By: George Latella, Professor of Food Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University
In the last blog we discussed Leadership in the Digital Age. I have studied & taught leadership for many years. In my opinion, leadership is NOT a position or title, but a state of mind. Some of the traits of successful leaders that I have identified are:
- Vision
- Robustness
- Risk Taker
- Competitiveness
- Boldness & Decisiveness
- Opportunism
- Grace under Pressure
- Innovativeness
As I write this article, we are in the homestretch of the 2024 Presidential election. In my opinion, both candidates for President, as well as many of the people running for the House and Senate, need to take a look at both of these lists and see where they can improve.
However, all we can do for our businesses is anticipate how a Republican or Democratic led government could positively and negatively our customers and consumers and adjust accordingly.
Leadership is the most important rule of strategy and as such requires a deeper dive into each of the areas. The areas that were discussed are:
- The future belongs to the fast
- Done is better than perfect
- Sometimes the job outgrows good people
- Real progress is made when we move from analyzing and reporting to doing
- If you find yourself explaining, you’re losing
- Energy & hunger trump experience
- The road to excellence is always under construction
- Embrace the disruption
The future belongs to the fast, not the big – Be bold & decisive, test & learn. This is an area where smaller, more nimble companies can win. Remove the layers, listen to the frontline people – analyze, test, and act!
Done is better than perfect – You need to “Plan your work but make sure you work your plan.” Prioritize your actions, execute, and don’t get hung up on minutiae. As Artificial Intelligence continues to develop, we’re going to be in a phase of constant digital change.
Jobs outgrow good people – Our capacity to learn will be more important than ever. Make sure you have the right people with the right attitude and skill set working on what’s important. Put your best people on your biggest opportunity, not your biggest problem, regardless of age or title!
Progress is made when we move from analysis to action – In any sport, you have to move the ball forward to win. For example, analytics have taken over sports, but you need to look no further than the Eagles and their Super Bowl victory versus the Patriots. They didn’t rely solely on analytics and made decisions in the moment.
“Turning Insights into Action” should be a priority here. Challenge your people to provide solutions to problems and make recommendations based on the data and assumptions.
If you’re explaining you’re losing – Yes, we need to understand what happened and why, but we need to put more energy against what is in front of us, not behind. Be proactive, not reactive. Accept responsibility when you make a mistake and move forward.
Passion trumps experience – Attitude is more important than ever and is contagious (both positive and negative). Create energy, don’t sap it! Most of the disruption that is happening is coming from people that believe in their product or service and don’t always listen to conventional wisdom.
It’s a race with no finish line – Change is constant and our ability to borrow, copy, adapt and adopt from successful companies will allow us to always stay ahead of the curve.
Be the disruptor not the disrupted – Embrace change!
I believe all of these are still relevant and should be considered by all of us. Whether you are on- premise or off, a large company or entrepreneur, or a public or private company, you need leaders to run the business. Great leaders need attitude, capacity to learn, and the ability to train/teach/mentor/motivate others.
You need to make sure that you understand your people, your community, and YOUR consumers and build your products, merchandising, and marketing programs around them. It will positively impact your bottom line!
And remember, Marketing is a race with no finish line.
George Latella is a Professor of Food Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Food Marketing which is one of the largest majors at Saint Joseph’s University recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. George is also a partner in Beacon Marketing group which provides Marketing planning, research, and e-commerce/direct marketing communications for food and beverage companies. George can be reached at glatella@sju.edu or 610-304-1034.