“Imagine what could be possible,” Allison Stransky from Samsung

Meet Allison Stransky, Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Samsung Electronics America where her marketing strategy experience helps her to drive initiatives and propel the vision for the connected home and AI-powered innovation objectives forward. Allison serves on the Board of Trustees for Helen Keller Services, a national nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of blind and deafblind individuals. 

She’s passionate about Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow initiative, a STEM competition that challenges young students to solve a problem in their community—a tool creating social change and purposeful innovation. With over 15 years of service, Solve for Tomorrow is an educational initiative driving a more equitable future for students and schools worldwide. To date, they’ve awarded over $27M in technology and classroom supplies to 4,000 schools nationwide, providing students with access to the resources they need to thrive. 

Allison sat down for a conversation with Deirdre Locksley, Associate Director, Content Marketing to discuss how unique perspectives bring exciting innovation to organizations, the power of pushing through uncomfortable situations, and the inspiration that comes from authentic leadership. 

Tune in to the full conversation below. 

Are you feeling inspired to be more innovative? We sure are. Let’s revisit some powerful moments from the conversation.

Find solutions together.

Highlight: "Innovation to me is this constant drive to find solutions to problems or ways to improve things. And in the leadership capacity, what it means is not just doing that, but bringing that lens to my team, so that my team is designed and encouraged to find ways that enable everybody to adopt that mindset and find solutions together. I think a part of that is really embracing creativity and an attitude that is comfortable with change. But I think innovation and leadership is really elevating a whole team to imagine or reimagine what could be possible and live it, live that mindset.” - Allison Stransky

Find your uniqueness.

Highlight: “Find your uniqueness. And what I mean by that is everybody has unique perspectives and points of view. But I think where you can start adding real value to a team is when you find how your uniqueness complements your teammates, or complements the strategy that your team is trying to achieve, or how you see things in a way that may be different from everybody else in your organization…. It's entirely up to you to find what it is, but find a unique value and figure out your best way to bring it to your team or your org.” - Allison Stransky 

Put yourself in uncomfortable situations.

Highlight: “Get comfortable with putting yourself in uncomfortable situations…. You're not gonna love it in the moment. And maybe you don't even consciously put yourself in uncomfortable situations all the time. But sometimes you have to, sometimes you have to take those chances… Just be comfortable putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. Learn to take risks, and they're calculated risks… I now appreciate seeing somebody bold and seeing somebody take charge of an uncomfortable situation.” - Allison Stransky 

Adapt your style.

Highlight: “What I learned from that experience was that sometimes the work doesn't speak for itself, and it needs to be packaged up or sold in a way that gets all of the audience to come around and be ready for that work or that innovation, as well. And so, I think there are a couple of lessons in there, not just in how you deliver it, but in understanding your stakeholders and understanding where they're coming from and what they need and how they think about problems and solutions a little bit differently. And I think it's critical for a leader to, or anyone, to adapt their style to reflect their audience's needs.” - Allison Stransky

Try something different. 

Highlight: “The reason I decided to go to Google was because I wanted something off of that linear path, I wanted to try something different. And what was interesting was, a lot of my time at Google, I was outside of my comfort zone, which is another lesson in a lot of things that I learned about myself and about making changes… There was always something at that point in time that interested me and scratched an itch or had a certain amount of curiosity.” - Allison Stransky

Lead with empathy. 

Highlight: “I can think of very many leaders along my career who I have admired… One of the things that I've observed that I appreciate about strong leaders or good leaders is that they lead with empathy… It means that they're good listeners. It means they understand their stakeholders. It means that they are open to considering alternative perspectives. And all of that together, to me, is what has made a great leader.” - Allison Stransky

Allison’s passions for marketing and innovation are driving impactful, meaningful changes in the workplace, the community, and the standards of leadership.  On the hunt for more actionable advice? Tune in to the Pass the Mic podcast.

More Inspiration at Your Fingertips