Read time 3 minutes
Optimove Connect 2026 will feature Jamil Qureshi, one of the world’s leading performance psychologists, as its keynote speaker, bringing a performance lens to what it truly takes to operate as a Positionless Marketer.
In his keynote, Overcoming the Mental Barriers Holding Marketers Back, Qureshi will explore why marketing teams equipped with data, AI, and automation still struggle to move with speed and ownership - and what must change for autonomy and execution to take hold.
Positionless Marketing gives marketers the power to act without handoffs. Qureshi’s work explains why many still hesitate to do so.
Because technology removes limitations, and mindset determines performance.
Jamil Qureshi has spent his career working with elite performers operating at the edge of capability. Olympic athletes. Ryder Cup champions. Formula 1 drivers.
These performers were never under-equipped. They had the best coaching, training, and tools available. What separated peak performance from stalled potential was the ability to act decisively under pressure, without hesitation or reliance on handoffs.
Positionless Marketing is built on the same principle. When marketers have access to Data Power, Creative Power, and Optimization Power at the same time, they can move faster and take ownership from idea to outcome.
But access alone does not change behavior.
Marketing teams have never been better equipped. Real-time data is instant. AI generates and optimizes creative at scale. Orchestration platforms connect every channel.
And yet, execution still slows at familiar points:
These slowdowns are often explained as operational complexity or organizational friction. But the pattern is consistent even when the tools no longer require handoffs or approvals.
In elite sport, Jamil Qureshi observes the same behavior. Highly capable performers hesitate not because they lack skill or preparation, but because they have been conditioned to seek validation before acting.
Performance stalls when confidence fails to keep pace with capability.
This is where Qureshi’s work creates a shift. Rather than treating hesitation as a sign that teams are not ready, performance psychology reframes it as a learned response. High performers are not those who wait until they feel confident. They act decisively with the tools they already have and allow confidence to follow action.
Positionless Marketing makes this distinction unavoidable. When structural barriers between insight, execution, and optimization are removed, what remains is psychological. The belief that someone else should approve, decide, or take responsibility first becomes the true constraint.
Qureshi’s work helps teams recognize this moment clearly. Not to move faster for the sake of speed, but to understand when waiting no longer reduces risk and instead prevents performance.
For marketing leaders, this clarity is critical. It is the mindset shift that enables autonomy without chaos, accountability without micromanagement, and execution without constant permission.
Writers in the Optimove Team include marketing, R&D, product, data science, customer success, and technology experts who were instrumental in the creation of Positionless Marketing, a movement enabling marketers to do anything, and be everything.
Optimove’s leaders’ diverse expertise and real-world experience provide expert commentary and insight into proven and leading-edge marketing practices and trends.
