and credibility to go on to do bigger and better things – it built trust in other people with you. It was an amazing company to work and grow in. It enabled people to prove their ideas are meaningful and can drive business.’

“I find success happens when there is less risk of failure, focusing more on the impact, and ruthlessly prioritising.”

5. How did you learn your leadership skills?

‘There was a pivotal moment in 2007, just prior to the 2008 recession. A new leader joined Volvo UK and changed the leadership team. At the time, the team was run by mainly men and all quite close to retirement age. Within months of him joining, most of the existing team took early retirement, and he appointed a whole new leadership team. The average age of the new team was mid-thirties. Made up of twelve members, six men, six women, the team was uniquely split. What was clever is he recruited people who had proven they could run departments, hungry for career development and fearless. As we went into recession, we weren’t of the mindset of protecting our pensions. We were a younger team who were fearless and made the right bold decisions. What was so exciting about being on that leadership team at the time was the risks we took that actually paid off. To grow our market share through recession is quite impressive. I look back at Volvo as a company where it didn’t matter what age or sex you were, you were given the freedom to run with your ideas and prove they could work. When you start getting into a fear of failure mode a lot of things don’t get off the ground.’

6. How have you dealt with highly competitive environments?

‘When a company has a competitive culture, it can be toxic. Volvo didn’t have this; it was highly collaborative which probably goes back to Swedish consensus culture. You have to be good at influencing other teams at seeing your idea and coming with you on that journey. I currently consult with a lot of car brands and not all their cultures are the same. I find success happens when there is less risk of failure, focusing more on the impact, and ruthlessly prioritising. If those things aren’t working, it’s where people don’t grow.’

“Without these champions, I probably wouldn’t be doing what I am today. Women lifting women.”

7. How would you describe your current relationship with the automotive industry working for Facebook?

‘The tech industry is moving ridiculously quickly; Facebook didn’t exist when I started my career. The company I joined six years ago is a different company to now. One of the first things I’ve learned moving into tech is you have to be able to adapt, you have to be a chameleon and really hungry to learn. What you learnt a year ago is not what you need today and certainly not what you will need in five years’ time. That mindset has really helped me when talking to automotive clients because decision making is slower, project lead times are longer. A car takes seven years from inception and then another seven years until it is refreshed, renewed, and rebuilt. The project lead times in our industries are very different. One of the things we help with is informing our clients what to expect in the future, how to stay relevant and innovative. Very recently on the topic of messaging, I had a client say to me, how three years ago I mentioned customer enquiries will need to be handled in a messaging environment alongside phone call centres and email responses. This customer has only recently adopted instant messaging because they simply weren’t ready three years ago. We see the trends, whilst car brands can take a lot longer to see future customer expectations and even longer to adopt it. I have to be persistent, if you believe in something you have to stick with it. As long as we have the patience to meet our clients on their terms, we work very effectively as a team.’

8. Where in the automotive industry would you like to see more women represented?

‘It is really well documented that there are not enough women in privileged positions. Having people who champion you for your ability is very important. It’s well cited that a lot of women step off the career ladder – I made the rather unusual decision not to have children so having a family hasn’t hindered me, and was in part a factor in securing a leadership role by the age of 33. What I’m very conscious of is that a woman who joined Volvo on exactly the same day as me and succeeded me when I left the company, took maternity leave to have two children. Having children didn’t hinder her chances of promotion, but it took her longer to get there. Now we are remotely working from home [Facebook are working from home until June 2021], the whole balancing of childcare should be simpler, and hopefully provide women the same opportunities as men. Being able to do things on your terms and not necessarily having to structure things 9-5, you just need trust in employees that they can deliver the impact required. How they do that and where they do that is kind of immaterial now because technology allows you to work remotely. Hopefully this will allow mothers to reach high positions quicker because there is definitely a gap at the top.’

9. You were head of global marketing for Jaguar Land Rover, how did you manage marketing to different cultures and working with localised teams who perhaps come from cultures where women traditionally have a lesser role in society?

‘With any global role you have to understand the consumers from different cultures. It is essential to gain knowledge from local teams that are in the country. You have to have an open mindset and park previous knowledge. Different cultures have different optimal marketing styles and tonalities.’

‘When you have a role that comes with some level of authority, you have credibility to hold respect. If there has been unconscious bias, which I am sure there has been – most people hold unconscious biases – at that point your seniority as long as what I was delivering was reputable, I don’t believe the colour of my skin/gender/age was held against me. A lot of it comes back to self-belief. I started my career overly confident, then my confidence got knocked and I lost that fearlessness, and when another career break happened, I found balance. I joined a tech company (Facebook) aged forty-two, where I assumed the average age would be twenty-something. You go into that role with a huge amount of impostor syndrome and doubt that you can deliver. You have to trust in the people who recruited you and have confidence in you. When you make bold moves into new industries and jobs, have confidence in your recruiter.’

10. Are there any women in either the automotive or tech industries who you find inspiring?

‘It’s having people who believe in me. The very first experience was my client at Xerox, Janine Yates, wanting me to be a part of her team and approaching my boss to ask his permission for me to be seconded into their company. Xerox were willing to pay consulting fees for me to sit in their office, that catapulted my career and confidence. The other women who have inspired me are people who saw my passion for cars. One is a recruiter who helped me get out of IT, Sarah Owens, she had the confidence to put me in front of Volvo, even though I didn’t have car experience. And finally, Sarah Buckle, who recruited me onto her team at Volvo. Women saw opportunities for me and helped me get through those doors, on my own merit but their confidence in me made them my champions. Without these champions I probably wouldn’t be doing what I am today. Women lifting women.’

Conclusion

Anita’s unconventional career path from IT to automotive and back into tech has certainly shaped a strong, sociable, and successful woman. Crucially what became clear when chasing financial gain is succumbs to real passion. Anita’s early educational crossroads and having a mentor who encouraged her to pursue marketing fuelled her story-telling skills. An equitable culture at Volvo curated a fearless leadership team whom Anita proved to be a valuable member of. Anita later projected her leadership skills onto a global audience during her role with Jaguar Land Rover, proving hard work gains respect across cultures. However, it is the support of various women throughout her career, to whom Anita credits her success. Confidence comes from within but equally has to be nurtured externally. Intelligence, passion, and merit must be met with some level of counselling to continue the learning process.

References:

1. Petzinger, ‘Citroen CEO tells women in the car industry ‘be daring and take risks’, Yahoo Finance, (08/06/19), https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/be-daring-and-take- risks-citroen-ceo-tells-women-in-the-car-industry-050000649.html? guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93b21lbmF1dG9tb3RpdmVzdW1taXQuY29 tLzIwMTkvMDYvMTgvYXV0by1pbmR1c3RyeS1wb3dlcmZ1bC1mZW1hbGUtYm9zc2Vz LXRlbGwtd29tZW4taG93LWdldC1haGVhZC1pbi13b3JrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAA NOWxUKlqf3vSJA31bNdhTmbAtKVo5oqYhWohdaeOJFZg0cmdIFmOPmliHMZU25BB VyzLbuIYfsVxvPm24xNTy93pIOYH1koxAvZfq1OisHtwhnxnd2Hr5LOBKddpi68kRUSn7 EoNarNMv-2WUNv7mlvWsreKiKL0W6OCdbr_xWv [accessed: 02/09/2020]