Every marketing leader knows the feeling. The board wants growth, the CEO wants transformation, and a new AI tool shows up in your feed every morning promising to change everything. Somewhere in the middle, it’s easy to believe everyone else has it figured out and you’re the only one still catching up.

In this special fifth-anniversary episode of Marketing in Progress, Kristin Allaben spoke with Gayle Birkland Kalvert, founder and CEO of Creo Collective, to dig into what it really takes to build something that lasts. 

After all, Creo Collective started with a layoff, a laptop, and no entrepreneurship playbook. Five years later, the lessons behind the growth of the company apply to anyone leading a marketing function through constant change. Here are Gayle’s top three lessons. 

1. Revenue isn’t the same as health

Growth can hide a lot. Plenty of leaders chase the bigger number, whether that’s revenue, lead volume, or campaign output, without asking whether the engine underneath can sustain it. Gayle admits she ran Creo for years believing revenue told the whole story, until she learned profitability is what actually keeps a business standing.

Marketing leaders face the same trap every planning cycle. A packed calendar and a rising marketing qualified lead (MQL) count look great on a slide, but they don’t prove marketing moves the business forward. The leaders who earn a real seat at the table understand the economics behind their numbers and can explain them in the language their finance team speaks.

The episode gets into how one partner taught Creo’s leadership the financials instead of simply handling them, and why that difference mattered so much.

2. You’re not behind

When ChatGPT arrived, Creo’s clients and prospects started asking a question no agency wants to hear: can’t we just do this without you? 

Overnight, leaders across every marketing function, regardless of industry, felt pressure to prove their value with technology they’d barely had time to test. And expectations for marketing leaders keep climbing. Hit your number, transform the function, master every new tool, and do it all at once. 

But you can’t chase every shiny new object. Take a breath, get clear on your superpower, and ask how AI can make you better at what you already do well. 

Strong leaders build from strength, while average ones spread themselves thin trying to match someone else’s highlight reel. (The episode also gets candid about the sleepless nights behind Creo’s shift from one-off engagements to repeatable systems.)

3. Confidence comes from not knowing everything

Social feeds serve up a steady diet of best-case scenarios, like how to do marketing, how to stop doing marketing, who’s winning, and how fast. It’s easy to mistake all that noise for certainty because in reality, everyone’s just figuring it out as they go.

Gayle put it best: “I am more confident because I am more comfortable not knowing everything.” The best partnerships, whether with your CEO, your sales team, or an agency, start when someone says “here’s what I know and here’s what I don’t,” and then everyone builds the answer together.

It also means you stop waiting for perfect conditions. Whether you’re rethinking your operating model, pitching a bold program to the board, or betting on a new channel, you’ll never feel fully ready. Do it scared, and surround yourself with people who know what you don’t.

What this means for marketing leaders

What separates leaders who grow through change from those who stall? The strongest marketing leaders know the difference between activity and impact, build on what they do best, and bring in people who make them smarter. In a market where AI moves the goalposts every quarter, and boards expect marketing to act as a growth engine, that combination matters more than any single tool or tactic.

There’s plenty more in the full conversation, including the unlikely business ideas Gayle considered before Creo (one involved seafood!), the partner who changed how Creo thinks about money, and the three beliefs that help her lead through the hardest times both at work and at home.

Listen to the full episode of Marketing in Progress on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. Follow the show so you never miss an episode. Know a marketing leader who needs this reminder? Send it their way.

For five years, Creo Collective has helped B2B marketing leaders turn marketing into a growth engine, building the messaging, content, event, and partner programs that move pipeline and prove impact to the business. Learn more.