Land O’Lakes CCO Kim Olson on Executive Female Leadership and Sustainability

Kim Olson is Chief Communications Officer at Land O'Lakes, one of America’s leading marketers of dairy-based food products for consumers, foodservice professionals, and food manufacturers. Land O'Lakes also offers local cooperatives and agricultural producers across the nation an extensive line of agricultural supplies, as well as state-of-the-art production and business services.

Kim’s history includes positions with UnitedHealth Group, Carlson, and General Mills. In this conversation with Lippe Taylor CEO, Paul Dyer, Kim gets into keys to supporting female executive leadership, how comms leaders should approach getting a seat at the executive leadership table, and how to launch an effective brand podcast.

Feel free to listen to the entire conversation on Lippe Taylor’s Frictionless Marketing Podcast.

Launch a niche podcast.

The Land O'Lakes Something Greater podcast is in its third season and is a big success among its shareholders and partners. Kim was concerned nobody would listen because of the podcast's HYPER targeted focus on agriculture, but this turned out to be its greatest strength. The podcast focuses on issues facing farmers, legislators, and food manufacturers and topics range from everything from carbon footprints and labor shortages to agricultural technology. This allows Land O'Lakes to effect change by becoming thought leaders in specific areas that matter most to their core constituents.

The more women who reach the top, the easier it will be for other women to join them there.

Land O'Lakes is strong on female leadership. Kim offered advice to other companies that would like to see more women in charge. “The more that women reach the top, the more opportunities there will be for still other women to rise. The women who get there first can and should open the doors for larger numbers of women at the C-suite level. The fact that bright, qualified, extraordinary women can line right up with bright, qualified, extraordinary men in an equal way is really exciting.”

CEO support is crucial for comms leaders to have a seat at the table.

A chief executive officer who relies on comms to “move the needle on business and reputation” will likely prompt others in the C-suite to pay closer heed to what comms has to say with regard to strategic planning and decision-making affecting the company as a whole, instead of just the marketing arm. As Kim said “when you have a CEO who has used communications to make progress, other folks see the value and then you’re able to spread that halo up. And if you've got a CEO behind you who says what you do is valuable, the possibilities are endless.”

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Produced by Simpler Media