Believe it or not, this past Christmas a marketing executive, head of a technology firm’s marketing department, was laid off because either a) her department was doing very well or b) she was seen as a “tactician” and not as mission-critical strategic leader.
I don’t know which one is the worst: the fact that her boss tried to present the “let go” as a compliment: “You’ve done such a fine job putting a team in place here and training them. We really don’t need you anymore” or the fact that the CMO might have been the first victim of a downturn time.  But she was a 20+ year marketing professional for God’s sake! And the marketing department was doing very well. This leads to the conclusion that marketers need to make sure they are not just simple tacticians, but they get a seat at the management table as valued strategic leaders.


 

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