Margaret Franco, VP of IMC at AMD
Marketing is inherently a team sport. Some team members have leading roles. Others play more supportive roles. I was reminded of this last week while having lunch with Margaret Franco, VP of Integrated Marketing Communications at AMD. Margaret is establishing new methods for her team to work with the broader marketing organization in a more collaborative manner to develop and implement integrated communications programs. Her team gets direction from the product marketing and channel marketing groups, then develops and executes the communications plans. Since this is a fairly common scenario in many marketing organizations, I asked her how the new processes were working and got an insightful answer I thought I’d share.
“In a service role, success is measured by how much others take credit for your ideas. We have a team goal, not an individual goal, so let others take the credit,” said Margaret. “This is a good indication that there is a shared sense of ownership and pride in the work.”
This reminded me of the speechwriter who labors away at creating an eloquent address for which the politician receives all the credit. Some people have a difficult time playing this way, especially in tough economic times when job security is a distant memory. Yet, those that find satisfaction in helping others succeed can actually improve their standing by becoming an indispensable and trusted ally.
If you are in a service organization and want to know how well you are doing, look around and see how much your work is being presented by others. It’s an excellent barometer for your success.
John Ellett is CEO of nFusion Group, LLC, a digitally-focused marketing agency based in Austin, TX. He has a passion for encouraging and supporting marketing leaders who have the courage to be change agents in their organizations.
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Good article and great point John, but unless the senior management is astute enough to recognize where the contributions and innovations in their own company or organization are coming from, it does little good to be so selfless. It is true that a tight team can produce amazing results. It is also true that some individuals make good on the work of others while getting the glory. As long as the real authors of an idea are acknowledged by the company, or idea user, things will remain in balance. If they are not noted however, there is risk that those contributors will be overlooked when the rewards are passed out.
Good stuff. I’d hope all companies would adopt such awareness.
Darin, you point out the risk of this approach. Hopefully, through private conversations directly with key execs or through mentors, the contributors to great get their acknowledgment. Thanks for this reminder.