We don't care about diversity because it's in vogue. We care about it because we like winning." - Mike Gamson, SVP Global Solutions, LinkedIn
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I read recently that we should not ask kids, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Instead, we should ask, “What problems do you want to solve?” This line of questioning promotes thinking about the content of the work and the impact you can have on society.
In the same way that this is a good method to frame things for children, it can also work for executives. I recently reflected on the kind of problems that I strive to solve in my work. Identifying the problems is harder than it would seem.
I could easily identify the activities of my days and even my over-arching objectives, but framing them as problems was a good exercise. Especially because I, like you, consider myself and my company a solution provider, and those who provide solutions must deeply understand the problems they are solving.
These are the problems that I spend my days solving as a marketing executive and product strategist:
Prioritization and Allocation
The challenges of prioritization and allocation of time, energy, and resources to the most important things required for us to grow our business profitably.
Brand and Product
Cracking the code to bring our brand and product offerings to the forefront in the minds of potential buyers and to create identity for our products and harness demand in the market for our products that we can deliver to our sellers globally.
Employees
The problems related to recruiting, retaining, coaching, and celebrating our employees. Talent is at the heart of everything and creating a happy and inspired work environment is key to keeping talented employees a part of your team.
Balance
Solving the balance between my responsibilities in the office (and to our customers, partners, and employees) with my family and with the communities of which we are a part (i.e., the AV community, the business community in all the cities where we have offices, the marketing professional community, our neighborhood, and a group of students and mentors that is served by a local non-profit with which I serve).
What problems are you solving in your role at work? What problems are you solving at home? When you take the time to look at your roles from a different perspective, you might just get your next big idea or at least discover a way to improve your productivity and make your day-to-day more meaningful. We should all be problem solvers first and foremost.
This blog was featured in Women On Business blog.
Jennifer Davis was a mentor at Portland Business Journal's 2016 Mentoring Monday event.
My son just finished up his junior high basketball season and watching him and his patient and passionate coaching staff, I made the following observation: the game isn’t won or lost just by the skill of the players or even by the teamwork of the individuals, but also by the momentum or pace of the game. Even in professional sports, in leagues like the NBA or FIFA, games are often won or lost for reasons that have little to do with player capability, and everything to do with player performance, which has a context on the court or field, and in the minds of the players. Just like anything, there is a balance between speed, quality, and scope and in sport, as in business, pace can account for a lot.
Sometimes you must speed up. When the other team needs time to set up their play or you want the kids to keep the head in the game, I observed how useful it can be to speed up the game play. To pass the ball more. To run a play quickly to take the other team off-guard. Our local college football team, the University of Oregon Ducks, made a strategy in the last few years of the “hurry up offense,” which played the athleticism of the team and could effectively wear out opponents by not giving them time to rest or set-up.
Staying ahead of the competition requires some hurry up offense in business as well. Sometimes the spoils go to the company that is first to market with an innovation, who out maneuvers their competitors in devising winning channel programs, or who establishes a new category, positioning their products as the benchmark to which other offerings are compared. Although the idea of a “first mover advantage” is often-overstated (as market pioneering is a high-risk strategy), there is something to be said about being first to do things well. Marvin Lieberman and Steven Blank have both written that what is often attributed as a “first mover advantage” is often a “fast follower” advantage instead. In any case, it requires a speed and responsiveness to take advantage of market shifts, technology changes, and customer insights to deliver sustainable advantage.
Sometimes you should slow down. My son’s coach would often counsel the boys to slow the game down when their play because too erratic or error-filled. Sometimes they’d let the game get the best of them and make simple mistakes. Just slowing down the game, improved their ball handling, their passing, and their shooting percentages.
Sometimes this is true in business as well. As a person with a well-developed sense of urgency, I want to rush into new ideas or start experiments without all the information. Sometimes this works well, but often if you take a moment to bring other team mates on board, to plan for contingencies, or to research alternatives, you can arrive at a better outcome. “As fast as possible, as slow as necessary” can be a much better approach.
Momentum affects your perception of the outcome. Of course, “momentum” is a physics concept describing the ability of an object to continue moving because of its mass and velocity. But in sport, psychological momentum is the effect that preceding events have on the perception of the probability of winning or losing. Sports commentators will often comment on momentum changes in a game and credit momentum with changes of energy or confidence. A team on a “hot streak” will inevitably win the game, it seems. Teams that are on the losing end of a change of momentum, can appear to do nothing right.
Whether momentum actually affects the outcome or simply the mindset of the players (causing them to get flustered or make simple mistakes) can be debated and has been the topic of articles in the Journal of Sports Behavior, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Journal of Applied Sports Psychology, and Cognitive Psychology, to name a few. The consensus appears to be that the concept of a “hot hand” is a fallacy. In fact, a study conducted by Jonathan Koehler and Caryn Conley and published in the Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychology sought to find evidence of sequential dependency across shots and in general they found that no shooter they studied had significantly more runs that would have been predicted by chance. Yet, there is a perception among fans and players alike that momentum can change the confidence of the players and the energy of the game.
The same is true in a business context. If a sales person is rejected three times in a row, they are a bit less confident the fourth time. If a marketing team perceives that the customer has launched a winning innovation, they can begin to doubt their strategies and might pre-maturely abandon what would have been a better approach long-term. Companies with strong brands can leverage their reputation to a string of successes which are made easier by their valuable brand or history of innovation, but it hardly guarantees product success. If the scale of the risks matches the appetite and capabilities of the company, nothing in a business context is truly final or fatal. If you treat your customers with respect, you nearly always have time to course correct and make changes. But only if the leadership keeps their problem-solving wits about them and applies what they have learned in failure to their next opportunity for the win. No company has a “hot hand” forever. And no company is a chronic loser, if they are taking advantage of the learnings along the way. And they remember the things that are within their control and seek to maximize their choices along the way.
I have spent my career in technology, where the pace of change and innovation is high. This has illustrated to me vividly the importance of controlling the pace of the game you are playing. Going quickly when the circumstances allow. Slowing down with the circumstances warrant. And keeping your head in the game, in good times and in bad. And with great teamwork and customer engagement, the record can show great results!
This article was posted on LinkedIn Pulse.
At the end of the day, when the final numbers are tallied and the results are analyzed, it is all business. And it's all people. It is both.
At the end of the day, when the final numbers are tallied and the results are analyzed, it is all relationships.
Seth Godin sited a survey in a presentation on which students were asked if they wanted to be a CEO of a global company, president of a non-profit, or the personal assistant to a famous singer or actor. And over 40% of the respondents said “personal assistant.” He described that the role of a personal assistant is close enough to the action to have bragging rights and to be part of the fun, but far enough away as to avoid the responsibility and vulnerability that comes with being in charge.
Are you afraid of responsibility? Do you select roles where you are supporting others, implementing their ideas, or working their priorities? Teamwork is critical and collaboration important, but do you work on teams to avoid personal accountability for the results of your actions? Are you quick to blame others when things are not successful? Are you comfortable and confident enough in your skills and opinions to advocate for them?
As Theodore Roosevelt said in his speech “Citizenship in a Republic” given in France in 1910, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
See you in the arena!
Warning: contagious idea factory. Prolonged exposure has been known to lead to elevated heart rates, provocative insights, a profound sense of possibility, and remarkable achievement.
When my company reorganized several years ago, we went from a business unit structure to a functional organization, and I was considered for a position that would run marketing as a member of the executive team.
As part of those discussions, I negotiated to have the role include both traditional marketing functions, such as advertising, PR, events, and sales tool development, but also product strategy in the form of product management and road map planning. Why? I had three reasons:
1. MarCom Is A Pink Ghetto
As a female executive, I was sensitive--sensitive to my observations and the reputation that marketing (and human resources, by the way) had of being places where women got stuck in their careers. Careers focused in these areas resulted in professionals who were often pigeon-holed and excluded from real participation in the business strategy.
I am not sure who coined the phrase, but I had heard it applies here: the pink ghetto. It's a place where women are seen as a support function for other more “important” roles, such as sales, finance, or R&D--roles typically held by men, at least in the technology industry. I didn’t want to get stuck and had worked throughout my career to gain broad experience that made me a better business person, not just a better marketer.
In my role, which combines both go-to-market and market requirements, I have broad impact on the company, and my team is able to impact the direction of the business overall.
2. Marketing Is The Center Of The Hub
Being responsible for products, I am at the center of creative ideas and cleverness. I get to work closely with R&D to determine what can be done and the relevant and high-value applications of technology. I get to work closely with the sales team to determine how to aim them and equip them to capture the market potential of new offerings. My team and I get to be in the center of the hub and are tasked with combining what can be done with what should be done to create new possibilities for the company.
3. Customer Empathy Runs Deep
True innovations are grounded in customer empathy. Understanding the customer problems is the foundation of “solutions,” which companies are so anxious to talk about but execute so poorly. And that customer understanding not only affects the products we bring to market, but how we market them.
This may involve creating sales tools that require a deep understanding of the product in order to simplify the customer experience and accelerate the buying process. Without responsibility for both the product road map and marketing communications, this connection would be more difficult to make and would cause “marketing” to be less strategic and more reactive, instead of leading the charge of innovation in the marketplace.
This article was posted on CMO.com.
"We all want to be treated like insiders." - Chris Brogan
“Without a purposeful toolbox of culture, behaviors, and management training, you get drift and inconsistency.” – Andrew Quinn
It’s like an axle out of alignment.
Marketing ROI has never been sexier… or more possible.
With today’s data analytics, digital marketing spend, and marketing automation systems, the opportunities are ripe for changing the ways that we approach marketing and its management.
Direct marketing professionals are ahead of the trends here, having focused on response rates, revenue generation, and list management long before these things rose to their current level of popularity.
See Also
- How to be a champion of data-driven decision-making
- Business Analytics: How small businesses can use 'big data' (Part 1)
- Why big data analytics is no longer just for big companies
There are new positions showing up in marketing organizations to address this need, ranging from marketing operations managers to marketing data scientists. CEOs across industries are now learning a whole new set of acronyms (like SEO and SQL) as the CMO and CIO are working more closely together.
This change has very real implications for the marketing organization overall. People who were attracted to marketing and have performed exceptionally well in their previous roles might make a smooth transition to the new world of data accountability.
Here are three ways to help:
Demystify Data
Wanting to make data-driven decisions is all well and good, but if the data that would drive those decisions are not easily accessible, then the effort is for naught. Make sure that the metrics you want to see are available to your team.
This requires the insight to be in data form (that is, systems and report structures in place) and for the team who needs the data to have permissions to access it. I have heard of organizations where the marketing organization wanted to measure lead-to-opportunity conversions, but didn’t have access to the CRM system from which this data might be pulled.
This article was published in the Puget Sound Business Journal, Denver Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, as well as other American City Business Journals.
“Success is making those who believed in you look brilliant.” – Dharmesh Shah
The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are open to all organizations worldwide, and recognize the achievements of women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run. Judges include many of the world's most respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and business educators. Each of the awards programs harnesses the insights and talents of more than 200 judges every year. At the awards banquet on November 13th, Jennifer was recognized with a Silver Stevie.
AMA Marketing Insights featured Jennifer's career highlights.
Considering an Executive MBA or graduate school? These tips, that I recently published on LinkedIn Pulse, will help you make the most of the experience.
Recently I have found myself consulting with professionals looking for career advancement, professional credentials, and the insight that comes from an executive MBA program. I went through the same decision making processes myself and have been happy to share advice on how to make the most of these programs.
1. The class is the professor. Choose wisely.
Executive education programs appeal to working professionals who have years of experience to bring to the class discussions. As a result, you are likely to learn as much from your classmates as you are from the reading and the lectures in class. As a result, the constitution of the cohort is critically important to the value of the program. So, when you are deciding on a program, ask about who else will be in the class, what businesses or industries they recruit from, and what kind of alumni programs they have for graduates.
And don’t forget the value of the post-graduation alumni network you are building. I decided, for a variety of logistics and timing reasons, to choose to travel out of state to attend Pepperdine University’s executive MBA program, who operated a satellite campus in Santa Clara, California. I’d fly every three weeks down to class. Because of the location of the program in the heart of Silicon Valley, the program had a lot of technology companies represented. This was great for me, as I had begun a career in high tech and had intended to stay in electronics. However, I did miss out on networking opportunities with my classmates during our program and after graduation, because I lived and worked in Portland, Oregon, instead of Mountain View or San Jose. I have kept in touch with many of my classmates, but not as closely as I would have if I had attended a program in the Pacific Northwest instead. Some programs have well-developed alumni networks, that host events, share a job board, and offer opportunities to network and collaborate.
2. Don’t wait to network. Use the alumni association before you are an alumni.
One of the reasons that you are likely considering an MBA is to build a professional network outside your current employer. It could be to broaden your business acumen to make a larger contribution where you are or possibly to make a career change. In any case, the network of your classmates and program alumni is critical to that effort, but you don’t have to wait until graduation.
Ask the recruiter for the school for alumni references for the program. If you are considering a career change, ask to speak to an alumni who used the degree or certificate program as a springboard to a new career. If you are wanting to change fields (from marketing to finance, from engineering to marketing, etc), ask to speak to an alumni who found the program useful with their own career moves. Not only will you start building your professional network now, but it will demonstrate to the recruiter your sincerity and resourcefulness and you are likely to learn valuable insights into program. Be sure to ask everyone you meet with for their advice on how to get the most out of the degree program. You are paying the tuition, so get the full education!
3. Use your capstone project to further your career
Most executive MBA programs include some sort of capstone project. Sometimes a team is asked to start a business. Some programs have individuals or groups do a full strategic analysis of a business, along with their recommendations. Some have projects that are presented to a panel representing industry partners, for feedback. In any case, I would encourage you to think about your assignment as a platform for your career development.
For instance, if you are looking to make a career change to a new industry, pitch a well-respected business in that industry the opportunity to work with you on your capstone project. They get free business consulting and you build your network and knowledge in this field of interest.
If you are looking to gain more responsibility at your current employer, use the capstone as an opportunity to get to know different executives and leaders at the company. For instance, if you are looking to make a move to finance, reach out to meet with the CFO and ask their advice about what finance projects might be worth your time and energy and offer to share the results with them and their staff. You gain instant visibility, you position yourself as a go-getter, and you get valuable resume-building experience that will serve you in your next role.
When considering my capstone, I met with several from the management team at my company to get advice about where I should focus. Looking back, I could have done more. I could have gone higher in the organization. I could have reached more broadly across different functions. I could have used the project, or any class assignment or the fact that I was in the program overall, as an excuse (and a good one) to connect across the organization. At the time I was enrolled in my MBA program I worked at Intel, who had 80,000 employees worldwide, and having a strong internal network helped you get things done and find your next opportunity. I see now, how I could have used the program to position myself as an emerging leader in the organization, even more than I did. My advice is don’t leave opportunities like that on the table.
Students are afforded great latitude in the business community, so if you take the risk to ask for advice or for opportunities, I have found that people are generous and will join you in your efforts to better yourself and better their business. Remember, you are helping them, while they are helping you!
An executive education is a valuable tool in your career. The purpose of education, especially the traditional case method format that is popular in business schools, is to benefit from the experience that others gained the hard way: through trial and error. You have a great opportunity to gain poise, confidence, to build your business vocabulary and skills, and build your network along the way. You will be able to measure significant personal and professional growth as you progress through your program. Identifying your professional goals is critical. Picking the right school is the start. The rest is up to you!
Last week, we celebrated “Back to the Future Day.” The day to which Marty McFly and Doc Brown set the time machine at the end of the movie Back to the Future: October 21st, 2015. The day came and went without mass market hover boards or funny futuristic clothing, but it brought to mind to me the strained relationship we have with the future and the change it implies. And how often, like Marty, we are swept into the future without a strategy for making change happen, and instead let it happen to us. In short, we back into the future, instead of diving in with purpose and resolve. This kind of drama is great for the movies, but is difficult for our organizations and teams.
Below are four ways that you make change work in your organizations to take maximum advantage of changing conditions, business circumstances, or technological advancements.
1. Give Up Nostalgia
The “good ol’ days” of how things used to be, weren’t always so good, so make sure your memories don’t take on mythic proportions. In the movie, Marty was told his Dad was a pedestrian hit by a car and that caused Marty’s Mom to notice him, when the truth was something slightly different than that (I won’t spoil it for you, in case you need to watch the show again). Unlike in the movie, you can’t go back to the way things used to be, and even if you did, the past may not be entirely as you remember or how it has been depicted by others. The past is warmly familiar, but let’s not forget that it had problems. Problems that prompted solutions we now rely on and take for granted. You have to be willing to agree that change is inevitable, and possibly good, to be able to move forward.
2. Listen to Yourself
As you face periods of uncertainty and change, don’t neglect or downplay your emotional reactions. Although irrational and impulsive, they will often identify some underlying risk or unrealized opportunity. Your gut is trying to tell you something. When that happens, get curious. In your curiosity, note what you are feeling and why. Bréne Brown in her book Rising Strong, talks about writing out a SFD (“shitty first draft” - her words, not mine) to describe how you feel and why. Reading that private description back, you can see more clearly the flawed logic and alarmism and focus on the facts you need to pay more attention to next.
3. Listen to Others
Everyone has a different tolerance to change. As vocal and unapologetic optimist, even I can tell you that there isn’t one approach that is best. Because risk mitigation begins with risk identification, the most positive and fluid in your organization might not be the best at helping you face the future prepared. Inspired, perhaps, but not fully prepared. So, get the most conservative members of your team to envision the future. Facing forward in this way, listen to their concerns. Listen not to change their mind, but to pick their brains. You’ll be better for it.
4. Take Heart: It’s the People that Matter
We often talk about technology changing or evolving. At the most basic level, however that isn’t true. One technology generation actually replaces or supplants another making the previous obsolete; this is especially true in the disruptive developments that shape industries and create tipping points. From covered wagons to Uber. From encyclopedias in the reference section of the library to the Internet. The same is true of disruptive business models, market conditions that set new standards of performance, or even changing customer sentiment. The generations of technology may play leap frog, but the people are the ones that make the mental jump. Only people change with the circumstances and evolve. And there we find our comfort and our challenge. Because people, like us, have been proven to be highly irrational, cruel, and fear-driven. And we have shown ourselves to be generous, adaptable, and capable of radical change. How we show up in the midst of change at work depends a lot on the leadership and how we are given opportunity to listen to ourselves and others, permission to loosen our grip on the past and our stories around it, and how we take care of each other in the process of change, knowing that our relationships are the things that endure.
The future might not look like the scenes from the movies, but as we move through different time periods, circumstances, and use different technologies, the characters are the same. Biff Tannen, George McFly, and all the other characters in Back to the Future showed how circumstances can bring out the best (and worst) in our personalities. Whether it was 1955, 1985, or 2015, the choices that we make are strikingly similar because we ourselves bring ourselves along for the ride. So, when the credits roll, make sure you are the character that chooses to face the future facing forward.
This article was published on LinkedIn Pulse.
In the world of racing, there is something called a pace car. It is out in front, setting the pace and demonstrating the angles to the curves of the course. Especially in amateur racing or in educational driving experiences that people might do on race courses, the pace car is especially critical.
In our professional careers, we have pace cars as well. Leaders at your company who mentor you in the ways of the business and model the pace of decision making. Journalists, bloggers, authors, or TED talk speakers who are inspiring you with new ideas to propel you forward. Admired business leaders about whom those authors write and who blaze new trails.
And in the other ways we are the pace car for others to follow. We are setting the trajectory of the curve that will avoid risk and launch us into the straightaway.
As a woman in a male-dominated industry, I have often had to be my own pace car. I couldn’t look around and see mentors or role models that were helping me navigate or modeling things for me who were like me or who had blazed the trail in front of me. From tactical issues like how to dress for a board meeting or larger issues like finding my unique position as a leader were left for me to figure out. This is probably why I became a self-professed professional development junkie. This is probably why I never had a job that wasn’t created for me to a large extent. Why I wanted to work with and for smart and capable people (generally men) who would tell the truth and I have been blessed by their advocacy. Why I feel a responsibility to mentor women at my company (and there are so many talented and capable women at Planar) and the industry (through groups like Women of InfoComm Network, Women in CE, and others).
So, I have come to peace being the pace car. It no longer fazes me. In fact, I do some of my best work quickly and under pressure. I don’t mind the visibility and attention that comes with that position. I don’t fear failure as much as many do (which is both a blessing and a curse, let me assure you). I highly value feedback from those who mean it for my good. And I am constantly trying to improve my times and those who are following in my tracks.
We should be constantly asking ourselves, “who is your pace car? How can you be a pace car to others?” and using the results of that question to drive to new results.
See you on the track!
"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan." - Eleanor Roosevolt
We often think that opportunity creates action. We will do something great once some external condition is met. But the opposite is true. Action creates opportunity. Start making movement and see your goals easier to achieve.