Tag: change

No longer enough

FabrizioLeave a comment

It is no longer enough to tell that you work in marketing, that you are a great communicator, that you are an expert in corporate finance, that you have decades of experience in consulting.

That is the same thing thousands of other professionals can say at any given time, in any geography, with any type of degree and certification backing that up.

If you want to really stand out tell about the time you have leveraged your knowledge of customers to deliver unexpected growth; about the time you have changed the culture of a company who was struggling to engage employees; about the time you found a nasty mistake in the accounts of a potential acquisition, saving the buyer money and time; about the time you have turned around a stagnating start-up by suggesting they exploit an unexplored market opportunity.

We are not looking for marketers, communicators, accountants, or consultants.

We are looking for stories.

Your story.

Come and go

FabrizioLeave a comment

Things come and go. They come again and they go again. Other things will come and go.

And so on.

The only aspect you can really affect is the way things impact you. A rainy day can be a disaster or an opportunity. An argument with a friend can be a deal-breaker or a change in perspective. A rejection can get you down or give renewed energy.

You need intention when interacting with the world.

Zero-sum

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you want people in your team to truly work as a team, help each other, keep each other accountable, and achieve common goals, then stop leveraging your position of power to get things done.

When you do that, people will think that the only way for them to get ahead is to take from their peers.

Dominance does not set a good example.

Patagonia

FabrizioLeave a comment

Imagine approaching your team with the suggestion that this year, for Black Friday, you could dedicate your site’s home page to a message of social responsibility.

Imagine suggesting that the headline could stick to the version your team crafted after months of customer research, rather than make space for the latest look-at-me PR sensation.

Imagine recommending to continue with something that has been planned for months, rather than replacing it all with some shiny hack that will boost one of the vanity metrics.

They would look at you and think you are crazy.

Unless you work at Patagonia.

Upside down

FabrizioLeave a comment

Asking questions is more important than answering them.

You should ask questions when you know everything and when you know nothing. When you are alone and when you are in good company. When things go just as you planned and when nothing seems to fit in the right place.

We tend to think that confidence equals having few doubts and that experience means you are finally in a position to dispense answers.

In reality, confidence if feeling ok with not knowing and experience means you are faster at figuring out the questions to ask.

The world is upside down.