Getting a Seat at the Right Table

I recently had the pleasure of speaking for the Greater Philadelphia and New York Metropolitan Area chapters of the Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM). While the topics were different - Managing Your Marketing Career and Marketing Budgets - a common thread ran through both presentations. How do we get a seat at the table? My initial response to this question is, "Be sure that it's the right table." If it is consider the characteristics of chief marketing officers (CMOs) and how to think strategically:

Chief marketing officers:
• See themselves as strategic thought leaders with an emphasis on the client.
• Their reputations hinge on the ability to demonstrate return on investment.
• Have a chief executive in their corner – someone who gets it and is a very public proponent of a more expansive, influential, and results-driven marketing organization.

Be certain that you are in synch with your managing partner’s vision of where the firm is headed.

Understand the “big picture” of your firm:
•Who are we?
•Where are we now?
•Where do we want to be?
•How will we get there?
•How will we know how we’re doing?

Determining strategies:
•Are we doing the right thing?
•Does the strategy meet/address critical issues?
•Is this aligned with our mission?
•Is this approach financially doable?

Marketing and Mulch

It's springtime at last! Time to enjoy the beautiful weather and to start working in the garden. My husband and I had five yards of mulch delivered to our house, part of a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts. Proceeds will help defray the cost of summer camp. Part of the deal was help with spreading the mulch, which can be a lot of work! Now, given the choice of spreading the mulch or playing in the truck with the mulch what choice do you think the Scouts made? You're correct. It was much easier playing with the mulch than actually doing the work.

What lesson can we learn from these mulch-spreading averse Scouts? While all of them are interested in attending summer camp they really aren't interested in the work required to raise the funds. To be successful you must be willing to do the work required to achieve the success. This means making the extra effort, working harder, and enhancing our skills. This process may make us uncomfortable. However, to achieve a different or higher level result we must be willing to change how we currently do things.

Happy Gardening!