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.”
Do You Have an Innovative Marketer on Your Board?
Particularly in financial services (including banking, credit cards, insurance, and investments/brokerage)—a major industry vertical of ours—we see many Boards too heavily weighted with finance executives and retired CEOs possessing no marketing background nor acumen. No wonder, many of these companies are struggling to build market capitalization since the financial crisis of 2008/2009. While governance and financial oversight are critical functions of every Board, so too should be growth and innovation. Especially in today’s struggling slow-growth (and no growth) global economy, the companies that are succeeding (Amazon, Apple, Chipotle, P&G, PayPal, Starbucks) are the innovative marketers and category leaders who can find and build niche businesses/markets with premium brands selling at premium margins resulting in higher-than-category profitability. Boards need to add at least one Board member now with proven marketing, product, and multi-channel distribution expertise to collaborate with the CEO and CMO to inspire, lead, and oversee new areas of global revenue growth.
Voice of The Customer
Today, it’s critical that at least one member is capable of asking the tough branding, customer, product, growth, expansion, and innovation questions in addition to focusing on financial due diligence and oversight. Yet, too few Boards are equipped to provide CEOs and CMOs this type of input and assistance. Having personally experienced the 1–2 rare Boards with at least one member serving as “Voice of the Customer,” we cannot emphasize too highly what a profound difference this can make to a company’s future.
EC Clients/Case Examples
Many successful CPG executives we have placed over the years in CMO roles (especially from P&G) have risen through the Marketing ranks, moved into General Management, and are operating divisions of publicly-owned or privately-owned businesses (as CEOs or Presidents). These executives are our “top choice” for current Board of Director candidates because they are “Customer-Obsessed” marketers at their core , and they can help facilitate marketing, innovation, and growth. One outstanding Board of Directors example is Barbara Fraser, currently on two insurance company Boards and one non-profit Board (Ivey Business School, which she attended). Barbara spent the first 25 years of her career at P&G, where she was one of the fastest rising women in the marketing ranks, and ultimately, she ran both the Paper and Beauty Care products businesses in Canada as GM. Barbara was subsequently recruited by Citibank, where she became Chairman & CEO of Citicorp Investment Services and Citicorp Insurance Group. Later in her career, Barbara was recruited by American Express as President, Travelers Cheques & Pre-Paid business. In each of these GM and CEO roles, Barbara demonstrated she is a builder and innovator, skilled in leading teams toward finding the “blue ocean” strategies resulting in profitable growth. Since retiring in 2007 (just prior to the financial collapse), Barbara has focused on Board of Directors service, contributing sound strategic advice related to branding, customer-centricity, product, and marketing.
Another successful example is Wes Protheroe, CEO of Gerber Life Insurance Company (GLIC), another of our firm’s clients. Like Barbara, Wes began his career at P&G where he quickly rose through the marketing ranks on his way to a general management future. Similar to Barbara, Wes was recruited into the financial services vertical, and for the past 10 years, Wes has been a highly effective President (initially) and is now CEO of GLIC during its most significant growth decade. As part of his CEO stewardship, Wes navigated the sale and subsequent transition of GLIC from Novartis’ ownership to Nestle. As GLIC is not a CPG product, like most of Nestle’s global businesses, it is a credit to Wes and a comfort to Nestle to know they have a proven CPG marketer/CEO leading this DTC juvenile and adult life insurance business. During this period, we assisted in nominating Wes to Board positions at DMA and DMEF, two non-profit industry organizations where Wes definitely filled the “Voice of the Customer” role as both these organizations struggled with branding and marketing challenges. As he approaches his scheduled retirement at year-end 2012, Wes is a prime candidate for several for-profit Board assignments, and he is certainly (in our opinion) a model of the ideal “Board Member of the Future.”
A third example is David Byers, CEO of CARSTAR, the world’s largest auto body repair network. David has held multiple C-level positions across a range of industries from Fortune 500 to mid-size, privately-owned companies. Prior to CARSTAR, he was CEO at The Mutual Fund Store, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at H&R Block, and Chief Commercial Officer at Sirva. David spent the early part of his career in global marketing, branding, and media, working on client and agency sides with brands including Clorox, AT&T, Disney, Levi Strauss, and Taco Bell. His experience includes service-based businesses (both B2B and B2C), as well as retail, automotive, financial services, business services, and CPG. David has grown businesses successfully everywhere he’s worked, has been a successful Board member at CARSTAR and H&R Block, and is currently working with us to identify Board of Directors opportunities.
Summary: Check Your Board Now
If you are Chairman or CEO of a company who wants to reignite your company’s growth and innovation, ask yourself, “What help is my Board of Directors providing in these areas?” Take a good look at the composition of your Board, and in the next Board rotation, bring in a “Customer-Obsessed” Director like Barbara Fraser, Wes Protheroe, or David Byers.
As always, your comments and input are greatly appreciated.
Blog Roundup
Did you catch these recent posts on our blog?
Ask Our Coach: Is this speaking engagement on-brand or off-brand?
Q. I was asked to present at a professional association chapter meeting on a topic that, although I can competently speak to, is outside of my central communications platform. Should I accept this opportunity?
A. As your personal “brand police,” here are my thoughts…
The questions you want to ask yourself when making a decision like this:
- Is this an on-brand or an off-brand choice?
- Is this request really an opportunity? And, if so, what are the top three ways it benefits me?
- Are the audience members my target audience?
- Is the topic related to my primary area of expertise/core message?
- How will I be promoted and will this help me achieve my goals? Read more.
Do you have a marketing-career related-personal branding question for “Ask our Coach?” Contact us, and we’ll answer it in an upcoming blog post.
Recommended Article: Why Every CEO Needs a Coach
Are you a CEO who has considered a coach but has not taken action? This Psychology Today article makes a good case for how qualified executive coaches perform key functions for CEOs.
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Career Announcements
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Senior Executive – Financial Services
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