Sunday is always a busy working day for Stephen. Not because of unexpected calls, planned workshops, last minute meetings to address whatever urgent issue cannot wait for Monday morning. No, Stephen – CMO at b_Venture, a 600M IT company – usually tries to stay away from that craziness on Sunday. But still, Sunday is the day Stephen gets ready for the week ahead, energized, nurtured and focused.
Early in the morning, a long run is the best way to unload from the pressure of the daily operations. All together, the CEO, Sales, Operations and Finance are always happy to point at the marketing team for any of the following: inaccurate customers data, little visibility on return on investment, an event that is not generating enough leads, disparate bloggers aggressively debating about b_Venture quality of customer services, a brand report showing the rise of new competitors… Still, Stephen knows very well that just managing the emergency will bring b_Venture from the emergency room straight to the hospice. His long run is the best way to re-gain clarity on what is important versus what is urgent, to re-establish the right priorities, to unleash new ideas and get energized about the bigger change he’s trying to drive across the company.
Then there is the time for reading, visiting the latest exhibitions, browsing magazines and books. Today’s complexity and speed of change require a new approach: vertical skills are much required but not sufficient anymore to navigate across turbulent times and economic crises. Marketing is more and more art and science: the art of creating a compelling story emotionally linking company value to customers, of crafting an engaging and unique customer experience, and the science of running descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics, of adopting neuro-marketing techniques to better link the company offering with people thought process. Integration of competencies, along with cross-cultural fertilization, is a key component of Stephen strategy, starting with himself but then immediately incorporating it in daily practices in the marketing department and in the boardroom.
Last, there are 45 minutes devoted to meditation. Stephen knows well that in today highly hyper-connected word, we face three challenges: first, to deeply connect with ourselves and achieve high degree of self-awareness; second, to develop empathy and build real relationship behind the social media hype; third, to connect the dots and see patterns and systems out of the clutter. Mindful meditation is essential to screen out distractions and focus our mind, cultivating self-awareness, reading others and seeing the bigger context. Three key attributes to drive excellence at b_Venture, within Marketing and, through Marketing, across the entire organization, to better serve customers, employees, investors, the community and the society at large.
