CEOs Driving Change
Everybody’s talking about transformation these days – those big changes needed to get the business results shareholders expect. In my view, transformations require repositioning your company in the minds and hearts of everyone — your employees, your current and future customers, and other stakeholders – all at the same time.
Because no matter how much you think you’ve changed, it doesn’t count unless people experience your company in a new and more valuable light.
Of course, it’s harder than it looks – and usually takes twice as long as anyone wants. Could your company get it done in 21 weeks? Could you re-launch your higher-value, completely-aligned organization to the world in less than six months? Could you commit to this aggressive timeline if you knew it was possible to get it done?
You could if you treat time as your most valuable asset.
There are many CEOs — together with their marketing, sales and product leaders — who have effectively driven change. We’ll highlight some of those real experiences in this blog over time, but, for now, here are many of the common conditions they faced. Note some conditions were about leveraging growth opportunities while others were about reversing a damaging situation. Both should be treated equally in our view.
- they were dissatisfied with the status quo
- they faced a critical moment
- they were in a position to accelerate through a game-changing opportunity
- they were in free fall and had to do something big and fast
- their competitive environment was exploding in a frenzy of hype
- they had a new offering that could leap frog them into a more desirable position
- their company wasn’t being fairly valued
- they were at risk of becoming a commodity
- they were competing on price and functionality not value
- they were limited in their ability to reach up and over inside their best customers
Do any of these sound familiar? Do any strike a chord?
Please share your experiences.
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Speed Matters Blog
Thomas Butta
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It's been my experience that companies are as slow as molasses when it comes to marketing transformation. For all the talk from CEOs about speed, it seems like organizations get bogged down once the work moves to the front line. A few get it … but most don't. They're still operating in a print-oriented world and seem unable to embrace a model of constant (and I do mean constant) innovation and improvement.
My advice? Don't lock in until you have to – and that may be never.
Good thinking