Career growth rarely follows a straight line. Sometimes the biggest steps forward come from embracing uncertainty, taking on new challenges and learning as you go.

For Walter Mike Sanchez, Marketing Automation Team Lead at FT Professional, growth has come through curiosity, accountability and a willingness to keep moving forward, even without all the answers. In this blog, Walter shares how he's built his career by focusing on continuous learning, using data to drive better decisions and embracing the mindset of "making it up as I grow."

Can you share how your journey with Financial Times started? What initially attracted you to the company?
I joined the FT because I wanted to move into more technical marketing.

Before this, I was already working on lead generation and campaigns, but I wanted a deeper understanding of how everything connects. How data informs decisions and how customer behaviour shapes strategy.

What stood out about the FT was that the expectation goes beyond execution. You’re encouraged to understand the reasoning behind the work and the impact it has.

It’s an environment that pushes you to grow quickly, but in a thoughtful and grounded way.

Making it up as I grow is such an honest phrase—what does it mean to you personally?
For me, “making it up as I grow” means not waiting for perfect clarity before taking action.

I’ve always had a sense of direction, the kind of work I want to do and the impact I want to have -even if I haven’t always had a fixed path to get there.

Rather than waiting for certainty, I focus on the opportunities in front of me. I assess whether they move me closer to where I want to be, and if they do, I commit to them fully.

It’s not about guesswork. It’s about being deliberate while staying flexible.

Can you share a moment in your career where you truly felt like you were ‘figuring it out as you went’? What did you learn from it?
There were times when I was managing campaign issues without clear answers. Customer volumes did not align, tracking was inconsistent, and several teams were involved.

There was no single source of truth to rely on. I had to break the problem down myself, analyse the data, understand the campaign logic, identify the gaps and communicate that clearly to stakeholders.

What I learnt is that clarity is often the outcome of doing the work, not the starting point. If you wait for everything to make perfect sense before moving forward, progress slows. Clarity comes through working through the problem itself.

Have you ever had to step into a leadership decision before feeling fully ready? How did you navigate that?

Yes and that is often where leadership begins.

There comes a point where you are no longer responsible only for your own output, but also for decisions that affect timelines, teams and outcomes.

I approached that by focusing on two things. First, understanding the situation as clearly as possible through data and context. Second, communicating decisions in a direct and accountable way.

You do not need to have every answer to lead effectively. What matters is being able to make a decision, explain the reasoning behind it, and adapt when necessary.

As a Marketing Automation Team Lead, how has your definition of growth or success evolved over time?
Earlier in my career, success was about delivery. Building campaigns correctly, resolving issues and meeting deadlines.

Now, I think about success more in terms of scale and impact. It is about how effectively the team operates, how clear our processes are, and how well we support stakeholders. It is also about creating an environment where the team can work confidently without relying too heavily on one person.

If everything still depends on me, that is not real growth.

How are you using AI in your role today, if at all? And how do you see it shaping the way you work in the future?
I use AI to improve how I think and communicate.

It helps me structure ideas more quickly, refine messaging and work through problems more efficiently. It is valuable for getting to a strong starting point faster.

But I do not see it as a decision-maker. The value of AI lies in speed and support. Judgment and accountability still sit with the individual.

Looking ahead, I think AI will reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks. That shift will make strategic thinking and sound judgment even more important, not less.

What advice would you give to someone who feels like they’re still ‘becoming’ in their career?
You are not behind. You are still learning and progressing.

One of the biggest misconceptions is thinking you need complete clarity before taking action. In reality, clarity often comes through movement.

Focus on understanding how things work. Pay attention to patterns. Take on work that challenges you, even if you do not feel fully confident yet.

Confidence is usually built through experience, not before it.

FT's values are Ambition, Inclusion, Integrity, Curiosity, Trust and Subscriber Focused. In relation to your role at the FT which of these values speaks to you most and why?|
Curiosity is the quality that stands out most in my role. In marketing automation, things change quickly. Tools evolve, data shifts, and approaches that worked previously may no longer be effective.

If you are not asking questions or looking for better ways to improve, it becomes easy to fall behind.

Curiosity is what helps you solve problems, improve processes and continue developing in a fast-changing environment.

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