For marketing leaders, 2021 was a year to remember—and not repeat! 

Customer expectations shifted rapidly. Some great marketers left their lofty roles to be their own bosses. In fact, recent Labor Department data show that the number of unincorporated self-employed workers has risen by 500,000 since the pandemic. 

Many top team members either resigned or re-tooled, leaving costly gaps.

One of my top clients, for example, had to delay a new product launch valued at $1B because of talent gaps and burned-out teams.  …

When it comes to our careers and our customer relationships, the way we FEEL frames our reality.

Yet there is a “reality paradox” happening in our workplaces.

On the one hand, we are witnessing declining unemployment (now 4.8% in the USA), soaring corporate and consumer spending, and a frenetic hiring pace for marketing and CX professionals. 50% of my clients have either been promoted or changed careers in the past 22 months.

On the other hand, drug overdoses in the USA have surpassed 100,000 this year….

Now more than ever, every marketer must equip themselves with the visual leadership techniques required in this new hybrid world. 

The absence of body language and cues we get from face to face conversations demands new skills for effective communication. 

Listen to Todd Cherches on how to get others to “see” what you’re saying and inspire others to take action.

Many people call themselves managers, but the word “manager” has undersold leadership for a very long time. In this episode, I share the screen with Don McGuire, the CMO of Qualcomm. He discusses how to creatively and proactively engage teams in today’s hybrid settings, marketing and connecting effectively with customers and strategic partners in the digital world, and leadership strategies that no longer work.

Many CMOs and CEOs ask me how I help clients (especially marketers) leap from “order takers” to growth champions.

It starts with looking at your team’s culture and growth mindset and taking steps to improve your “rapid customer value”.

If you are a CMO or marketer who is considering a promotion, then it’s your job to be effective with your board.

I recently sat down with Jim Schleckser, bestselling author, founder of Inc. CEO Project, and friend, and we explored this topic.

Here in the USA, temperatures are climbing while the US begins a gradual transition back to in person work. Many of us are also experiencing another form of “heat:” burnout.

Personally, I frequently feel the smoldering pressure to attend more outdoor concerts, networking events, in-person client meetings, and re-openings. My FOMO fights with my calm, mindful inner self. It can be exhausting!

Research tells me that I am not alone. A recent study from Deloitte revealed that 77% of U.S….

Morgan, an experienced VP of Marketing, contacted me because she wanted to go further faster. Her boss gave her very positive performance reviews for her marketing and brand building abilities. But that’s where she stopped short.

Morgan’s peers considered her a masterful marketing adviser. But she had very few internal champions. Peers told me “Morgan always wants to have the last word. And if that means interrupting me when I’m sharing my ideas, she will do it.” This incessant need was holding her back….

Here in the mid-Atlantic, we are experiencing the tail end of a natural phenomenon – the emergence of Brood X cicadas. After 17 years in the dark, billions of these noisy bugs have we emerged from underground.

This phenomenon echoes our own post-COVID emergence. We have a unique opportunity to reshape and redesign the new rules of the workplace. We can reinvent and reconnect with the people who matter: our teams, our customers, strategic partners, and other stakeholders….

Most of us are clamoring to return to face-to-face events and conferences. Yet conference planners and attendees are not necessarily on the same page. Valuegraphics, a noted research firm out of Vancouver, Canada, recently did a study of 1850 very avid conference goers. Here’s what David Allison and his research team discovered: there is dissonance.