#55: Elevating your brand, Nazis drinking beer, death of the IPO, CES so male, and Sylvia Plath
Happy Sunday, friends! After a long, beautiful tropical vacation and subsequent, not-so-beautiful bout of influenza, this is me:
(If you haven't - please get a flu shot.)
It's GREAT to be back, and I'm really looking forward to a fun-packed 2018. In edition #55 of the World's Best Newsletter:
1. 12 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer and Storyteller
2. So, what’s it like to be a CMO of a marketing-focused business?
3. Success at work depends on social skills more today than ever
4. CES so Male - and what to do about it
5. RIP, IPO (1602-2018)
6. We Don't Want Nazis Drinking Our Beer
7. Three Mandates for Elevating Your Brand
8. Quote of the week - Sylvia Plath
Also, Martell sightings in the wild:
Demand Gen & ABM Marketers: What to Read to Prepare for Personalization in 2018, Evergage
Reflecting On 2017: Lessons Learned And Growth Realized, LeadGnome
1. 12 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer and Storyteller
Listen, Ann Handley is now writing for AdWeek, and that bodes well for all of us who follow the marketing space with any level of interest.
This is meta, so follow along, but Ann always writes about... writing... clearly and helpfully, and her writing is consistently... wait for it... clear and helpful. Her first piece contains a reading list of books to up your writing game.
PS my birthday is February 25, if you need any ideas ;)
BONUS: Meet Ann (and get a copy of her book signed) at Boston Content's event Feb 22nd at Wayfair's beautiful offices. Register here.
2. So, what’s it like to be a CMO of a marketing-focused business?
I've marketed to marketers (mostly tech, some services) for my whole career. When I worked for Maribeth Ross she used to always say... our marketing better be great, because we're being held to a higher standard by our buyers.
I think Scott Vaughan does a great job summarizing what it's like when your role is the same as your target customers - and how to use the situation to your advantage.
Some great advice here; you're not always right. Scott quotes Joe Chernov, “You have to actively remember that there is a difference between my opinions and the facts. Your ‘self-monitoring’ capability has to be really high or you run the risk of attaching too much confidence [to] your opinion.”
Yaas.
3. Success at work depends on social skills more today than ever.
Adam Grant recently shared a fascinating study, which found the labor market rewarding social skills more today than ever thanks to automation and the rise of skills that computers can replicate.
He tweets: "Success at work depends more on social skills... There's a premium on coordination, negotiation, persuasion, and social perceptiveness:"
"Nearly all job growth since 1980 has been in occupations that are relatively social-skill intensive, while jobs that require high levels of analytical and mathematical reasoning, but low levels of social interaction, jobs that are comparatively easy to automate, have fared comparatively poorly."
We're safe from robot overlords... for now.
4. CES so male - and what to do about it
Industry trade show CES had a rough year - blackouts, rain, and a keynote lineup that had less women than a Harvey Weinstein fan club meeting.
The wonderful Carla Johnson put together a list of 10 women CMOs to keynote your next event which is helpful, but perhaps moreso is her thoughtful read on the overall matter. She says:
"It’s a situation that requires two things.
First, for women to summon the courage, make time on their schedule and make their way to the front of the crowd. If we expect women to make up a greater population of speakers, then, women, it’s time to make yourself heard, known and distinctive.
Second, for event organizers to roll up their sleeves and look harder for women speakers."
Read more.
5. RIP, IPO (1602-2018)
TechCrunch is predicting a kind of death to IPOs:
"In short, IPOs are facing a fusillade of attacks. Direct listings cut out many of the middlemen and fees that the traditional IPO process has prioritized. And while direct listings disrupt the IPO directly, ICOs and privatization essentially make them moot. Companies today have a much wider repertoire of tools to finance growth, and going public is no longer the brass ring it once was.
The IPO is dead. Long live going public."
6. We Don't Want Nazis Drinking Our Beer
My experience at Women in Digital (Colombus, OH) last year was probably my favorite speaking gig the whole year (sorry INBOUND...)
The roster was hugely talented, and one of my favorite talks came from Tanisha Robinson, CEO of BrewDog, who asks "Should corporate America and its marketing teams bear some responsibility for the public conscious?"
Watch it here. Tanisha, you're amazing.
7. Three Mandates for Elevating Your Brand
Many of you are re-branding, adjusting messaging, or going into 2018 looking to otherwise elevate your brand. Mark Di Somma offers three ways to do so, including:
Finding your emotional advantage
Finding your distinctive advantage
Finding your connective advantage
Read more over at The Blake Project.
8. Quote of the week - Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963)
"Being born a woman is an awful tragedy. Yes, my consuming desire to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, bar room regulars—to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording—all is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yet, God, I want to talk to everybody I can as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night."
Happy Sunday, have a great week ahead.
Katie
PS: I'll be attending this event on Thursday in Boston - if you're in marketing or tech, or both, join me!