MarketingRecon

Marketing Recon partners with executive teams to create stronger strategic linkages
between a company, its clients, and partners – laying the groundwork for new market growth
and designing custom programs to support the growth initiatives.

Takeaways from the 32nd Annual #WSAConf2023 @HarvardBusinessSchool- LEAD TO EMPOWER

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As a Boston area resident, I have been fortunate to grab some local fellow professional colleagues and attend this amazing conference @HBSWomen over the last 10+ years – the last “in person” event having been held in 2019.  In 2019, 2018, I attempted to capture some highlights in my Forward Observer Blog.  Thematically, it’s always uplifting, and the overall spirit is one of learning and sharing thanks to the hard work of the students who organize it and the generous spirit of the panelists and keynotes.   From the start this year, it was evident that everyone was extremely grateful to be meeting in person again.

The day kicked off with the powerful and accomplished @Angela F. Williams, President and CEO of the United Way.  She deftly shared her life’s journey and decision that led her to where she is today – advocating the virtues of being #bivocational a term to which I can personally relate.  She’s been a leader in the military, the for-profit world, the government, and the non-profit sector and on the weekends, an ordained minister.  Her honesty about what it really means to “have it all” was refreshing. 

Among her key points:

  • Know your own value systems and who you are – understand your purpose.  She admits, she tried to keep two separate personae until a mentor called her on it.
  • Embrace the NEW – be willing to see where life takes you
  • As a leader, her goal isn’t to be invited to a seat at someone else’s table – but to set her own and invite others.
  • This is a table with a different value system – one designed to bring people in with unusual backgrounds – creating an opportunity to be one’s authentic self.
  • When you make a mistake or have a difficult situation, don’t internalize it, it’s not always about you.
  • Pointedly, as a female and a Black leader, she is focused on collaboration and supporting her peers – pushing back on anyone or any outside forces that challenge this.

I chose the panel discussion What Doesn’t Kill you makes you Stronger, with

The panel covered a range of topics from the challenges of being a new CEO/Founder and how to home in on your leadership style to dealing with built in biases for fundraising.  Among the key takeaways:

  • Understand the “unwritten” rules. Every environment has them, so inasmuch as you want to be your full, authentic self, make sure you adjust a bit in each situation – #codeswitch when you have to
  • Use humor to engage and soften the room when you can
  • Have a personal Board of directors as well as a professional one
  • Choose the feedback you take
  • Choose your non-negotiables wisely
  • If someone says “I’m crushing it,” look behind the curtain! Don’t expect to be great at everything all the time – it just doesn’t happen
  • Look out for “stoplight” events – things that literally stop you in your tracks and suggest that you should consider changing direction.
  • Work at this level is an elevator ride, so if you are having some tough times, just try not to get out on the basement level.

The second keynote, Natalie Massenet, Co-Founder, Imaginary Ventures, Founder, Net-a-Porte detailed the journey upon which she embarked as a true e-Commerce pioneer in high end retail – already one of the most competitive vertical markets.  She emphasized the importance of a vision and the will do whatever it takes as the most important driving factors in her success.  However, she didn’t really understand it in the beginning.  When faced with a “mutiny” by her inner sanctum of executives, she turned to her key investors and learned that truly it was her vision and ideas that propelled them to invest in the company.  Everything else can be duplicated.   Today, as an investor, she is looking for the same – people that are smart and capable and willing to step out with new ideas and vision.

In the afternoon, I chose the Growing the Female Talent Pipeline panel with:

The panel traced their own trajectories while also providing guidance to their peers on how to ensure that women are given the opportunities to apply for roles in which they are interested.    Among the key takeaways:

  • Job Descriptions are tricky. Many are biased and don’t reflect the actual job, so if you are not sure, just go for it.
  • In reviewing ways to be more inclusive, one of the panelists shared that they started with reviewing job descriptions and rewriting to be more appealing to a broader audience. Some were implicitly using the wrong language to attract female candidates.
  • When looking for jobs, pick the managers you want to work for (vs. the positions) and pick people who are growing in their roles (vs. those that have peaked)
  • Grow at the pace of your talent – when that is no longer happening, it’s time to move on
  • We all need a break from the fast pace – try to anticipate when you need to downshift and prepare for it so you don’t crash
  • Internal women’s networks are as important as sponsors and mentors. You need to be part of the conversation across different parts of the company and this is the way to help and support each other across functions.
  • Always be thinking about what you want to LEARN and what you want to TEACH and let that be your guide as to managing your career AND Take into account your entire life and what your goals are at that time

The final keynote enjoyed a fully packed room (we were way up top) – actress Dakota Johnson.  She presented an entirely unexpected point of view on investing and growing a company – using her influence and passion to fund projects that speak to her on an emotional level – advocating for trusting your instincts.

Many thanks to the student organizers, co-chairs,  @Amy Sang and @Martyna Styslo, and professors who invested many months in planning this conference which always surprises and delights the audiences!  Full agenda and bios are linked here.

 

 

Move Over Left Brain, my Right Brain Would like to pass| Unlocking the Mind at the Hollister Institute

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Move Over Left Brain, my Right Brain Would like to Pass| Unlocking the Mind at the Hollister Institute, by Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco

Unlocking the Mind – Intro Session

Imagine a world where every negative thought was caught in its tracks and rerouted. Statistically our brain processes 60K + thoughts per day and guess what, 80% are negative.  They linger and eat away at us, hurt our productivity and destroy relationships.  Many of course creep into our lives outside of our formal work environment.  Therefore, it’s even more important to create self-awareness around our reactions and interactions. Turning a potentially negative situation into a reflective or positive one is actually disarming in a good way.

In a world that carries work in our “pocket” it’s nearly impossible to take negative emotions, regardless of where they originated, out of the workplace. Re-framing our actions, reactions, and interactions requires a conscious effort. This… Share on X

This is the thinking behind the 1 hour introductory session I attended last night at the Hollister Institute – Unlocking the Mind, facilitated by Kip Hollister and Zlatko Kanda.  Zlatko, who traveled from Cyprus to join the session has many gifts and in this session played the role of an intuitive coach using his own life experience as a backdrop to the role play.  In this exercise (just a tease) we are first asked to share a negative experience with our nearby participant – whoops, the floodgates open!

Thankfully there is a cure. We can choose to re-frame the situation by exercising higher awareness and consciousness in our approach or response. As Kip Hollister reminded the group last night, the heart is the only organ that is not subject to cancer – a statement that resonates in both the physical and metaphysical sense.

On top of that, conflict is uncomfortable.  Albeit, it is sometimes necessary, but the exercise in which I was a participant, demonstrates that pushing back and finding a positive framework can yield surprising results.  Full disclosure, I am not a formal meditator, nor have I studied the psychological aspects of this type of exercise, but the logic and experience is there to support moving our society in this direction through coaching and workshops such as this one.  This workshop continuously moves from the comfort zone of a meditation room, to the reality of what we face every day in our work and personal lives – making it actionable.

Hollister Institute

A key point that resonated with me is that there is no one size fits all for how to execute a form of meditation.   It does, however, take a leap of faith to give this a try. Not everyone will get on board, but for those who hold back, they are missing an opportunity to grow.   As part business marketer, part artist, I do get great opportunities to meditate in my walks on the beach, night time hours creating in my studio, and days in the kitchen pulling together all the pieces of a dinner party.  I also highly value my yoga practice several times a week.  In this session, I was glad to see a roomful of professionals who were willing to put aside their normal end of day rush home through traffic and spend an hour reflecting on how to put the right brain in full gear!

 









Breathing new “life” into deadlines

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dl2One of my personal tenets has always been “I am not good enough to procrastinate.” This goes back to the days of people cramming for tests or a preparing for big athletic event or performance. I always had to pace myself and have things done ahead of schedule. Living in the world of the self-employed, this is critical as one never knows what is coming down the pike.

But lately, it seems to me that society has lost respect for deadlines. The immediacy of the electronic world means that changes can be made right to the bitter end and nothing ever feels completed. Depending on your camp -a great opportunity for continuous improvement, perfectionism, OR a never ending abyss of “versions.”


The last thing standing is printed material. There’s something about the physical world that still commands respect. My experience in the non-profit world is that it’s only upon knowing that the program is going to print that I can close my sponsorship deals. Same holds true for print media, but our print world has its own challenges!

Ticket sales at venues are suffering and nearly canceling events due to slow sales until the bitter end when large majority of seats being booked at the last minute. I had a board member suggest to me to drop ticket prices for people that booked at the last minute. Really? Rewarding procrastinators instead of early birds?

SigninNYC

New York City shop December 2014

So are deadlines “dead?” Have procrastinators won? Or is there still a chance to hold people accountable for deadlines even in the virtual world?   The paradigm has shifted and those of us who believe in the benefits of  planning need to find some answers to these challenges.  Certainly we all enjoy the chance to grab a last minute ticket to a ball game, a deep holiday shopping discount, or the chance to whip up a blog post.   But there must be a happy medium to take advantage of the new “last minute” opportunities while respecting the discipline and benefits of planning in advance.   It’s good to keep our eyes on the pendulum.  One way to think about it is “goals are dreams with deadlines.”

A good personal challenge is to think about using planning as a differentiator both personally and professionally.   Think about the benefits – financially and strategically that can accrue to those who respect or even beat deadlines.   I’d welcome your ideas, anecdotes and case studies on how this nets out financially for industries, organizations, and projects that have to guarantee numbers and meet budgets to thrive and compete.









Marketing Assists: Snapshots

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Some of the best companies are family owned or small businesses that have not been exposed to the latest marketing tools.  15 years ago, that included developing the first website.  The Internet gave marketing a new set of tools and new challenges for businesses trying to tell their story.   Marketing Assists come in all shapes and sizes.   Sometimes just a conversation will help a business owner get “un-stuck” from a marketing roadblock.

Arts Marketing: For artists, the time is now.

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SAM_2696Earlier this year,  I had the opportunity to merge my two worlds -marketing and the arts.    As a member of a distinguished group of juried artisans, each of us has to contribute to the success of the annual open studio tour.   Naturally, I was asked to focus on marketing.  But as a believer of “teach people how to fish” rather than do the fishing, I designed a 1/2 day workshop.   I also asked a professional photographer to be on site in an adjacent room to help the photo-challenged to ensure we had professional documentation of their beautiful works.  The biggest outcome from the session was a year long “From the Studio” blog.   We also succeeded in sharing media relationships and having a follow on phone coaching session on how to build media relations.   In the end, my theory is that “content marketing” is made to order for  the arts community.  By focusing on the content, one is then forced to learn about the channels and ways to distribute the content, but that’s the easy part.   You have to start with the “stuff” and the artists have it.   You can read my post workshop blog here.