“The single biggest reason companies fail is that they overinvest in what is, as opposed to what might be.”
–Gary Hamel, Author and Professor, London Business School
Professor Hamel puts his finger on one of the most important undercurrents facing marketing leaders in large enterprises today. As products, channels, and geographic markets proliferate, marketers will overweight to the familiar (that which “is” today), and fail to account for the size of future opportunity (that which “might be”). Why?
They certainly won’t do so intentionally. Rather, the sheer complexity of resource allocation decisions across geographies, products and channels will lead many marketers to settle for incremental changes to last year’s budget allocation. In the face of overwhelming complexity, this will feel like the safe, smart choice. Read More »

When we talk with heads of marketing about what “good” information flow between sales and marketing looks like, you can imagine the usual suspects that pop up: marketing updates provided to the sales team, sales providing feedback on messaging that’s resonating (or not resonating), and some type of ongoing win-loss analysis.
Einstein proffered that doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results is the very definition of insanity.

Last week, I wrote about