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Be Careful What You Say
/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom DoescherI was recently working with a client and, during our interaction, I was reminded of an experience that impacted my entire career.
The scene was the celebration of new partners at my former firm. It was — and still is — a tradition to have newly elected partners (new owners in the firm) give an acceptance speech at an all-partner and staff conference. It has always been the highlight of the year.
Years ago, a new partner — I’m guessing this individual may have been very nervous — made some very colorful, off-the-wall, hard to believe comments. Those of us in the audience were stunned and kept waiting for the punch line, which never came. The room became very quiet. I don’t remember anything after his speech; we were all in shock.
The next day, everyone received a memo (yes, a paper memo in our mailbox; for those of you who have never experienced this, please ask someone more senior than you to explain).
There was a brief cover memo from the firm’s HR partner, and then an apology memo from the newly elected partner. The cover memo said, “Let us not judge one another by the dumbest thing someone has ever done or said.” Wow. It was perfect.
I will resist getting into a philosophical or theological discourse, but suffice it to say that, in a few words, our HR partner got us all back to work and prevented days, weeks, and months of gossip and speculation (i.e., a lot of wasted time).
What is the application for you? Today, things move so fast and sometimes, under severe duress in trying to serve customers, we lose it in some way. I’m not talking about chronic road-ragers, but those of us who drop our guard and say something out of character that we soon regret. Let’s learn to apologize and to forgive.
p.s. This new partner went on to have a very successful career and was loved by his clients and colleagues alike.
What One Trait Do You Want in a Chief Marketing Officer?
/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom DoescherI’m probably going to offend someone, and I’m sorry.
Recently, a client asked me for marketing assistance. At Doescher Advisors, one of our values is that if we believe someone else is more qualified to advise the client, we refer that client to them. In this case, we arranged meetings with two extremely successful chief marketing officers who were in businesses that were similar to that of this particular client.
The next time I met with the client, he told me the two CMOs were very impressive and helpful, and he said they both offered to respond to any questions he may have in the future.
To his surprise, when he asked them what traits, experience, and knowledge he should look for in a CMO, they both said exactly the same thing: The best CMOs they had ever worked with had been personally successful selling a product or service.
Neither my client or I were expecting that, but the more we thought about it, it makes great sense.
The next time you’re hiring a CMO, you may want to consider this advice.
Shocking Information About Millennials
/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom DoescherBy the year 2020, millennials will represent 50 percent of the workforce. Millennials are probably one of the hottest subjects talked about by business owners and executives today.
I found this 15-minute Simon Sinek video to be incredibly insightful (he’s the author of Start with Why). As a result of watching the video, I have a completely new attitude. If you don’t have 15 minutes to watch the video, here are Simon’s four main points:
Hopefully, this shocking list will cause you to listen and give you pause before jumping to conclusions about the younger generation.
Editorial comment: I find this to be an exciting opportunity for enlightened business owners. If you and your leaders engage millennials using Simon’s advice, your company will soar past your competitors.