How to lead a Tribe

3 05 2011

I have been a fan of CBS’s Survivor since the very beginning. Ever since Richard Hatch won the first season of the show, I have been hooked. The shear madness of 16 strangers being placed in a remote location for 39 days is just the most interesting social experiment that I think modern reality TV has given to us.Torches

The interesting part is the each season, despite the new cast members and new locations, the show stays relatively the same. A group of people are forced to work with one another in order to survive in the wilderness, much like our everyday lives as marketers inside our organization.

There are leaders who emerge, some by authority and some by autonomy, and guide the tribe to success in challenges all day everyday. But how do you emerge as the leader and an even better question is that once you emerge how do you lead your tribe?

Having recently listened to the audio-book Tribal Leadership compliments of Zappos, I radically shifted the way in which I viewed leadership and the tactics associated with it. I will outline the three major stages that need to be accomplished in order to create a pure tribal bliss. I encourage you, if you haven’t done so already, to ready or listen to the book. The audio book is free, and will only take about 6 hours to complete. But here we go… How to lead a tribe:

What is Tribal Leadership?
I might first offer up what tribal leadership is, as to create a framework for this post. Tribal Leadership is a synergy between the leader and followers that places the tribe as the most supreme being. It is not about individual contributions but about the effort and success of the collective. Much like my Survivor example, the tribe governed by true tribal leadership will win challenges and immunity week after week. The true Tribal Leadership company will generate record profits and carry the torch of innovation. There are five stages of tribal leadership but I will concentrate only on stages three through five as that is a logical starting place for most.

It is important to keep in mind that in order to advance from one stage to the next, according to the book, that you must enter each stage before advancing.

Stage Three – All about ME
Most organizations are here. Stage three tribal leadership highlights and concentrates on the individual. It is the individual contributions of one that stand out. Now imagine if everyone on your team or in your company was always concerned with themselves. Awards to distinguish one person above all, shameless self promotion and a very siloed structure. Sound familiar? It is all about me. You can tell you are in a stage three tribe if people refer to themselves constantly and a lot of “I” language is used. “I thought it would be a good ideas if…” I was thinking that…” I know this is how it should be…”

However, all people must go through the “ME” stage in order to graduate into stage 4

Stage Four – All about WE
Moving from stage three to stage four is a big shift. This cannot be accomplished by just one person or one team. Moving from the ME mentality in stage three to the WE mentality of stage four requires a destination that everyone believes in. While this sounds simple, for some reason it’s not. Business partners are looking out what is best for them and their goals, agency partners are more concerned how their work is received and legal wants to reduce all the risk. However, we all work toward the same goal and that is to provide our customer with an outstanding experience. If we can really stress that, then and only then will the team be able to shift from stage three to stage four. The WE culture is hard, because we are not graded as a collective and even worse we are graded compared to one another. A true stage four tribe will have to always put the tribes noble cause first and merge together as one.


Stage Five – Greatness
Stage five is hard to obtain and may not work for all companies or tribes. Stage five goes beyond stage four from the we mentality to everything is just great. Not only is the team working and pulling together but everything else around you is just terrific. The noble cause is stage four, becomes even more noble. Positivity will not carry you to stage five, but a genuine belief in the future will. Getting others to rally at this stage is hard because companies have mechanisms to guard against this like: allotted time off, health plans and crummy work spaces. Stage five greatness will come to those who and and for those really wanting to embrace the greatness of the world.

Where do I go from here…

  • Start at stage three. If you aren’t there yet then get there. Remember in order to advance to stage four you must have gone through stage three.
  • Stage three hinges on the following: Me centric, promoting your ideas, sharing why your opinion is best and comparison to your piers.
  • Stage four hinges on the following: We centric, the collectives vision and destination, the opinion of the noble cause, comparison to other tribes and a sense of flow.
  • Stage five hinges on the following: Being a part of something that is bigger than yourself and bigger than the people around you.
  • The easiest thing to do is stop saying “I” and “me” and start saying “us” and “we” this will help move you in the right direction.

There is no right and wrong way to get to these stages and it ultimately comes down to what the potential of your cause is. The biggest leap is from ME to WE so make that a priority to cultivate a winning “we” culture where the power of the tribe becomes the sole survivor.

*The concept of Tribal Leadership was devised by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright and I am a just happy to have read the book.


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Categories : Teamwork

Startup Emotions: The stages We All Go Through in Business

6 04 2011

I will start by saying I have never “officially” started a startup company (yet). However over the last two weeks I was taken out of my “Day to Day” role to focus solely on a specific project with a few of my colleagues. It was as if we had our own sub-company form before my very eyes.
Our group was given an objective by our leadership team. Just like a startup, our problem was to fill a void for our customers. We were instructed that we had two weeks to essentially solve the problem and develop a presentation to pitch our ideas to the leadership team in a few weeks. We could go to any means to find the facts we needed to build our claims and ideas. Is this sounding familiar yet?

Like all great startups and groups before us, we too went through a series of emotional stages. Emotions are hard to leave out of the equation especially when you are passionate about what you are doing. Here are the stages that our group went through during the past two weeks.

Day 1: Excitement. Having the freedom of being away from your desk in a conference room surrounded by your teammates and laptop computers is exciting. We had just begun to scratch the surface of our project, going over in great detail the task before us. It seemed like anything was possible.

Day 2: Glow. After a successful first day we are still glowing with excitement about the task before us. This is when the real brainstorming begins. Every idea is a good idea at this point in the game. Everyone seems to be smiling and getting along too well, how can this be?

Day 3: Reality Check. After vetting several ideas, a few begin to emerge as potential game changers. A few meetings are set up with key partners in the organization including finance. (All finance people become marketers one day. Remember that. It may seem like they are against you at times, but deep down they are just like you.)

Day 4: Purge. After pitching idea after idea not only to your team but also to your partners, all teams must purge their “underdeveloped” ideas and move ahead with the most viable and relevant ideas. This can be tough especially if your Big Idea gets cut. But don’t be discouraged. It wasn’t a bad idea but not developed enough.

Day 5: Sigh. After four days, you barely have anything to show for all the due diligence you just went through. You end up rewriting everything on the white board again, debating if your choose course of action is the right path. You call out your team members and put them on the spot, not to be a jerk, but rather to solidify that they really mean what they are saying. It’s Friday so you better walk away and enjoy the weekend.

Day 6: Refreshed. After a weekend to let your thoughts digest, you finally begin to feel really good about what you accomplished. You are still on a mission to track down some statistic that will make or break your case. Minor bickering continues, but you’ve been cooped up with the same people for a week!

Day 7: Panic. One of your senior leaders wants to check in on your progress. Oh Crap! We don’t even have slides together yet! Quick who is good a PowerPoint? (Word to the wise, you should be. It will set you apart immediately in the group).
You meet at 4pm. Your ideas and your presentation, ripped to shreds. She says she’s harsh to make your project better but you still feel defeated. She recommends a new framework is in order to make the presentation flow better. You oblige and find someone who can explain this “framework.” This is a late night.

Day 8: Tipping Point. After staying at the office late, you inform your group you have a new way of looking at our problem. The group listens but is skeptical. Continue to push through. Later you will realize that today is your Tipping Point. Once the group barely agrees to go along with your framework – which happens to be a storybook approach – they begin to see the light. Additionally, things just start to fall into place naturally.

Day 9: Validation. You have been looking at the same PowerPoint, going over the same numbers and debating with one another about the same thing now for eight days. “Please somebody prove that we aren’t crazy!” You share your ideas with people you trust and people you know who tell you honestly what they think. You are validated! “Yes!”

Day 10: Details. Your story is worth telling, your ideas are sound but now one of the more difficult days is ahead of you. They always say that the devil is in the details, and you are knocking at hell’s door. All of your stats and calculations are scrutinized and recalculated to ensure you have them just right. Then an unexpected surprise, you are given one extra day to work, Hallelujah!

Day 11: Victory. Your presentation is run through the ringer once more. Small changes are requested but you wonder if it will ever be perfect. Take these comments with a grain of salt; you’ve worked so hard. All of your data is complied, slides tightened up and before you know it, its 4pm. Your PowerPoint Wizard is in frenzy. Be supportive and help him where needed. 4:45pm and you forgot a section of the appendix, but never fear copy, paste and you are in business. 5pm hits and you hit send. Victory it yours!

Whether you are an entrepreneur or intraprenuer, remember that the journey to get to your goal is not predetermined. You will have emotions and feelings along the way but the most important thing to keep in mind is your passion. The second that you do not like what you are doing and you lose the passion, walk away, take a breath and reevaluate what you are doing. Life is too short to do things that you don’t feel passionate about.


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Categories : Entreprenuership, Innovation, Intreprenuership, Marketing

How to Boil Water: Innovation Bubbling

1 02 2011

My dad mentions to me that we have an induction burner on our stove. I think to myself, well that’s interesting…what does that mean? He goes on to explain that it is a flame that burns hotter and larger enabling a pot of water to boil faster.
Very Cool!
Considering I am extremely impatient I find this terrific.
So as I fill a large pot of water from the sink and I turn the induction burner on high, I watch the water begin to boil. At first you would notice that the water begins to fizz as small bubbles emerge from the bottom of the water and glide to the top, creating a rippling effect across the surface. Soon after, many more bubbles join and glide together creating a greater disturbance on the surface. As the pot sits longer on the stove, more and more bubbles forcibly work their way toward the top creating a disturbance that shakes and stirs until the water reaches 212 degrees and a rolling boil.

Much like boiling water, innovation has to start from somewhere. Many will argue that true innovation cannot be embraced unless it is harnessed “At the Top.” It is the top level management that must cultivate and sow the seeds of innovation on any team. The folks at the bottom are left to continue about their jobs, business as usual. So how then will an organization have innovative ideas if all the creativity is siphoned to the top? You can’t heat water from the top down, no – water is heated from the bottom up.

I am sure if you were to take a step back and marvel at some of the great innovations by Fortune 500 companies in the past 10 years you may uncover that the innovative thinking was not a decision of a CEO or CMO, but rather a grassroots effort driven by the employees who are working in the trenches and interacting with the customer day in and day out. As much as they would like to tell you that their senior leadership team came up with the idea, chances are it came from the “bottom.” But How?

While I cannot speak for all, I can only make suggestions on how I think bottom up innovation happens, (and trust me I think that bottom up innovation is the way to go! However I will aknowlege that Top Down Innovation works well to drive a culture… but that’s another post.)

Things to think about when boiling bottom up innovation:

  • Innovation and Creativity Go Hand in Hand. Are you brainstorming often? Are you writing your ideas down? If not, then start! Innovation cannot be spread with your singular idea. You have to constantly be thinking of new ideas and building off of old ideas. When you least expect to be innovative is when you will shine.
  • Get Chatty! Like a pot of boiling water, one bubble will not make a pot of water boil, but it is the power of the collective that get things churning. When you have an idea – share it with a friend or a colleague. If you don’t share your idea it sits at the bottom and goes nowhere fast!
  • Show Passion. Passion is hard to replicate and hard to replace. If you have passion for a new idea or initiative, then make sure people can see it on your face. If you are positive and excited about what you are doing, chances are others will join your cause.
  • Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission. This is a general motto I like to live. But innovation will not wait for someone to say, OK. Just do it. New documentation, try it. New process, why not! The more you do, the less time you will have to talk yourself out of it. If you maintain that the interest of the organization is first and foremost, you will never go wrong.
  • Elevate Constantly. For bottom up innovation to work, eventually someone “On Top” will have to buy-into what you are preaching, so be vulnerable and put yourself out there. Use every interaction as a way to communicate and promote your idea. In the hallway, a tweet or a simple elevator ride can be enough time to peak their interest and want to know more.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” said Steve Jobs. So be that bubble, that leader and go be innovative from the bottom of your pot of water.


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Categories : Uncategorized

Why you shouldn’t be a Generalist.

7 12 2010

“The world is not built by generalists, but rather experts. While I do not claim to be an expert at anything right now, I hope to some day be acknowledged as such.” I would like to have my own Marketing Consulting firm and be a Chief Marketing Officer.

I know what you are thinking: How can you be an expert and a CMO? CMO’s are generalists. What a great point! I’m so glad you thought of that!

CMO are experts. They are experts at the facilitation of relationships through a good or service. In order to become an expert at relationships one must master the art of the Internet, Direct Mail, Advertising, Sponsorships, Innovation, Customer Experience and so on. CMOs are the backbone of positive experiences customers have with companies everyday. I figure that the more I strive to become an expert at the job I am given, that eventually all roads lead to the corner office.

My point is this – CMOs are NOT generalists, and a generalist I am not and will not be. A generalist aimlessly floats through an organization and consistently moves laterally because they are just good at everything. A generalist would have an easy time moving from Marketing to Human Resources to Operations back to Marketing, because they are a warm body to get an organization by. Experts are the individuals that move the needle on sales, they drive profits and regularly leave companies because their expertise is warranted else where.

If you are not convinced that being an expert is the way to go, or just are a bulleted list kindof person then read on. Here are a few reasons that your shouldn’t be a Generalist:

  • You will never advance as quickly as you would like. If you are constantly being moved around because you are a warm body who does what they are told, they have fun in mediocre-ville.
  • You performance reviews will be cluttered with “Meets Expectations.” Exceeding the expectations of others is Expert talk
  • Meaningful projects are not handed over to those who do lots of things good. They are handed to those who have the expertise to deliver a project with great results.
  • Generalists don’t start companies and they don’t run companies.
  • You’re not doing what you like to do. It is very rare to find someone who really enjoys every aspect of business. When you find your niche, chances are you are going to really enjoy what you do.

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How to get a Job (or Anything), by asking Questions

27 10 2010

I have had the pleasure of recruiting for my company over the last few months. In that time period I have sent at least 100 emails, read at least 250 resumes and had over 300 conversations regarding the jobs I am recruiting for. Most people I interact with seem “so-so” about the whole job searching process. Part of it, I’m sure is the fact that they don’t know what they want to be when they grown up (aaah no, Jager Bombs is not a career and neither is sleeping til noon). However, there is one person that comes to mind that really wants the job, and honestly I think that this person will get it. But how can I be so sure of this (besides the fact that I am a wealth of knowledge), because this individual asks exceptionally good and thoughtful questions.

Asking a good question is more challenging than one might think. You have to be active in the conversation, must link two like items together and then show some level of interest and intelligence. Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy, right… wrong. A good question cannot be premeditated, it must be in the moment and tailored exactly to the person you are addressing.

So back to this kid and the job… he needs a name… we’ll call him Chad.

Through all my on-campus appearances, at the only school in the Big Ten who is 8-0, I never met Chad. He did not come to info night nor our career fair. He applied on line, sent me an email with his resume (which was sub-par)… but then his stroke of genius, he asked me in his email if he had more questions could he call me… awesome! I of course replied yes and the next day he called.

At first he introduced himself and asked few canned questions, “What is the day to day like?” “What department would I be working in” etc etc. But then the zinger came…

“After looking at my resume, what advice would you give me to improve my experience or resume?”

I was floored… this is a thoughtful person who is obviously driven to do better. Chad now saw me as an expert (Dale Carnage play) and I was happy to oblige. I shared with him the fact that he needed to show more results and that ANY marketing leadership experience he could get, regardless of club or affiliation, that would be a smart move. He then closed our conversation by asking what I thought of our football team, another area of interest of mine and then we hung up.

We must have talked for 30 minutes. Going from someone who I had not even considered for an interview to the front runner for a job all by asking terrific questions. So how do your get a job or anything by asking questions:

  1. Showing interest through a real live conversation does wonders. Stop emailing and pick up the phone.
  2. Establish rapport early and quickly. If this is a prospective employer or customer, get them on your side and fast.
  3. Make them the expert. You may know more than they do, but everyone likes to feel important. Asking for advice or opinions is an easy way to demonstrate trust early on.
  4. Don’t close on business. Find out what people are interested in besides their job. This could be a hobby or sports team, doesn’t matter but showing interest in the other person is persuasive.
  5. Be Positive. This is a life mantra for me but it works. If you are asking up beat and exciting questions the other person is bound to give you what you want.

That’s how it is done! Now go out there and ask good questions and start getting your way.


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Categories : Marketing, Resumes

I Have a Proposition for You

23 09 2010

If you were to ask me today for marketing advice or tips, I can guarantee you that one of the first things that I would ask you would be (and I quote) “What is your Value Proposition?” To non-marketers out there this may seem like an overly complex question that will be steeped with rich jargon. On the contrary, the Value Proposition is often times the simplest form of an overall business plan and should be easily understood by everyone from eight graders to the head of your legal department. The Value Proposition is never to be forgotten nor neglected as this one statement will act as the lifeblood for a company and as marketers it is our job to facilitate it and to build and cultivate a relationship around it.

Formulating a Value Proposition is not nearly as difficult as it sounds. Typically the Value Proposition exists from the inception of a new business idea. This is the case because “necessity is the mother of invention” and businesses and products aren’t created because someone just wanted to invent it. On the contrary, businesses are created because there was a void that needed to be filled. As this is such the case the sustainability of the product or business hinges on the value that is created at the customer level.

Let’s just say you’ve created a business and you have not yet determined what your value proposition is, here are a few things that I would want to know in order to write a value proposition. (Disclaimer: There is no one right way to write a value proposition. So get creative and drive value!)

What is at your core?
What is it that you do better than anyone else? Do you provide an outstanding customer experience, have the fastest turnaround, most creative or more user-friendly than the rest? Whatever it is , decide on it and stick with it. The last thing the world needs is someone who thinks that they are good at everything. To quote a very smart man “You cannot be ALL things to ALL people.”

How do you do it better?
Is the value of what you do in the eyes of the beholder? To a certain extent it might be, however true value will transcend customers and non-customers alike. The way value is communicated is what creates the drive in people to interact with your company or to purchase.

Connecting your value
Value is not a singular instance or event. Your company or product can make synergies across multiple channels. For example, Apple can communicate value of trendiness. That is why you see celebrities using MacBooks (and why I use one too ;) ) but, trendiness is not necessarily at the core of what Apple is after. They are after simplicity is use and design.

Ok… I think I get it, how about an example?
Company: BMW
Type: German Performance Vehicles
Value Proposition: “Pure German Engineering to deliver passengers to their destinations in complete luxury safely by providing technological advances that suited for the high-speed track or riding around town. BMW is the Ultimate Driving Machine.”
Which Means: Value is derived from the performance and styling of the vehicle. Note that price nor ease of use are mentioned particularly in my version of their value proposition.

Remember that value just doesn’t exist, it must be created so think outside of the box and be big.


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Categories : Marketing

How this Marketer reads the Wall Street Journal

2 09 2010

Not your brother's financial paper!

The Wall Street Journal is probably the most widely read business publication in the world. I will admit that I only started to read the WSJ a few years ago when my Finance professor required it for her class. I was hesitant at first because the articles seemed daunting and cumbersome, but the more I read the Journal, the more I understood how to read it.

Being who I am (very impatient), I like to find the quick way to get the maximum amount of information I need for the day ahead. What follows is my thought process of reading the Wall Street Journal on any given morning. Here is how I do it…

I First start with the Front Page Headline.

Someone once told me that on job interviews it would not be uncommon for the interviewer to ask you what the headline in the Journal was that morning. While I have never encountered it, the point it brings up is relevant. It is most likely that if an average person were to read the Journal, they would at least note the front page headline. This may prove to be a good networking lead in during your day. However, Only read the article if you don’t think you could speak semi-intelligently about it. Even then, just skim it. The headline article is always one of the most wordy complex pieces in the daily issue.

I then immediately turn to section B1, Marketplace. This is where I spend the majority of my reading time. I carefully flip through each page of this section, reading each title. If I find something relevant, I stop to read it. I always take extra time to read the Corporate Watch section. I find there to be excellent stock tips and new developments in the corporate world I hadn’t heard. I also take note of the advertisers in this section. As a marketer, I find that the ad placement within the Marketplace section are visually interesting. On the back page of the Marketplace section is the Weather Watch I always check the weather in L.A., Detroit, Paris and Berlin.

I then flip to the Personal Journal section. Now this is hit or miss. Sometimes this section is about small business, entrepreneurship or management. If this is the case I skim and read the articles of interest. However this section could also be about random entertainment or medicine. If this is the case I typically skip. I will say that most of the time the articles in this section provide a unique twist on new innovations.

On to C1,  Money & Investing. I immediately start to flip through this section to find the currency rates. I check the U.K. Pound and the Euro. This information will often times put many of the international articles into perspective. The Pound is the strongest world currency and the Euro is not far behind. I may often check the Yen and Yuan as well. I then will find the Stocks In the News section where the WSJ reports “The Good News” and “The Bad News”. Four of each are shown with a brief description and a chart. Always interesting insights. Now that I work in the Credit Card industry, I am beginning to look at the Borrowing Benchmarks, specifically the Prime Rates. If you credit card is a variable rate, then it varies with the prime rate. It is a good thing to note especially if you carry interest on your credit cards.

Then back to the front section and I look at the bottom of the first page. There is always an article there that typically presents an interesting concept that is very random. This article is always written well and makes you think. If I have time I will read thoroughly, if not the title and the first few lines will do.

If I skipped over any articles, at this point I may go back and read something else. Once I get to my desk I always look at the WSJ tweets. They will typically tweet about 10-15 links to articles. I may at that point read an additional article that I may have missed, and of course Re-Tweet articles I enjoyed.

And that is how I read the Wall Street Journal.


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Categories : Marketing, Networking

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