Progress doesn’t usually happen by consensus; it happens because of executive-level leadership.
In a sea teaming with both potential prey and dangerous predators, the cuttlefish’s ability to act instantly from a centralized portion of its brain means that it doesn’t respond in contradictory and ineffectual ways. It doesn’t jet-propel first one direction and then another; it doesn’t wave its tentacles at the same time that it’s camouflaging itself as a stone. As a Cuttlefish Marketer, you too want all your responses to be coordinated, all working together toward the same big picture.
When there’s no one who owns the entire picture, it not only hurts marketing but it also costs the company unnecessary dollars. Let’s say you’re in the middle of a campaign, when a whole bunch of new directions suddenly open up. You don’t need a committee to sort through the options; what you need is near-instantaneous video deployment and social media. If you as the marketing executive are already in position to reach out to partners with the right skill sets, you have more flexibility to react as the campaign unfolds. You don’t waste time and lose money searching for what you need. Your Cuttlefish-Marketer leadership is smart, fast, and effective.
One way this plays out most consistently is with tech vendors. Where once a single agency might have contracted out your marketing tech for you, now it makes more sense for you as the marketing director to do that directly. You’ll have more agility if an agency no longer manages your tech relationship for you.
Remember, your job is to keep all your guns pointing at your target, that big picture you’re ultimately trying to reach. Your skill and clarity are what sort through all the outside agencies—and pulls together the right pieces for your big picture.