Interview With a SiriusStar: Steve Hardy, PerkinElmer

SiriusStars is an exclusive community of high-performing and highly influential clients selected for their exceptional work leveraging and implementing SiriusDecisions research and advice. The SiriusStars blog series is designed to share the personal and professional world of your b-to-b peers. In this post, we spoke with Steve Hardy, vice president and head of marketing at PerkinElmer.

SiriusDecisions: What is something about you we wouldn’t find on your LinkedIn profile?

Steve: Before I started my professional career, I had a lot of menial jobs, to be perfectly honest. When I was 13, my first job was delivering the Sheffield Star (a local newspaper) on my bike at 5:00 every morning. My parents always had a very strong work ethic, so I quickly learned the value of hard work and chasing opportunities through jobs like being a hotel porter or a waiter – things like that.

SD: What does a day in the life of Steve Hardy look like?

Steve: Wake up, check phone. I typically get to the office between around 7:30 and 8:00 a.m., and by then I’ve already had a cup of coffee, but I need another one before I start my day. I am fueled by caffeine!

Typically, my mornings are spent in leadership meetings, and then I rotate through different functional areas. I believe in spending focused time with functional areas, so I’ll spend time with my portfolio team or with my campaigns team and then move on to the next one. I’ll also meet with sales to support them on what they need and ensure we’re aligned with our programs and objectives.

I try to block off some time at the end of the day to work on my big issues. Part of working for a global organization is traveling and working across the time zones, so I often find myself working two days in one, with all the timezone hopping. One piece of advice I’d offer is to always find time to focus on your important issues by blocking time on your calendar. Calendar discipline is important to be most effective.

SD: What is one marketing technology platform you can’t live without?

Steve: This is a tough one! I’m torn between the one-size-fits-all marketing automation platform and our analytics platform. I don’t think I could live without analytics. Understanding how our campaigns and activities are performing drives everything that we do.

SD: If you weren’t a marketer today, what would your dream job be?

Steve: My dream job would be a ski instructor, absolutely.

SD: Any particular part of the world?

Steve: I would just chase the snow – South America for the summer, North America and Europe for the winter!

SD: How did you first hear about SiriusDecisions?

Steve: I was at a different company when I first heard of SiriusDecisions and became a seatholder at one of my previous positions.

SD: What separates SiriusDecisions from other companies you have worked with?

Steve: I think SiriusDecisions is unique in that you deeply understand the needs of marketing, sales and product professionals, and take an agnostic, unbiased approach. I don’t think there’s anybody out there who really understands the business of sales and marketing the way SiriusDecisions does. It really is about advancing the art and science of sales and marketing.

SD: How would you describe SiriusDecisions events to a peer?

Steve: I went to Summit about five years ago and was blown away by the size. I also attended a CMO roundtable a few months ago and found that to be particularly valuable because of the networking opportunities. It was great to be able to connect with other individuals who were clients, as well as those who weren’t, and share experiences and hear others’ key challenges.

SD: What is the future of marketing?

Steve: The past 10 years have infused marketing with more data and insights around the behaviors and patterns of customers. I think we returned to our roots in a way, but in a much more prescriptive and digital way than we were ever able to.

I think the future is a continuation of being deeply data-driven in everything we do, so we’ll continue to hone and optimize every campaign and tactic to become more impactful and effective. If we do that, marketing will have a direct line to the C-suite, owning and championing the customer experience at every touchpoint, building better products, optimizing our routes to market, designing more efficient channels and implementing stronger demand generation campaigns.

SD: Our last question is a fun one: What’s currently playing on your Spotify?

Steve: I listen to all kinds of music! I listen to classical to fall asleep in the evening. I grew up in the ’90s in the U.K., so I like everything ranging from electronic dance music to real hardcore garage music, but I also have young kids as well, so there’s Katy Perry and Imagine Dragons on my playlist, too.

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