Third, given the importance of transformation should organizations consider making transformation a business function? I would argue, yes. Organizing for success is key. Where can we find the best candidate to lead the transformation effort?

The Office of the CEO would seem to be a natural candidate, but it’s not my choice. While the Office of the CEO sets company vision and strategy it does not have the time or operational bandwidth to physically drive the transformation agenda day in and day out.

Who then? Who is best equipped to lead the cross-functional, enterprise-wide effort of making transformation happen?

I believe someone from Marketing should lead the transformation function. Why?

1. Marketing sees the whole. To do marketing well, it must understand customer needs and integrate the core of every organization – sales & service/product/marketing.
2. Marketing drives positioning. It brings vision to life. And it activates strategy.
3. Marketing is the point of the corporate spear. Everything lines up behind it as proof.

The original business can’t get to next level by working off of the old framework. Transformation to a new, higher-value business requires hammering out new boundaries and values that the sales & service/product/marketing functions can use.  Unlike the original business where boundaries and values were established under different conditions, there are three problems facing any new business that’s built on top of an old one.

1. Holistic understanding. The business is too big for any one person to fully grasp.
2. Alignment. Different camps derived from different functions, origins and cultures have built-in biases and agendas.
3. Accountability. The lack of common language and detailed cross-functional commitments and dependencies doom the group to under-achievement.

A cross-functional group does not have the time nor the expertise to solve these problems through the many execution iterations required. Nor will CEO-led management off-sites. The only way to give sustainable transformation a chance of sticking is to organize for success and select the right leader. For my money, that’s establishing transformation as a business function and selecting someone from marketing to lead the effort.

The Future of the Enterprise is at Stake

The job of driving transformation is critical. The future of your entire enterprise is at stake. The decisions on how to organize for success and who to select to lead the effort are politically loaded, that’s for sure. But, they are probably the most important decisions a CEO and board can make. They are decisions that will make the difference between success and failure – between remaining an organization stuck in its past or one whose value is vital to the interests of its customers.

This is the second part of a 2 part post. Read part 1 here.

It’s interesting to see how much comfort there seems to be with industry insiders in the article below. I would argue that the power of outside influence is what’s needed to help companies better accelerate through opportunities.

CMO Moves Reveal New Demands, Required Skills.

Over the past six to nine months, we’ve seen a next-generation marketer begin to emerge. The old “CPG academy” model is evolving to a “hybrid marketer” model — and it’s changing the career path and experiences of today’s top marketers. A more typical path might now include a career start in traditional brand management, then a move to an online, direct-to-consumer or new-media environment — to gain significant digital marketing expertise, ideally, in a culture of innovative thinking.

In fact, given new realities, many next-generation marketers will come out of cutting-edge digital agencies and the media industry.

Looking at the most recent CMO moves, we’re able to extrapolate some of the ways the role is evolving in the marketplace — particularly at organizations where the emphasis is shifting toward customer insight and relationship building. For one, the CMO’s ability to drive measurable demand generation is critical and now more complex than ever with the increased number of channels and methods available to connect with customers.

Meanwhile, demand for hands-on/operational marketers who have the ability to move at a rapid pace and stay in front of the customers is rising: Executive teams want to see tangible results, quickly.

In addition, CMOs must be deeply cognizant of emerging trends in the digital arena and confident enough to lead the organization in terms of creating or altering a relevant strategy for the brand.

The CMO must be seen as an authentic advocate for customers and, conversely, as a listening ear to customers who are advocates. That’s because increased activity in user reviews and customer feedback gives new and existing customers a more credible voice that marketers must hear and react to in tangible ways.

Digital-to-consumer continues to grow in importance across all customer demographics, so understanding how to forge both one-on-one and broader community ties with core consumers via digital media is critical.

Finally, digital/social-media experts are leading the way in brand communications, and these leaders may be suitable for client-side roles. The cultural implications for organizations that go this route are key — companies must be truly open and ready for change when embracing new technology and communication tools.

Continue Reading >

The signals that indicate things aren’t going so well fall into two camps:

1. You haven’t been visibly endorsed
2. Your work isn’t having an impact

You know you haven’t earned the endorsement of your boss or your peers when:

– You aren’t in the critical path of planning
– Decisions are being made without your direct involvement
– You aren’t given a broad enough forum to share your thinking
– Your boss asks you to present your ideas to a group invited by your boss

You know your work isn’t having an impact when:

– Your ideas aren’t showing up in anything except your own presentations
– There is both silent and vocal resistance to your points-of-view
– Your big, strategic ideas are trivialized as possibly valid for tactical purposes

If this is happening to you then you are certainly frustrated, possibly confused, and likely concerned. What can you do? That’s the content of a future post. The good news is there are immediate steps you can take. The other good news is your organization can do a much better job of ensuring your success.