Tired of Being Told What to Do?

If you’re tired of being told what to do, if you want to take charge, you first have to earn the respect of your executive peers.  You won’t be given that respect, or brought into the inner circle without first demonstrating some real business leadership.  Marketers today must appear to possess the analytic and leadership skills that will allow their team members to work cross-functionally, and even transition into leady operating roles.  Beth Comstock did just that when CMO at GE.  Her work on transforming the company behind the CEOs “Innovation at Work” campaign required that she help strategically redirect the company from a product oriented company to a solutions based organization.  Marketing took the lead on this initiative.

Looking at CMOs like Beth, we can begin to understand, How we can cause the change within our organization.  Like any other marketing initiative, this too will be a campaign.  Without respect, you cannot expect to make changes or direct a strategic plan.  And you cannot gain respect by asking for it.  Leading the metrics charge, no matter how simple, is the path to being asked to do more, contribute more, be a part of the inner circle.