Thursday, June 15, 2006

Big Ben Learns A Lesson

Ben Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl was not wearing a helmet when he crashed into a car that was turning left in front of his motorcycle. But today Roethlisberger said in a statement that if he ever rides a motorcycle again “it certainly will be with a helmet.”

I would have laid odds that a young man like Roethlisberger would have gone the route of so many others, cursing luck through broken teeth while vowing to continue the behavior, defending what clearly was an error in judgement. So congratulations to Ben for doing what so few of today's business leaders seem to be able to do: Admit a mistake, take responsibility, and change direction. Such responsibility saves careers and saves companies.

In this particular case, it may save a life as well.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Good Effort

The boys run off the field after the last out and after allowing four more runs. "Good effort, guys!" shout the coaches.

That's the way you manage boys. Six, seven, eight year olds. Effort is important. Instilling the team effort, good sportsmanship, putting forth your best effort.

But when it comes to marketing efforts, a 'good effort' is never enough. It is too easy today to measure, refine and improve. Too often, 'a good effort' is all that expected of marketing. And far too often, that is all marketing professionals expect of themselves.

No more 'visibility', no more 'mindshare', no more intangible measurements that only serve to give credence to management biases against marketing. Measure marketing performance with home-grown or commercially available marketing dashboard software. Then you can build the credibility that is required for marketing to get a seat in the boardroom and leave the 'keychain and brochure people' characterization long behind.
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