5. Anyone up to the task? Responsible for developing and implementing an effective organizational structure and the processes to optimize business development (working closely with the Managing Partner, the Marketing Committee, its Chair, and Chief Operating Officer (COO)). In charge of enhancing the firm’s brand awareness in the marketplace and community. This position works/consults proactively with the firm’s practice/industry groups, teams and professionals to support, provide creative input, implement, manage, synergize and implement marketing and business development opportunities. Oversees and promotes creativity and consistency in marketing, media relations and branding activities in alignment with the Firm’s strategic plan.
12. Look, Listen, and Learn Who do co-workers defer to during meetings? Who does the boss rely on to get things done? Who can get the CEO to open the purse strings?
19. “It’s possible to be an optimist if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose."
20. Don’t Make others look bad Need to be right Fight every battle Complain…unless absolutely necessary Give up 5 minutes before the miracle
21. Do Go out of your way to help others Build trust through consistency and follow through Find a way to fit into the culture…before trying to change it. Practice self-awareness Build your network before you need it Hone your sense of humor
22. “If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you."
Let me start off by telling you a story about my first real job. See that knife hidden behind a businessman’s back? It’s a good visual for showing the dangers of office politics, but for me – it hit much closer to home.I was 15 years old and a complete stranger to the politics of the workplace. I was young and naïve and thought that if you had a good worth ethic and got the job done, you’d be rewarded.Then I got a job at a local bakery near my high school. My boss wasn’t the owner, Max, a kind old guy who didn’t mind if I snacked on cookies all day long. It was Terry, a bleached blonde in her 40s who took an instant, passionate dislike to me and proceeded to make my life miserable.Why did she hate me on sight? Not sure I’ll ever really know the answer, but it may have had something to do with the fact that I was a teenager in a rich town earning probably only slightly less than she was. Maybe she envied my youth and the promise of my future. Maybe her husband beat her. I’ll never know.What I do know is that she criticized and sabotaged me at every turn. She criticized everything I did – from cutting the bread to tying the boxes. She gave me the dirtiest jobs, told everyone how incompetent I was, and did it all with relish that shocked and stunned me. After a few weeks of this, I knew that I’d either have to quit or do something to change my relationship with her. But what?I didn’t have any of the tools I learned later on in life to handle this kind of on the job conflict. But I was a stubborn kid and I wasn’t going to quit without trying something – anything – to change my work environment.Instinctively, I knew that complaining to the owner wouldn’t earn me brownie points with him – and would only anger her further. So I knew I’d have to go directly to the source.I tried the only thing I could think of that might work. I killed her with kindness. Every time she criticized or gave me dirty work, I took the criticism without complaint or dirty looks, did whatever she asked me to do and gave it my greatest effort.I came to work each day with a smile, said hello to her and asked her how her day was going. I asked her advice on how long I should wait after the bread comes out of the oven before putting it in the slicer. I noticed when she got a new shirt or earrings. The upshot was that I tried to be genuinely nice, genuinely interested in her as a human being. And wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, it worked.Within a few weeks, she not only stopped the cruel and inhuman treatment – she started taking me under her wing. I became her favorite. I kid you not – within a month she had a plate of my favorite cookies and a glass of milk waiting for me when I got there after school. My plan worked beyond my wildest dreams. I had learned my first, and very valuable lesson in office politics.But it did come with a price. I still silently resented her for all the cruelty she inflicted on me those first few weeks. And it was hard to reconcile with the new Terry who suddenly adored me. One night months later, I had a dream. At the center of two display cases in the bakery was a table for cutting bread. And wedged into the sides of the table were three huge bread knives. In my dream, I picked up one of those knives, walked over to Terry and plunged it right into her. Moral of the story – we all need to play office politics. But doing so often comes at a price. Sometimes the price is worth it and you’ll be able to eventually fit in. But sometimes, you’ll need to move on.
Politics are everywhere – they’re inescapable. They are the interconnected Web of our existence.Let’s start with a basic premise, which I’m going to ask you – especially those who are young – to take on faith. Every workplace is political. Every single one. There’s a pecking order, there are those who are seemingly on the same level as others but who somehow have more power than the MP or CEO. And there are minefields every where you look.The first step in successfully navigating around the minefields is understanding the interconnected Web of relationships in your workplace and how YOU fit into the mix.Let’s start with talking about the kind of workplace most of us work in – a service business.What’s the first thing you need to realize when you walk in the door?(next slide)
That’s right – you’re not in Kansas anymore.Or in a Marketing class with other people who understand Marketing.You’re in an accounting firm or a law firm or a non-profit. They speak spreadsheets or contributions or legalese – and you speak a language they don’t understand.Who watched Sesame Street growing up?Remember this segment…(new slide)
That’s right. You’re the one in the bandanna and leather jacket. With some pluck and luck, they’ll love you like one of their own one day, but you’re going to have to earn it.To figure out how to get there, let’s talk about how you got to the firm in the first place. If you’re like me, the first thing you saw was an ad with a job description. How many got their first glimpse into their current position by viewing an ad?(next slide)
This is a recent job description for a Director of Marketing position I took off the AAM web site. Take a moment to read through this…I can wait.They’re not kidding – they expect one person to accomplish all of this.I bet that your job description, whether you work for a non-profit, an educational institution or some other service company, wasn’t much different.(next slide)
With this kind of pressure to walk on water, is it any wonder that many marketers are destined to fail before they even get in the door?Back to that job description for a minute – aside from asking too much from one person, it also sets us up for failure in another way.Anyone have a clue how?
It’s classic bait and switch advertising.Let’s go back to that impossible to achieve job description slide I had up a minute ago. Let’s just say – for argument’s sake, that we followed that job description to the letter. We went all out to work closely with the executive team, enhance brand awareness across the firm culture, energize, invigorate the industry groups. That’s what they said they wanted us to do, right?But here’s what the job description should have said:(next slide)
Oh, and make us like it. By their very nature, most of the “do-ers” at your organization are there because they like to do what they do. They don’t understand marketing, are wary about how it can or should be used for their organization, and don’t really want to spend much time and effort doing it.But they know they need it! So they hire us – and then make it nearly impossible for us to get anything done.WHY???(next slide)
Make no mistake about it – your very presence in the firm is a threat to the way your organization has done business.Many of the people you work with will be openly hostile. Some will politely smile at you and ignore everything you say.One marketer I talked to likened what you are charged to do in your firm as akin to what the people are trying to do in The Biggest Loser. Without the 24-hour-per-day coach.So you need to develop some strategies that will get you cooperation from the professionals, successes that build on one another, and ultimtately, acceptance and praise from the people you work with.Oh, and avoid all the minefields.Tall order, huh? It takes time, but it can be done.(next slide)
I firmly believe that the marketers who succeed have all either been born with, or develop, some very similar qualities.You like challengesAren’t afraid of or intimidated by changeInstinctively understand how to read people – and talk to them in a language they can understand. So – you’re at your company, you’ve got your mission to change the world and make them like it.What’s next?(slide)
The first step to getting anything accomplished is first understanding who has the power at your firm.It may very well be the managing partner. Or it could be the Marketing Partner Or it might be the HR director.You may not necessarily discover right away who has the power – it could take a few months. Here are some tips for how to figure out who the important people are at your firm(next slide)
Being a good, active listener and observer will reap you enormous rewards.You will see the subtle cues about how your organization works.Example – At one of my firms (won’t say which) there was an industry group meeting. One of the senior partners jokingly asked one of young partners to go get his suit jacket in his office since he was the only one not wearing one at the meeting. The young partner actually started to head out the door before the older partner said he was kidding.What do you think I learned from this interaction?
Starting off on the right foot may not be easy – especially if you have a staff already in place or an executive team who was unhappy with your predecessor.First thing you need to do is forge a personal relationship with as many of the organization’s stakeholders as you can. Get to know their wives’ names, their outside interests, their sport teams. If you get to know them on a personal level, it will be difficult for them to dismiss you as an annoying marketing person. And on a more important level, it humanizes and elevates you in their eyes.
If you’ve worked anywhere long enough, you’ll encounter one or more of these stereotypes.They’re inescapable and unavoidable.There’s an old saying – you can’t change other people. What you can change, however, is how YOU choose to react to them.Here’s the best piece of advice I can give you when dealing with any of them(slide)
The impulse to react to situations is strong – resist it!Restraint of tongue and pen will serve you well in the long run.Remember – in many ways you speak a different language than anyone else in your organization.Instead of trying to force your way of doing things on them –take the time to breathe, and look around you to understand what makes them tick, and what motivates them to act.Marshal your resources, wait until the anger or hurt has ebbed a little, and then – only then – decide how you’re going to respond.There’s an old adage…(next slide)
Rather than be understood.Instinctively we’re more interested in getting others to understand us, than understanding them first. But top business leaders learn to suppress this urge.You’ll be amazed at how different a response you’ll get if the other people you’re talking to or in conflict with see that you’re truly trying to understand their position – rather than pushing your own agenda.Trying to arrive at a solution without understanding the other person’s point of view won’t work nearly as well as if you have open communication.Example: One of the partners at my last firm was an expert in his field and had a great opportunity to speak at a national conference, which I urged him to do. He seemed totally uninterested, which made me crazy.Instead of forcing the issue, I took a step back to see if I could understand why he was so resistant, considering this could be so good for him professionally. What I realized was that he hadn’t done much public speaking, much less in front of hundreds of people and he was terrified at the prospect. I hired a professional public speaking trainer, he worked with him before the speech, and went on to give an incredibly successful presentation.This can also work in figuring out different people’s work styles. In my last position, I would send these long, detailed memos to my MP explaining the projects I wanted to work on, or updating him on a project. It took me a few months to realize he was only skimming, and not reading them. I’m a writer, so that’s how I express myself.But he was a very busy man and needed something briefer and to the point. I started writing one-page memos in bullet points. I got my message across, he read it, and if he had any additional questions, he just asked me. ***Ultimately, what you need to remember when office politics seem to threaten your sanity is this…
Know what you’re trying to achieve and focus on that – instead of the obstacles you’re facing. It’s easy to get sucked into the short-term drama and lose sight of what’s really important.Sometimes you can get around this by focusing on what’s best for the business (even if that means giving someone else credit or deferring to people you’d rather not defer to).Eg. Had a conflict with an outside consultant who thought the Marketing Department should be putting out an internal newsletter. Initially stung that a stranger was trying to tell me how to run my department, I wanted to lash out.Instead, I calmly talked to the partner in charge and laid out the time and effort it would take to compile such a newsletter versus the ROI. And that the company would benefit more from other revenue-producing initiatives that hadn’t yet been tackled.
Practice patience – and don’t let your excitement and passion about what you do shrivel up and die.Rome wasn’t built in a day and corporate cultures don’t shift overnight.Try to notice and appreciate the small ways in which you’ve helped them move in the right direction. Who can give me examples of small things that show you’re having an impact – however small – on your firm?My examples:Got partner named as 40 under 40Started a Sushi Society
Finally, I want to leave you with one thought. I recently finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.How many of you saw The Last Lecture or read the book? It’s the true story of a young Carnegie Mellon professor and how he handles the fact that he has terminal cancer.As challenging as office politics can be, they’re not as challenging as dealing with a terminal diagnosis, knowing you won’t live to see your children grow up or complete your life’s work.As I was preparing for this presentation, one of the lines in his book leaped out at me. (slide)
It’s a basic faith in the goodness of human beings – even those people who sometimes seem bent on making our lives a living hell.Just like Terry in the bakery shop 30 years ago, people will surprise and impress you if you let them and if you’re open to it.
