Of course, this is triggering for every marketer.
But the reality is that those sentences will continue to be spoken in companies everywhere. And the only remedy to this simple truth, is to be prepared. To have a plan, to have a reputation, to have leverage. Because it is always true that one of the main task of every marketer is to market marketing.
If someone comes to you with a critical remark on something you did, and instead of starting with “what I meant was”, you are capable to start with “I had not thought about that”, you are on the path to becoming a more aware person.
And awareness – of yourself and of others – is where everything starts.
If you manage a company, a team, a project, the most you can do is managing the inputs and monitor the outcomes.
Too much time is wasted, too many promises broken, in the attempt to manage the outcomes. Outcomes are out of anybody’s control. Even those who have already succeeded in the field you are trying to master cannot promise outcomes.
And so, instead:
That’s how you keep you and your team sane.
When a manager talks in a negative way of a team member, even one who is no longer part of the team, the only person who is being harmed is the manager.
Because others will figure out pretty much immediately that the manager does not have their best interest at heart. And they will go searching for somebody who does.
Good luck hiring and onboarding new people every few months.
Two take-aways from this clip from the interview between Elon Musk and BBC reporter James Clayton.
You've got this 