1.  It’s about the people we serve, consumers, not us.

Know your business and your consumer, and hold everyone on the brand team, including your agencies, accountable for the same.

Embrace the consumer when and wherever s/he is receptive; including the store.

As a team, let the consumer guide all decisions and actions.

2.  Create, or renew, a “brand ideal” for your brand that inspires your team.

Your “brand ideal should be rooted in the brand’s heritage, and it should represent a meaningful goal for the brand that inspires everyone to better serve consumers.

3.  Be a “leader integrator.”

Get all of your agencies at the same table on a regular basis. Your brand will benefit from the synergy and creativity that happens when they collectively debate the future direction for your brand.

Own identification of decision makers for all activities, and be clear about who has authority.

4.  Go for the “and.”

Set very high standards and accept no compromises.  Your advertising must be persuasive and likeable, rationale and emotional, distinctive and relevant.

5.  Build a relationship with your Creative people.

Learn to speak the language of creatives and embrace the creative brief. Be sure you and your leading creative are on the same page about what makes great advertising.

Create an environment where your brand team interacts more often and more collaboratively with your creative team.

6.  Say “I do.”

A true agency partnership is a long-term commitment. Treat your agency as a real partner.

Get your agency team involved early and often in opportunities to influence and contribute to the brand strategy, brand direction, and brand equity.

Don’t be afraid to take risks, and own them jointly with the agency. The best advertising doesn’t result from “being safe.”

7.  Open up.

Evaluate each other formally at least once a year.  This will ensure the expectations on both sides are understood, and that we are holding ourselves accountable for delivering against them.

Deliver feedback with respect, honesty and candor. Receive it with an open mind and appreciation.

8.   “Be the “magnet.”

Be personally responsible for creating a culture that attracts and inspires the world’s best creative talent within your agency.  Make it part of your workplan.

Know the people on your business as individuals. Show appreciation for their commitment, passion, and tremendous effort, even when mistakes occur.

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!

Professor Boyko, distinguished members of the faculty, parents, guests, friends, and graduates of the VCU Brandcenter Class of 2010. Good afternoon. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement.

The first thought I want to share with you is congratulations to each one of you; you have been through one of the most innovative programs in higher education. It’s amazing — a program only about fifteen years old, and it has already had a significant impact on our communications industry, and on higher education. In preparing my remarks to share with you, I enjoyed looking through your work, and from what I see, you are ready to go out into our industry and make a big difference.

What I love most about your school is its mission: To Radically Transform The Business Of Advertising And Branding By Training The Next Generation Of Leaders To Make Business Smarter, Less Conventional, And More Responsible. Smarter, less conventional, responsible — this is the right mission for you and frankly for all of business. I cannot remember who my commencement speaker was when I graduated from Franklin & Marshall and Penn State. That’s sad! I would like you to remember my remarks to you — one year from now, ten years from now. So, I’m going to make it easy. I’m going to give you three numbers to keep in your mind when you think of this speech: one trillion, one, and ninety-three.

One trillion. Do you know what that represents? One trillion dollars. This is the estimate of the size of the market you are entering. One trillion dollars a year are spent on marketing and advertising. Imagine that. And now imagine the incredible power of this, if it is directed and spent the right way. Imagine if all of that money was spent on brands who believed in and acted on your school’s mission.

I’m going to the Cannes International Advertising Festival this year to urge the industry to spend this money in a different way. I will be hosting a dialogue on June 25 called “The Burning Question.” You can follow it on line, and the buzz has already begun. I am trying to bring your school’s mission to life.

As you now leave VCU, and you enter jobs, or look for that perfect job, or begin your own venture, I’d like you to help spend that one trillion dollars a different way — a way that is aligned with your school’s mission.

The number one. One is for each one of you individuals. You came into the school two years ago with a unique story. The story continued to develop and unfold over the past two years. You learned about advertising. You learned about collaboration. You learned more about social media. You learned about leadership. You learned about impact. You might have fallen in love; I did in my graduate program.

Well, I’d like to ask each one of you, on this your graduation day, to synthesize all this learning and to think about how you will help change brands and our industry for the better. Make a commitment to yourself today to not forget your school’s mission and to stay committed to it. Movements and revolutions begin with one person, and each one of you can be a very positive force in shaping our industry for the better.

This is very important — that each one of you acts on this. Our industry is not in good shape. The Pew Research Center has data that shows that people think business leaders are at the very low end of the scale in adding value to society. We are behind lawyers. And, I have nothing against lawyers; my father was a lawyer, and I have a brother who is a lawyer — and one who is a federal judge. Think about what has happened in the business climate since you entered the Brandcenter: AIG, Lehman Brothers, Toyota, Goldman Sachs, BP.

This leads me to my final number: ninety-three. This is perhaps an obvious one, as there are ninety-three of you in this room graduating. Now, I have already talked about the impact of each one of you making a commitment to change the industry in some way for the better. Now imagine the power in this room if all ninety-three of you did that. Imagine if here in this room, there are ninety-three Lee Clows. Or ninety-three Oprah Winfreys. Ninety-three Rick Boykos. Ninety-three Bob Greenbergs. Ninety-three Carol Williamses. Ninety-three Mike Hugheses. Ninety-three Shelly Lazaruses. You get the idea. The power is in the movement and the power is in the numbers.

So, my message to you is to keep these numbers in your head. Resolve to put those one trillion dollars to better use. Resolve to make this industry better because you as an individual make a commitment that you act upon. And, stay connected with your ninety-three classmates about your journey, and inspire them to make a difference. With ninety-three of you, you certainly have the critical mass to do that.

To your great faculty in this room, they will continue to support you. They’ve already helped you make a difference. You owe them a big thanks, and I guarantee they will support you as you move out of here to make a larger difference to fulfill your school’s mission.

To your loved ones in the room, your friends and family, be proud of your graduates. They are entering a field of great possibilities for good. I have seen it over and over  in my career. I spent 25 years at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest advertiser, and I saw what could happen if a team got electrified behind a mission, through a brand, to make a positive difference. It results in great business, great impact, and an organization you can be proud to be a part of.

Thank you again for this opportunity. Enjoy this day. And, remember — one trillion, one, ninety-three.

Thanks again.

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.

My partners/friends at Bridge Worldwide are sponsoring this, and they are awarding two winners.  Check it out here.

Bob Gilbreath, Chief Marketing Strategist, Bridge Worldwide, and I are hosting a session at Cannes on Friday afternoon, June 25, and the winners will be our special guests at this session.  Our session is called “The Burning Question,” and we have already begun to build a small community of change agents who believe brands and marketing can improve performance by making a more positive impact on people.  Here is the link to learn more about our session and we would love to hear from you.  What is your “Burning Question” which if asked and answered through actions would transform our industry?

I hope you — at minimum — share your question on our session website, and I hope you are inspired to submit your essay to be a candidate to win a free trip.  And, by the way, this includes airfare, hotel, full delegate privileges at the Festival … and I will throw in lunch with me and Bob poolside at the famous Hotel Majestic!

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.

I’d like to take this opportunity to share breaking news on my book, as well as an update on my company and my first foray into teaching at UCLA Anderson.

It’s been an exciting year+ since I left P&G. When I left, I shared with you my mission to further inspire a movement to rethink business, branding, and marketing to achieve higher performance through a focus on higher ideals.  Feedback from so many of you was very motivational to me, and it still is.

The mission is still in its early days, and there is no question it is resonating with many people on many levels.  I see it in my consulting, where I have been working with really inspirational clients in tech, fashion, retail, healthcare, and wine/spirits.  I see the idea resonating with MBA students at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where I am co-teaching with Dr. Sanjay Sood an experiential course based on a framework to achieve higher performance through higher ideals.   And I see it in the transformation of AOL,  where I have recently joined their new Board to serve and support their evolving brand ideal.

I am also very excited to announce that I have signed a book deal with Crown Business, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House.  The title is simple and says it all:  Grow.    The working subtitle is:  How the World’s Best Businesses Use the Power of Ideals to Outshine the Competition.  The book is based on a global study of businesses that grow far faster than competitors, and it will provide a new framework for businesses to apply. My goal with Grow is to provide a lasting source of inspiration, and a valued guide to action for all who read it.  We hope to have the book available by Fall, 2011.

I truly believe that businesses, brands — and the people behind them — can make a much stronger impact than they are making today.  This conviction has come from my experience with so many of you, and I thank you for that.  I hope to see many of you at the Cannes Advertising Festival this year.  I will be returning to the Festival to lead a dynamic discussion on how to grow business in our society today.

Thanks for your continued friendship, support and inspiration.

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.