So what do you think? I facilitated a session at a leading Consulting Firm and one of the partners said, “Without my computer I couldn’t do my job – I’d be lost.”
Interestingly, a number of the other partners challenged her. “What did we do before computers? You’re kidding right? What if you were marooned on a desert island…?” they asked. I’m sure you get the point.
What is it about technology that creates so much fear and trepidation in the marketing world? Say the word and people tremble. Ask a question and executives break out in a sweat. Yet, is it worth delivering an idea and seeing nothing much happen? Despite the trembling and the sweats and the fear and trepidation, is it not worth a try?
It seems that maybe the terror of the unknown and the anxiety about failure, or possibly the dread of looking un-cool/un-hip, causes panic-related paralysis. It is considered better to ignore, hide behind ROI, budgets or resource allocation and hope that time is on your side. Either you will have moved on to another job and it becomes someone else’s problem (a real issue in a world where the average CMO is in the position less than two years, where they go for the short term instead of rocking the boat); or the sheer size and momentum of your business hides everything but the big obvious marketing initiatives – a phenomenon we have seen many times… And of course, does it really?
We are once again in an internet swirl. The current is pulling strongly towards… who knows where? It feels like Ulysses facing the Chimera or maybe the Sirens. Einstein and Hitchcock have weighed in – see the last two weeks of memos – now let’s hear from Brazil.
