Do You Have A Second?

Putting CEO styles into context

Just musing today on some of the similarities and differences amongst some of the CEO's I've worked for.  Not sure if you'd ever see these three names put together in any other context...

• George Colony (current)
• Jochen Zeitz
• Jeff Dachis

Some things they have in common:  a drive to WIN.  An entrepreneurial spirit.  Creativity and brilliance.  Ability to make tough decisions.  Passion for the brand.

Two of those brands (PUMA and Razorfish) have been reinvented.  We're currently extending another one (Forrester) into new areas, i.e. marketing.

It's pretty easy to rally around a brand when it starts from the top.

Perception is more important than Reality

Having grown up in a no-nonsense household, this was one I learned the hard way about the business world - perception is more important than reality.

One time on a consulting project, I was working at a location that required that I rent a car every week for about three months.  The rental of choice for the newly minted MBAs that I worked with was the Ford Mustang convertible.  It was California after all and these consultants were flying in from cold places like Chicago and Boston.  For whatever reason, renting a Volvo S70 at this location was less expensive, about the same as renting a Toyota Camry.

When my project manager and I pulled up to the office at the same time one day, he was clearly displeased.  I had a "do you have a second" moment later that morning about wasting the client's money.  When I explained the price differential it didn't matter - Volvo was a "luxury" brand and renting something different than the other consultants was not acceptable.

Sam Decker on Careers

Sam Decker, former Dell marketer and current with Bazaarvoice, has started a series of posts with career advice.  He's promised 15 to 20 posts on the subject, so you might want to pick up the feed and tune in.

Underpromise and overdeliver?

I had a friend who did very well for himself as an associate consultant at Bain.  He's a brilliant guy but never applied himself - always turning in assignments last minute or late, graduating on the five (and a half) year plan.  But he got himself a great job and then was a high performer during his years with the firm.

His secret?  Underpromise and overdeliver.

A risky strategy for sure, depending on what your definitions are - but it worked for him.

Choose a specialty

A good piece of advice I received in my first job - the sooner you develop a specialty, the more valuable you'll appear to employers.  This was coming from a former McKinsey principal, who had deep industry expertise - in the public utilities industry.

As a young person in my first job, I thought it was advice to rationalize working in a boring industry (my naive viewpoint).  Looking back, it's advice that I give quite frequently.  Your specialty can be industry or function, but the sooner you start building it, the better.

Use a C-A-R to sell yourself

When I was interviewing with P&G during b-school, a hiring manager laid out a great model for communicating.  When talking about past experiences, use the acronym CAR:  context, action, and results.  It's a simple and powerful way to get your story heard.

For more information on the P&G recruiting process, see this online interview with Bill Reina, Director, U.S. Recruiting, Training & Development.

Guy Kawasaki: 11 Ways To Use LinkedIn

Great post from one of my favorite bloggers on ways to use LinkedIn.  As usual, he exceeds expectations by delivering a bonus reason in addition to the basic 10.

If you're looking to give your network numbers a hyperboost, consider joining LinkedIn Lions.  However, when deciding on how "open" you want your network to become, be sure to consider some of the side effects, like an increase in spam.

Insight on interviewing at Google

Are you interested in a job at Google?  The NYT reports that the company is moving to screen all applicants using algorithms based on current employee performance.  While the approach isn't new - Capital One has been doing this for years - it's Google, so they'll figure out a way to do it better than anyone else.

(BTW a hiring manage at Cap One, ex-BCG manager, once told me that he and half his management team had actually failed the screening test...)

So you want to be a CMO?

Back in October, I was a privileged fly on the wall of Forrester's CMO Leadership Board meeting in Chicago.  The guest speaker was Greg Welch from Spencer Stuart, talking about what makes a good CMO.  Greg should know - he handles some of the highest profile searches around.

Some things you may know already:  CMO tenure is way down - almost 23 months, about half of CEO tenure.  These are $1mm jobs that are really general manager roles that come with high stakes and expectations.  New chief marketers need to build bridges and prove that marketing delivers value, doesn't just spend money.  A key question:  does your marketing team look like your customer base?

CEOs are looking for a fit at the intersection of job (i.e. responsibilities), organization (i.e. cultural elements), and personal qualifications (i.e. competencies).  The top skills required for success?  Leadership - influence and impact.  A track record of results - no excuses.  General management and P&L experience.  Innovation experience.

So how do you get there?  In the short term, create a list of your 100 goals in life.  Develop a personal board of directors.  Gain experience with a blue chip company in an industry that you like.  Network now.  Get an international assignment.  Go through a sales rotation. Participate in an acquisition.  Manage your career aggressively.  And finally (maybe the toughest one for this day and age) don't change companies too frequently - loyalty counts.

Thinking through this advice, I feel it's important to figure out WHY you want to be a CMO.  If you like creating ads but don't like numbers, shoot for VP of Advertising and love your job.  If you enjoy focusing on a single market, work towards managing a regionally-focused subsidiary company.  If you have brilliant ideas but don't want to manage people...become a consultant!

People leave people, not companies

Marcus Buckingham, author of First, Break All The Rules, wrote that "people leave managers, not the companies they work for."

The illustration at right is an example of that statement in action.  (From Beyond Robson, via Church of the Customer).

Think about it - did you ever leave a job because you really disliked the company, or was it the people (or a person) at the company?

Unfortunately at work, too many of us are reminded of this fact too often.

UPDATE:  Now I remember why I was thinking about this - headlines from over the weekend on a new FSU study on bad bosses.

Figure it out by 30

A piece of advice that I received during my first "real" job, at Coopers & Lybrand, was that I had until 30 to make political gaffes that could be chalked up to immaturity.  After 30, people expected you to know better.

Now that I've passed that point, I think that's it's a good general rule to follow.  More good reading on this idea in a post from the Brazen Careerist (focuses mostly on what it means from a female point of view).