Habit #10:  Live Your Desired Legacy

This is the culminating habit.   If you are practicing the other nine, this one should be relatively easy to put into practice, to make a habit.  But it still takes deliberation, discipline, and action.

Living your legacy means that you think ahead about the lasting impact you want to leave behind you.  In Habit #2 we talked about being clear about what you stand for, and to be visible inside and outside the organization, acting on your beliefs.  Habit #10 goes beyond that, this is about focusing on what you will be remembered for, what lasting effect you will leave behind.  And if you do not think about that while in your role, and focus on it, it will not happen.

Vineet Nayar of HCL is a good example of a leader who is acting now to leave behind a legacy that will forever change HCL, and maybe even business at large. Tom Peters has said Vineet Nayar could be the next Peter Drucker.   Vineet’s new book “Employees First Customers Second:  Turning Conventional Management Upside Down” is an account of his personal journey to hold himself and his team accountable to employees, so the employees can serve their customers better and fufill the mission and promise of HCL.   That will be his enduring legacy.

My good friend John Pepper, the current Chairman of the Board of Disney, had a clear focus on his desired legacy when he was Chairman and CEO at Procter & Gamble.  He wanted to firmly establish the Purpose, Values and Principles of a rapidly globalizing company so it would never lose its special culture.  And he wanted to enter China and Central and Eastern Europe in a way that would be the foundation for a healthy P&G business for generations, but also the beacon for how businesses should operate in these emerging economies.

Most CMOs are not good at this.  My two examples above are from CEOs.  CMOs think too short term, and don’t fully embrace the lasting impact they can have.  In my consulting I try to work with CMOs to isolate the few things they can focus upon that will make their companies stronger, their employees more inspired and energized, and their customers and partners more loyal.

My practical advice is to write down the 2-3 things that will be your legacy, and do this at about your 6-month anniversary in the role.  You will know enough by then to get it “about right.” Build a plan to achieve it within 3-4 years, and revisit it every six months.  Share it with your colleagues.  Be accountable to yourself and them to do it.

When A.G. Lafley offered me the GMO job at P&G in the summer of 2001, I took about a week and wrote a one page memo on what I hoped to do in the role, what I would leave behind that was better because I was there.  I shared it with him.  It became my guiding light in the role, and essentially did not change throughout my tenure in the role.  And what I am most proud of (and it continues to evolve, a measure of a strong legacy) is that P&G’s approach to brands has forever changed … from a narrow view of their functional benefits to an expansive, life-changing, purpose-driven view of their impact on the lives of the people they serve.

The last thought I will leave with you on legacy is that this process will greatly enhance your satisfaction with your job.  It provides a “north star” for all you do, and also helps you decide when you have done what you set out to do.  Then it is time for a new adventure!

Several years ago, when I was serving as P&G’s Global Marketing Officer, I took note of an obscure small study on a brand in a European country.  The study essentially revealed that the consumers of that brand sensed that the people behind the brand were not inspired, not happy, not engaged.  And the brand was sick, boring, and declining in market share.

Wow.  I had never explicitly thought of looking at the root cause of a brand’s malaise as the engagement of the team behind the brand.  I would instead look at the product data — are we superior or not on the benefits that matter?  Is our distribution a competitive advantage?  Are we in stock at key times with key retailers?  Is our brand equity stronger than our competitors? Is our awareness at target levels?  Are our trial levels above competitors?

These are all fine and important questions.  But they are merely getting at symptoms of a potentially larger issue, the motivation and inspiration of the team behind the brand, or business.  Because when a team is not engaged, consumers sense this, and they do not want to part with their precious money to buy something that the “creators” of the brand do not believe in.

I had always believed that happy, motivated people drive better results.  And there is a boatload of research on that.  What I had not connected before this obscure study was that consumers can sense this through the packaging, advertising, in-store presence, partnerships, and distribution.  And consumers want to buy into a winner, they want to part of a team that is trying to make a difference through their brand.

As I like to say — and those who know me have heard me say this a million times — a brand or business is nothing more than the collected intent and behavior of the people behind the brand.  So be sure your team is thinking and acting like a winner — and put attention there first.

Great leaders simplify things.  They focus on the few things that really matter.  They are typically remembered for a few symbolic actions in the areas that matter.

One of my favorite leaders is the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who was a politician, farmer, inventor, architect, archaeologist, to name a few of his roles … but his two largest symbolic actions defined the man’s legacy.  He wrote the Declaration of Independence and founded the University of Virginia.

Yes, even as 21st century CMOs we can learn a lot from Thomas Jefferson’s life, but I would like to focus on this “habit” of doing a few symbolic things that reinforce your impact, your legacy.

Many of us go through assignments busier than we could ever imagine, only to realize, after a few years have gone by, that we cannot point to what is better because we were there.  That is not a good feeling.

My Habit #8 suggests to you to PROACTIVELY plan a few dramatic, symbolic actions that people will remember.  These actions are not random, they must be strategically reinforcing what your brand/business needs to win, to stand out, to make a difference.  And you must be choiceful — remember Jefferson only had two.

Steve Jobs at Apple is a master of this, and his story is often told so i will not belabor it.  His symbolic actions:  the iPod and the iPhone.  Maybe the iPad.

A few other examples that I like from CEOs and CMOs:

–Jim Farley at Ford introducing the Ford Focus as a new business model for Ford and maybe the industry.  His launch of the “My Ford” system at the recent consumer electronics show in Las Vegas is another good example of a strategic, symbolic action.

–Indra Nooyi and team  reframing Pepsi as a positive force with the “Refresh” initiative.  Also from Indra and team, the Sun Chips renewed purpose of  ”Healthier You, Healthier Planet” is showing the way for a new approach in snacks.

–Patrick Doyle at Domino’s Pizza with the very dramatic action of “coming clean” on the taste and quality of their pizzas, and promising that his new pizzas will exceed raised expectations. No doubt that is what Patrick will be remembered for in his tenure at Dominos.

–David Zaslav and team at Discovery Communications launching the new series “Life“, which took four years to film, in fifty countries, with more than 70 cameramen and women. Dramatically and symbolically showing that the Discovery Network will be in a class of its own in exploring the curiosities of our planet.

–The actions can also be organizational changes or acquisitions; witness Publicis‘ Maurice Levy’s acquisition of Digitas to dramatically move his Groupe into digital competence.

At P&G, during my 7-year tenure as global CMO, I focused on two bold actions.  In 2003, I led a small P&G entourage to the Cannes Advertising Festival, forever changing the standards for P&G and it agencies in consumer-inspired creativity.  Later in the decade I led a movement to elevate the role P&G brands play with their consumers, more closely connecting the brands’ purposes with the company’s purpose.  This I am happy to say has only gained momentum under Bob McDonald and Marc Pritchard’s leadership.

What few symbolic things, or actions, will you be remembered for?  Are they big enough?  Are they reinforcing what your brand/business needs?  Are you proactively and deliberately planning them?  Final thought: while you should be planning your symbolic actions, be open to serendipity.  Bob Isherwood from Saatchi & Saatchi and a few senior Creative Leaders at P&G’s agencies suggested I go to Cannes in 2003; I was smart enough to listen to them and then make it a very symbolic action internally and externally.  And you know the story of Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of independence … he was a reluctant author.

Habit #7:  Train All the Time

We really have quite a dilemma in business today.  Most employee surveys I see through my clients, and most conversations I have with “middle” managers, clearly show people feel training is a lost art.  Many formal training programs have been cut during the recession,  and it is tough to reinstate them once they are cut.  Meanwhile, with the pace of change in business today, especially in marketing, training is more important than ever.  So what can be done?

My first idea for you is an obvious one, and one that does not cost a penny.  Yet it is not practiced regularly.  It is a simple thought:  train all the time, and expect that from all leaders. Every conversation, every meeting, every visit, is an opportunity to train.  Most of us train by example, and bright, observant people pick that up.  But what I am talking about is to overtly and explicitly use everyday encounters as training moments.

As a young leader, I loved it when people did that with me.  My first brand manager at P&G used to group our brand team together after every advertising agency meeting and ask “What did we learn today?”   “What could we do better?”  ”Are we excited about the outcome?”

I have tried through my career, especially as a CMO, to keep this habit alive.  It adds a few minutes to each meeting or visit, no more.  I also found an extra benefit to the training — which people deeply appreciate as it is an investment in them — and that extra benefit is that outcomes improve immediately.  Right after a meeting ends, when everything is fresh, when I am replaying the meeting outcomes and learning, I find that I revisit something with the team or individual and we make it better.  Immediately.  And if it is a sales call, capturing this learning quickly leads to prompt followup with the customer, and usually better results.

So training all the time does not cost anything but a few extra minutes after a meeting, and it improves results.  Good deal — get on with it!

The second idea I have for you is to formally train your people also all the time.  Obviously your people cannot and should not be in training sessions all the time, that is not what I mean. I mean you need as CMO to be accountable for the capabilities you build in your company, in tough times and in good times.  Great training builds the capabilities an organization needs for competitive advantage.  You must first be clear on these, and then build your training program around it and constantly measure and innovate to be sure you are building the capabilities you need to build.

Pret A Manger, the wildly successful natural and preservative-free fast-food company, is relentless on training against their core capabilities of inspirational team leadership, clear and sincere communication, and passion for, and knowledge of, healthy, organic, easy food. Target trains by ensuring every employee (they call all employees leaders, nice!) knows “why” they are doing what they are doing and how this is linked to their brand ideal and guest satisfaction.  At P&G, we dedicated expert resources to training what people needed to learn for today’s business, while we created the training we felt prepared us for the future.  I had reviews once a quarter to ensure we were seeing results, and building the right capabilities for the future.

Last point:  training, both the kind you can do every day and the more formal training, is perhaps the strongest signal to your people that they are what drives your business.  One of my first visible actions as P&G’s new CMO in 2001 was to dramatically reframe our training, and to get personally involved in its execution.  P&G people got, and loved, the message: building our capability and inspiration will lead us to win with consumers and customers.

Habit #6:  Setting Your Standards High

The toughest feedback I ever got in a meeting, or from a boss, was that I was “capable of so much better.”   I learned early in my career that one of the most powerful levers we have as leaders, especially as CMOs, is where we set our standards.   And how we communicate these standards to all involved.   Setting your standards means answering questions like:  When is the work of my team good enough to move forward?   What level of performance is acceptable?   When do we say “yes” or “no” to important decisions?

The higher you go in an organization the more important it is that you are clear about your standards.   So when you are a CMO, where you set these standards is critical for your business and organization’s success.  And, believe me, the daily pressure of business will challenge you to compromise your standards, on what results get rewarded, what people get promoted, what innovation makes it to market.  Don’t do it.  Don’t compromise your standards. The great leaders don’t.  Leaders like Mary Dillon at McDonald’s,  Becky Saeger at Charles Schwab,  Michael Francis at Target,  Jim Farley at Ford,  Trevor Edwards at Nike.

I remember three leaders early in my career at P&G who taught me this.   Bob Goldstein, the CMO of P&G when I joined the company in the early 1980s,  always drilled me on my advertising program:  Was it memorable and persuasive enough?  Did I have an alternate campaign in test market?  Was I investing enough?  Neil Kreisberg, a Senior Account Executive at Grey Advertising in the 1980s,  set his standards for his group’s advertising even higher than I did as a junior brand manager on Jif peanut butter.   And Jurgen Hintz, a senior P&G German manager working in the U.S.,  never stopped pushing for discontinuous thinking.  No annual business plan or budget was accepted without a “how high is up” test.

I find in my consulting and in my research that CMOs do not leverage this simple but highly effective habit. And it is a habit that gets practiced every day, in every decision, which means you can make a big difference here immediately.  My advice is to pick a few areas that are very important to your business success,  like what new initiatives you approve,  what people you promote,  what goals you set,  what competitors or companies you benchmark.   Get clear in your own mind what YOUR standards are, and then begin communicating through your words and actions.   You will be amazed at how your organization will respond.

Habit #5:  Champion innovation, especially disruptive innovation.

This is an especially important habit in these turbulent times, where we are not confident we are out of a recessionary mindset among the people we serve through our brands.

Business history is chock full of successful brands that launched or relaunched during recessions; Google and Apple are two examples.   There is nothing more important a CMO can do in a recession — or anytime really — than to lead the innovation program for a brand or a company.  Usually in partnership with the CTO.    True innovation is impervious to recessions, witness the recent success of Amazon’s Kindle, Motorola and Verizon’s Droid, and the breakthrough results for Avatar.

Leading innovation is too often not a high enough priority for CMOs.   They are distracted by the many short term issues that can consume the best of us. Here is what I have found that has worked for the best CMOs:

– Ensure your forward-looking innovation portfolio is building your value as a brand.  Value is always important, but these days it is especially important. And this is very measurable before your innovation goes to market, so make it important in your pre-launch criteria.   And expedite those innovations that do build value.  When people, consumers, rate your brand a better value than the competition, I guarantee you will grow and achieve market leadership.

– Ensure your innovation portfolio is sufficient to meet your future growth goals.  Sounds obvious, but I am amazed at how many CMOs and CTOs cannot answer that question.   There are a variety of ways to measure this pre-market introduction, and if you do not have those capabilities in place you need to do that.

– Build balance into your innovation portfolio.   Most innovation programs are dominated by incremental product or service innovations,  with 80-90% of the initiatives directed at maintaining the brand’s position in the market.   This would include things like longer protection from a deodorant, more on-time departures for an airline, or an improved taste or crust for a pizza brand (I must say Domino’s is creating a lot of buzz now for an incremental innovation.) You need a balance of incremental innovations like these with a small portfolio of discontinuous innovations.  Discontinuous innovations are things that change the dynamics in a category, create new markets, solve problems in new ways. Clayton Christensen has wonderful insights in this area. Discontinuous innovations are riskier, but great CMOs create and manage a diverse portfolio of innovation … with the obvious benefit of stronger growth and the less obvious benefit of cultivating a culture of creativity and bold thinking.

So, if you are a CMO and you are not championing innovation, start today.  I cannot imagine a higher ROI for your time.

Habit #4:  Get your team right.  And do it early in your tenure.

Hundreds of experts have written about the importance to business success of getting the right people in the right jobs.  Highly effective CMOs do this;  the secret is that it entails deep thought and quick, smart choices based on what a brand or company needs at a given period of time.

A CMO is like any other leader — she is only as good as the people she entrusts.  The key is to assess where you want to be great, best in class, and then to build your team based on that.  And an even more difficult decision is to assess what part of that team you want internal to the company, and what part you want to source externally.

My CMO role was in a large, multi-brand company, P&G.  I determined early in my tenure that I needed two teams — one team comprised of marketing leaders from our many business units, and one smaller team comprised of my corporate staff.  Each team had different priorities and deliverables.

The business unit marketing leader team was focused on advancing our competitive advantage through the business units.  We chose priorities every year, and stuck with them until we baked the capability into our business model.  I needed people on this team who were passionate about marketing, who had allegiance to me and their business unit President, and who would participate in a shared leadership model.  I needed people who would lead, and also reapply work from other businesses.  I formed this team within the first three months of my appointment.

The second team I formed was a smaller, central team, focused on leading innovation, systems and processes that would lead to competitive advantage.  One of the best decisions I made was to move outside the marketing discipline to staff this team with people experienced in skills P&G needed at the time.  I brought in a purchasing manager to help with external agency management, I recruited an HR manager to help with talent management, I leveraged a finance manager to improve strategy and operations in selected areas.  These people and a few others formed the nucleus of my “brain trust” that helped P&G advance to the next level.

With both of these teams, I cannot overstate the importance of setting your standards high for the people you choose.  Especially in the corporate roles.  Too many companies place “second tier” managers in these kind of roles.  That is unacceptable.  These people need to have the highest respect from top management, and key external partners.  Their role is to create sustainable competitive advantage in marketing, and that demands high performers with strong track records.

I find in my research that most CMOs have weak teams.  That is one reason CMO job tenures are still short lived.  And the ones that survive feel burned out.  So for the health of the company and its brands, for your health as CMO, get your team right early!

Habit #3:    Live The Four Cs:  Design your organization for what you need to win — core work, capabilities, career path, and culture.

This is the most underrated habit.   And one of the most powerful.   Great CMOs are brilliant organization designers, architects, leaders.   This is hard work, often not understood by CEOs, who are looking for a quick fix to their marketing.   I was fortunate at P&G as A.G. Lafley and Bob McDonald understood this and valued it.

This is hard work as it entails some research, some analysis, but most importantly, it involves hard choices.  And these choices on core work, career paths, capabilities, and culture are difficult as they may be different from what the historical strengths of the organization have been.   And that is when the leadership skills become so important, because the best plans are worthless if not conceived, planned and executed with passion and care.

Let’s talk about each of the Four Cs that make up Habit #3:

Core Work — One of the most provocative questions I ask my clients now is “What are your people working on, what is valued?”  It is amazing how many leaders don’t know.   When I began as Global Marketing Officer at P&G in 2001,  I asked this question of our marketing leaders in the business units, and their staffs, and none of us liked the answer.    We found too much time was spent on internal alignment for decisions, project coordination, and rework.   This kind of work does not build the world’s greatest marketing organization!   So we set out to define the work we WANTED our people to do and excel at,  we changed systems and rewards to implement the changes, and then we measured the progress.

Capabilities — I remember a conversation I had with Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit and a P&G Board member, about the importance of an organization clearly choosing what capabilities they wanted to drive for competitive advantage.  And then resourcing them,  measuring them,  and innovating against them.   One of my mentors in this area, besides Scott, is Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Mangement in Toronto.   He is a “stickler” for this concept, and I learned a lot from him about how to arrive at these choices.    One capability I am very proud we built at P&G was our excellence at Shopper Marketing;  this was a vague concept years ago and is now one of the drivers of P&G’s competitive advantage.

Career Path — There are many areas within brand building we cannot control, that is why authenticity and good intent is so important.   But one area we can totally control is how we move people through careers: what experiences they have, who gets promoted, what skills we value, what work gets valued, what destination jobs we create and how we prepare people for them.  This is where the core work and capabilities come together.   This is the most visible thing we do as leaders,  and if we do not “walk the talk” on this everything falls apart.   One company I really admire here is LVMH.   They really believe their people need to develop an intuitive understanding of the categories, brands  and people who buy their brands,  and they manage careers accordingly.   One principle that underscores this is that LVMH moves their people between brands infrequently, running counter to many practices at other brand companies.

Culture — Culture is the visible sign of what is valued.  Again, this is within the leader’s full control.  Tony Hsieh at Zappos has built an amazing, visible culture around Zappos’ brand ideal of Wow! service.  This drives who they hire, how they train, how they talk with customers,  what they reward, and on and on.   And just look at their results.   Culture does not just happen, it is created, constantly renewed and refreshed, and it is the oxygen for the other Three Cs.

Habit #2 – Be Clear What You Stand For And Be Visible Inside And Out.

Too many CMOs are either not clear on what they stand for, or are not explicit enough about it. You cannot lead if people don’t understand what you believe, and your beliefs need to be consistent with your brand ideal, or higher order benefit your brand is giving the world.

When I was leading a training session at Yum! Brands in December, I asked the marketers in the session about leaders who are clear in what they stand for, and are visible inside and outside their companies. They talked about people like Steve Jobs of Apple, Eric Schmidt of Google, Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Eric Ryan of Method, Jeff Immelt of General Electric, A.G. Lafley of Procter & Gamble.  These leaders build confidence among employees and consumers and customers, because they know what they believe and they are constantly reinforcing this.

We also talked about the CEO of Yum! Brands, David Novak. He also is very clear on what he stands for, and he is a relentless advocate of the ideals behind the Yum! Brands. David is a prolific speaker, and he is constantly meeting with groups of employees. David has a book he has authored, and is working on another one to make it even clearer what he believes.

It is important that CEOs and CMOs are clear in what they stand for.  And it’s not for “soft” reasons, it’s simply good for their business:  the people most important for each brand notice this and it builds greater affinity and affection for the brand, and greater confidence in the brand. It’s important for employees, for customers, for investors, and for all business partners.

When I was Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble, I made it very clear to everyone that I stood for transforming our marketing to become the best brand-building organization in the world, benchmarked against the best CPG and non-CPG companies. I also stood for more creativity and innovation in our brand-building programs, and in building a culture that was consumer-centric, empathetic, and driven by higher ideals.

So don’t go another day without clarifying what you stand for, and thinking carefully about your plan to be more visible inside and outside your brand/company.

The session was in two parts:  1) A dialogue around what the best brands in the world do differently to achieve better results for the people they serve, and for their shareholders.  This session was based on the study and ideas behind my upcoming book, and was rich with learning.  2) A session on The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Chief Marketing Officers, based on my experience and what I have learned from others.  And a shout-out to Stephen Covey for his great book/work!

Over the next few blogs I want to go through my “Top Ten” list. And with each of the ten points, I will share some of my learning and stories on why I feel this is one of the habits that will make chief marketing officers on any business more effective.

Habit #1 – Reveal Your Brand Ideal And Operationalize It.

I have found through my personal experience that businesses driven by a higher ideal motivate employees and inspire consumers/customers. This leads to sustained strong results. This has been validated by the study I have fielded with the collaboration of Millward Brown Optimor, and the UCLA Anderson School of Management.  Brands that consistently outperform their competition financially and in brand equity are driven by a higher ideal.

The most important work a CMO does is to reveal, rediscover, or reinvent a brand based on a higher ideal that is authentic to its heritage. What would Google be if it were not driven by their higher ideal of helping people access information to improve lives?  What would Method be without its ideal of inspiring happy and healthy homes? What would Red Bull be without its ideal of uplifting mind and body?

That is the first step — revealing the ideal. But, that is only academic unless the CMO and CEO operationalize all of their activities around this ideal. It becomes the basis for their business model and their activity system. And everything must pivot from this — work people do, the capabilities the company builds, the career systems it implements, and the culture it creates. In a few days I will share the Second Habit of Highly Effective CMOs.