Jeff Gundersen

In this issue:

• Add a “Customer-Obsessed” Marketer to Your Board of Directors
• Blog Round Up
• Career Announcements

In Our Opinion

Add a “Customer-Obsessed” Marketer to Your Board of Directors

by Jeff Gundersen

Over the years, as many companies in various industry verticals (i.e., financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, technology) decided to raise their competency in areas including branding, marketing, and communications, they came to our firm asking for assistance in recruiting classically-trained consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers from top firms (including P&G most notably).

Now, many years later as the marketing pendulum has swung from mass/push marketing to one-to-one customer engagement/pull marketing, multi-channel marketing and global competition have made building brands and businesses even more complex, we are seeing companies reach out to strengthen their Board of Directors by adding at least one “Customer-Obsessed,” C-level Marketing executive to their Board to serve in a role as “Voice of the Customer.”

[Read more…] about Connections Ezine: Issue 52

In this issue:

• Find Your Seat at the Table Now
• Client Spotlight on Lou Ramery
• Blog Round Up
• Career Announcements

In Our Opinion

Find Your Seat at the Table Now

by Jeff Gundersen

Now (the Summer months of July and August) is the time to start planning your campaign to find the right Board of Directors position for your personal brand.

Are you a successful CEO or President with a proven track record of building global businesses? Has your company outperformed competitors in your sector resulting in you receiving accolades from your Board, investors, and the media? Are you at a stage where your company’s strategic vision and execution are functioning at a high level, and you can see yourself contributing the same type of game-changing leadership in a Board of Directors role outside of your current company?

We have a number of CEO clients who fit this description, and several have come to us requesting our help in finding appropriate outside Board of Directors positions. Our first questions to these CEO clients are always:

• Why do you want to sit on an outside Board?
• What value can you best provide (to another CEO) as a Board member?
• What do you hope to gain from the experience of participating on an outside Board?
• Are you (and your company) prepared for the time commitment Board service entails (typically 6 Board meetings annually, travel time, Board preparation time, emergency meetings, etc.)?

Once we have addressed the questions related to motivation, qualification, time, and incentives, we move on the questions related to building and executing a successful Board of Directors campaign:

• What stands out in terms of your CEO accomplishments (i.e., building and expanding businesses globally; M&A success including integration, turnarounds, and operations/cost reduction)?
• How effectively do your personal bio, executive profile, and other PR/media present your personal brand to attract interest in you as a Board candidate?
• Who are your mentors and advocates, and how many senior connections can you leverage to refer you to potential Board opportunities?
• What industry sectors and companies will be most interested in your credentials as a Board member?

This is where we find most CEOs need help. While they may have a few former bosses and mentors who are advocates, most are not connected to the search consultants running the Board of Directors practices at the top search firm, and most do not have an entree to the target industries and companies where their Board credentials are the strongest potential fit. Simply stated, they are under-connected and sometimes not effectively packaged to stand out among other Board candidates.

This is where Executive Connections LLC has come in, in several instance, to provide our expertise in personal branding, packaging, and presentment of a CEO’s Board credentials. We add our independent advocacy and direct knowledge of the CEO’s accomplishments and utilize our connections (which are golden—and our firm’s strongest brand attribute—by a survey of our top clients) to open doors and get our CEOs an invitation into the Board selection process.

We are currently working with three CEO clients on reviewing their executive bios, profiles, and head shots, as well as targeting sectors and companies they would find compelling and where their credentials will be most attractive. Once we complete the executive profile updates and targeting research, after Labor Day is the ideal time to kick off the full-blown Board campaign. Because the majority of companies operate on a year-end fiscal period, Q4 is typically the time CEOs and Boards are planning for replacement of retiring or outgoing Directors. So the CEO’s mind is on Board composition at this time of year, and it is best to present your credentials when the opportunities are beginning to surface.

If this is an area of interest for you, please connect with us for further information on our firm’s Board of Directors consulting service.

Client Spotlight on Lou Ramery

We are delighted to announce Lou Ramery has joined Accenture Interactive effective July 9, 2012 in a Senior Executive (Partner) role in the E-CRM and Customer Experience practice area. Prior to joining Accenture, Lou was SVP, Customer Relationship Management at Sears Holdings where his team designed and implemented an enterprise-wide customer loyalty program which gained 70 million members within the first years and significantly contributed to incremental revenue growth. Prior to Sears, Lou was EVP, Global Marketing at Digitas during one of the firm’s highest growth periods. We wish Lou continued success in his new role!

Blog Roundup

Our LinkedIn Webinar Recording Available

We see LinkedIn as being very important for executive brand building and strengthening career connections, and we appreciate the opportunity to share our experience and best practices with you. Read more.

Upcoming Professional Development Events

Mark your calendars for these professional development and networking events. Read more.

Ask Our Coach: Going Over My Boss’ Head

Q. How do you suggest partnering/dealing with executives (possibly including your boss) whom you know do not have the right ideas (answers), but their bosses do. At what point (and how) do you suggest escalating, particularly when they are outspoken about not going above them?

A. First of all, I want to acknowledge the frustration you must be going through, even if most of it is self-inflicted. What I am picking up here is that you are “attempting” to make this situation work, but that there is not really a full-blown commitment. I like to tell it straight and think that just might be the answer here: It’s up to you to create the type of workplace in which you do your best work. Read more.

Do you have a marketing-career related question for “Ask our Coach?” Contact us, and we’ll answer it in an upcoming blog post.

Career Announcements

Director, E-Mail Marketing – Alternative Health/Nutritional Supplement Company – Washington DC Area
Senior Executive – Financial Services
Senior Executive – Strategy & Innovation Lead
Learn more.