The currency of CEOs words
This was a briefing sent to our client's last week.
A CEO of a large law firm says, “Marketing is not important to us. We believe that us winning business is all about the partner and our people doing great work, not spending money on marketing.”
We were sitting with 14 other CEOs in this CEO’s Boardroom in an upper floor of one of the most expensive office towers in this major city, with a view to die for. I then asked, “why is it that you have such a strong physical presence in this office building and facility?” He responded, “Oh, it's important to show the market and our customers that we are a PREMIUM law firm. This address is prime in this city!” A number of the group then questioned the CEO…”This “Showcasing” your firm…isn’t that MARKETING???”
The point here was, if Marketing was not important to him, they would NOT/should NOT, be paying premium rental rates for one of the most sought after locations in a major city. His firm could be based anywhere. It could be purely virtual. It would just be about doing “great work”, right?
It got me thinking about how powerful the role of the CEO is, AND how crucial their communication is. As a CEO you have huge “positional power”, and the words you use have huge currency! You have an enormous ability to shape the thinking and the paradigm within which any organisation operates. Using this CEO as an example, they had a company perspective that they “don’t do marketing”, when in fact they DO. I’m not sure exactly why they were against this, as “doing” marketing is a very valid strategy, particularly when it’s focused, iterative, and you’re able to measure and track your returns from it.
Another client I work with has a paradigm that pops up from time to time where they take great pride in the high percentage of sales that come from EXISTING clients. And whilst their customer “churn” is low, if they are able to significantly grow new sales in this period, their percentage of sales from existing clients WILL actually drop! Encouraging them to measure client retention (ie. Not simply % of sales from existing clients) moves them into another paradigm that doesn’t limit them to ONLY protecting current clients (which is critical), but gives them the ability to ALSO focus on building NEW business. It’s an “AND strategy”, not one or the other.
As a CEO, and/or a leader, the words we use, the beliefs we articulate, have huge influence and impact over the people in your business and key stakeholders. Most members of your team will want to get in behind you. They will all too often adopt your views and not give too much thought to it. And whilst you should be building a company culture that encourages people to freely, but respectfully challenge anyone’s thinking (yes, EVEN the thinking of the CEO), as a CEO, just ensure you double-click into some of your statements. As with the previous example, “Marketing is not important to us”, it was actually misleading and factually incorrect. In fact, had I the chance to spend more time with this CEO, I would have loved to have helped him to explore what Marketing (done right and tastefully) could actually do for his business. There were clear opportunities.
Remember, as CEO, you have huge positional power and influence. Double-click into how you articulate your beliefs BEFORE you spruik them. Make sure your words are accurate. Your team are looking at you for positivity, inspiration, and are willing and ready to deliver.
Grow well
Adam