Success often comes with a familiar checklist: bigger roles, larger teams, higher pay and impressive titles. Yet, for many leaders, there comes a point when external milestones stop answering an important question: Does the work still feel meaningful?
Growth, then, becomes less about climbing the next rung of the ladder and more about finding clarity of purpose. It begins to look like creating impact, staying curious and having the courage to choose uncertainty when it aligns with one’s values.
But, for Priyanka Arora, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at The Plan Beyond, that moment of reflection changed the course of her career.
Arora spent years building successful brands and leading ambitious campaigns. On paper, every move looked like progress. But somewhere along the way, she realised she was becoming “very good at playing a character in someone else’s story” while postponing writing her own.
“The question, ‘What legacy am I personally building?’ changed everything,” Arora said.
Today, her definition of growth has little to do with titles and everything to do with purpose. “The biggest promotion isn’t a designation. It’s finding work that feels deeply meaningful,” she stated.
That search for meaning led her to make what she calls the biggest bet of her career: walking away from an established corporate journey to become the founding CMO of an early-stage startup.
The move was unconventional. While many professionals aspire to transition from startups to large organisations, Arora chose to move in the opposite direction.
“It meant giving up certainty, established brands and comfortable success to build something that had no playbook,” she said. “But if your experience is valuable, it shouldn’t only scale large businesses; it should also help create new ones.”
The decision perfectly reflects a career philosophy she has consistently embraced: choosing to build rather than maintain.
Arora said she has always been energised by blank sheets of paper. Whether it was launching products, building partnerships or driving transformations, she found herself drawn to questions that did not yet have answers.
“Building is uncomfortable, but that’s where creativity, resilience and leadership are forged,” she stated. “I’d rather write the first chapter than simply edit chapter ten.”
Her relationship with success has also evolved considerably over the years. Early in her career, success meant promotions, awards, salary hikes and recognition. Today, the metrics are far more personal.
Success now looks like receiving a message from a young marketer saying her work changed the way they think. It is seeing people she mentored become leaders and creating brands that people genuinely trust. It is also about going home knowing her son is proud of her—not because of her designation, but because he sees courage, kindness and curiosity in action.
“Titles impress people. Impact stays with them,” she said.
That emphasis on growth and reinvention is also why, despite having years of experience behind her, Arora chose to return to the classroom through the CMO Fellowship. For her, experience should never become an excuse for complacency.
“Marketing is probably the only profession where you can have twenty years of experience and still become outdated in two,” she noted.
A moment from the programme stayed with her. During one session, a fellow participant jokingly remarked that her work experience was greater than their age. The room laughed, but the comment reinforced an important lesson.
“Experience earns you a seat at the table, but curiosity keeps you relevant at it,” she stated. “The day you think you’ve arrived is usually the day you stop growing.” She believes seniority should increase curiosity, not diminish it.
Outside of marketing, one practice that keeps her grounded is yoga.
For Arora, yoga is far more than a fitness routine. It is a source of healing and self-connection that helps her show up as the best version of herself, whether in a boardroom, at home or while mentoring young professionals.
“It reminds me that leadership isn’t just about performance. It’s about presence,” she said.
Looking back, she believes her younger self would be surprised by one thing in particular: her comfort with uncertainty.
“The younger Priyanka wanted every answer before making a decision,” she said. “Today, I know leadership often means making decisions without complete information, trusting your values and figuring things out along the way.”
She has also learned that confidence is not something people simply possess. “It’s something you build by repeatedly doing things that scare you,” she added.
Through every role and transition, one value has remained constant: authenticity. Arora said she never wanted to be the loudest person in the room. Instead, she wanted to be someone people could rely on.
One of the compliments she values most is hearing from teams that they always felt supported, empowered and trusted.
Because, in the end, people may not remember every campaign or presentation. They remember how someone made them feel. And that is the legacy Arora hopes to leave behind: building brands with purpose, teams with empathy and relationships with integrity.
After all, businesses grow through trust, and so do careers.
