Q&A: Meet Lara Barnett, head of marketing at Logicalis Australia

Focused, energised, and enthusiastic, Lara Barnett has built a career in marketing by being curious through action, learning from mistakes, and bringing creativity to problem-solving.

Q. Why did you choose a career in marketing?

A. I didn’t study marketing at university. I studied an arts degree, majoring in performance studies and English literature. It means I came to marketing unusually, but I learnt many skills I have found helpful in a marketer’s role, particularly around communicating well, formulating ideas, and questioning how and why we do things. Studying is important, but skills are transferable with a flexible growth mindset. I finished my degree in England and had the opportunity to do a marketing internship, which I really enjoyed. When I returned to Australia a few months later, the construction company I had worked for while studying reached out and asked if I’d be interested in creating a marketing function in their business and at the same time, they’d support my post-graduate marketing education. I jumped at the opportunity, and their offer, and just like that, I was studying a two-year marketing diploma while simultaneously working in a marketing role.

Q. It sounds like you learnt marketing on the job from the ground up. How did you upskill yourself into the role?

A. Right before I took on my first full-time marketing role, I’d worked a few part-time jobs in the UK, including events, sales, customer service, and the marketing internship I mentioned. My attitude was to take all my skills and experience and approach the role with a customer-first mindset. I focused on understanding our customers' challenges and how to address their needs, and I built our marketing function and channels around them. I got the tertiary qualification in marketing simultaneously, but I have found that I don’t use it as much as the hard marketing skills I’ve learnt on the job through trial and error. We learn through experience, and the best approach to failure is to get back up and try again.

Q. Looking back, is there anything you would change?

A. While I don’t regret my path, I recognise that I could have left a previous role sooner to start my career in tech. What I learnt from this is that you do sometimes need to take a leap of faith and trust yourself to take on any challenges that will come your way. Leaving and joining a prominent technology business completely changed my career trajectory.

Q. When did you realise you wanted to be in the technology sector?

A. At the time, I started investigating other industries once I realised it was time for a change. I was advised to focus on job roles instead of companies, and so I applied for roles that excited me and that I could grow in. I’d always loved learning, and a prominent university offered me a marketing manager position, which I was delighted to accept. However, the very next day, an IT services business I’d interviewed with offered me the opportunity to lead their marketing team, and, suddenly, I was facing a dilemma. Which should I choose, and could I say no to a role I had already agreed to? A business coach asked me an interesting question; if I had received the tech offer first, would I still have interviewed at the university? The answer was a quick and definitive no, and so I had my answer. The tech sector was calling me. Today, the career advice I would give most candidates is actually the opposite of what I received. Don’t worry so much about the role. Look at the sector and the company. Roles change. We learn and grow. The business and the value it delivers to customers is more important.

Q. What advice would you give to people still in the early stages of their marketing careers?

A. I think it’s essential for marketers to eventually become generalists. The landscape and technology are changing too quickly to only specialise in digital advertising or events or social media. As you become more senior, the job becomes more general, particularly when you need to develop strategies. Being too niche can hamper career growth. You should also try and gain an understanding of the business overall, not just the marketing function. The other piece of advice is to be curious through action. Put your hand up, get involved, and learn a new skill. I was once told that experience isn’t measured in time, and I love that. There is an element of time, but the key point is that we control how much we learn and develop and how quickly we do so. How much I have been able to fit into the past five years is exponentially more than the five years before that because of the growth approach I’m taking. Finally, the piece of advice I routinely share is that perception is reality. You can know who you are, what you do, and what you stand for, but it’s irrelevant if your audience doesn’t understand it. This is true at individual, departmental, and organisational levels. Understand how you are viewed, recognise the gaps, and then create a strategy to close those gaps.

Q. How do you manage to achieve work-life balance?

A. I had to learn this the hard way. When we all started working remotely during the pandemic, I was working 12-to-14-hour days. All the time I saved not commuting went straight into my work and, looking back, I was very close to burnout, which made me take a close look at my work-life balance. The next role I took was a senior contributor who did not manage a team, and focusing on my results, developing strategies, and honing my skills as an individual contributor allowed me to gain perspective on what gave me the most energy to put back into my role. I’m now much stricter with my personal time. I switch off, go to the gym, or take my dog for walks. I’ve learnt that I can do all these things and be good at my job. I don’t always get it perfect, and there are still days where work takes over, but I’m mindful of it. Organisations have a unique opportunity today to enable people to work in a way that gives them the most energy. Some people love going into an office. Others work far better at home. A hybrid solution offers the best of both worlds. If we hire the right people, let them work in a way that’s best for them, and trust them in their jobs, I believe we will have a far happier and healthier workforce.

Q. What do you enjoy personally that intersects with your career?

A. Creativity is extremely important to me. It was a big part of my studies all those years ago, and I’ve found that it’s a real strength in marketing, not only in how we design a campaign or create messaging, but in how we problem-solve. For example, in the past, I’ve had to get very creative about how to do more on tighter budgets. It’s a challenge, but finding solutions that work is also incredibly rewarding.