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.

“Entrepreneurism isn’t just about owning a business – it’s the spirit you bring,” says Amy Cosper, vice president of Entrepreneur Media Inc., and editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine.

Cosper embodies that philosophy. She didn’t launch Entrepreneur magazine, but she revitalized it to be relevant and true to its word. Recruited into the magazine to transform it, Cosper arrived bursting with energy and ideas only to discover “the staff hated me from day one.”

The staffers — 37 editors generating a mere 72 pages of content a month in total — were used to the staid slow ways of the previous 30 years of the magazine. Cosper scrapped the staff and started from scratch, finding the best talent regardless of location. Now the entire staff totals six, the smallest staff of any national business magazine. In true entrepreneurial fashion, they run lean!

What’s more, staff members live in different states and work virtually. “I didn’t want to be forced to hire second-tier people just because they were living in the headquarters’ city,” Cosper said. The team communicates by Skype and iChat. “Inc. magazine did a special issue in which they sent their editors to work remotely for one month, but we’re living it,” Cosper said.

Today, in addition to print subscribers, Entrepreneur gets six to eight million unique visitors a month reading the magazine and accessing additional content and resources for entrepreneurs.

After her keynote (which Cosper preferred to call “an extended toast”), Cosper fielded questions from theMile High Social Media Club members for over an hour. People asked for advice on how entrepreneurs can get media coverage, how writers can get hired, and how social media is changing print business models.

Erika Napoletano, a columnist for Entrepreneur, urged entrepreneurs to get their message down to three sentences — in 15 seconds — that answer:
1) Who are you?
2) What makes you different?
3) Why should I care?

When asked which companies are getting social media right, Cosper gave MixOne and GoodBelly as good examples.

Cosper ended the evening (hosted by Doyle Albee at the Metzger Associates‘ conference room) by saying, “Thinking entrepreneurially will help you in life, not just work — be fearless!”

Follow Andrea Meyer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AndreaMeyer

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