By John Malmo
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-984281.mp3
Remove Roadblocks to Change, by John Malmo.
Memphis, TN – Chief marketing officers last only about 23 months, on average. And that's only about half the tenure of other C-level positions, such as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and such. That's according to a good article recently in the Harvard Business Review. And it says a lot, I think, about the job CMOs must be doing.
That short job tenure probably means that CMOs are doing what they're supposed to do: they're advocating for change. Somebody in every company has to be pushing constantly for change. The problem is most people in every company don't like change of any kind. And they especially don't like what somebody else wants to change. And if enough people, or just one or two people in the right slots, are opposed to change, they can kill anything new pretty quickly.
Several years ago, the CEO of a very large local company had a couple great new product ideas, but they were not the ideas of his marketing people. Since they were the ones who had to execute steps to make these products a reality, "execute" they did. While the CEO was occupied with other matters, they managed to kill both ideas within six months.
Success demands change. You'd better figure out how to circumvent any roadblocks to change in your organization, or root 'em out totally.
John Malmo is a marketing consultant who concentrates on helping business owners grow their businesses with effective marketing. To reach Mr. Malmo, hear and read more of his commentaries, or ask him a direct question, go to AskMalmo.com.
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