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Returning to Work with Penry Price of LinkedIn (Ep. #34)

The BetterManager Team
Building Better Managers Podcast Episode 34 - Penny Price

Building Better Managers Podcast Episode #34: Returning to Work with Penry Price of LinkedIn

Penry Price, LinkedIn's VP of Marketing Solutions, shares how his team is embracing the challenges of returning to the office and approaching the 'new normal' with intention and flexibility.

In this episode:

Meet Penry:

  • Penry Price is currently leading LinkedIn's Marketing Solutions, and has 20+ years of media experience, between publishing and digital media. He's a past member of executive team at Dstillery(formerly Media6Degrees), has led revenue generation and marketing efforts for 110-person organization, and collaborated on overall strategy, product road maps/prioritization, partner development, and P&L management.
  • Penry has built entire organization and strategy for multi-billion dollar business inside of Google, where he oversaw the operations of a global team with direct-line and indirect management responsibilities of fastest growing channel there.
  • With many public speaking appearances including keynotes and panels at industry-leading events/forums, TV, newspaper, magazines, and radio, Penry was inducted into AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement and recognized on AdAge Digital A-List.
  • His specialties include team building, revenue driving, marketing/branding, sales strategy, client focus, resource allocation, ad technology, and online/offline publishing.

#Walking2Work - Getting Used to New Tools!

  • Professionals want to use video in their daily lives as well, so we introduced video into the feed on LinkedIn. But I myself was not sure how to use video on LinkedIn - I knew what it was like on a Facebook or an Instagram, but I didn't really know what it meant to do video on LinkedIn as a member, as a person using LinkedIn.
  • So I just decided that that next day, I was going to record a session where I typically every day I commute into New York, and I'll walk about 15 minutes to the office. And that 15 minutes was always sort of a special time for me, because I would be thinking about the day ahead and what it was going to be like and where I had to sort of lean in or what was going to be really interesting or what was going to be more difficult for me in that day.
  • I think a lot of people go through that as we're preparing to go into our work day. And so I decided that that was what was going to be my video, I was just going to record it. And I had some principles about what I wanted to do, and that was where it started was really just to like try to use video on LinkedIn, nothing more than that.

Returning to the Workplace & The Hybrid Team

  • What I've started to recognize is now what I'm doing differently already, is my calendar looks different. What every manager should be trying to figure out is where you should be and why you should be there - especially if you're going to have a hybrid team, where some people will be in the office on any given day, or some people may be working from home or remotely. And it's very tactical.
  • If I'm going to have, you know, a heavier day on zoom or on teams, I'm going to stay home, quite simply. And what that forces you to do is actually think about why should you be in the office, and what are you going to do in the office, since you're not going to want to be on zoom or on teams all day while you're in an office surrounded by people.
  • So that's the sort of lightbulb for me is less about, "What am I going to be in the office for." And so it's much more now zeroing in on coaching, mentoring, one on one time, that I cannot do on a video. So being much more involved with our customers, or clients or partners or industry folks, or just peers from the industry.
  • So I will say that I am veering more towards when I go to New York, or when I go into the office, I will go in there to mentor, coach, and help others, when I can really do that better in person. The more of the day-to-day operational management of a team and business can be done from remote, or from home where it can be done just as well, if not better than, in person.

I.C.A.Y.I. for Great Management

  • Inspiration - Consistency - Awareness - Yes - Inclusive
  • Inspiration: You as a leader, have to find ways to inspire your team, which to me, that means creating energy. And so whatever it is, however you show up.
  • Consistency: I struggled when my leader or manager was inconsistent with the way they showed up with the way they were asking for things with the way they were looking for ways to work or processes to instill. And so I thrive when I know what I'm supposed to be doing, or I have a consistency that I can count on. There's some stability, obviously, that gets created with consistency. So I'm always trying to be sort of the same, if you will, and how I work with teams or with people
  • Awareness: And this is both self awareness as well as awareness of those things around you. And so I think that is actually the secret little and you as an amazing coach will know this. But I think awareness is actually the key differentiator for people that grow into fantastic positions in their life.
  • Yes: Try to say "yes" more often. It's so easy as a manager to say no, it doesn't fit the process, or it doesn't look like it's going to be a success, or that will take too much money or that will take too much time. Actually, Eric Schmidt at Google was the one that had taught me and shared with me some stories about saying "Yes".
  • Inclusivity (see above).

Downloads & Resources

Follow Penry on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform!

Check out our blog articles on Leadership here.

About Penry Price

Penry Price is the vice president for LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions business. In this role he oversees the entire global team responsible for building the partnerships necessary to raise awareness of and drive revenue for the business. His deep knowledge and passion for the marketing, advertising, and media ecosystems have played a significant role in the transformation of LinkedIn’s advertising business as it becomes the leading B2B marketing platform for companies around the world. 

Penry  joined LinkedIn from Dstillery, where as President, he provided direction for the ad tech firm’s partnerships and managed day-to-day revenue and marketing operations. Prior to his tenure at Dstillery, he held many top sales positions at Google. There, he led the North American Sales and Account Management teams before leading business strategy and global partnerships with advertising agencies – a part of Google’s business that represented 30% of its global revenue. He ended his seven-year tenure at Google as Vice President of Global Agency Sales and Partnerships.

He spent his early career in a variety of sales and sales management roles at Wenner Media and Hachette Filipacchi.

Penry holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hobart College. In 2008, he was named to the AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement, which includes people who have demonstrated great leadership in the industry. In conjunction with this achievement, he received the Jack Avrett Volunteer Spirit Award which recognizes an inductee who has demonstrated an exceptionally high commitment to public service and the betterment of both the advertising industry and the larger community.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD), sitting on the Compensation and Human Capital Committee as well as the Audit Committee. He recently stepped down from the the Board of Directors of the Internet Advertising Bureau(IAB), and the Board of Advisors of Outward Bound USA. He is a past member of the Global Advisory Board for the Wharton School’s Future of Advertising Program, the Board of Directors of Dstillery, and the Board of Governors of dmgMedia.

Episode Transcript
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