Author Jourdan Hathaway

Lessons from an Automation Fail

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Many years ago, I had an epic automation fail that taught me a big lesson in tech implementations. It’s the kind of lesson you only need to learn once before it changes your understanding of the success drivers during digital transformation. My buddy Corey Miller would refer to this as a Red Learn (fail) and a Green Learn (growth).

I’m an operator, so naturally I look for ways to drive efficiency, optimizations, and scale.

Imagine you had to manually send out application deadline emails every 8 weeks, for 800+ different online programs, across 60+ education institutions day in and day out. This is a perfect use case for email automation (table stakes today, but novel back in the day). Let’s zip past the 💪Herculean effort to gather business requirements, select the vendor, do the implementation and customer config. This isn’t about that.

Let’s just get to the part where we built a great master template that had a bidirectional sync with all the necessary compliance, content, and data to power a single automated program (where operators swoon). This template pulled in 26 dynamic content field to ensure it matched the right program and institution – things like, the actual deadline date, the school name, the logo, the program name, the key value props, tuition cost, apply now link, etc.

So what happened?

The automated program worked as intended technically speaking. But here’s where the ‘uh-oh’s were:

  • Among those 800 different program names? Masters of Business Intelligence was spelled wrong (🤦‍♀️face palm for being spelled Intellgence) in the original CRM set up that it pulled from. That field was never intended to be public facing and so it wasn’t QA’d back in the day. Just correct the typo you say? We did, which then broke 11 different business reports that were integrated with that data field. Other departments depended on those reports – not great.
  • How about that easy date field? 🤦‍♀️Uh-oh, we didn’t accommodate the day/month vs month/day formats across countries. We just manually knew to reformat.
  • How about that tuition field? 🤦‍♀️Uh-oh, we didn’t have a data governance protocol for ensuring all 800 programs were maintained with price adjustments as time went on.
  • How about that Apply Now link? 🤦‍♀️Uh-oh, several pointed to a URL that we didn’t have control over and no mechanism to know if it changed and thus gave recipients a 404.

Here’s the big learn: Your data is the foundation of success; so are the business processes around data governance and maintenance. Do not underestimate this part. If you’ve seen this movie before, it doesn’t matter what tech project you’re working on, you enter it with a healthy respect for your data strategy.

It’s also why you know that implementation will be 20-30% longer that that lovely original timeline if your data strategy is not ready. But, this all solvable. And it’s a skill. So go thank and fist bump the Business Analysts, Data Folks, PMs, Delivery, and Process/Workflow people in your life.

What makes a team high-functioning?

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“Ok, here’s the roadblock, but we can totally figure this out. I have a plan on how we can tackle it.” ⏳ 4 hours later…..

“Ok team, thanks for the rapid problem-solving meeting. We’ve now prosecuted the plan. Triage is underway. To recap, I’ll do this. You take that. She’ll own this part. He’ll own that other part. Now let’s go deliver! We’ve got this. See you back here in 24 hours to confirm our collective resolution and success.”

What to do when you hit that inevitable project roadblock

The above are conversations that transpired on a super thorny, complicated, tech project. Hitting a roadblock on a technical project itself is never a surprise. C’mon, you know the kind – tons of systems, tons of competing priorities, tons of stakeholders, not enough time, unforeseen downstream impacts of something not operating as intended (say what? never). Then that heat that envelopes a team nearing the go-live deadline – and 💥 – big roadblock emerges and someone has to call an audible.

We overcame such a project this week and it had me thinking about what makes a team high-functioning. I saw it in action. I was in the thick of it with them (and I’m morbidly captivated to moments like this because I’m obsessed with the power of human connection and its resulting achievements). Days later, I’m still reflecting on how proud I am of what the team overcame and ultimately accomplished – not just the ‘what’, but our ways of working (and treating each other) while doing the ‘what’.

I’ve routinely noticed 2 FEELINGS that make all the difference:

  1. Trust (I trust my co-worker to do his/her part and they can count on me to do mine)
  2. Winner’s Mindset (I believe we can conquer this and find a successful path forward)

High functioning team members have innate accountability

My next observation after calling the audible was our Head of Product Marketing saying, “I understand the roadblock and I have a triage plan we could rapidly execute to navigate this. It comes with tradeoffs so let’s assemble the team now and prosecute it.” She did this unasked with total ownership. Then our Senior Technical Product Manager did the same thing, but on the technical side.

Back the “what” – here’s what the team did:

uh-oh moment ➡️ project audible called ➡️ roadblock identification ➡️ areas of ownership established ➡️ rapid problem-solving as a group ➡️ plan created ➡️ tradeoffs explored ➡️ expectation setting ➡️ stakeholder alignment on triage-plan ➡️ divide and conquer to execute ➡️ plan activated

This all happened in hours – not days and weeks, HOURS.

Today we celebrated that we ‘did the thing’. Internal comms went out about our go-live and the action plan to finalize all the remaining to-dos. Remember those tradeoffs? People typically won’t be upset about tradeoffs so long as you set clear expectations and get buy-in along the way.

This is where it’s important to have durable skills, not only hard technical skills.

My Personal Story of Economic Mobility

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It’s Thanksgiving 2024, so naturally a lot of thoughts of gratitude and reflection.

The Shopping Cart on the Left – Economic Mobility and My Starting Line

See the shopping cart on the left? That’s my brother and me. Why are there pillows and blankets in the cart? Well, that’s where we slept (we didn’t have a crib or bed). Why is this shopping cart outside in the front yard of a house? Well, we grew up without electricity and it’s unbearably hot without AC or fans in Florida so we napped in a well-intentioned permanently borrowed (ok stolen) cart outside. This is what poverty looks like – well, my childhood poverty anyway.

The Shopping Cart on the Right

Now look at the shopping cart on the right – taken today. Yes yes, we all love Buc-ee’s, but this is not about that. Sometimes when I push a cart, I think of when it used to be my bed and how different my life is now. I’m so grateful that I’m able to grab as much roadtrip snacks as my family can consume (except for the kid who chose to eat hard boiled eggs in the car, what the…). We are on the way to Thanksgiving with a stop in gorgeous historic Savannah at a hotel (hotel with an h, not an m).

This is economic mobility. It refers to people’s ability to improve their economic status over the course of their lifetime.

Of course I would not have called it that growing up – I just knew I wanted a safe and better life – to get out of the poverty and chaos I was born into. I achieved it though education, continuous learning, skilling up, great employers, and scores of teachers / mentors / coaches (who mean everything to my professional career). I am also relentlessly DRIVEN.

I share this not for sympathy or adulation; I deserve neither. I share this because I am so grateful to the individuals and institutions that power economic mobility. It deeply matters. Now my greatest satisfaction is helping others in their pursuit of betterment.

A drive not just to get by, but to build something better.

That experience carved something fundamental in me: a drive not just to get by, but to build something better. Over time, I realized that the journey wasn’t simply about escaping poverty, but about leaning into the idea that education, continuous learning and the right mentors could change the trajectory. As a leader today, that awakening shows up in two ways:

  • First, I bring a deep empathy for people who start from a less-advantaged place—because I’ve lived it. That shapes how I lead, how I form teams, and how I create opportunity.
  • Second, I lean into the mission of democratizing access—to skill-building, to meaningful work, to leadership—because I know what it feels like on the other side of the cart. That purpose anchors many of the decisions I make.

In short: recognizing this wasn’t just my story, but my springboard, transformed how I see leadership, not as a title or a destination, but as the capacity to pull others up alongside you.

It’s why it’s real natural for me to feel connected to the mission of General Assembly and all the work we do with governments, nonprofits, universities, and companies investing in people. I’m drawn to others who share this purpose.

  • To all you mentors out there, we need you. Keep opening doors for others.
  • To those trying to make their life better, you got this. Don’t give up.
  • To all my education and workforce industry peers, what a great mission we serve. Believe me, I know.

I am Jourdan @ 45 Years Old

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11 is my lucky number. That was determined the day I was born on November 11th (11/11). I like to take stock of who I am each year, particularly on milestone birthdays – ya know, the ones that end with a 0 or 5. So this is me, Jourdan Hathaway, at 45 years old.

They say to dance like no one is watching.

Well I dance regardless if anyone is watching.

The soundtrack to my life spans the unbridled spectrum of experience, emotions, and human capacity.

And so I sing like no one is listening, badly, but with good company.

At 45 years old, I have grown more than simply comfortable with myself.

I have come to treasure who I am, understand who I’ve been, and contemplate who I am yet to become.

I put in the work – physically and mentally.

I am driven and push myself through resilience.

And I show up at work with an insatiable drive for impact.

I am Jourdan @ 45.

A CMO’s Perspective on How AI is Changing the Marketing Discipline

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No tech skill is animating today’s business leaders and workers alike quite like artificial intelligence. As AI redefines the future of work, organizations are faced with the critical task of building, re-skilling, and augmenting their workforce. This is certainly true of the marketing discipline as well.

3 Ways Marketers are Leverage AI

  1. Within our existing marketing tools – This is where new features are being rolled out within our existing embedded industry tech stack that augment productivity (like Adobe Express with an embedded AI image generator and AI assistants. AI is being implemented in our standard MarTech tools – from media buying and email automation tools to project management and content platforms). Take the project management AI assistant; we use it for automating answers, summaries, tasks, field completion, milestone creation, and updates.
  2. Individualized blue sky use – This is where marketers are creating their own role-specific use cases. Marketers are looking at time spent on manual repetitive operational tasks (very unique to their specific to-do list) and figuring out how to leverage AI. A few examples: one marketer on my team cut down by 85% the amount of time spent on identifying spam leads in a big .csv file. They did a prompt on what to look for and it also provided the Python input. I have another marketer who uses it to draft requirements documents as a starting point, and many content creators are obviously leveraging it.
  3. Novel marketing capabilities – This is where AI is unlocking completely new ways to engage audiences, leverage data, and drive innovation. We’re now able to tap into capabilities that previously seemed aspirational but are becoming reality through AI’s rapid evolution. For instance, AI is enabling hyper-personalized marketing at scale, allowing us to dynamically tailor messages, offers, and creative content to individual preferences and behaviors in real-time. Predictive analytics and learning models are also transforming customer insights, enabling us to not only anticipate needs but also actively shape customer journeys in more intuitive, responsive ways. We recently piloted an AI admissions rep (i.e., a simulated representative) who now conducts the initial conversations with students via call, text, and email. Key to this is using the right company-owned data to ensure we give prospects correct information.

AI’s Impact on Marketing Isn’t Just for Increased Productivity; It Also Impacts Cost Efficiency

We’ve seen an 18% decrease in cost per lead through AI-based campaign optimization. By analyzing vast amounts of behavioral and contextual data, AI can now recommend optimal ad placements, creative choices, and delivery timings based on precise customer segment analyses. Continuously optimizing campaigns to improve budget efficiency, while saving time on manual analysis. Important to this:

  • Success is predicated on the quality of your AI model – must have quality data inputs from trusted sources. Ideal customer profile and accurate targeting.
  • Marketing teams need to be upskilled to have basic data analytics skills. They can’t trust AI if they don’t understand the inputs/outputs.

We Have to Rapidly Close the Skills Gap for AI in Marketing

We see a massive skills gap that the marketing industry needs to address if we want to see a sustainable long term pipeline of tech savvy marketing talent.

At General Assembly, We partner with employers to help them upskill their marketing teams for the AI era. Let me give you a concrete example: we work with Adobe to create a pipeline of young, tech savvy creative and marketing talent. Two new General Assembly bootcamps on marketing and content creation are enrolling students from communities underrepresented in tech – with Adobe covering all costs for them.

Critical thinking and conciseness are a cornerstone of providing a useful data analysis

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I’ve got Gantt charts and dashboards a’ plenty
I’ve got pivot tables and pie charts galore
CRM exports? I’ve got twenty (gazillion)
But who cares, no big deal, I wannntttt mooorrreeee (thank you business Ariel, I’ll take it from here). Side note: my daughter and I just watched the new Little Mermaid movie and I often have a hard time decoupling work life and home life

Prefaces Data with a Nice Tidy TL;DL Version

I know there are seemingly infinite data tools; I depend on so many of them. This isn’t a commentary on products or processes. I’m instead reflecting on all those business analysts and data-driven critical thinkers who know how to figure out what the punchline is – tailored to the audience receiving it. I’m fortunate to work with many such people (really good dot connectors). One of the most helpful things I get is when somebody prefaces data with a nice tidy TL;DL version that summarizes the what, why, and what to care about in a few short sentences. Pulling data is one thing; summarizing/visualizing it is another thing; telling the reader what the headline is/why it matters/what to do about it – in simple language – now that is the jackpot.

Example

Here’s the info you were asking about. When you’re ready to dive in, all the supporting data is attached. You’ll find page 3 the most helpful. “TL;DR version – The drivers of the issue appear to be A, B, and C. Don’t worry about D – it looks concerning, but it’s actually immaterial. Issue A is out of our direct control, so let’s focus on B and C which we can influence. If you’d like to impact B, consider focusing the team on thing, thing, thing. If you want to impact driver C, you’ll need a tech or labor solution that does blah.”

Let your curiosity take you to a reasonable conclusion

From here you can have a healthy debate on interpretation from different functional areas, go several clicks deeper into the data to vet/debunk, seek dissenting voices to broaden your perspective, and then – hopefully, do something different in the way you operate that addresses the pain points revealed in the data analysis – the whole point of why we all care so much about data in the first place.

Data story-telling skills aren’t just for STEM grads; it’s for arts and humanities people too

Poets, Pivots & Prose (becoming pros)….. Data storytelling is not just for people with a STEM background. Some really great data storytellers I know came from an arts and humanity background. I assume it’s because they too had a knack for critical thinking, concept articulation, crafting persuasion, and narrative framing. Plus, by its very nature, data storytelling literally requires art (it’s one of those arts & science disciplines).

Poets, pivot tables, and prose can all come 🎯 together professionally.

Making sense of complex and difficult topics is a really powerful skill in the workplace. From investment cases and business optimization memos, to M&A due diligence and operational decision making – all these strategies are shaped by effective data storytelling. So are tons of micro moments within the day-to-day of most functional areas. It’s the skill to craft the narrative by leveraging data, which is then contextualized, and presented to an audience. It utilizes not only data analysis, but also visualization, contextual analysis, and presentation.

There’s many programs available to teach these valuable skills. I’m super biased so I’ll just point you General Assembly naturally. {or talk to me about your poetry, I’m interested in that too}

Meet the CMO Helping Lead General Assembly Into The Future (It’s Me)

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View Original Post @ MEET THE CMO HELPING LEAD GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTO THE FUTURE

JOURDAN HATHAWAY — BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN LEARNING AND WORK

I’ve served as the Chief Marketing Officer of General Assembly (GA) since December 2023. Working side-by-side with our sales, product, and delivery teams, I lead brand and product marketing, growth and demand generation, performance, journey nurture, martech operations, admissions, alumni relations, and revenue operations for General Assembly’s product portfolio of bootcamps, short-form courses, workshops and classes. GA has both a consumer business (B2C) and an enterprise business (B2B).

Prior to my current role, I accrued valuable experience in a variety of sectors, including marketing, software development, and online program management, where for nearly 12 years I worked on roughly 800 online education programs for ~60+ universities.

Here’s my take on a variety of hot topics…

ON LEARNING

“I’m a lifelong learner who really enjoys not only gaining new skills, but also the process of acquiring said skills.”

I connect this imperative for learning and growth back to a cherished story from my childhood. One day, my third-grade — and favorite — teacher gave me a poetry book, the Random House Treasury of Best-Loved Poetry. On the inside cover, I found a handwritten note. This 3rd grade teacher changed my trajectory in life.

“She said, ‘Jourdan, I’ve seen your journals. You really have something there. Please keep reading and writing.’ And it was really, really special to me. That book remains in my room, and I never stopped writing. I had a passion for storytelling and that’s part of what prepared me for all the success I’ve found in marketing.”

ON TALENT DEVELOPMENT

“Past talent development systems won’t produce a sustainable society.”

I’d echo [Stanford University professor] Mitchell Stevens here, who wrote the forward for General Assembly’s The State of Tech Talent 2024 report: past talent development systems won’t produce the human capacity nor the economic and occupational mobility we’ll need to enable a sustainable society.

To keep pace, educators, business leaders, industries, markets, and governments must work together more closely than in the past. I’m really excited to be at General Assembly because I think we’re uniquely positioned to foster those intersections between learning and work.

ON WHAT’S NEW AT GA

“There’s plenty of people who don’t have 12 weeks to spare on a full-time bootcamp.”

What’s going on at General Assembly that has me excited? One example: our new part-time bootcamps spanning 32 weeks, each with live lessons and tons of flexibility. It’s easy to see why — this new part-time approach unlocks access to tech education for more people than ever before.

There’s plenty of people who don’t have 12 weeks to spare on a full-time bootcamp yet still need to advance their skills to stay in the workforce. I’m thrilled that this new part-time option can empower working adults looking to change their career trajectory to enter the tech workforce.

ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

“With AI, there’s never been a more exciting time to be part of skills gap closure.”

No tech skill is animating today’s business leaders and workers alike quite like artificial intelligence. 

We’ve always been about producing people with real skills that organizations need, and with AI, there’s never been a more exciting time to be part of that skills gap closure.

ON THE FUTURE OF WORK

“I am the future of work — you are the future of work.“

“I am the future of work — you are the future of work — and part of that means needing to own upskilling. Whether that’s in partnership with your employer or on an individual basis, it’s really important to continually learn and grow so you can be marketable for any number of roles out there.”

The 3rd Grade Teacher Who Changed My Trajectory

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Come on in, The water’s fine. I’ll give you Till I count to nine. If you’re not In by then, Guess I’ll have to Count to ten.

I memorized this poem that sits on page 1 of a 📚 book I received in 1988 from my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Palovich. In less than 30 minutes, I had this new treasure of a poem etched in my 🧠 brain. This book has traveled with me to every new 🏠 home since 3rd grade. Somewhere along the way, a frenetic puppy named Wendy chewed the cover right off (still very MAD at you 🐕 Wendy, RIP). The Random House Treasury of Best-Loved Poems is the name of this book.

Anyone Want to Battle Verse The Raven?

The 2nd poem I memorized from this book is The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (doesn’t every 3rd grader know that one?) If anyone wants to have a 💀 goth moment with me, we can battle verse the Raven (so weird, no takers….)

Back to the book: you can see the inscription here – “Keep reading and writing Jourdan. You have a gift. Sincerely, Mrs. Palovich”. She was the first person I remember encouraging me, believing in me, and spotting my gift for writing and storytelling.

She Made Me Believe

Teachers often know the traumatic backstory😿 of the kids in their classroom. She made me believe that I did not have to be a sad statistic; that I could instead escape, break the cycle, and become something great 💪 . She somehow knew at that very young age that 📖 storytelling would play a big role in that for me. She was right. It’s served me well not only in my marketing career, but in so many other domains in my life as well (like being able to write compelling scholarship letters or adoption bios that led to being chosen by a birth family). Almost everything in my life points back to words and the ability to frame concepts.

In today’s kick off of #TeacherAppreciationWeek, I am thinking of you Mrs. Palovich 👩‍🏫 and all the other teachers just like you who changed the trajectory of their students’ lives. While you are long gone, this book of treasures, and what it stands for, lives on 🌷 .

Courageous Leadership: Taking Risks 4 Massive Wins w/ Jourdan Hathaway

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Pretty much everything about me as an executive is covered in this show

Ep127: Courageous Leadership: Take Risks 4 Massive Wins w/ Jourdan Hathaway | LinkedIn. Watch my episode of The Executive Appeal Podcast with Alex D. Tremble (CEO of GPS Leadership Solutions & KeynoteSpeaker). He’s awesome BTW and instrumental in my career. Discover how taking calculated risks can lead to significant victories for your family, team, and organization, and learn how to navigate setbacks with a growth mindset.

Here’s what we cover:

  • Alex D. Tremble gives me the most hype intro ever – I’ll be putting his VO over music and use it as my own walk out music each morning to get in the zone.
  • We discuss what I think it takes to be a good leader – not platitudes, the real stuff.
  • He asks me about my deal with de-dabbling – it’s my jam.
  • We get into the decision points of taking on a new role at a new company and having the courage to get out of your comfort zone – all about knowing where you’re trying to go and if your next decision gets you closer to that or not.
  • We delve into the liberation of knowing your career risk tolerance – yep, it’s a big bold move and it’s possible it might not work out – but figure out the risk of the worst-case scenario and see if you can live with that. If you can…. GOOOOO
  • Then a brief chat on what happens when you bet on yourself and why you need to.
  • Alex then gives me a zinger of a question that lots of executives like me struggle with – if you came from poverty and a difficult childhood and become self-made through grit and resilience (aka, the path I took made me strong as hell), how do you then deal with the new life you’ve built for your kids? Also, how do be super ambitious and be a good parent? Woof – I don’t know. I’m winging it every day on that front 😊
  • Next, one of my favorite topics of all time – Project FLAT. I’ve written extensively on that, and you can find it on my profile. It’s my real-life professional development plan that took me from a VP of Marketing to an SVP of Operations (and now I’m a CMO). I’m obsessed with owning your own professional development and share what that looks for me.
  • I wrap with final thoughts on being bold, courageous and supporting others who are trying to do the damn thing.

Thanks for having me on the show GPS Leadership Solutions! Thanks also to the Exceptional Women Alliance that I’m proud to be a part of.

Did you 👀 catch your co-worker in the act of doing something for the first time?

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💭 For junior workers, maybe it was something like leading their first cross-functional meeting, deploying their first campaign, doing their first code push, or even just participating in a brainstorm.

📊 For mid-level, maybe it was their first performance analysis presentation, a new GTM plan, leading their first sales call, or the first time they oversaw a business optimization rollout.

📗 For senior management, maybe is was the delivery of their first investment case, or a business performance update with suggested action plan, or delivering a talent assessment for #reskilling, or leading their first session in an offsite retreat.

📝 As you rise in your career, eventually all of these things become routine. On your list of to-do’s they’re completely unremarkable to you. It becomes second nature, maybe even monotonous sometimes.

😫 But, can you go back to your younger self, and remember what those nerves were like when you had to do these things for the very first time? You wanted so badly to do a great job. Maybe you were anxious and unsure of yourself. Perhaps you had imposture syndrome galore (I sure did).

Your unremarkable monotony is someone else’s courageous brave moment. Help someone grow.

🧗‍♂️ So, if you noticed your co-worker doing something for the first time – their courageous brave moment – show ‘em some support. Before you deliver pointers for how to improve (which you should do), first let them know you’re proud of them for achieving that milestone. Let them know that you are here to help them workshop their delivery and provide your own experiences (good bad otherwise) for how you got better. Help them put in their reps, trouble shoot, and up their game. Call it out when they’ve nailed it. Celebrate with them. Help someone grow. It will fill your bucket.

YOU have to own your own professional development

☝ I also strongly believe YOU have to own your own professional development. If you are the one who is doing some of these things for the first time #upskilling , take a course/workshop/class/something and also reach out and genuinely ask for support. Chances are there’s someone in your corner who is a champion. Leverage it. It’s a two-way street so when you use their advice, let them know that you got value from it. Make observations about their routine delivery that you aspire to and let the person know it’s what you’re working towards. This is how you build strategic relationships.

If you’ve made it this far – Like. Comment. Or Repost.

Speeding? Cruising? Something in between? A career oscillates at a lot of different velocities – they all have important lessons along the way.

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There are chapters in your career journey that feel like you’re at warp speed, careening around the bend hoping that you’re on the right track. The adrenaline and nerves of learning how to do new things, tackle business challenges, and solve customer needs require a lot of trips around the track and taking adequate pit stops (making the right adjustments or even changing drivers if you need to #upskilling#reskilling ). You might have an occasional spin out and drift – it’s ok. I’ve had that both figuratively and literally. This top photo is the time I let some industry friends talk me into a drifting ride-along during a once-in-a-lifetime experience at a conference years ago. I met people there that I still connect with today – building your network is so important.

Confidently Cruising

There are also chapters in your career where you’ll feel like you are confidently cruising. That you’ve hit your stride – you’ve done enough trips around a particular track that you know just what to do. You don’t come off as trying to sell anything because you now talk about the obvious path forward with contagious ease. Enjoy those seasons; a change in macro-economic conditions or customer preference is coming for ya 🙂 Your cruise will be short-lived; and if it’s not, you’re probably bored.

Your Mindset and Who You’re Hanging With

It’s been 25 years since my first internship from where I’m at today. Some of my biggest learns are that it’s your mindset, and who you’re caravanning with along the way, that will make the biggest difference in your career journey.

Are you anxiously careening around the bend at warp speed right now wondering if you’re on the right track? Find someone who has been there, done that, and let them help guide/support you.

Have you confidently hit your stride and are cruising? Maybe you are just the someone to help guide/support 🙂

Business Development & Getting Through to a New CMO – Reflections

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LinkedIn is an incredible place – I’ll share some thoughts to help harness it and some tips to avoid 🛑.

You can listen to the full episode on Josh Braun’s Inside Selling podcast here.

After recently announcing my new 🔥 role as General Assembly‘s new Chief Marketing Officer (which I’m absolutely 💕 loving BTW), I started receiving hundreds of LinkedIn messages like this: “Hi, I saw yesterday you joined GA as the new CMO. Congrats. Can I schedule a demo of our product next week so our team can tell you what we do for marketers?” One person asked what my💰budget was (yikes 😱). Definitely an important❓question during the sales cycle, but not an opening one of a ❄ cold outreach the day someone gets hired. On the other hand, there were so many thoughtful outreaches filled with great info, industry insights, support, and a genuine desire to build relationships. What a treasure trove of opportunity!

The First 90 Days Vs. The Long Game

I wanted to share some insight into what the first 9️⃣ 0️⃣ days typically 👀 looks like for a new CMO. LinkedIn is an incredible place so I’ll share some thoughts to help you harness it.

I’ll be back to reveal some of the 📨 outreaches I found very valuable 😁 that did or will lead to 📞 meetings, 🤝 connections, and yes…even… ✔ sales (at some point, just not day 1). PS – So many of you of you are 🏋crushing it out there! I’m so appreciative of the connections, learning, networking, and support that LinkedIn creates.

Before I do that, here’s what on my mind:

The first few days, weeks, and even months 📆 are not typically when a new CMO is ready to take a cold call for a demo of a product that may or may not solve a problem that may or may not be there that may or may not be prioritized this year. Instead, they are:

  • Working their way through the list of activities below (keep reading, it’s at the end)
  • Getting acclimated to the business
  • Understanding their CEO’s vision
  • Learning about the needs of their customers
  • Building great internal relationships (the key to success for any org)
  • Forging meaningful connections with existing partners

Natural Synergies, Existing Relationships, and Critical Priorities Take Precedence

For all your Sales Farmers out there, there’s some good news because a newbie is probably going to look to an existing relationship to see if they can solve a particular gap in the early days (don’t come in too hot on day 1). They are also going to look for natural synergies across the existing landscape to find quick wins. They are likely walking into their team having a laundry list of in-flight critical projects and will want to get dialed in to the expertise of their teams and getting those efforts across the goal line.

Documenting Capability Gaps and Solidifying Solution Requirements Before a Demo is Best

Long before anyone is ready for a product demo, a few things need to be true: business and marketing goals need to be created, a strategic plan crystalized, a set of real problems/blockers identified, collective agreement on prioritization established, and for the spots where a new product/service is needed – a set of business and functional requirements created cross-departmentally should be solidified.

First 90 Days Activities: Consider How To Tailor Your Outreach With This in Mind

If you are about to reach out to a new CMO in LinkedIn, here’s what they are likely focused on – consider how you can tailor your outreach knowing this is what’s on their plate:

  • Meeting Stakeholders & Building Relationships at Every Level
  • Learning the Operating Models
  • Understanding The 1-3 year Business Vision, and FY Priorities
  • Diving into Financials & Revenue Drivers
  • Digesting Documentation Galore
  • Scoping Out the Competitive Landscape
  • Obsessing Over Customer Insights
  • Learning The Other Departments (winning as a business means there’s strong connectivity, trust, and reciprocal value generation between departments)
  • Marketing Performance Audit
  • Budget Reviews and Reporting Familiarization
  • Technology Stack Review and Training
  • Goal Setting & Strategic Planning
  • Team Alignment, Empowerment & Having Some Fun (ask me about our recent pet photo contest)
  • Campaign Launches Review
  • Performance Metrics Digestion
  • Establishing Feedback Loops and Figuring Out How To Best Navigate The Org –(i.e, who to go to for things and how to quickly build reciprocal, productive relationships at every level)
  • Vendor Assessments Including End User Assessments (is the thing doing the thing intended?)

Keep At It – Eventually Luck & Intentionality Lead to Something

LinkedIn, mentorships, networking, conferences, or any conduits of building relationships may yield the connections needed for two people to swap their expertise down the road. You’ll never know when the timing lines up, but I find it’s typically a worthwhile pursuit with the right approach.