Linda Boff on Preserving the GE Legacy And Building Her Own

A young woman is hunched over her textbook like a gull on the water’s edge, so immersed in thermodynamic theory that she seems not to notice that she’s alone in the darkened room. Suddenly, the library’s green desk lamps flicker, light streaks through the large bay windows, and pages of ancient books turn by themselves. The room is transformed into a surrealist mashup of nature and industrial innovation: Ferns sprout from the floor, and a wind turbine churns along the far wall of books while a jet plane moves placidly overhead. “The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed,” the young woman begins, in voiceover, looking out at an electrified city below. At that moment, she is awakened by the librarian. She had been dreaming the whole time. Then, after a pause, she continues: “But it can be passed on to the next generation. The energy that has propelled GE’s 132-year legacy will be passed on to tomorrow’s innovators. As GE Aerospace and GE Vernova, we will step toward the future, ready to empower the next generation. GE. Once, now, forever.” This is one of GE chief marketing and communications officer Linda Boff’s all-time favorite ads, which also happens to be the company’s most recent. The one-minute video, which launched earlier this month, is noteworthy for several reasons. For starters, it represents GE’s most significant advertising effort since the company’s historic New York Times campaign in December 2022, which was the first time a single advertiser has bought up all the Times’ print real estate. It also marks the last official “corporate GE” ad. (The conglomerate is in the process of splitting into three publicly traded companies focused on energy, health care and aviation to streamline its business and pare down debt.)But perhaps most of all, “Beautiful Law” simplifies a complex story without distorting it or losing any essential elements. As it happens, it’s a unique, multilayered GE story that only Boff could have brought to life. “Picking favorites is like picking a favorite child: a dangerous endeavor,” Boff told Adweek. “But I’m quite proud of this one.”While most marketers, to be sure, tend to favor their most recent creative work, “Beautiful Law” serves as a genuine love letter to GE. The ad is more dramatically essential and more distinctively realized than most rebranding spots in the B2B world, thanks in no small part to Boff’s history with—and attitude toward—the company. "It wasn't an easy story to tell," Boff said. Boff has been a GE marketing leader for the last 20 years, serving as global CMCO for the last eight-plus. In that time, she has worked for three CEOs. Not only has she endured in her leadership roles within the complex GE organization—and during a time of immense technological and business disruption, no less—but she has also built a distinctive marketing career and helped the company navigate every market shift, emerging even stronger. That is why the Adweek editorial team has selected Linda Boff as our 2023 B2B Innovation Award Lifetime Achievement honoree. In an interview with Adweek, Boff discussed the advantages of C-suite collaboration, being so good at marketing that engineers can’t ignore you, and the superpower of saying “yes.” This interview has been condensed and edited. Adweek: CMOs are expected to be many things today, not the least of which is “chief growth officer.” In your experience, what skills must marketers learn to be growth drivers for the business? Linda Boff: To me, understanding market dynamics is incredibly important. You need to understand what it is that financial markets, investors and analysts are looking for, above all else. You have to understand what employees need to stay engaged. You’ve got to understand what is going to optimize the portfolio. To put it another way, you have to be able to answer the question, “What business are we in, and how will we win?” Speaking of dynamism, you've seen an enormous amount of business and organizational change in your career—and in the same place. What has enabled you to remain at an organization like GE, which has had so many different lives over the past 20 years and has gone through so much transformation? It is a big question, but I’m going to answer it fairly simply. I love this company. I believe in my bones in our mission and impact in the world—helping planes fly and land safely, helping people get diagnosed through our medical equipment, helping the lights go on, contributing to the energy transition. To me, what has kept me at GE through three CEOs and enormous portfolio changes is my love for a brand that is so steeped in this Edisonian heritage of figuring out what the world needs and then trying to create it. Without a doubt what has kept me here is the work that we do and the people I get to work with. The CMO business is known for people moving around. It’s notorious. But because I’ve worked at a company that I love—which operates on a global scale and in so many different areas—I don’t feel as though any of my years have mirrored any others. For a marketer who thrives on the challenge of what’s next and also who has a lot of curiosity, I’ve been fortunate to have had many jobs within this job. There are days and times where I feel like my job is brand. There are times where I feel like my job is financial communications. But there are also times where I feel like my job is sponsorship, public affairs and the demand chain. How do you not love that kind of job? Has every day been perfect? No. Has the tenure at GE been extraordinary? Yes. 'Beautiful Law' is one of Boff's all-time favorite ads. To dig into that a bit, when you look at your own skills and capabilities and talents, what would you describe as your superpower? What do you think has gotten you to where you are and has enabled you to have so much success as a marketing leader? I see possibility in many places. I am blessed—truly blessed—with having a big external network, and I try never to take that for granted, being there for others when they need me. And I try hard to push myself to look for ideas in places that may not be as obvious because I am able to tap folks in, you name it, anywhere in the startup world or the creative world or media or sports. And that’s a gift. And I try to use that gift for good. I ask, “Where is there possibility, and what could that look like here?” So I would say one superpower is that I believe in “yes.” If there’s an idea, I know that if it’s the right thing, we’re going to figure out a way to do it. And I seem to be able to motivate teams to do it with me, and I think that’s a good thing. Also, I have an extremely high tolerance for all kinds of different people. I can work with the persnickety creative, the quant, the geek. I have an appreciation for all manner of talents and people. In the end, maybe it’s the optimist in me that says, “You’ve got something different. Let’s bring that into the equation.” Relationships across the company are so critical to the success of CMOs—how they work with their CEO and CFO, for example. What has been your approach to collaborating across the C-suite? Have you found certain techniques or methods to be successful more than others? There’s no award for “Best Function.” We win or we lose together. GE has had challenges in recent years, and we are sitting here in 2023 in such a good spot. The stock is up significantly this year. The portfolio is in a great place. We’re preparing to separate into our second and third company sometime early next year. But we were in the trenches together figuring this out. So, to go back to your specific question, marketing doesn’t work, in my opinion, if it is silent. I just don’t think it works. I don’t see a formula for that because marketing as you and I talked about a few minutes ago is about growth. And who else is interested in growth? Oh, everybody in the C-suite is interested in growth. You may approach it from a talent lens, you may approach it from an R&D lens, you may approach it from an investor lens—but that’s what unites us. It’s growth. And it would be anathema at this point to imagine trying to do the marketing job without those folks as sounding boards, as colleagues and partners. GE bought up all the Times’ print real estate in a December 2022 issue. You used the term "Edisonian" to describe GE. Given GE’s historical engineering culture, have you ever encountered a situation where you needed to work a bit harder to explain and justify the importance of marketing, and what marketers do, to the engineers? I believe you’re as good as the work that you do. I don’t really spend an enormous amount of time thinking about whether marketing has a seat at the table. It’s never been a dialogue that yields a whole lot, because you have a seat at the table if you’re good at what you do. You constantly provide value, you drive growth, you build teams. I don’t know, honestly, if it’s the engineering culture. Although having spoken to many friends who are at companies with an engineering culture, I do think there’s something to that. The way I think about it is how to be a marketer in long-cycle businesses with finite customer sets. If you sell jet engines or heavy-duty gas turbines, there aren’t an infinite number of customers. We can create a campaign, but is somebody going to buy a jet engine or turbine because we created that campaign? That’s a tough line to pull all the way through. At the same time, and I will take a teeny modicum of credit for this, there is great respect for what the GE brand does globally. Marketing did that. Our brand opens doors globally. Is that going to get the IO signed at the end of the day? I can’t tell you if it will or it won’t. That will depend on our product and our service. But will it open that door and get us inside the room to have the conversation? You bet. So when you have the conversation at that level, there is great understanding and appreciation for what marketing does. Reflecting on your impact as a CMO at GE, what stands out to you the most? For me, the throughline has been presenting a brand that has always shown up in a way that is really human and personal against what could be seen as monolithic and corporate. That’s harder than it seems. People expect GE to show up in a rigid sort of way—we’re this engineering company, and this is what we do. But I feel most proud of always talking to folks as though they’re just people. That’s been the secret sauce. That can be difficult for B2B marketers, simplifying the complex and balancing the rational with the emotional. People are emotional buyers. And I’ve never understood why anybody, no matter what it is you are selling or what your service is, wouldn’t want to approach people in the absolutely most accessible way possible. Why make it hard when you can make it easy and enjoyable? It’s not dumbing down; it’s just engaging in a way that allows people to fall in love with your brand. Read about all of Adweek’s B2B Innovation Award winners here.

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Linda Boff on Preserving the GE Legacy While Building Her Own

Boff is Adweek's first B2B Innovation Award Lifetime Achievement honoree

Paul Barbagallo

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Paul Barbagallo