Liz Tokareva of SmartyAds On Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Uncertain & Turbulent Times
It’s important to plan because it gives you perspective and some confidence in the future. You should not be afraid to plan, but you should be afraid to be not flexible enough to change the plan that no longer works. The worst thing managers can do is make people do something that is no longer relevant (which both of you know) just because it is already planned and approved.
As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Liz Tokareva.
Liz Tokareva, SVP, In-house Products at SmartyAds, boasts over eight years of experience in AdTech, excelling in client engagement, team building, and strategic product development. She unified AdExchange, SSP, and DSP projects into a cohesive department, driving efficiency and innovation. Liz champions internal promotion and continuous learning, earning multiple industry awards for SmartyAds. Outside of work, Liz enjoys traveling, reading, and spending quality time with her family, blending professional excellence with a passion for personal growth.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I have a degree in Linguistics and started my career as a TOEFL and IELTS Consultant, helping students pass these exams and enter the universities they dreamt of. Later on, having already quite a lot of experience working with clients, I joined Playrix, a big game development company, as a Customer Support Agent, and it was the beginning of my journey with IT.
I dove deeper into the tech aspects of the game dev industry and the complications customers could have faced. In about a year, I started my job as an Account Manager at SmartyAds. It is a client-facing position that requires more proactivity than customer support. I learned all the aspects of the AdTech industry in general and our products in particular. I was promoted several times within the company: to Team Lead of Account Managers, VP Client Services, Director of In-house Products, and to SVP, In-house Products. With every promotion, the scope of my responsibilities and the team grew, and now I am responsible for SmartyAds SSP, DSP, and AdExchange, which form our in-house ecosystem.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Honestly, I have always been a perfectionist, so I cannot recall funny mistakes as I usually take them very seriously. I believe that mistakes only teach us something if we consciously reflect and try to learn from them. And this is what I usually adhere to: it’s better to do what you can to prevent them, but if a mistake occurs, take the most out of it — learn the lesson.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I think I am very lucky because I have always been surrounded by great people. As for a particular person, I would like to highlight the co-founder of SmartyAds, Ivan Guzenko, who gave me a lot of opportunities to grow and actually helped me get where I am now. I started as an Account Manager at SmartyAds almost 9 years ago, and since then, I have received several promotions. I now hold the position of SVP, In-house Products.
With obtaining new positions, projects, and, as a result, new responsibilities, I went through extremely difficult times, leaving my comfort zone and facing challenges I never faced before. Ivan did not let me give up at the most difficult times and was always ready to provide advice and support, making this progress in my career happen.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose-driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your organization started, what was its vision, and what was its purpose?
Of course, a business without a purpose will not survive for long. Modern society requires more than just a job done or service provided; people want to see value and purpose.
SmartyAds started as a developer of full-stack programmatic solutions and grew to become a one-stop shop for publishers and advertisers where all of the most modern standards and innovations are implemented and met. Paired with superior customer service, our commitment to innovation has been recognized by multiple industry and technology awards. We make sure our clients do not have to spend valuable time understanding the complexities of programmatic or overspending budgets that could have been optimized.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?
The main thing we should face about uncertainty is that changes are inevitable, and if major changes occur, people will react to them in different ways. Someone will resist, and someone will accept a new challenge. People who accept the change and start adapting sooner are most likely to succeed, though. This is what I’m trying to communicate to my team, as our industry is very fast-moving, and we have to be on track with all the trends and innovations.
Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?
Yes, it happened to me several times. My first managerial position was Team Lead, and I had to form a Client Service Team from scratch. So, I had to hire people, build processes for them, set goals, track their performance, and so on.
I faced issues at every step, and everything took a very long time, as when you do something for the first time, you will spend long hours researching, verifying, testing, etc. At that time, I wanted to give up as it seemed that I was not good enough to be a leader. But what is important is that I accept my own mistakes, and when I cannot achieve something or fail, I reflect on what I did wrong and what I can learn from it. So, this self-reflection and work on my mistakes, which brought positive results, helped me continue.
I’m an author, and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?
I am fond of reading. Books came at different times in my life and made some impact at that time. I’ve always been busy having dozens of plans and things to do, and therefore, I read a lot of books and studied time-management techniques. The most prominent one is “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.
The book that has really influenced my perception of time is “Four Thousand Weeks. Time Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman. This story is easy to read, and the main point is that it is not possible to do everything you planned as your life is limited to approximately 4,000 weeks, and you have to decide what exactly you want to do, not trying to do everything at once. So, honestly, I started delegating (even in my personal life) and prioritizing way more than I did.
What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
A true leader is one who leads by example and who you can trust and seek support from. So, every leader should feel the responsibility and understand their role in their team’s lives. I believe that it’s extremely important to be responsive to people’s needs, especially during turbulent times.
When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate, and engage their team?
We should never lose a positive approach and a can-do attitude.
What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?
I believe that it’s important to build relationships to have the best way to communicate bad news. Otherwise, no matter how hard you try, this news will not be accepted positively. It will be somewhere between bad and very bad. Relationships and personal touch is the most important thing that will help navigate through challenging times.
How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?
It’s important to plan because it gives you perspective and some confidence in the future. You should not be afraid to plan, but you should be afraid to be not flexible enough to change the plan that no longer works. The worst thing managers can do is make people do something that is no longer relevant (which both of you know) just because it is already planned and approved.
Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?
The number one principle for these times is leading by example. As a leader, you have to be resilient and empathetic to people’s needs and problems. However, you also need to show direction and give your team a feeling of support and a feeling that you are a team that will overcome all the challenges together.
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
The worst thing you can do as a leader or business is prioritize bureaucracy over flexibility. I’ve seen it when companies go broke because they stick to their pre-established plan and approach when the market demonstrates a considerable change (related to the economic situation, pandemics, or significant change in competition).
I think that well-built operational processes, as well as goal-setting and planning, are extremely important. However, there should always be room for changing the direction and understanding that today, you cannot create something once and for all. Another issue is the lack of clear communication with stakeholders and the team. In my opinion, bad communication can completely destroy motivation. The business might go through difficult times, but losing the core team is too high an expense that will have negative consequences in the long run.
Last but not least is overlooking long-term opportunities — while trying to survive, it’s easy to start making rapid (erratic) decisions that will lead to irreversible consequences in terms of partnerships, sales, etc. Try to stay calm (as much as possible), evaluate everything rationally, and build a plan B.
Who knows, maybe these difficult times will lead your business to new heights.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.
Adapt and innovate, take care of your team, analyze, evaluate, and build plans considering several scenarios.
One of the most difficult times I’ve ever experienced in my career was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which literally transformed the advertising market. Adaptability and innovation were instrumental at that time as products and services that were widely advertised with huge budgets before, at this time, were put on hold (e.g., hospitality, airlines, etc.), but instead, mobile apps and games gained wider popularity than ever before.
Many companies were literally paralyzed by these dramatic changes and started cutting their teams and budgets, which then did not let them adapt. That’s why I say that it’s always important to evaluate the situation carefully and build plans considering several scenarios. This will give you confidence, support, and more chances to go through difficult times.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
‘Result is defined by the situation and your reaction to it, not the situation itself.’
I think it’s very important to perceive both the good and the bad as life can be tough sometimes, and we are not able to influence every event, but we are able to influence our reaction to it, which will, in the long run, define our well-being, relationships, and health.
How can our readers further follow your work?
Please connect with me on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-tokareva/
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
Liz Tokareva of SmartyAds On Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Uncertain… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.