be uncertain

You loved your last campaign, but it didn't move the needle. Your refreshed packaging tested well, but led to declining sales. The new messaging you fought to launch hasn't been effective. 

While it can be hard to face the facts, if we truly believe that learning is liberty, being wrong is how we give ourselves the freedom to truly lead. 

The classic “strong opinions. weakly held” couldn't be more relevant as you empower your brands, teams, and companies to navigate an increasingly unpredictable future. While you must have strong enough opinions to make compelling arguments, getting too attached puts you at risk of avoiding empirical evidence should it prove them untrue.

“…being wrong is how we give ourselves

the freedom to truly lead.”

As you approach finalizing 2021 marketing plans, showcase your comfort with uncertainty and flex your confidence in navigating it. 

See the stop, start, continue below for a few actionable ways to get even more effective at harnessing the power of embracing uncertainty. 

stop. start. continue.

Stop overpromising. By normalizing uncertainty, we embrace the humility it takes to face reality head on as a leader. This can be tricky, particularly if you're in your first senior leadership role. The key is a subtle mindset shift from “I can fix it for us” → “together, let's work through it". Think of the CMOs you admire most. Which mentality sounds most like them?

Start problem solving. Positioning yourself as “the marketing oracle” within your organization is an extremely stressful way to exists at work that will ultimately fail. Become known as a problem-solver instead. By focusing on the process through which you surface, test, and execute solutions, your success depends not on the outcome of a particular play, but the efficiency and thoughtfulness with which you keep them coming.

Stay curious. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. The lesser known second line of this oft used idiom reminds us that nurturing curiosity has the power to breathe new vigor into our professional lives. Thanks to Covid-culture, opportunities for at-home inspiration exploration abound. I'm loving the audio-only gathering spaces where industry luminaries are accessible to all of us voice to voice…no makeup required:

🐟 follow fishbowl for invites to industry-insider live audio events

♣️ 🏠 check out new voice-chat based app clubhouse

you don’t have to go it alone!

here’s how be/co can help