5 Questions for a CEO: Moira Vetter, Modo Modo

This is the eigth installment of my “5 Questions for a CEO” series. The first was with Raymond King, CEO of Zoo Atlanta; the second was with Devon Wijesinghe, CEO of Insightpool; the third with Mark Feinberg, CEO of Uruut; the fourth with Simms Jenkins, BrightWave Marketing; the fifth was with Rob Kischuk, CEO of PerfectPost; the sixth was Kyle Porter, CEO of SalesLoft; and the seventh was with Brett Jacobsen of Mount Vernon Presbyterian School.

Moira Vetter (CEO of Modo Modo) recently received the highest honor anyone in marketing in Atlanta can receive. She was named the AMA’s Marketer of the Year. On top of that, she’s written a terrific book on entrepreneurship, was in my Leadership Atlanta class of 2013, and is simply put one of the most talented people I know. Also, she did the brand for Dragon Army which shows how great her shop is. So I was thrilled when she agreed to let me interview her for this blog post!

What is Modo Modo and what makes you guys so damn good?

Modo Modo has grown and remained relevant by always understanding what our customers’ challenges are and building our recommendations and offerings around the real customer challenges. We are not productizing and peddling marketing services. We are understanding how broad and grey the areas of marketing’s impact and contribution to company success are and pivoting as needed to fit those needs.

As CEO, how would you define your “job” on a day-to-day basis?

My job as CEO on a day-to-day basis is about understanding and ensuring we deliver on today’s challenges with today’s clients while always keeping an eye on the growing future needs that client’s have as yet been able to articulate. A CEO must build and deliver on today’s challenges and tomorrow’s challenges to remain relevant and help our customers evolve.

You’re very involved in the community, you’re the CEO of a growing business and you’re a parent…how do you manage all of those things?

Core values of importance to myself and my business are understood by my family. Anytime a CEO chooses the needs of business over family, I find it is critical that the family understand why commitment to commerce, a free market economy and a healthy community is service to a larger goal. My staff and my children understand why the needs of the individual are sacrificed to the needs of the larger “we”. I am very at peace with that as my children understand that business and community when they are successful will contribute to their eventual success as citizens and individuals in a healthy, growing, supportive ecosystem.

I anchor myself daily in the immediate needs of the day (meetings and work product) and ensure that there is equal time spent on current needs and future needs. In any given week there may be a greater focus on immediate revenue, future market growth, family health and fun! Every day does not offer us an opportunity to focus on all aspects but every day offers us a choice as to which focal point is most critical given the immediate and future opportunities.

Cut the low value, small-thinking, negative forces of the voices of the past out of your immediate priorities. Do not confuse activity for progress and be more intentional about who you invest in and how you spend your time with the people that will contribute most not only to your future but a broader future for everyone.