Last night, after the Rob Kozinets lecture, I caught up with Marketing Association CEO Sue McCarty, and she told me an amazing story about change.
Before AT&T made Catherine Coughlin their global marketing officer, they were a provider of bandwidth. After she got on board and brought a global perspective to AT&T's operations, she organised for the staff to get an iPhone each, and said "play with them, and figure out what people do with them".
Want to build empathy among your staff? Help them have the same experience as your customers.
(Very similar lessons in the book Marie's reading right now, Branded Customer Service
, and the book I'm chewing through, The Game-Changer
. But I digress).
Sue's point? One person with a strong vision changed AT&T in six months. New Zealand is about the same size as AT&T ... and we need a global marketing officer too!
I agree! And I think it will be very difficult, when we don't even have one single government department representing NZ Inc when overseas, we have several agencies and non-governmental organisations, all with different aims and goals.
But the challenge is there. Can we do it? Do we even know what our brand is? Or are we destined to become Fiji with snow?
Over to us, I think.
By the way, the title is taken from another book which is on my Amazon wishlist: It starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations
just one
Before AT&T made Catherine Coughlin their global marketing officer, they were a provider of bandwidth. After she got on board and brought a global perspective to AT&T's operations, she organised for the staff to get an iPhone each, and said "play with them, and figure out what people do with them".
Want to build empathy among your staff? Help them have the same experience as your customers.
(Very similar lessons in the book Marie's reading right now, Branded Customer Service
, and the book I'm chewing through, The Game-Changer. But I digress).Sue's point? One person with a strong vision changed AT&T in six months. New Zealand is about the same size as AT&T ... and we need a global marketing officer too!
I agree! And I think it will be very difficult, when we don't even have one single government department representing NZ Inc when overseas, we have several agencies and non-governmental organisations, all with different aims and goals.
But the challenge is there. Can we do it? Do we even know what our brand is? Or are we destined to become Fiji with snow?
Over to us, I think.
By the way, the title is taken from another book which is on my Amazon wishlist: It starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations
just one
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1 comment:
What a wonderful inspiration to start a new week Simon. If it's true that IT STARTS WITH ONE, then you have modeled that very well indeed.
Thanks for the inspiration to take a look at another angle when tough times hit -- the angle of change and growth and prosperity for more people!
What fine ingredients for both community and for business at the same time. These are like two oars of a boat and when one is missing the other simply circles. Great blog!
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