Hiring an executive coach is a personal choice. Use time to build the right set of screening questions during your vetting process.

1. Does this coach have a track record of ensuring that my actions, ambitions and aspirations are aligned with my company’s key goals, vision, and values?
2. Can she point to measurable results from her coaching engagements (versus smile sheets)?
3. Can I rely on her to help me dramatically grow my external and internal networks, or is she isolated from business communities?

Relationships trump hands-on skills as I climb the career ladder. Will she show me a way to reach beyond the “do good work” model, and help me build a dedicated team of stakeholders?

We’re living in a time of marketing liminality.  Some leaders feel as if they have one hand clinging to their Zoom rooms and one hand clinging to a dusty office HQ desk.

This messy middle moment is fueled by ever-changing customer expectations, dynamic workplace configurations, and  high team turnover. (I started to see these challenges emerge in 2018 and published 3 posts about them here.)

There is a silver lining to this liminal marketing moment….

DEI is a topic whose time has come, yet it’s rife with complexity for marketers, communicators, and leadership teams. During our quarterly Marketing Growth Leaders™ gathering, we discussed the common obstacles CMOs need to avoid with DEI efforts.

The role of marketing leaders in shaping and implementing DEI strategy requires us to be transparent, vulnerable, and open to solutions.

We welcomed special guest Rohit Bhargava, the CEO of The Non-Obvious Company and co-author of Beyond Diversity….

Looking back at 2021, career shifting became the norm. Marketing leadership roles are abundant right now.

I’m not surprised–PwC’s 2021 Future of Work survey revealed that 65% of employees are looking for a new job. Also, in 2021, over half of my clients were either promoted or changed jobs.

Landing that new role or promotion can be very energizing. You typically have just 90 days to make your mark as an innovator, not just a doer….

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….

At least half of our marketing clients and community members are actively seeking or being recruited for very financially attractive roles. How can you adapt to the new hiring and recruiting processes without selling your soul?