The connector: Alison Keller on leading through change and the art of fox footing
Maven x Maven: A spotlight on Alison Keller
Every edition, we bring you a real-talk interview with a senior marketing leader who's navigating the complexities of the modern marketing landscape. No generic advice, just honest reflections on strategy, leadership and the challenges that keep them sharp.
This time, we're talking to Alison Keller, Head of Brand & Segment Marketing at Alinta Energy. Alison's career has taken her from agency-side partnerships to some of the biggest sporting campaigns in the country, before a pivot into brand leadership that saw her rebuild Alinta Energy's brand from the ground up. She's a leader who thrives at the intersection of big-picture strategy and the human work of bringing people along for the ride.
What's a defining moment, a win, a failure or a turning point that made you the leader you are today?
One of the biggest learning periods for me was stepping into an acting leadership role during a time of significant change. The team was spread across the country, there was a lot of transformation happening across the organisation, and I was also leading a major enterprise-wide brand rebuild without a dedicated brand team. I was navigating a lot of complexity - influencing the board and executive team on the brand campaign whilst helping a team find its footing through change. What I learned was that clarity and prioritisation had to become my guardrails. If I couldn't simplify the picture for people and give them a clear path, nothing was going to move.
Looking back on it now, it was an amazing period of growth. At the time it was extremely stressful. But I learned more about leadership in that stretch than any other.
What's something about being a marketing leader that nobody warned you about?
How much time you spend translating. A big part of the role is helping people understand the value of brand and marketing in terms that are meaningful to them. Different parts of the business naturally look at things through different lenses, so a lot of the job is connecting marketing thinking to broader business outcomes. I've come to appreciate that influencing isn't just about presenting a great strategy - it's about helping people see where they fit into it and why it matters. If people understand the role brand and marketing can play for them, they're much more likely to support and champion it.
What's your go-to tool, framework or approach that you turn to again and again as a marketing leader, and why?
Two things, really. From a leadership perspective, it's feedback. I'm a big believer in it, and I try to remain genuinely open to receiving it as much as I try to give it well. I lean on the SBI-N framework: situation, behaviour, impact, next steps. It gives feedback structure that makes it easier to deliver and easier to receive, because ultimately feedback is about improvement, and even a small piece of it can turn a good piece of work into a great one.
From a brand perspective, it's always coming back to our brand architecture. Being really clear on what the brand means, and how it translates to each different audience, creates a decision-making filter that travels through the organisation. When people know what the brand is and how it needs to show up in their area, they can make smarter decisions without needing to be directed at every turn.
What personal strength do you leverage in your leadership, and where can it sometimes be a blind spot?
I've always been someone who likes connecting dots. I enjoy understanding how things fit together across customer, marketing, commercial teams, products and operations. That perspective helps me think about broader business outcomes, not just marketing outcomes, and how marketing helps achieve them.
The blind spot is that I don't naturally see problems as problems. I see them as challenges to solve, and I tend to want to move through them quite quickly. What I've had to learn is to slow down, give people the context and then give them the space to problem-solve. I'm still learning that balance, but it's probably one of the biggest leadership shifts I've made over the last few years.
What's one piece of advice you'd give your younger marketing leader self?
You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to ask the right questions.
A few years ago, I trekked part of the Larapinta Trail in central Australia. It's beautiful and an incredible experience, but much of the trail is shale, so it's unstable underfoot. Our guide kept telling us to do something called “fox footing”: testing your footing before you fully commit to a step. If you over-commit on a shaky rock, you can slide off the side.
I've been thinking about that in terms of leadership ever since. In times of uncertainty, it works the same way. Striding forward with total confidence and expecting everyone to follow isn't always the smartest move. Sometimes testing and learning, being willing to adjust or pivot, is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of good judgement. And it's better for the team around you too, knowing that it's okay to stop, think and recalibrate.
What are you most looking forward to when it comes to marketing?
Like many people, I’m fascinated by the rate at which technology is developing and the human question at the centre of AI. But what interests me most isn't just the technology itself, it's how leaders choose to use it. There's a lot of discussion about automation and efficiency, which are obviously important. What I'm interested in is the strategic layer underneath that: stepping back and asking, actually, why? What does this technology do for my team? Where do I need to be in two or three years, and how does technology help us get there?
And beyond that, I'm genuinely excited about what it means to build teams that are commercially smart, creatively brave and human-led. We have more data than ever, and we have to make better decisions with it. In a sea of sameness, the brands that stand out are the ones willing to be brave. Whilst technology will continue to evolve, preserving and strengthening the human side of marketing is something I am focused on.
What we love about Alison
Alison's superpower is translation. Not simplifying things down, but building the connective tissue between brand thinking and business reality so that everyone from the executive team to the frontline can actually act on it. That's rare, and it's what great marketing leadership looks like in practice.
Her fox footing philosophy is something every leader under pressure should hold onto. The confidence to pause, test and adjust isn't a lack of conviction. It's exactly the judgement that keeps teams moving without leaving people behind. And underpinning all of it is a clear-eyed view of her role: not to have all the answers, but to create the conditions for great work to happen.
