I am a marketing evangelist. I believe that organizations make choices that help predict success (or failure), and I established an independent consultancy so that I could work with leaders who are committed to greatness.
Great leaders are deeply invested in their organizations, but even more so in the impact that their organizations are supposed to have in the world. They understand that their organizations will prosper if their constituents prosper, and that the prosperity is derived from value experienced. They are dedicated to achieving the metrics that suggest prosperity. Those metrics include improved customer acquisition, product and service trial, utilization, loyalty, and other forms of engagement.
Many of my ideas about this were borne out of almost a decade of work in the nonprofit sector, mainly at The Bridgespan Group, where I learned the concepts “Intended Impact” and “Theory of Change.” (To learn more about these concepts please see this wonderful article, “Zeroing in on Impact.")
In reality, however, my life’s work has always been about intended impact and theory of change. I am an alumnus of Lotus Development Corporation, now part of IBM. As director of marketing for a product group and then director of strategy for lotus.com, I became enthralled with the idea that our software was used to manage the US blood supply, organize shoots for a movie production company, and help employees of companies large and small work together more efficiently. I figured out that my primary task was not to sell products and services, but to find ways to help these users, and potential users, truly understand the technology’s capabilities and think more expansively about how to utilize them to be more effective.
More recently, I was vice president of strategy and marketing at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, a $21 million nonprofit where I was charged with leading the formidable task of re-thinking the organization’s vision and strategy to meet contemporary needs and expectations. This work inspired a host of observations about human behavior, values-based living, and the role of “community” in our society. The work prompted important conversations, both personal and professional, and ways to connect with users that are proudly communicated today at bostonjcc.org.
I have been a practitioner for more than 25 years; more details about this can be found on LinkedIn. But in summary, the combination of business acumen and creative production and application comes from my solid Midwestern roots. I am a native of Detroit, educated at The University of Michigan. I aspired to a career in advertising but when I discovered the art and science of marketing, the tools behind the ads, I was hooked. I find every single aspect, from strategy and positioning to the hands-on work of qualitative and quantitative research, promotion, media relations, etc. compelling—and over the years I’ve found opportunities to be involved in them all.
Along the way, I learned that no marketing matters, and nothing comes of it, if the tactics aren’t backed up by sound strategy and aren’t yielding measurable results. Conversely, no strategy is useful if it isn’t accompanied by communications designed to compel the audiences for which it’s intended.
So to this day I am animated by a great conceptual discussion but equally ready and able to plunge in and deliver.
