Human on the Inside with Andrea Van Unen-Smith
Human on the Inside. We’re big believers in the power of human skills. But don’t just take our word for it - the evidence for excellence powered by human (‘soft’) skills is everywhere! In this engaging, ever-enlightening series, we speak with industry leaders, innovators and game-changers to learn a little about their personal career journeys, and how human-led strategies, philosophies and cultures are proving a force for good in their working worlds …
Maxme: Welcome Andrea Van Unen-Smith, and thanks for stepping into the #SuccessIsHuman Spotlight!
You’re the Chief Marketing Officer at Senetas, a global cybersecurity leader, trusted in over 60 countries to protect data across commercial, government, defence, and critical infrastructure sectors.
In 1 sentence (ok, we’ll give you 3), what does your role entail?
Andrea Van Unen-Smith: Thank you for the invitation.
My role entails building a high-performing marketing function that directly contributes to business growth by increasing business value, revenue, and profit. These key outcomes are what guide my strategic decisions and help me measure my success.
M: You’ve built a 20+ year career leading marketing in tech and financial services, with a knack for growing brands and engaging customers. From your current role as CMO at Senetas to senior positions at UiPath, Palo Alto Networks, and Juniper, you've led award-winning campaigns and built high-performing teams across ANZ and beyond. Strategic, collaborative, and results-focused—you know how to make marketing drive real business impact..
How does all this work speak to your personal purpose and what drives you as an individual?
AU-S: The recurring theme in my career, and what speaks to my personal purpose, is always about communication and collaboration to get the best outcomes. Having worked for global tech companies, effectively communicating across business units was crucial to achieving positive outcomes. I am a naturally curious person, and I’ve had to lean more over recent times on the questioning-function of seeking to understand. This serves me well in being able to develop good relationships with colleagues, customers, partners, and suppliers.
As marketers, we want to put ourselves in our customers' shoes, which you never can fully do. You make assumptions, you can look at data, but unless you take the time to ask your customer, you’ll only ever be partly right. This need to truly understand others resonates with my personal drive for genuine connection.
What fundamentally drives me is the desire to keep learning and growing. Having a career break last year was a great opportunity to study and refine, renew, and learn to think about marketing in terms of diagnosis, strategy, and tactics. Moving back into cybersecurity after a short hiatus means keeping up to date with this fast-moving landscape, which is particularly exciting given my inherent curiosity and the constant evolution of challenges and solutions in this critical field.
M: Tell us a little about your personal education pathway/s - what led you to where you are now? How closely do your formal qualifications match your current career?
AU-S: I am a life-long experiential learner, and my personal education pathway has been a blend of formal and informal learning. While I don’t have a Marketing degree, my passion for communications and marketing truly took hold with my love of English in high school. This interest led me to initiate opportunities and take on more responsibilities during my time in funds management and publishing, which ultimately shaped my current career trajectory.
This approach leans back on my curiosity – I've found that asking questions and volunteering often leads to unexpected and valuable opportunities. To supplement my on-the-job learning, I've also completed several focused short courses in communications and marketing from institutions like Melbourne Business School, Mark Ritson Mini MBA, Harvard Business School, and ADMA.
M: If you could share one piece of career advice to your 21 year old self it would be ...
AU-S: Invest in yourself and get a degree. Formal study provides a crucial foundation in learning methodologies, critical thinking, fosters inquisitiveness, builds valuable social connections, and is a tangible asset in your career. Having said that, be open to a zig zagging career and say yes to opportunities, which is how it unfolded in my case.
M: Maximising the potential of individuals, communities and businesses through the power of human skills is the reason Maxme exists. Can you tell us a little about the role and / or value of human skills in your workplace or industry right now?
AU-S: While foundational hard skills remain important in business today, the true value and competitive edge in the workplace lies in human skills. Having empathy serves you every single day in your personal and professional life. For instance, when a colleague misses a deadline they agreed to, empathy comes through not by making assumptions but by seeking to understand their challenges.
Communication is at the core of marketing – both within your business and in how you effectively engage with your target audience. Leadership, in our context, is about encouraging, coaching, and motivating colleagues to step outside of their comfort zones and contribute their best.
Creativity and innovation are central to a marketer’s role in a dynamic field like cybersecurity. This is where you can achieve great alignment and build out those innovative ideas when you actively collaborate with your colleagues or external suppliers. Ultimately, these human skills are what foster a thriving and effective work environment and drive meaningful results.
Building upon the importance of creativity and collaboration, relationship building is also at the core of marketing. We are the glue that connects different parts of a business – from sales and engineering to partners and customer support – to create growth and opportunities, ultimately driving meaningful results. You need to identify synergies and leverage the talent and strength of your team. I’m fortunate that I work in a great environment with managers who are strong communicators and willing collaborators, which in turn enables me to build stronger relationships across the business.
M: Self Awareness sets the critical foundation for all Maxme learning experiences. What’s your strongest trait / personal super power?
AU-S: Creativity and innovation, I’m always exploring how to tweak, iterate, change-up how I am as a marketer. I use these skills to build: build strategy, build brands, build campaigns.
M: And on the flip side, what’s one human / ‘soft’ skill you’ve had to really work on improving over the course of your career?
AU-S: One human skill I've had to consciously and significantly improve throughout my career is delegation. As I've often been ready to take on new challenges, whilst juggling many other projects, my initial reluctance to delegate sometimes resulted in bottlenecks and slowed down team progress. As I've become more aware of this, I've actively focused on trusting team members' abilities and clearly defining tasks to ensure smoother workflows. And I’ve had to learn to say no when no is the most sensible way forward.
M: If you could share one piece of career advice with recent Uni graduates or candidates keen to work for an organisation like yours, what would it be?
AU-S: For recent graduates and those eager to join our organisation, my key advice would be: be a lateral thinker in your networking and learning, especially when the initial job search feels challenging. This means looking beyond traditional job boards and exploring diverse avenues to connect and learn. From MeetUps on meetup.com, to becoming a member of industry associations like the Australian Information Security Association (AISA), Australian Industry Information Association (AIIA), Australian Computer Society (ACS), Women4STEM, and the Association for Data Driven Marketing & Advertising (ADMA) – embrace these opportunities to connect and network, because in the dynamic fields of cybersecurity and marketing, proactive engagement and continuous learning are highly valued.
As an early adopter of LinkedIn, it’s evolved and is the number one social media platform for business engagement and recruitment. I also like to stay on top of what’s happening in the world; I’m an avid listener of podcasts, which are free and offer diverse perspectives, from The Rest is Politics and the CMO podcast with Jim Stengel to Monocle Radio's The Entrepreneurs. Embrace these opportunities to connect, learn, and showcase your initiative.
M: You’ve been granted approval to add one Uni graduate to your business, but have 100 applicants, all with outstanding academic results. How do you find your perfect candidate - what are you looking for?
AU-S: My focus to find the ideal candidate would be on the stories they tell, as these will reveal the identifiers of their crucial human skills. While academic excellence provides a foundation, it's these human skills that will enable them to collaborate effectively, adapt quickly, and contribute meaningfully to our team and the business's success.
So, if they had a part-time job during study, or perhaps volunteer work, I’d be asking about those experiences where they demonstrated teaming, communication, leadership, decision-making, taking initiative, building relationships with customers or colleagues, and also listening for indicators of their values and how they might align with our company culture.
M: In the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey, “education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.”
What’s next on your #learning agenda?
AU-S: Later this year, I’d like to study at Mini MBA in Management.
Andrea Van Unen-Smith
Chief Marketing Officer at Senetas
Accomplished Marketing Leader with a 20+ year track record driving revenue growth and customer satisfaction in technology and financial services sector. Proven expertise in architecting and executing high-impact marketing campaigns across diverse channels, including CXO engagement, ABM, customer advocacy, and field/channel marketing. Demonstrated ability to lead and collaborate with high-performing teams to achieve strategic business objectives.
Ready to develop the human skills within your organisation, team or self? Explore our menu of Maxme Products & Programs or simply download the Hodie app to get started today.
Prefer to talk through your options? Simply contact us at any time.
More human goodness you might like:
