Executive Connections LLC

Connecting organizations with the future of marketing

Executive Talent

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, Personal Branding, Uncategorized

CONNECTIONS Ezine No. 83

In this issue:

  • Invest Without Exit – A New VC Investment Model
  • Peter Bingaman Joins Mercer – Congratulations!
  • Career Opportunities:
    • VP, Marketing – B2B Financial Services / Collections
    • Dir., Web Product Management – Travel/Hospitality
    • Marketing Leader – Northeast Region
    • Sr. Mgr., Digital Strategy

Invest Without Exit –  A New VC Investment Model

Kudos to Jessica Herrin, CEO & Founder of Stella & Dot, one of a growing number of entrepreneurs who are changing the rules of engagement with VC firms……..and we like it! 

VC firms forced to eliminate the pressure of providing too much capital and then pushing fast and hard for an exit event within 5-7 years of the initial investment.

Jessica (and Stella & Dot) partnered successfully with Dave Whorton (Founder, Tugboat Ventures) in a new investment model without a planned exit strategy. Rather, VCs were required to invest in an early stage business the founders wanted to hold onto and continue to build and operate. This almost sounds like a Warren Buffett – Berkshire Hathaway business model….except the founders get to keep controlling interest in this model whereas Buffett buys an 80% stake and leaves management as minority partners.

“My Exit Strategy You Ask?”

Interestingly, when Whorton asked Herrin her exit strategy in an early meeting she replied, “My exit strategy is to be rolled out the door on a gurney.”

This new VC investment model (without an exit) enables/requires investors to earn a return through profit distributions, not from selling their shares. Tugboat Ventures invested in Stella & Dot and over the first 5 year period (’05-’10) revenues soared to $100M+ making the company #67 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies. Within 2 more years, sales doubled again at which point Sequoia Capital agreed to invest $37M for a 10% equity stake (on similar “buy and hold” terms) thereby valuing the company at close to $400M.

What are the characteristics of successful “evergreen companies?”

Whorton and Herrin (in Inc. magazine’s October 2015 issue) defined the “7Ps” including:

  1. Purpose – Passionately driven by a compelling vision/mission.
  2. Perseverance – Having ambition and resilience to overcome obstacles
  3. People First – Build a talented team and positive culture; take care of people first
  4. Private – Take advantage of ability to operate with a longer-term view
  5. Profit – Measure success by the most accurate gauge of customer value delivered
  6. Paced Growth – Focus on long-term strategy and steady 10-15% growth
  7. Pragmatic Innovation – Embrace continuous improvement

What do we really like about this model?

This model provides founders and management teams the opportunity (and necessity) to create a highly profitable, sustainable, “built to last” business which continues to grow (and prosper) and reward all stakeholders (founders, employees, customers, and investors) without an arbitrary exit point created solely to allow investors to liquidate their interests in a private company.

In this process, Dave Whorton became such a believer he (and Herrin) launched Tugboat Summit, an event bringing together Founders and CEOs of similarly aspiring evergreen businesses. To date, Tugboat has held two very successful summits so hopefully we can expect more of these “evergreen” business start-ups in the future.

Why should you care about this?

Too many start-ups and early stage businesses focus on the wrong things. They focus on revenue growth and building infrastructure without necessarily having defined a profitable, ongoing business model from the outset. Ultimately, this contributes to the vast majority of start-ups shutting the doors after 2-3 rounds of venture capital are consumed without a profitable, sustainable business being created. We need more entrepreneurs like Jessica Herrin to continue changing the mindset and approach of entrepreneurs and VCs.

Here’s to entrepreneurs and VCs building more profitable, sustainable businesses!

We look forward to connecting,

Jeff & Lola

Peter Bingaman Joins Mercer – Congratulations!

Peter-BingamanWe are pleased to announce that Peter Bingaman has joined Mercer as Mercer Marketplace Marketing Leader.

Peter Bingaman joins Mercer to lead the marketing strategies and programs to drive topline growth for Mercer Marketplace, one of the fastest-growing and market-leading digital platforms. As a member of the Mercer Marketplace Leadership Team and the Global Marketing and Sales Leadership Team, Peter will build the brand and business through targeted marketing that delivers Marketing Qualified Leads for active pursuit by our sales and consulting leaders, among other contributions to marketing communications, the digital experience and alternative distribution channels. Peter will work closely with the Mercer Marketplace and the EH&B Marketing team in the US as the go-to resource for any Mercer Marketplace-related marketing and communications activities.

Due to his extensive experience in the business to business to consumer (B-B-C) space, Peter will also contribute to global B-B-C initiatives across Health and Wealth.

Peter has extensive strategic, data-driven B2B and B2C marketing skills from having led major marketing initiatives on behalf of IBM and over the past two decades working in-house with and as a consultant to brands including HP, MSC, Nortel, LexisNexis, P&G, and J&J. A technology enthusiast experienced at leveraging analytical, digital, social media and marketing automation to increase marketing ROI, Peter has successfully identified emerging trends positioning brands ahead of the curve.

Peter has an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a BA from Bucknell University.

Career Opportunities

We have career opportunities at a variety of companies including a Global Data/Direct Marketing Services Company, a Global HR Professional Services firm, one of the largest Global Digital Agencies, a Privately-Owned Direct/Digital Agency, Travel/Hospitality and a Non-Profit Student Loan Collection.

Take a moment to click on these links (below) for the complete position description:

Learn more about our Career Opportunities…

 

Filed Under: Announcements, Branding Yourself Online, Connections E-Zine, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search, Recommended Articles, Spotlight On

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 80

In this issue:

  • In Our Opinion: ‘Mad Men’ to Data Geniuses
  • Invitation REMINDER:
    • 2015 Rising Stars Awards Dinner – Tue, June 9, 2015
  • Announcements:
    • Monika Wilczak Joins Accenture Interactive as MD, Customer Advanced Analytics
    • NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence Awards Dinner — June 11, 2015
  • Articles:
    • #MktgFemme – Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Femme Awards
  • Career Opportunities:
    • Marketing Leader, Private Exchange – NEW
    • Marketing Leader, Northeast – NEW
    • Social Media Strategist
    • Digital Strategist – Senior Manager
    • Digital Strategist – Manager
    • Social Senior Manager and Account Lead
    • Manager, Social Media
    • Director, Insights and Strategy

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

 ‘Mad Men’ to Data Geniuses

Kudos to AdAge Editor Simon Dumenco and his team in compiling the 2015 Agency Issue (published May 4, 2015). AdAge highlights several trends which underscore while ‘Mad Men’ the TV series is ending this year, there will be plenty of ‘Mad Men’ continuing to dominate the global marketing, media and entertainment sectors for decades to come. Except ‘Mad Men’ are starting to look much different today than the ‘Mad Men’ from the 60’s and 70’s.

With IBM Experience, Deloitte Digital, and Accenture Interactive moving into the list of Top 10 global agencies (and Top 3 global digital agencies), and digital capturing nearly 40% of total advertising spending and rapidly heading to 50%+, it is becoming clear the future of marketing is shifting (as Dumenco and AdAge projects) from Art & Copy ‘Mad Men’ of the past to “Data Geniuses and Technologists” of the future driving targeted digital, mobile and social brand engagements with consumers which are apparent in the revolutionary marketing innovations we are experiencing on a daily basis.

Where and when will the next Uber, AirBnB, or Jet.com appear? Almost every sector is rapidly shifting toward a greater digital focus to assure their business is not rapidly encroached by a new unforeseen digital competitor.

It’s great to see the marketing industry leading U.S. economic growth. In 2014, U.S. agency revenues grew 5.4% to a record $43.6B. Ad-agency employment is climbing, and agency stocks scored all-time highs. It’s indeed a good time to be in the agency business…especially if you’re connected to digital.

One final thought…some ‘Mad Men’ from the 60’s and 70’s who were really revolutionary and predicted the future of marketing…were the pioneers in direct marketing…leaders including Lester Wunderman, Stan Rapp, and others who predicted “mass marketing” was wasteful and would give way to “one-to-one” marketing (or direct marketing). Those who have been around the direct marketing sector for 3-4 decades know digital marketing is “direct marketing on steroids”…so thanks to Lester, Stan and the other direct marketing pioneers who paved the way for the data geniuses and technologists of the future.

As always, we welcome your input and comments.

Jeff and Lola

Announcements

Monika Wilczak Joins Accenture Interactive as Managing Director, Customer Advanced Analytics

Monika J. Wilczak Head ShotWe are pleased to announce Monika Wilczak has joined our client, Accenture Digital, as Managing Director, Customer Advanced Analytics.

Prior to Accenture, Monika was Global Head of Customer & Market Intelligence at Bloomberg LP, and earlier, Monika was Head of Decision Management, Commercial & Small Business Banking at Citibank.

In this new marketing era of targeted, relevant two-way communications with customers and prospects, Monika is an analytics executive leader with a proven ability to identify business growth opportunities and translate them into new revenue streams using customer insights. Monika’s expertise includes B2C, B2B, and vertical sectors including media, technology, financial services, and consumer goods/services.

At Accenture Digital, Monika will have both U.S. new business development responsibilities as well as leadership of clients/teams delivering cutting-edge Analytics strategies and program results.

Monika holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Statistics & Operations Research with Honors (from Stern School – NYU).

Executive Connections LLC initiated this executive placement as part of  an ongoing senior-level talent acquisition relationship with Accenture Interactive.

We wish Monika well in this exciting new career opportunity!

Upcoming NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence AwardsNOW logo

Please join me at the NOW 2015 Women of Power & Influence Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 11, 2015 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Three Sixty in New York City.

 

For more details…

Invitation REMINDER

Join Me At Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” Dinner
in NYC on Tuesday, June 9, 2015RSA15-banner-linkedin

Register now and start planning how you’ll take advantage of the networking opportunities at the Rising Stars Awards Dinner – with this year’s Rising Stars and the 400+ industry leaders expected to attend.

Marketing EDGE provides many training and employment programs for college students including Collegiate ECHO Awards, Scholarships, Student Career Forums, One Week Immersion programs (I-MIX – Interactive Marketing Immersion Experience; I-MAX – Interactive Marketing Analytics Experience), Next Generation Leaders, Summer Internships, and Entry-level marketing positions.

Marketing EDGE also provides programs for educators in over 100+ colleges and universities nationwide including Professors’ Academy, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Research Summit, Professor’s Institute, and Collegiate ECHO Challenge.

Marketing EDGE sponsors and corporate partners include Brierley & Partners, Direct TV, Epsilon, Executive Connections LLC, Facebook, Google, Gerber Life, Guthy Renker, IBM, Javelin, KBM Group, Ogilvy & Mather, Merkle, Microsoft and Twitter, among others.

2015 RISING STARS HONOREES —Louis Cohen, Citi Cards | Andrea Steele, Unilever | Lisa Radding, Ethnic Technologies | Amina Dilawari, St. Jude Children’s Hospital | Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Direct

Link to MarketingEdge event…

Article

#MktgFemme – Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Fame

By Laura Gigliotti – April 27, 2015

“18 chief marketers who put the ‘excel’ in excellent”
“An elite group of women who are driving marketing today”
“Exceptional leading ladies who have risen to the apex of their profession”

So were the accolades floating around the Grand Hyatt in New York City last Friday during Direct Marketing News’ 2015 Marketing Hall of Femme Awards.

In its third iteration, the annual Award ceremony recognizes the achievements of the most accomplished and influential women in marketing. Over 80 nominees were submitted during the call-for-nominations period, 18 of which were selected for induction. Selection criteria included leadership style, approach to marketing, and career achievements—both past and present.

For complete article…

Career Opportunities

We have career opportunities at a variety of companies including a Global HR Professional Services firm, a Global Financial Services firm and a Global Digital Consulting firm.  Please take a moment to click on a link and see the complete position description:

Learn more…

Filed Under: Ask Our Coach, Branding Yourself Online, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Personal Branding, Recommended Articles

Career Path Insights

Is Career Jumping Different Now From In The Past? Is It More Or Less Common?

Career jumping is definitely the “new normal” and it’s the result of several factors. First, the rapid global transition to a digital- and mobile-first economy has created enormous opportunities for technology-savvy and analytical/quantitative young professionals to join or start new businesses (i.e., Google, Facebook, Amazon) with rapid growth and significant wealth creation possibilities. Additionally, many legacy industry sectors (i.e., print, media, CPG, retail) are experiencing consolidations which eliminates traditional career path growth opportunities within the same company and forces career change.

How Can Someone Know They Are Truly Ready For A Career Change?

You know you are ready for a career change if any of the following conditions are present: (a) you no longer believe in the vision/mission of your company/organization; (b) you no longer respect your direct boss (and/or the company leader); (c) you are not growing/developing new skills in the role; (d) you are not feeling challenged by the path in front of you. We are seeing less loyalty today in both directions. Companies are less loyal to employees and routinely make cutbacks (in both good times and bad) as a result of increased efficiencies. Likewise, today’s employees are less loyal to their companies than previous generations, and it has become more readily acceptable that each individual will shift jobs/career several times over the course of their work life.

For the complete article by Melissa Batchelor Warnke…

Filed Under: Ask Our Coach, Connections E-Zine, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 79

In this issue:

  • In Our Opinion: Life Expectancy of CMOs Is Increasing
  • Spotlight On: Lia Sagerman – 2015 EC Rising Star
  • Invitation:  Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” Award Dinner
  • Career Opportunities:
    • Social Media Strategist – NEW
    • CMO, Customer & Digital Marketing – NEW
    • Digital Strategist – Senior Manager – NEW
    • Digital Strategist – Manager – NEW
    • Social Senior Manager and Account Lead
    • Manager, Social Media
    • Director, Insights and Strategy

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Life Expectancy of CMOs Is Increasing

Jane Odell at Chief Marketer magazine just reported “Good news for the CMO: life expectancy in your job continues to climb, according to new data from Spencer Stuart, who analyzed the tenure of CMOs for the top 100 US advertised brands.”

We recall as recently as 3-4 years ago CMO tenure was less than 2 years according to Spencer Stuart. Since that time, CMO tenure has doubled and a recent report from Forrester Research projects this year average CMO tenure would reach 60 months (that’s 5 years).

One key reason according to Odell is CEOs are relying more heavily on CMOs for critical advice in the fast changing world of marketing. We agree, and would add, there is a new crop of digitally-savvy, data-driven marketers who have become the “new breed” of CMOs. With marketing tipping toward a digital- and mobile-first axis, digitally-deficient CMOs need not apply.

If you are a CMO, what’s your current and expected tenure? If you are a CEO, how well advised do you feel by your CMO on the digital marketing transformation path? If you are on a career path trajectory to a CMO role, are you learning the new data, digital, mobile, and social media marketing skills to be relevant in the new digital marketing eco-system?

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Jeff and Lola

 Spotlight On

Lia Sagerman – EC 2015 Rising Star

Lia headshotWe would like to introduce Lia Sagerman, EC’s 2015 Rising Star.  Lia is an exceptional candidate with strong leadership skills.  We first spotted Lia in 2013 when she led the Tufts Women’s Varsity Field Hockey team (as Captain) to the NCAA National Championship.  Next, while completing her Masters degree in Education over the next two years at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN, Lia worked as a teacher in a highly regarded “Teach for America” program, creating innovative strategies to improve student success.

Lia is now interested to leverage her undergraduate degree (B.A., Psychology from Tufts) and begin her business career in NYC in a marketing or strategy role.

Lia has already been to NYC in March and interviewed with a number of EC clients.  Her next visit will be in May 2015…and she will be available for a full-time position in NYC on August 1, 2015.

We highly recommend you meet and speak with Lia on her next visit.  You will not be disappointed.

Please contact Jeff Gundersen directly, if you have any questions or would like to meet Lia Sagerman.

Invitation

Join Me At Marketing EDGE 2015 “Rising Stars” Dinner
in NYC on Tuesday, June 8, 2015RSA15-banner-linkedin

As many of you know, I am a Board Trustee of Marketing EDGE, a non-profit organization with the mission to Educate, Develop, Grow, and Employ the next generation of marketing leaders.

Marketing EDGE provides many training and employment programs for college students including Collegiate ECHO Awards, Scholarships, Student Career Forums, One Week Immersion programs (I-MIX – Interactive Marketing Immersion Experience; I-MAX – Interactive Marketing Analytics Experience), Next Generation Leaders, Summer Internships, and Entry-level marketing positions.

Marketing EDGE also provides programs for educators in over 100+ colleges and universities nationwide including Professors’ Academy, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Research Summit, Professor’s Institute, and Collegiate ECHO Challenge.

Marketing EDGE sponsors and corporate partners include Brierley & Partners, Direct TV, Epsilon, Executive Connections LLC, Facebook, Google, Gerber Life, Guthy Renker, IBM, Javelin, KBM Group, Ogilvy & Mather, Merkle, Microsoft and Twitter, among others.

Please join 350-400 senior level digital and direct marketers for an exciting evening on June 8, 2015 when we will be honoring 6 of the best and brightest marketing “Rising Stars” under 40YO.

Link to MarketingEdge event…

Career Opportunities

We have career opportunities at a variety of companies including a Global HR Professional Services firm, a Global Financial Services firm and a Global Digital Consulting firm.  Please take a moment to click on a link and see the complete position description:

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Talent, Getting Hired in Digital Marketing, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 78

In this issue:

  • In Our Opinion: Be Positive and Refire
  • Special Announcements:
    • Allison Landers, VP, Digital and Customer Experience – Prudential Financial
  • Career Opportunities:
    • Social Senior Manager and Account Lead – Social – Global Consulting Firm
    • Manager, Social Media – Global Consulting Firm
    • Director, Insights and Strategy – Marketing & Sales

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

Be Positive and Refire

In our conversations with clients and business friends, we are constantly asked how we are seeing economic trends as related to companies hiring. While economic growth slowed significantly in 2014 in certain global markets (Europe, Japan, China), the U.S. economy outperformed expectations and economists including Gary Thayer (Chief Macro Strategist at Wells Fargo) forecast U.S. 2015 economic growth of 2.8%. With consumer confidence rising, and with the benefit of lower energy prices spawning higher consumer spending, 2015 is a market in which to BE POSITIVE AND REFIRE.

Part of the growth and activity we continue to see is related to marketing shifting onto a mobile- and digital-first axis. The top global advertisers are being driven by this rapidly shifting marketing transformation to invest in new marketing technologies, and to create new customer engagement and experience processes, in order to adapt to the needs of serving customers and prospects on a real-time, omni- channel basis. Chief Customer Officer, Chief Digital Officers, and Heads of Digital Customer Experience, are among the new high priority roles being identified and filled by many companies. In this month’s e-zine, we highlight Allison Landers, recently hired by Prudential Financial for this type of new digital experience role.

Refire (3)For many legacy sectors, companies and brands, 2015 is a time to “REFIRE” as Ken Blanchard says in his latest book, “Refire, Don’t Retire!” While Blanchard’s book is aimed at Boomers planning a next career after retiring or leaving full-time employment, his themes are applicable for all of us in this period of rapid marketing transformation. I took part in a recent webinar sponsored by The Ken Blanchard Companies and heard Ken outline four key areas of refiring in 2015:

  1. Refire Intellectually – Be open to learning, take a class, be a reader, a teacher, be courageously persistent.
  2. Refire Emotionally – Love Is key (love what you do, who you are with, love yourself), build relationships.
  3. Refire Physically – Create a healthy body and well-being, improve strength, flexibility, balance, diet/nutrition, sleep.
  4. Refire Spiritually – Move beyond focus on self, be forgiving, grateful, accepting, and humble.

These principles can help us all open new pathways to seeing things differently, learning new skills, driving innovation by thinking outside the box, strengthening our physical core and stamina, and improving our emotional intelligence to enhance our company’s culture and grow/develop everyone’s individual and collective performance.

We trust you are off to a positive start in 2015 and we look forward to hearing from you with stories of how you are personally REFIRING in order to drive POSITIVE outcomes in 2015!

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Jeff and Lola

Special Announcements

Allison Landers, VP, Digital and Customer Experience – Prudential Financial Group

Landers HeadshotWe are delighted to announce that Allison Paine Landers has recently joined Prudential Financial’s Group Insurance division as VP, Digital and Customer Experience, reporting to Michelle Crecca, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer.

In this new role, Allison will design and execute a comprehensive digital strategy for PRU-GI and will partner with corporate centers across the enterprise to implement a common Prudential digital experience. Allison will also be responsible for PRU-GI’s customer experience strategy, and customer experience research and benchmarking, to enable PRU-GI to have a more comprehensive view of customer insights.

Allison has significant experience in digital and omni-channel product marketing, with proven success in leveraging distribution and technology to acquire, retain, and serve customers. She joins PRU-GI from TD Bank, where she most recently served as the head of online and tablet banking. During her tenure with the bank, Allison led a program to move three million U.S. retail and small business customers onto a single digital platform. She also launched a program to provide 700,000 U.S. and Canadian customers with a single online banking experience.

Prior to TD Bank, Allison spent seven years at KeyBank in Cleveland, Ohio, first as VP, Marketing and later as SVP, Online and Mobile channels. Among her many responsibilities there, Allison led efforts to enhance the online banking platform experience, which enabled the bank with its client retention efforts, and to achieve significant revenue and cost savings. She began her career with America Online, where she spent the first 5 years of her career.

Allison earned a BA in Journalism from Indiana University, and an MBA in marketing from Marymount University. In addition to being a frequent industry speaker, she served as the current Chair of the Consumer Bankers Association Digital Channels Committee.

Executive Connections LLC handled this executive search assignment on an exclusive basis for PRU-GI continuing a long-term partnership with Michelle Crecca and Prudential Financial.

Career Opportunities

Two new opportunities in the Global Social Media Practice of a leading digital consulting firm:

Our third new opportunity is for a global consulting client which is a leader in Talent, Health, Retirement, and Investments.

Learn more…

Filed Under: Announcements, Branding Yourself Online, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, Personal Branding, Recommended Articles, Spotlight On

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 77

In this issue:

  • In Our Opinion: New Year’s Resolution – ‘Aspire’
  • Spotlight On Sean Rach:
    • Sean Rach Promoted to Chief Marketing Officer at PCA
  • Career Opportunities:
    • VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services
  • Your Comments:
    • Susan Cotton, Executive Chairman of The Lily Project – “2014-The Year of Social Enterprise“
  • Articles:
    • “The Tyranny of ‘Scale’ ” by Michael Baer

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

New Year’s Resolution – ‘Aspire’

Happy New Year!

One thing we love about January is all businesses start again at zero, create new surges of momentum, and begin implementing action plans to achieve the strategic, marketing, operational, and financial plans created in the prior fiscal year.

However, frequently there is an overlay to the global business environment, a general mood, influenced by CEO and consumer confidence, and economic forecasts/trends, which enhances or dampens the enthusiasm of individuals and organizations to assertively drive to achieve their best potential performance.

In our view, the 2014 economy (especially the US) outperformed forecasted growth rates, led by sectors including healthcare, mobile advertising and online shopping which grew in double digits. While there are several areas of global concern including rising terrorism, political instability in the Middle East, and government dysfunction, the overall sentiment heading into 2015 feels strongly positive on balance, and we see many early signs of companies investing more heavily in marketing, technology, and mobile commerce to achieve significant global growth objectives.

We recently read an editorial column by Matt Walsh, Editor & Publisher in the January 2-8, 2015 edition of Business Observer – Florida’s Newspaper for the C-Suite (www.BusinessObserverFL.com) where Walsh said…“The Word for 2015 is ‘Aspire’ “…and we could not agree more heartily. Walsh’s column included the following:

“We used to aspire. We aspired to be great, to be the best, to win. And we went for it. We worked for it. We did whatever it took to be great. We need to bring this back. We need to teach everyone – especially America’s children – to aspire to be great. Bring back Vince Lombardi. During Lombardi’s era in the 1960s as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, he epitomized America’s desire to win. He is most frequently associated with the quote, ‘Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.’ He expressed the opinion, forcefully and unapologetically, that the pursuit of victory, fairly and squarely, and within the rules, is life’s great challenge. Not victory for its own sake, but victory as a test of how far you could push yourself to your limits and beyond, a test of your ability to overcome your doubts and weaknesses, and a test of how much of your God-given talent and ability you were willing to expend in the pursuit of success and victory.”

Aspirational leadership starts at the top. We have written consistently about CEOs from companies including Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Starbucks, and Uber, among others, who have pursued aspirational category-changing strategies that resulted in hyper market capitalization growth in short time frames. These CEOS and category-leading companies demonstrate what’s possible with aspirational leadership which pushes for the extraordinary instead of modest growth objectives.

On a personal basis, this is a great time of year to take stock of your business and personal career/brand, and ask yourself the hard questions regarding whether you are playing full-out and pushing yourself and your team/organization/company to your limits and beyond in order to achieve the stretch goals you aspire to produce.

What we know, and what we feel, is we agree with Matt Walsh, if there was ever a year which was right for a mantra of ‘Aspire’…it’s 2015!

Best wishes for continued personal and business success, health and prosperity!

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Lola and Jeff

Spotlight On Sean Rach

Sean Rach Promoted to Chief Marketing Officer at PCA

Sean RachWe are pleased to share an announcement from Barry Stowe, CEO of Prudential Corporation Asia, that Sean Rach has been named Chief Marketing Officer for PCA effective January 1, 2015.

Executive Connections LLC placed Sean at PCA in 2009, where he has championed the development of integrated marketing solutions for all business lines and has developed innovative digital and branding programs including Cha-Ching, Safe Steps, Prudential Eye, and the Regional Brand Platform – “I am Prudential.”

Sean brought a strong digital marketing foundation to PCA and his promotion to CMO fulfills an EC prophecy that the “CMO of the future” must be digital-first marketers.

Sean is also an “aspirational” CMO who stretches himself and his team to consistently produce the extraordinary instead of  the ordinary results.

We wish Sean continued success in his career!

Career Opportunities

VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

The VP, Individual Digital Experience is a senior level, cross-business leader accountable for collaboratively defining and designing digital experience for Individual constituent types. Constituent types include investors, participants, policyholders, beneficiaries and other individual consumers. The successful candidate will lead diverse, internal, matrix teams, including third-party consultants, to develop competitive web, social and mobile engagement channels across our Client’s portfolio of businesses and corporate functions, including brand, advertising, thought leadership, market research, communications, information technology and digital solutions, ensuring that the Individual’s critical cross channel needs are addressed throughout their customer life cycle.

Learn more…

Your Comments

Hi Jeff –  I was intrigued by your title 2014 – The Year of Social Enterprise, because I am studying at Pepperdine for a MA in Social Entrepreneurship and Change…and I see the impact of social enterprises increasing, but we still have a long way to go.  And while I find both of these companies really great examples of the collaborative consuming/sharing economy, I don’t believe they are great examples of social enterprises.  Social enterprises are built first and foremost to create positive social value – with measurements that go well beyond shareholder value to stakeholder value.  You can generally see it first in their vision, mission, values and financial reporting (does it go beyond shareholders?).   Here are a couple of articles that talk about the distinction between social businesses that are part of the sharing economic and social enterprises.

I think the easiest way to think about it is…Does the company view its mission to deliver social good first or is social good a side benefit?

There are really great examples of both for-profit/non-profit social enterprises – and many are hybrid organizations.  Take a look at Dlight, Divine Chocolates, Homeboy Industries, D-Rev, Enterprise Community Partners…even Warby Parker.  All doing awesome things!

I can see a lot of potential for your business to get to know this sector well – it is growing and there are some amazing people involved…I’m having a blast 🙂

Susan Cotton headshotSusan Cotton is Executive Chairman of The Lily Project, a community-based women’s health program based in Leon, Nicaragua.  Unlike the US, where widespread adoption of Pap testing has made cervical cancer one of our most treatable and least deadly cancers, in Nicaragua, regular screening is available to only about 10% of the population, and cervical cancer is the #1 cancer killer of women – responsible, on average, for the death of one woman every day. The Lily Project’s mission is to deliver preventive health care to women in rural Nicaragua reducing the number of women newly diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer 30% by 2020 through implementation of an innovative screen and treat approach proven effective in other low-resource communities. The Lily Project is launching in Miramar – a small coastal village where the closest medical clinic is more than two hours away – on January 28th, 2015.

Articles

“The Tyranny of ‘Scale’ ” – by Michael Baer

Commentary from MarketingDaily – December 9, 2014

There it was, in HuffPo, in a listicle called “10 Tricks to appear smart during meetings.” Along with a recommendation to “Pace around the room” and to “Nod continuously while pretending to take notes” was number 6 on the list: “Ask ‘Will this scale?’ no matter what it is.” And, it’s true – say this and people will think you are smart. But, unfortunately, it only perpetuates a fallacy.

You see, there’s an on-going illusion about scale. In digital and mobile advertising, marketers, sellers and buyers are all participating in this illusion day in and day out. That is, there’s a desire and demand for more and more impressions, more eyeballs and views, more tonnage reaching your target. But does this tonnage really reach the target? Is this scale actually useful, valuable or even real?

Link to complete article

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 76

In this issue:

  • In Our Opinion: 2014 – The Year of Social Enterprise
  • BLOG Roundup:
    • Thanks and Giving Are Good Branding
    • Are You A Successful Entrepreneur CEO?
    • Mastering The Consumer-Driven Decision Journey
  • Career Opportunities:
    • VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

2014 – The Year of Social Enterprise

We love year-end…it’s a time for reflection on what worked, what didn’t, key accomplishments, new skills developed, as well as disappointments, missed opportunities, and regrets.

It’s also the time of the year when all the major media provide their “Best of 2014” lists…Best Dressed, Best Movies, Best Companies to work for, Person of the Year, Company of the Year, etc.

Not surprising, Inc.’s 2014 “Company of the Year” (AIRBNB) goes beyond the adjectives (audacious, brazen, disruptive, inevitable, unprecedented) used to describe their services. According to Brian Chesky, CEO and Co-Founder, “Airbnb is about so much more than just renting space…it’s about people and experiences. At the end of the day, we are trying to bring the world together.”  Airbnb added 10M+ new customers in 2014…doubling their client base…and this rapid scaling digital brand is evidence of the power of social enterprise. On one level, Airbnb is just an innovative global home rental/reservation service. However, on a deeper level, Airbnb is a new, global social community of homeowners looking to monetize their primary or secondary (investment) properties thereby enabling them to pursue additional global travel opportunities. Airbnb is part of a new global “social economy” being enabled by mobile and the forces social media.

Another social enterprise “Company of the Year” is Uber Technologies, Inc. which is rapidly transforming the global taxi and limousine industry. As reported recently by Bloomberg/Business Week, Uber recently raised $1B in capital (in November 2014) at a valuation of $40B (up from a $17B valuation in July 2014). This doubling of company valuation in less than six months truly underscores the rapid effects possible for a social enterprise that has rapidly scaled on a global basis. Uber is another global business where growth is being fueled by the rapid consumer (and business) adoption of mobile technologies…which has been the driving force behind Uber’s quantum leaps in economic growth and wealth creation. Uber’s current $40B valuation makes it 3-4x more valuable than Hertz ($11B valuation) and similar in valuation to Delta Airlines and Kraft Food Group. And some financial analysts are forecasting Uber’s eventual IPO valuation will be in the $80-100B range.

These examples (Airbnb & Uber) of Social Enterprise underscore the assessment by Steve Case (AOL founder) and Peter Diamandis (XPrize CEO) that the future will belong to companies that improve life for billions of people. This is also very much aligned with the new vision being created by Google’s CEO, Larry Page, recently named Fortune’s 2014 “Business Person of the Year.”  Google has outgrown its original vision (15 years ago) “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” and the company is now making huge bets in new technologies that could redefine the future in a number of sectors from automotive to healthcare. Page is simply a visionary (think Steve Jobs) who, according to Fortune, “thinks the improbable is a given and the seemingly impossible is likely.”

  • Where is your organization in terms of pursuing social enterprise and innovations in various industry sectors which can change the lives of millions of people?
  • Who are the “game changers” and innovators that inspire you?
  • What are your audacious innovation plans for 2015?

We close by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season and best wishes for continued success in 2015!

As always, we welcome your comments and input.

Lola and Jeff

BLOG Roundup:  Did you catch our recent blog posts?

Thanks and Giving Are Good Branding

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” —William James

Give ThanksWith the Thanksgiving holidays upon us, we would like to express our personal “thank you” to all of EC’s connections—clients, friends, our business colleagues, and emerging members of our personal and professional network. We’ve been honored to reinvigorate and clarify career and personal brand directions for those we’ve touched this year, especially with those who have experienced the power of our Personal Branding Retreat Center.

Read more…

 Are You A Successful Entrepreneur CEO?

Particularly in this era of marketing technology and ad:tech start-ups related to digital/mobile advertising and marketing, a key question is…do these start-up CEOs have the entrepreneurial “chops” to successfully build and scale their businesses?

The reality is the vast majority of these CEOs do not have what it takes. So what are the key differentiators between the CEOs that make it and the ones that don’t?

We came across an interesting Gallup survey in the September 2014 issue of Inc. magazine’s issue on the 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies. Gallup polled over 2,700 entrepreneur CEOs (including the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies) on ten crucial personality traits.  Fully 16% of the Inc. 500 CEOs ranked as exceptional on these personality traits:

Read more…

Mastering The Consumer Driven Decision Journey

The recent DMA2014 Strategic Summit at the San Diego Convention Center opened with a keynote from Alec Bokman, Principal at McKinsey Digital, who highlighted the shifting marketing paradigms in a digital-first marketing eco-system.

Bokman told attendees the previous direct marketing funnel is dead…”it’s been announced DOA”…and it has been replaced by a new “consumer-driven decision journey”…with 2/3 of consumer decisions based upon their experiences during the journey. “Today’s brands are having intimate, personal conversations with consumers and geo-targeting and mobile devices are enabling targeted, real-time and relevant offers,” cited Bokman.

Read more…

Career Opportunities

VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

The VP, Individual Digital Experience is a senior level, cross-business leader accountable for collaboratively defining and designing digital experience for Individual constituent types. Constituent types include investors, participants, policyholders, beneficiaries and other individual consumers. The successful candidate will lead diverse, internal, matrix teams, including third-party consultants, to develop competitive web, social and mobile engagement channels across our Client’s portfolio of businesses and corporate functions, including brand, advertising, thought leadership, market research, communications, information technology and digital solutions, ensuring that the Individual’s critical cross channel needs are addressed throughout their customer life cycle.

Learn more…

Filed Under: Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Personal Branding

Are You A Successful Entrepreneur CEO?

Particularly in this era of marketing technology and ad:tech start-ups related to digital/mobile advertising and marketing, a key question is…do these start-up CEOs have the entrepreneurial “chops” to successfully build and scale their businesses?

The reality is the vast majority of these CEOs do not have what it takes. So what are the key differentiators between the CEOs that make it and the ones that don’t?

We came across an interesting Gallup survey in the September 2014 issue of Inc. magazine’s issue on the 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies. Gallup polled over 2,700 entrepreneur CEOs (including the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies) on ten crucial personality traits.  Fully 16% of the Inc. 500 CEOs ranked as exceptional on these personality traits:

    1. Risk Taker – 85% of Inc. 500 CEOs enthusiastically take on challenges, have a highly optimistic perception of risk, take a rational approach in decision making to mitigate risk (vs. 22% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    2. Business Focus – 72% emphasize profits, goals, metrics, and align employees with company goals (vs. 20% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    3. Determination – 71% have a tremendous work ethic, confront and overcomes obstacles, and are undeterred by failures or roadblocks (vs. 23% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    4. Delegator – 61% readily delegate authority and responsibility, proactively collaborate, and recognize and draw upon others’ abilities (vs. 22% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    5. Knowledge Seeker – 58% acquire business-relevant, in-depth information, use knowledge as a competitive advantage, anticipate information needs (vs. 23% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    6. Creative Thinker – 56% think past boundaries, generate ideas, explore options, think through problems (vs. 23% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    7. Confidence – 54% present well, take initiative, believe in ability to build businesses (vs. 21% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    8. Promoter –  53% speak boldly on behalf of the company, communicate company vision effectively (vs. 23% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    9. Independence – 50% are self-reliant, handle multiple tasks well, have a strong sense of responsibility (vs. 20% of larger entrepreneur sample)
    10. Relationship Builder – 46% have a high social awareness, develop mutually beneficial relationships, and are open and have a positive demeanor (vs. 22% of larger entrepreneur sample)

It’s clear — to be a successful entrepreneur CEO requires personal DNA that separates you from others. Not surprising, Risk Taking is at the top of the list…the ability to take on risks and challenges and then combine optimism and rational thinking/decision making to mitigate business risks. Then there are a number of other personality factors… determination, creative thinking, confidence, promotion, and relationship building…that are key to evangelizing your vision and attracting the customers, investors, and talent required to scale your business.

If you are a CEO (or want to be CEO) of an early-stage, entrepreneurial business, how does your personality measure up against this Gallup scale of CEO personal brand differentiators?  

If you see yourself scoring exceptionally high on these indexes, what’s holding you back from starting a new business or succeeding in the business you already started?

Filed Under: Digital Proficiency, Executive Coaching, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, Spotlight On

Mastering The Consumer-Driven Decision Journey

The recent DMA2014 Strategic Summit at the San Diego Convention Center opened with a keynote from Alec Bokman, Principal at McKinsey Digital, who highlighted the shifting marketing paradigms in a digital-first marketing eco-system.

Bokman told attendees the previous direct marketing funnel is dead…”it’s been announced DOA”…and it has been replaced by a new “consumer-driven decision journey”…with 2/3 of consumer decisions based upon their experiences during the journey. “Today’s brands are having intimate, personal conversations with consumers and geo-targeting and mobile devices are enabling targeted, real-time and relevant offers,” cited Bokman.

Segmentation is also being reinvented into categories including acquire/sell, stimulate/activate, and recover…to target communications to consumers based upon their position and positive (and negative) experiences in the customer decision journey.

Bokman provided both B2B and B2C examples including a bank offering a small business hardware store customer a $50K pre-approved credit line to expand inventories based upon the bank’s knowledge of rising home prices and housing starts in the community. Bokman also cited CapitalOne (a known revolutionary leader is data-driven marketing) for their “before time” credit scoring which enables delivery (digital and by customer service agents) of different content to “preferred” vs. “high risk” prospects.

Real-time engagement and delivery of customized offers/solutions is the new one-to-one marketing model.

Where does your business stand in relation to your customer experience journey? Are you harnessing data and utilizing analytics to customize real-time, relevant offers to customers and prospects?

Filed Under: Announcements, Connections E-Zine, Digital Proficiency, Executive Talent, Marketing Conferences & Events, New Executive Search, Personal Branding

CONNECTIONS Ezine: Issue No. 74

In this issue:

  • In Our Opinion:  CMO-CIO Partnership…Still Early Days
  • BLOG Roundup:
    • What Does It Take To Be A Winning CMO?
    • MarketingEDGE Holds Successful 2014 Annual Awards Dinner
    • DMA2014 Has A Magic Opening
  • Special Announcements:
    • Helen Nowicka –Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile at MXM
  • Career Opportunities:
    • VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services
    • VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance – Global Financial Services

In Our Opinion by Jeff Gundersen & Lola White

CMO-CIO Partnership…Still Early Days

The CMO-CIO partnership is one of the hottest topics today, but is this a marriage made in heaven or a shotgun wedding? It’s clear these two C-suite roles are coming together especially since CMOs are forecasted to have larger future technology budgets than many CIOs. But how is this relatively new partnership working today? What are the opportunities and concerns on both sides? For some of the answers we turned to our client Accenture Digital…who is building marketing technology strategies and bridges between these two important functional areas in many Fortune 100 companies.

Matt Strawn, MD – Alliance Partnerships at Accenture Digital delivered an outstanding presentation at the Strategic Summit at DMA2014…providing results from AD’s 2014 Global CMO-CIO Survey which included over 1,000 senior level marketing and technology executives in 11 countries and 10 industry sectors (automotive, banking, CPG, electronics, insurance, life sciences, media & entertainment, retail, telecommunications, and travel/hospitality). The major takeaways from this 4th annual global CMO-CIO survey included:

  1. CMOs are teaming with CIOs to bring a new digital vision to life in their companies.
  2. Enterprise-wide initiatives are unifying around improving digital customer experience.
  3. Integrating customer-focused skills, and new, real-time data sources, across the enterprise is a major opportunity and challenge.
  4. Realignment of marketing models and budgets with new marketing services is a top priority.

Instead of campaign-based marketing, clients are shifting to real-time, personalized communications with customers and prospects visiting the company’s website or shopping online for specific products and services.

However, the partnership between CMOs and CIOs is relatively new, so these are still early days and there are many challenges still to be solved and overcome including the following:

  • 44% of CMOs cited problems in implementing marketing IT solutions…in other words, marketing in many instances still feels IT is under-delivering;
  • 43% of CIOs feel marketing priorities shift too frequently and 25% of CIOs feel CMOs lack the vision to anticipate new digital channels;
  • 35% said CEOs are driving digital transformation…45% said it is the CTO or CIO…and only 1% said CMOs are driving digital transformation.

Clearly, Accenture Digital’s survey speaks volumes that the majority of legacy CMOs are not leading digital transformation…probably since they come from the earlier era of mass marketing and big brand advertising. Not surprising to see 33% of CIOs control over 75% of marketing IT budgets…until this newest generation of digitally-savvy CMOs, their predecessors lacked the technology and digital skills so essential today.

It is essential for CMOs to raise their game and continue to find ways to collaborate and build bridges with technology partners. Many of the clients we are working with are creating task forces between marketing and technology to develop strategies and plans on improving enterprise and LOB customer experience. 77% of executives surveyed by Accenture Digital ranked this as very important…yet, less than half of CMOs feel they own customer experience…since it it shared between marketing, technology, customer service and operations. Many organizations are creating a Chief Customer Officer position to enable a single C-level executive to lead the enterprise from a product/LOB-centric to a customer-centric approach. This is requiring significant organizational change within large global organizations.

Where does your organization stand in terms the CMO-CIO partnership? Does your CMO have the technology and digital chops to lead omni-channel customer engagement and experience?

We want to know
As always, we invite you to connect with us and welcome your comments and insights.

Lola and Jeff

BLOG Roundup:  Did you catch our recent blog posts?

What Does It Take To Be A Winning CMO?

It has been well-publicized that CMO tenure is one of the shortest life spans among C-level executives. With the rate of change accelerating, and many categories reaching a mature, slower growth stage, how do CMOs transition from “survive to thrive” mode. Here are some key insights to consider.

Listening to CMOs recently during Advertising Week NYC XI, it became clear the issues keeping CMOs up at night include (1) keeping up with the pace of (consumers) changing behaviors; (2) the rapid transition of marketing to digital and mobile channels; (3) required investments in new marketing technologies; (4) delivering exceptional customer experience in an omni-channel world; and (5) finding the new (organization) talent required…the needs are significant and expensive.

Read more…

MarketingEDGE Holds Successful 2014 Annual Awards Dinner

As a Board Trustee, I was proud to attend the MarketingEDGE (www.marketingEDGE.org) 2014 Annual Awards Dinner held Oct. 25th at the US Grant Hotel in San Diego.

The mission of this non-profit organization is to Educate, Develop, Grow and Employ college students in the field of marketing…and as MarketingEDGE approaches its 50th year anniversary (in 2016)…support could not be higher from its 3 constituents…students, educators, and employers.

This year’s annual dinner raised over $600,000 to support EDGE’s ongoing student programs including scholarships, one-day student forums, one-week data-analytics and digital bootcamps, summer internships, and job placements.

Read more…

DMA2014 Has A Magic Opening

DMA2014 needed a spark to ignite some passion into attendees at the annual conference held this week (Oct. 27-29th) at the San Diego Convention Center. DMA got that and more from keynote speaker Earvin “Magic” Johnson, 5- time NBA champion, NCAA champion, and successful business entrepreneur.

Magic lit up the crowd, much as he did years earlier playing for the LA Lakers at the Forum, with his big smile and warm, winning personality. And Magic’s message went way beyond his sports career and basketball successes. Many were surprised to learn Magic Johnson Enterprises has partnered with over 20 corporations, including Allstate, Delta, Disney, Sony Theaters, Starbucks, and Toyota…building businesses serving Urban American consumers.

Read more…

Special Announcements

Helen Nowicka, Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile at MXM

Helen Nowicka May 2014 2 head shot higher resWe are excited to announce Helen Nowicka has joined Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (“MXM”) as Managing Director, Business Development – Social & Mobile.  Helen will be based in MXM’s Alexandria VA office and focus her efforts on developing new business across MXM’s Social and Mobile practice areas. Helen will report directly to Rich Berenson, SVP & Chief Business Development Officer.

Helen has a great diverse background for this role having worked in PR, Digital and Social marketing, most recently as EVP, Digital at Porter Novelli in DC.  Helen began her career in London where she started the first Social Media practice within a PR & Communication agency in the UK.

Executive Connections LLC handled this search assignment on an exclusive basis for MXM.

Career Opportunities

VP, Individual Digital Experience – Global Financial Services

The VP, Individual Digital Experience is a senior level, cross-business leader accountable for collaboratively defining and designing digital experience for Individual constituent types. Constituent types include investors, participants, policyholders, beneficiaries and other individual consumers. The successful candidate will lead diverse, internal, matrix teams, including third-party consultants, to develop competitive web, social and mobile engagement channels across our Client’s portfolio of businesses and corporate functions, including brand, advertising, thought leadership, market research, communications, information technology and digital solutions, ensuring that the Individual’s critical cross channel needs are addressed throughout their customer life cycle.

Learn more…

VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance Division

This VP, Digital Experience – Group Insurance position is located in the NY metro area and we are focusing on identifying qualified candidates with 10+ years of digital experience in the insurance and/or financial services (banking, credit card, brokerage) sectors. B2C and B2B digital strategy and marketing experience are essential and, in addition, this individual will be a digital thought leader able to influence senior leaders and support them to accomplish business goals through development of innovative digital solutions.

As this is a new position within the Group Insurance Division, reporting to the SVP, Strategy & Chief Marketing Officer, this individual will be a team builder and leader of a team focused on designing and executing digital marketing and customer experience strategies and programs. The CMO is a long-term EC client, a terrific marketing and business leader, so this is truly a great career opportunity to partner and work with a high-performing CMO in an exciting business opportunity.

This role will also have considerable matrix interface and coordination with enterprise-wide digital and customer experience initiatives.

Learn more…