Of the American car companies, Ford has by far shown the most promise for lasting success. So when I read this interview of Ford’s CEO in the New York Times, I thought his insights were worth sharing.
Alan R. Mulally has been Ford’s CEO since September 2006. He focuses his efforts on four priorities that are good ones for any marketing leader to focus on. I’ll summarize them as questions that we should ask ourselves frequently:
- How do we connect what we do to the outside world?
- What business are we in and what is our value proposition?
- How do we balance the short term with the long term?
- What are the values and standards of our organization?
I really liked the simplicity and power of his list. Do you have clarity on these answers for your business? Do your colleagues have similar or different answers? I’d like to hear your opinion on which question is the toughest to answer.
John Ellett is co-founder and CEO of nFusion Group, LLC, a marketing agency that helps companies plan, execute and measure customer engagement programs in today's complex media landscape.
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I liked this article and I really liked the questions you posed building off Alan’s comments.
In my mind the toughest question to answer is the first one: “How do we connect what we do to the outside world?”
I am in the ad agency world so this is challenging considering the dynamic/ever-changing environment of the advertising industry. New technologies, the obsolescence of advertising mediums (as a direct result of emerging technologies) and new competitors popping up every day, make answering this question difficult. It seems like “what we do” changes so often that it needs constant redefining.
In many cases marketers want agencies to “put a stake in the ground” in terms of their capabilities and what their core discipline/strength is but agencies feel that by doing this they are limiting themselves to that one discipline and shutting the door to other potential clients. Personally I prefer when agencies claim one core strength versus trying to be everything to everyone. Classic example of “jack of all trades, master of none”.
I digress a bit from the original question, however I do find it challenging to define “what we do” in such an ever-changing environment that the advertising industry finds itself in.