ABOUT THIS EPISODE
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In today's episode of Ops Cast by MarketingOps.com, we're going beyond systems, processes, and technology to talk about how Pros are actually doing and executing the work.
Marketing has grown into a measurable revenue engine, but that transformation has come at a cost, and the pressure on operators is now constant, unrelenting, and in many cases, unsustainable.
Our guest is Debbie Qaqish, one of the original pioneers of Revenue Marketing and Marketing Operations, and the founder of her new venture, The Growth Factor.
Debbie has spent years helping organizations turn marketing into a measurable driver of business growth, and now she's tackling the human side of that shift, focusing on resilience, leadership, and how marketers can perform at a high level without burning out.
Key Topics Include:
- The evolution of Revenue Marketing and where most companies get stuck today
- What comes next after accountability and measurement defined the last era
- How AI is rebuilding the role of marketing ops and the expectations placed on teams
- Why does the pressure on marketers feel different now than even a few years ago
- What resilience actually looks like in practice for marketing ops and RevOps roles
- How "caveman brain" shows up in high-stress work environments and affects decision-making
- Simple resets operators can use when stuck in fight-or-flight mode
- What effective leadership looks like when pace and pressure are this high
- How operators can move from surviving to performing at a high level
If you've been feeling the weight of constant pressure, changing expectations, and the demand to do more with less, this episode will give you a different lens on what's happening and what to do about it.
If you're ready to think about performance, leadership, and resilience in a way that actually fits the reality of modern marketing ops, tune in!
For leaders looking for a reset, here is the 10-Minute Leadership Reset™ Ops Cast (https://www.growthfactor.us/opscast)
Be sure to like, share, and subscribe to join the conversation at MarketingOps.com
Episode Brought to You By MO Pros
The #1 Community for Marketing Operations Professionals
IN THIS EPISODE
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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Hello everyone.
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Welcome to another episode of Opscast.
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Brought to you by MarketingOps.com, powered by all the MoPros out there.
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I'm your host, Michael Hartman.
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Today's episode might be a little different, and it's probably long overdue in all truth.
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So joining me today, Debbie Gagish, Dr.
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Debbie Gagish, is back on the show.
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She's one of the original pioneers of revenue marketing and marketing operations, and she spent years helping organizations transform marketing from a support function into a measurable driver of business growth.
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But this time we're not just talking about systems, processor technology.
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Today, we're talking about what all of that transformation has done to the people actually doing the work.
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Because while marketing has evolved into a revenue engine, the pressure on operators has become constant, unrelenting, and in many cases unsustainable.
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Debbie is now tackling the problem head-on with her new venture, the growth factor, focused on resilience, leadership, and how marketers can actually perform at a high level without burning out.
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So we're going to kind of connect on a few themes and threads today: the evolution of revenue marketing, the role AI is playing as an accelerator and a disruptor in many ways, I think, and what leadership needs to look like if we want people to actually thrive in the new environment.
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So, first off, Debbie, thanks for joining again.
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Thanks, Michael.
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Always a pleasure to be here and talk about marketing operations.
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I tell people all the time when I try to ask how to pronounce names.
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I think I got yours right this time.
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I'm not sure I did it the first time you were on.
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You did it perfect.
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Got geeks.
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You nailed it.
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All right.
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So it's it's a great one.
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Um, okay, so you know, as I mentioned up top, you know, you were the early pioneers of revenue marketing.
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And yeah, as you look back, um, how how would you describe the shift from marketing as a support function uh to a more measurable driver of growth?
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It's a it's a sea change.
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I mean, if you if you think about it, Michael, and we've both been in the marketing world for many years.
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And um I was an early buyer of Eloqua.
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As a matter of fact, I was customer number 12 of Eloqua.
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I bought Eliqu in 2004.
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I didn't know at the time I was customer number 12.
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All I knew was as the I had had a a career in sales and I had run sales organizations.
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Then I was working with a company where I was the CMO.
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And I just knew that when I saw that technology, that it was just gonna forever change sales and marketing.
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It was just as clear to me as looking at you right now on the camera.
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It was just, it was just, it was just totally clear.
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And so in my mind, when I bought Eloqua and set it up, it was because marketing needed to make an impact on revenue.
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And that was way back in 2004.
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It just made sense to me.
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And then as the technology began to become prolific and much more sophisticated, there were zero excuses for a marketing organization not to have some kind of impact on revenue.
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And because it was fully possible with the technology, but what didn't happen in a lot of companies was the belief that marketing could and should, and also leadership if they weren't on the revenue train.
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But that whole I remember back in the day, I would ask people how many people have a quota or how many people um you know make an impact on revenue.
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And I remember I'd get a couple of hands.
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Well, you go into any marketing group now and you everybody's gonna raise their hand.
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It's like 100%, right?
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Yeah.
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So that is where we have come.
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And so marketing should be accountable for a portion of the revenue, and they are perfectly positioned to do that.
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And, you know, I still think we struggle with that, but it's not because we don't lack the technology and the means.
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It really has to do with the culture and belief.
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Yeah, I mean, so I mean, I it's interesting.
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Um, I don't think I realized you were in a sales role.
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I also was at one point in my career, um, wasn't the right fit at the right time, but it was definitely a great learning experience and it definitely shapes how I think about marketing.
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But how much how much of that um you said that there's this like belief and kind of component of of how people view marketing outside of marketing?
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How much of that do you think is because of marketers not doing a very good job of communicating the value they add internally?
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I I I I wrote my first book, Rise of the Revenue Marketer, I think we published in like 2014 or something.
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In that book, there was a whole chapter around how to align with sales, how to educate marketing on what the world of sales was really like.
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Through the years, I've worked with some incredible CMOs who, for example, before they when they hire someone to come into marketing, they make them sit with the inside sales team for two weeks first, right?
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I think it's great.
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To live and breathe and to understand the life of a salesperson.
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If you do not understand sales, then you will never be able to really connect it to revenue the way that you need to.
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And that's a total failure of leadership, not to be able to not give marketers access to that education, that knowledge, and that experience.
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I think if they only did that one thing, Michael, it would make a huge difference in how sales and marketing work together.
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So I think that is a great question.
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And I think it is simple as train your people.
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You know, they should be going to if if sales has uh sales training, they should be going to sales training.
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They should be sitting in on calls.
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One of your major metrics needs to be time on calls with customers so you can hear and see, you know, what is actually happening.
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I think that one action would probably erase 70% of the strife that is between sales and marketing.
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I couldn't agree more.
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And it makes me think back to one of my early times, having shifted out of management consulting into a more marketing-focused role when I was at Text of Instruments, it just so happened that like within the first couple of weeks, um, they were doing some market research, which included a recruited panel and a, you know, someone who facilitated the conversation.
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I was back behind the I can never remember if it's one-way or two-way glass, but I was back behind there.
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And I was finding myself like for a moment, like sort of pulling my hair out, almost literally, going like, what are these people talking about?
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And then it sort of dawned on me in the moment, like, oh wait, I need to pay attention to how those customers are actually talking about this stuff, because if we don't match that, we're gonna be missed opportunities that could affect revenue.
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And I like that was an early one for me, and I couldn't agree with you more.
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Like, I think more people need to spend time with sales.
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Um, instead of complaining about them not using the decks you put together, right?
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How about you go, Listen, like, how are they actually talking about the value?
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Yeah, and understand their world.
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I mean, they have this big, you know, number over on top of their head 365 days a year, right?
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And probably about 70% of sales organizations aren't quite meeting the number.
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There's massive turnover in sales, it's a high pressure job, especially in the world that we live in, the SaaS world, because you know, they they have to put those numbers up for the investors and also for the street.
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And whether they hit them or not, that's a different story.
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But there is really, in many ways, a totally unrealistic set of expectations on sales performance.
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So again, and and you've seen those CMOs, Michael, that have a sales background, how much better things work when they've actually carried a bag and run a sales organization themselves.
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I mean, through the years, even talking to CMOs who never did that, and then I'll I'll talk to them a couple of years later and they'll say, Yes, I now am responsible for inside sales, or I'm now responsible for a territory.
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And honey, does it ever change how they approach what they do?
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100% night and day, right?
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Night and day.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I I I I could go on and on about that.
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But so, okay, so maybe this is a little bit tied to this.
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So um you've described, we've talked about the stages that um some organizations go through to become a revenue marketing organization.
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So, I mean, we talked about one thing there, right?
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Lack of understanding about how sales works, et cetera.
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But how like where do you see most companies getting stuck if they're not already like so?
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You said all these people raise their hand, yes, we've got a we've got a number to meet, but like a lot of them, in my experience, aren't actually able to communicate how they're doing that or struggle with it.
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So how where could they where are they getting stuck and how can they get over it?
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I this is a great question.
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I mean, uh Jeff Pedowitz and I, we were just talking about this last week, how I never thought I'd be sitting in 2026 and we would still have this issue of credibility of marketing's impact on revenue.
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I I never, I never, I thought it would be done by now, just done, you know, be over.
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And I think it's in a couple of areas, and we've already talked about one, and that is that understanding of sales.
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Um, and and and it really that that lack of understanding of sales and that lack of collaboration with sales at a revenue level really permeates everything.
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But the other place that we can take a look at is your executive senior officers in the organization.
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If they believe that marketing is just a support function, then marketing will always be a support function.
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If you have a CEO, for example, I know CEO and CMOs that go from company to company, and it's always about driving revenue.
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The CEO is brought in to drive revenue, and the first thing they do is they bring a CMO that also knows how to use marketing to help drive revenue, right?
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Because there's a belief of what can happen.
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I still think there's a lot of old school mentality when it comes to sales versus marketing.
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And I think for those leaders who uh are stuck in that old uh mentality, it's doing more damage to the company than good.
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So it's uh it's a belief.
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And you know, you know, I'll give you an example, and I always give CMOs this advice.
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If your company wants to give you a number and they want you to operate like a revenue center, like a profit center, or you know, something along those lines, not just a cost center, then you have to be able to look them in the eye and tell them what you're not going to do.
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You cannot be the dumping ground for all projects.
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If you've got a revenue number, then you've got to use all of your skills, all of your talent, all of your resources to drive that number.
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And if you can't have that conversation and have your executive committee understand where you're coming from on that, you just you're just gonna be set up for failure.
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And I see executive committees do that a lot.
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They'll give marketing a number, 30% of pipeline, what you know, whatever the number is.
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And yet at the same time, they dump everything on top of marketing and they're expected to do everything.
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That is a failure of marketing leadership to push back and say, whoa, you got to tell me what is it that you want to have happen here, right?
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So I think it's the collaboration with sales is just positively number one.
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And and belief at the senior leadership levels of the best and highest use of marketing in their organization, I think is number two.
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Yeah.
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And I think, I mean, I would think of the the the revenue target stuff.
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There, I think there is a nuance there that I would go at, which is yes, revenue, like near-term revenue is definitely should be a part of it.
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But I think also long-term, which is where I think where a lot of, I see a lot of marketers sort of fall down here is that yes, they can probably get to this point of showing impact on near-term revenue, pipeline revenue.
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Um, and then they get struck, they struggle with the connection from things that are not near-term activities.
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So we'll call it brand kind of stuff, right?
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And that that does, I still do believe like intrinsically that there is value.
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It's just hard, it's harder to measure.
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There is.
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And in it, and you don't see the results until it's like in the future far enough that it's harder to track it back.
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But I think you have to do the first one to earn the right to be able to do the other one.
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You do, you do.
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And and I see brand actually a huge resurgence in the value of brand because customers really want authenticity now.
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People they're they're tired of all the machinations.
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They just, you know, help me do what I need to do, and I need for you to be authentic.
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And helping brands, you know, become that authentic uh entity for, you know, for their customers really is number one.
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And you do have some leadership committees who think that marketing is only about the brand and they can't, you know, they can't do both.
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And I've also seen organizations that they'll high they'll hire a brand-oriented CMO, you get them to a certain level, and then they need that revenue CMO, and that takes them up to the next level.
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I've seen that as well.
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Mm-hmm.
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Yeah.
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I think yeah, it's it's an interesting one.
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And I I just uh but I think it you you make a really good point that like the the marketing leader has to be able to be confident enough to push back on like they do.
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But but I think part of it is they've got to earn that respect.
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I mean, I I would the one I would add specifically in terms of senior leadership, that I if I was in the CMO role, I would absolutely CEO of obviously and the head of sales um for sure.
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The other one would be whoever's your head of finance, right?
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That could be your biggest advocate or your biggest problem, right?
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And I think that one is a missed opportunity.
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Absolutely positively.
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Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned that, Michael.
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That's brilliant.
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The relationship you have with your uh CFO is absolutely instrumental.
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If if the CFO sees value that's coming from marketing, honey, your battle at the table is done.
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He or she will be your best advocate for that and can actually force quite a bit of change, including how sales and marketing work together.
00:15:21.929 --> 00:15:24.089
So that is a really good one, Michael.
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Absolutely.
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And having the CMO speak the language of finance, right?
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If you you just go in and talking about colors of the website and blah, I mean, nobody gives too about that, right?
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Um, they they care about can you talk the language of finance?
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Can you can you talk the language of business?
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And and you can earn that in space working directly with the CFO.
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Yeah.
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I mean, what I've found in a is you know, say maybe a CFO, but I have worked with CFOs, but say a finance partner for the marketing team is just like I have had them be the like help me work through how do I present the story about our impact because it is a storytelling thing.
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It is.
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And uh despite probably the the general view of finance or accounting people as not being creative, like I think they are pretty good at this.
00:16:17.850 --> 00:16:23.049
They can be very creative because actually they always have to be storytellers of some kind.
00:16:23.289 --> 00:16:23.850
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:23.850 --> 00:16:37.850
We had an episode, gosh, it's probably closer to a year ago than six months ago where we had somebody talk about like we talked specifically about this, how if you listen to this is particularly true with public companies, right, at their earnings calls where the CFO is the one telling the story.
00:16:37.850 --> 00:16:41.049
And that's like that.
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I remember when the the person we it was a CMO we had on, and then I like it really hit me.
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I was like, yeah, that's actually true.
00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:49.449
They're really good at telling a story with the numbers.
00:16:49.449 --> 00:16:53.689
And I think a lot of CMOs can benefit from that, or marketing leaders in general.
00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:55.289
So totally agree.
00:16:55.289 --> 00:16:56.409
Totally agree.
00:16:56.970 --> 00:16:59.850
So where do you where do you see things going now?
00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:06.569
I guess you know you mentioned a couple of things, but you know, clearly AI has got to be in the conversation here.
00:17:06.569 --> 00:17:08.650
You know, it's it's changing fast.
00:17:08.650 --> 00:17:11.130
It's you know, it feels like it's accelerating in a lot of ways.
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How are you seeing that having an impact on marketing?
00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:23.370
And maybe let's go a little deeper into marketing ops too, in terms of what the what what's impacting them and what expectations are being placed on those teams?
00:17:24.329 --> 00:17:31.289
I think that many people have completely uh the wrong idea about AI.
00:17:31.289 --> 00:17:47.529
I think that too many people at all levels of the organization and all parts of organizations are thinking about this as another piece of technology, and nothing could be further from the truth.
00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:58.730
It is a game changer at the scale we've never seen before, except for maybe the extinction of the dinosaurs.
00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:01.049
I'm I'm I'm not kidding, Michael.
00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:05.129
Okay, it is it is it is it is that big of a thing.
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Now, I always preface what I say with this.
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I am a big science fiction fan.
00:18:10.170 --> 00:18:11.369
I always have been.
00:18:11.369 --> 00:18:22.649
I remember watching the original episodes of Star Trek, and the first time I saw Jim Kirk pop that communicator up, I thought, oh my gosh, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life, right?
00:18:22.649 --> 00:18:25.930
So I I'm a big science fiction fan.
00:18:25.930 --> 00:18:32.250
So for me, it's I always have a a broader view.
00:18:32.250 --> 00:18:45.369
And I think that AI is is changing every facet of we could just of our lives, but we could just keep it in marketing, you know, of our of our work life and in marketing.
00:18:45.369 --> 00:18:54.730
And if we take a look at uh let's take a look at marketing operations specifically, since a lot of your listeners are in marketing operations.
00:18:54.730 --> 00:19:15.369
Um I think that AI is a is a forcing function for marketing operations to step up and become extraordinarily strategic in the organization.
00:19:15.369 --> 00:19:19.529
And let me break that down.
00:19:19.529 --> 00:19:28.569
And you know, Michael, I've always been a big proponent of marketing ops taking being more strategic and less reactive, right?
00:19:28.569 --> 00:19:31.210
That's that's always been my thing.
00:19:31.210 --> 00:19:35.930
Um, and and I think there's a real forcing function for that right now.
00:19:35.930 --> 00:19:46.089
A lot of people are saying that AI for marketing operations or for marketing is becoming the central nervous system or the operating system.
00:19:46.089 --> 00:19:49.609
And I absolutely totally believe that.
00:19:49.609 --> 00:19:52.329
I always challenge people with this question.
00:19:52.329 --> 00:20:08.809
Okay, based on what you know about AI, let's say that you were going uh into a company right now, and they said, uh, Michael, I need for you to design for me a totally AI-enabled marketing ops organization.
00:20:08.809 --> 00:20:11.690
I'm holding up a piece of blank white paper right now.
00:20:11.930 --> 00:20:13.690
Right, for those who are who are just listening, nothing.
00:20:13.849 --> 00:20:16.970
Yeah, just listen like what what would that look like?
00:20:16.970 --> 00:20:25.210
You would throw away so much of what you do right now, because it would just be a completely different world.
00:20:25.210 --> 00:20:41.930
And the thing about AI, unlike other prior technologies, where we kind of you know went along at a pace, that the pace of change, I mean, you need to start doing these white paper activities like now, because this is not messing around.
00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:44.649
This is this is not like taking a lot of time.
00:20:44.649 --> 00:21:09.129
And so if you if you think about marketing operations, and if you think about their knowledge of AI, the possibilities that AI can bring to an organization, and how do you reinvent how marketing happens in an AI world?
00:21:09.129 --> 00:21:11.450
Because that's what we're talking about.
00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:20.170
And the architects of that change could be perhaps the marketing ops team that's leading that change.
00:21:20.170 --> 00:21:24.490
Because who has a better vision and understanding of the possibilities with AI?
00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:26.490
It should be the marketing ops team.
00:21:26.490 --> 00:21:28.730
It it really, really, really should be.
00:21:28.730 --> 00:21:40.730
And so, you know, rather than taking a look at a campaign, the way we look at a campaign today, we should be looking at, you know, you AI helps us be always on.
00:21:40.730 --> 00:21:46.490
You launch something, you see how it's going, you optimize in real time.
00:21:46.490 --> 00:21:49.529
There's no back and forth and back and forth, right?
00:21:49.529 --> 00:22:07.529
So if you think about how AI is a forcing function to rewrite how the work of marketing gets done, beginning with the fact that the whole execution layer is gone, that is now should be done.
00:22:07.529 --> 00:22:11.690
A lot of the execution should be done by AI.
00:22:11.690 --> 00:22:19.529
And marketing at the end of the day has been an execution function for way too long, including you know, our marketing ops team.
00:22:19.529 --> 00:22:29.210
So if AI is gonna be now doing the The execution layer of things, what's left to do?
00:22:29.210 --> 00:22:40.009
What's left to do is the strategic work of how work should get done and how you can help drive revenue in the organization.
00:22:40.009 --> 00:22:53.129
So the role of marketing ops does become one that is significantly more strategic and thinking about is the what is the role of marketing ops now?
00:22:53.129 --> 00:22:59.529
Is it is it to um just show up and and marketing tells you what they need and then you build it?
00:22:59.529 --> 00:23:01.849
Nope, it's the other way around now.
00:23:01.849 --> 00:23:07.450
Marketing ops is now telling marketing here's what's possible with AI.
00:23:07.450 --> 00:23:11.849
Here's how we need to do marketing differently because of AI.
00:23:11.849 --> 00:23:14.970
Think about where that conversation is coming from, right?
00:23:14.970 --> 00:23:17.769
Yeah, it's coming from a very, very different place.
00:23:18.170 --> 00:23:21.849
I'm I wanna maybe challenge you a little bit on a couple of things.
00:23:21.849 --> 00:23:27.129
So you said that AI is fundamentally different than technology change.
00:23:27.129 --> 00:23:30.170
And I I I don't think I necessarily challenge that.
00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:34.809
I think it is a technology change for sure, but it's also much more than that, right?
00:23:34.809 --> 00:23:37.369
But there's also a change management component that goes to it, right?
00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:39.210
So you got the human psychology part and all that.
00:23:39.210 --> 00:23:41.210
So that absolutely needs to be a part of it.
00:23:41.529 --> 00:23:50.089
But but the difference, but the difference, Michael, is you know, I remember when we started getting marketing automation systems or you know, or or CRM.
00:23:50.089 --> 00:24:01.849
I mean, you bought them and then they improved over time, but they didn't they didn't, they didn't know the pace of change now is they didn't have the massive jumps, right?
00:24:01.849 --> 00:24:24.250
So it's gonna be the ability of the marketing and the marketing ops organization to work in a when I say AI enabled, if you don't have cognitive flexibility, agility, uh curiosity, because it's never you're gonna every day that you come into work, you you could be doing something a different way because of AI.
00:24:24.649 --> 00:24:34.649
That's what I mean by it's not like do you think that sorry, that do you think that begs that there's a need for people who are a little more generalist in nature rather than specialists?
00:24:35.049 --> 00:24:36.089
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:24:36.089 --> 00:24:38.170
I mean, it makes sense about it.
00:24:38.410 --> 00:24:42.730
Although I keep seeing, although if you look at job descriptions out there, they still tend to favor specialists.
00:24:43.129 --> 00:24:43.450
They do.
00:24:43.450 --> 00:24:52.730
They do because again, what's happening is um we are breaking business models right now.
00:24:52.730 --> 00:24:54.730
That's what AI is doing.
00:24:54.730 --> 00:25:05.529
It is literally breaking old business models because the way you can do things now with AI is very different.
00:25:05.529 --> 00:25:12.170
You know, I uh I read somewhere that uh somebody said that one person can build a billion-dollar company with AI.
00:25:12.170 --> 00:25:12.970
Well, guess what?
00:25:12.970 --> 00:25:14.490
There was a New York Times article.
00:25:14.490 --> 00:25:22.089
My my friend was just telling me about it, he's gonna send me a copy of it, where somebody built a billion-dollar business with AI, like a single person, right?
00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:22.730
Right.
00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:33.609
So, so when we get back to imagining what can be with AI, it is not like anything that we've experienced before.
00:25:33.609 --> 00:25:37.769
That it's the pace and the scale and the possibilities.
00:25:37.769 --> 00:25:40.490
It's the pace, the scale, and the possibilities.
00:25:40.490 --> 00:25:49.849
And so we have to completely reimagine how work will be done uh because of AI.
00:25:49.849 --> 00:25:53.690
Because we can be that faster or gonna win.
00:25:54.250 --> 00:26:01.930
So I think it also applies to the changing how we think about how the technology that we have needs to change and be.
00:26:02.410 --> 00:26:06.649
Oh maybe all that's what's uh it's also gonna blow up.
00:26:06.649 --> 00:26:08.970
That's just gonna be blown up, right?
00:26:08.970 --> 00:26:09.289
Yeah.
00:26:09.450 --> 00:26:21.289
I can see a day where you don't want to Yeah, my concern about what you said though is that you and I want to believe that marketing apps will start to be seen and will behave more strategically.
00:26:21.289 --> 00:26:43.369
What we're reasoning about is with this new technology and how it's changing, and it makes so many things so possible quickly, is that it'll actually uh sort uh continue to maybe even more so pigeonhole, accelerate a pigeonholing of marketing apps as people who are doing app development basically, as opposed to being strategic.
00:26:43.369 --> 00:26:46.730
Am I off base there?
00:26:47.529 --> 00:26:48.809
No, no, no, you're right.
00:26:48.809 --> 00:26:55.930
I I I I and I I just um had a a nice argument with somebody.
00:26:55.930 --> 00:26:58.490
Well, here's what we have to be careful about.
00:26:58.490 --> 00:27:08.490
We're using words that we've used, but when we use them in an AI context, they can't mean the same thing.
00:27:08.490 --> 00:27:17.129
For example, I was just on a conversation with somebody, and he says, you know, we're gonna be um uh what was the word that he used?
00:27:17.129 --> 00:27:19.690
Uh we're gonna be more data oriented.
00:27:19.690 --> 00:27:22.649
I'm like, uh, hell no, we're dying in data.
00:27:22.649 --> 00:27:24.250
We're drowning in data.
00:27:24.250 --> 00:27:30.490
It can't be the same words that we're using to it to explain these new possibilities.
00:27:30.490 --> 00:27:36.889
We're gonna have to think up some some new words because people associate words with what they know.
00:27:36.889 --> 00:27:40.250
And I think the same thing is true with AI.
00:27:40.250 --> 00:27:53.450
Um, I promise you this, Michael, a year from now we could have this call again, and marketing ops is gonna be completely rewritten because it is accelerating just that fast.
00:27:53.450 --> 00:28:00.649
And I think that again, if you think about the execution layer, and somebody gave me a really great example.
00:28:00.649 --> 00:28:07.529
You know, if you think about the execution layer, you think about agentic AI, it's always running, right?
00:28:07.529 --> 00:28:12.410
It's always like cleaning the data, putting stuff where it needs to go.
00:28:12.410 --> 00:28:16.730
You know, you don't need you don't need big old systems to do it.
00:28:16.730 --> 00:28:22.009
You know, it's uh it's an AI agent that just runs and keeps you know everything clean, right?
00:28:22.329 --> 00:28:24.970
Testing hypotheses, finding patterns, right?
00:28:26.410 --> 00:28:28.569
And it's always improving, right?
00:28:28.569 --> 00:28:40.009
So, you know, the the the the function of marketing operations, it could be one person that just has a whole bunch of agents running around, right?
00:28:40.009 --> 00:28:52.730
But I but I do think that when we think about marketing ops, right now it just seems, it just seems like it what it's doing today is going to be archaic very soon.
00:28:52.730 --> 00:28:54.089
Let's just put it that way.
00:28:54.089 --> 00:29:02.809
What it will morph into, where the role will be, how that role will play out, I'm not I'm not quite sure yet.
00:29:02.809 --> 00:29:06.410
I'm still kind of looking and and and thinking about that.
00:29:06.410 --> 00:29:07.289
But the way it's done.
00:29:07.690 --> 00:29:11.450
I've given up on trying to predict because it just is changing so fast.
00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:18.809
It's interesting that you bring up the the language and the terminology that we use and being like being clear about it.
00:29:18.809 --> 00:29:24.490
Somebody um, this is yesterday, a friend of mine after a workout shared that an article that he had just read.
00:29:24.490 --> 00:29:29.690
I think it's a Wall Street Journal one, which I I it's gated, so I couldn't read it all.
00:29:29.690 --> 00:29:42.089
But the gist of it is that in the course of the like the last 14 years or so, the average number of words that we speak on a daily basis has dropped like 30 percent.
00:29:42.089 --> 00:29:44.809
Really?
00:29:44.809 --> 00:29:46.569
Yes, no, fascinating, right?
00:29:46.569 --> 00:29:50.410
So what that means is we're just talking less.
00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:51.529
Right.
00:29:51.529 --> 00:29:58.170
So that so what I found is talking is the best way to get clarification on what you mean on stuff, right?
00:29:58.170 --> 00:30:02.649
And if we don't have that as a practice and a capability, I'm actually kind of concerned.
00:30:02.649 --> 00:30:08.970
Like your point about I agree with you, but do we have people who are able to have those kinds of conversations to clarify?
00:30:09.210 --> 00:30:20.970
And I and I, oh my God, Michael, this is such a brilliant point because the more you talk it out, the more it becomes real, the more you can think about things.
00:30:20.970 --> 00:30:35.049
And so one of the things that we need to be doing in every part of the organization, we'll talk about marketing and marketing ops, is you know, we need to be having these AI possibility conversations, right?
00:30:35.049 --> 00:30:40.809
And they're not meant to, when we walk away from this meeting, these are the three things that we're gonna do.
00:30:40.809 --> 00:30:50.410
We just need to be having those conversations because that is where you learn, that is where you can iterate, this is where you can create.
00:30:50.410 --> 00:31:06.569
Just like, just like with just like on your podcast, I'm sure, Michael, of all the people that you speak to, you're just constantly spinning up new ideas and new observations about what's happening in the market from the conversations that you're having.
00:31:06.569 --> 00:31:08.250
So that's a great idea.
00:31:08.250 --> 00:31:10.970
People should be having more conversations about this.
00:31:11.529 --> 00:31:11.849
Yeah.
00:31:11.849 --> 00:31:14.329
I mean, it's a little bit frightening, actually.
00:31:14.410 --> 00:31:22.170
Yeah, it you know, it it is frightening, but here's what I always tell people no nobody's ahead of anybody else right now.
00:31:22.170 --> 00:31:26.009
Really, you know, very few people are we're we're kind of like all in the same place.
00:31:26.009 --> 00:31:43.690
So you're you're not gonna lose, you know, you know, but I I I I can't I I just can't express enough um the potential changes that will be happening in every part of an organization, but in marketing and marketing ops, especially.
00:31:43.690 --> 00:31:50.889
And I think the more we can have conversations around possibilities, and I want to go back to the conversation thing.
00:31:50.889 --> 00:31:55.769
Have you ever heard of uh this thing called the art of the insult?
00:31:58.089 --> 00:31:58.889
No, okay.
00:31:58.889 --> 00:32:00.329
No, I'm fascinated.
00:32:00.569 --> 00:32:04.250
Okay, nobody did it better than Shakespeare, right?
00:32:04.250 --> 00:32:09.930
So he would have a whole soliloquy which was an insult, right?
00:32:09.930 --> 00:32:11.529
And and what do we say?
00:32:11.529 --> 00:32:14.970
Well, like, damn you, or you know, or something like that, right?
00:32:14.970 --> 00:32:16.889
It's just like, you know, one word.
00:32:16.889 --> 00:32:21.849
But um it and we are talking less.
00:32:21.849 --> 00:32:31.129
And I think especially for us in the world of technology, we typically narrow our our our phrases down a little bit, you know, too much.
00:32:31.129 --> 00:32:36.329
And um that's where that's where uh reading helps me.
00:32:36.329 --> 00:32:42.889
I mean, I'm an avid reader, I read all kinds of books, uh, fiction, nonfiction.
00:32:42.889 --> 00:32:46.889
And I think that is one of the things that helps me with my vocabulary.
00:32:46.889 --> 00:32:55.210
Because if if all you do is talk to the same people every day and use the same words, then of course you there's there's no expansion possibilities.
00:32:55.210 --> 00:32:56.889
But I got we need to find that.
00:32:56.970 --> 00:33:04.809
But the flip side of that, or is uh I'll see if I can find it or have somebody who can help me get it ungated.
00:33:04.809 --> 00:33:21.289
Anyway, so like I think the flip side of that also is getting too narrow in the way you the words you use in the choice of them is when you hear them from someone else, you also assume what they mean as opposed to listening to the context and going, like, is that doing are we saying the same thing?
00:33:21.289 --> 00:33:33.049
Because many of the challenge, like many of the frustrations I've had in my career were everyone in the room was saying the same thing, the words were the same, but no one had the same understanding of what we just talked about.
00:33:33.049 --> 00:33:36.809
Like the word lead, yeah, lead or campaign.
00:33:36.809 --> 00:33:39.369
Oh campaign, customer, right?
00:33:39.369 --> 00:33:40.889
Like there's all these words, right?
00:33:40.889 --> 00:33:43.769
Um, that in the marketing context that I tell people.
00:33:44.329 --> 00:33:45.609
So the word was data driven.
00:33:45.609 --> 00:33:49.369
That that was, you know, you know, we have to become more data driven.
00:33:49.769 --> 00:33:51.690
Nobody knows that no one knows what that really means.
00:33:51.930 --> 00:34:05.849
I think we're gonna be uh in the world of AI, it's gonna be uh it's gonna be really more having to do with uh clarity and decision making and judgment, right?
00:34:05.849 --> 00:34:20.329
I think those are coming to the fore because quite frankly, we're drowning in data now as it is, you know, and we just have to get we just have to get incisive about the data that we need and how we use it.
00:34:20.329 --> 00:34:22.970
And that's gonna take judgment and business sense.
00:34:23.289 --> 00:34:36.170
Well, I and I the way I think about it, I stop, I've tried to stop using data-driven when I can because I think it's there's an embedded assumption that there is a right answer to a lot of the questions we want to ask of the data.
00:34:36.170 --> 00:34:43.850
Um, and knowing that the quality of the data is always gonna be suspect, especially in a complex B2B marketing and sales role.
00:34:43.850 --> 00:34:46.890
I mean, it's just there's there's just it's not finance data, right?
00:34:46.890 --> 00:34:50.330
So I think there's a like don't assume this is gonna be better.
00:34:50.330 --> 00:34:55.690
I'm I'm I am bullish on the idea that AI can help improve that over time, right?
00:34:55.690 --> 00:34:58.010
Find things that are problems, et cetera, et cetera.
00:34:58.010 --> 00:35:03.450
But really, I like to use the term data informed, and that a lot of that is it's a nuance.
00:35:03.450 --> 00:35:21.850
But what I the reason I I choose that is because again, I'd like I think the the we had a guest on who kind of exposed me to this concept of the Kinevin framework, which I just can't get out of my head, which is there's like simple problems that have an obvious answer.
00:35:21.850 --> 00:35:31.450
There's complicated uh questions or or problems that have an answer, even like if you have the specialized knowledge, like Formula One vehicle, a car, right?
00:35:31.450 --> 00:35:33.769
If something's going wrong, usually like there's a solution.
00:35:33.769 --> 00:35:34.810
And then there's complex.
00:35:34.810 --> 00:35:38.090
A complex one is typically there is not a solution, right?
00:35:38.090 --> 00:35:43.370
So the best you can do is try stuff and see if it impacts the things you want to optimize for.
00:35:43.370 --> 00:35:46.410
You probably can't optimize for everything.
00:35:46.410 --> 00:35:54.170
And and I just I think marketing and sales, because you're dealing with I mean, it's the whole reason why behavioral economics became a thing, right?
00:35:54.170 --> 00:36:01.690
Because standard economics didn't describe the actual behavior of consumers, and I couldn't understand why people weren't making the right decisions.
00:36:01.690 --> 00:36:02.410
Right.
00:36:02.410 --> 00:36:04.410
The right the quote, right decision, right?
00:36:04.410 --> 00:36:05.690
Yeah, yeah.
00:36:05.690 --> 00:36:11.370
Um, we're not all logical all the time, and like anybody who's ever lived knows this.
00:36:12.170 --> 00:36:16.410
But you bring up an excellent word, and that word is ambiguity.
00:36:16.410 --> 00:36:42.730
I think that more than uh any other time in marketing and marketing operations, the ability to work in an environment where all the answers are not immediately available, uh, that you will be working at ambiguity and for a long time to come because AI will continue to accelerate.
00:36:42.730 --> 00:36:57.690
And so when we take a look at the kind of leadership that requires in marketing operations, you know, it really is about putting in, it's really not so much that the leader is going to be the technical expert.
00:36:57.690 --> 00:37:20.330
It's gonna be that they are the environment and uh and architect of psychological safety at work, a place where experimentation can happen, um, a place where uh people are comfortable working with ambiguity, complex problems that aren't don't have immediate answers, and also constant change.
00:37:20.330 --> 00:37:31.530
So there has to be uh an environment or a culture where continuous change is now the norm, and you expect it, right?
00:37:31.530 --> 00:37:37.370
And in that, in that you have that experimentation that you were just talking about, right?
00:37:37.370 --> 00:37:49.850
And you and you have this constant exploration of new ideas, and that becomes part of the cultural fabric of the organization because that is the world that we that we live in now.
00:37:49.850 --> 00:37:52.170
That's that's where we are.
00:37:52.650 --> 00:38:07.370
Yeah, I mean, this is you're starting to touch on what um, I guess as I understand it right, the reason you started the growth factor is to address like the the mounting and continuously increasing pressure on marketers and marketing apps folks feels nonstop.
00:38:07.370 --> 00:38:12.090
Like so what what was the what did you see that was changing?
00:38:12.090 --> 00:38:14.410
Yeah, what was the catalyst for for you to do that?
00:38:14.410 --> 00:38:17.050
And like what are you trying to do with the growth factor?
00:38:17.450 --> 00:38:19.610
Thank you for asking that, Michael.
00:38:19.610 --> 00:38:21.050
Here's what I saw.
00:38:21.050 --> 00:38:25.370
You know, I've I've been working directly with marketers since 2007.
00:38:25.370 --> 00:38:33.850
And um everything, you know, when you bring in a a new technology or help them use technology different, it just brings about a lot of change.
00:38:33.850 --> 00:38:37.210
And then AI kind of came in here.
00:38:37.210 --> 00:38:41.850
Um and what I was already observing through gasoline on the fire, right?
00:38:41.850 --> 00:38:43.210
Yeah, through gasoline on the fire.
00:38:43.210 --> 00:38:51.769
So so what even before AI, what was happening is that in corporate America, we used to have pressure cycles.
00:38:51.769 --> 00:38:55.610
Pressure, pressure, pressure, then you relax.
00:38:55.610 --> 00:38:58.010
And then you and then you went up again.
00:38:58.010 --> 00:39:03.290
And the pressure now is never ending, it never stops.
00:39:03.290 --> 00:39:06.890
So the first thing that I saw was guess what?
00:39:06.890 --> 00:39:11.930
We're we're not training marketers to perform under constant pressure.
00:39:11.930 --> 00:39:15.769
There are some very, very basic things that we could be doing.
00:39:15.769 --> 00:39:23.050
Um, and everything I do is from the world of science, from applied positive psychology and also neuroscience, right?
00:39:23.210 --> 00:39:23.610
Yep.
00:39:24.010 --> 00:39:41.290
So whether it's uh whether it's uh a uh a system regulation before you push the button on that email that you want to send, or you know, whether it's uh the way that you communicate or it's your identity and your purpose, right?
00:39:41.290 --> 00:39:43.610
I mean, all of these things kind of come into the mix.
00:39:43.610 --> 00:39:51.450
So so the first thing that I saw was we we have a new environment, nobody's you know has has named it.
00:39:51.450 --> 00:39:53.930
I'm gonna name it because it's here and it's real.
00:39:53.930 --> 00:40:04.970
So, you know, how do we help marketers not only uh do well in that environment, but then also help them thrive at work, right?
00:40:04.970 --> 00:40:09.210
And thriving is just human performance at its best.
00:40:09.210 --> 00:40:14.490
And I think a lot of times, and and we all know what the world of work is like these days.
00:40:14.490 --> 00:40:24.570
We we've all seen the recent studies, we've seen the the rates of quiet quitting, we've seen the rates of people very unhappy and you know in the corporate world.
00:40:24.570 --> 00:40:30.970
And so it really has to do with um where people are and what people need.
00:40:30.970 --> 00:40:46.330
And so how to work under pressure, how to thrive at work, and then the banner around everything is just the AI world that we're in, because it it is like throwing C4 in the flames, right?
00:40:46.330 --> 00:40:49.610
It's not even gasoline, it's just C4.
00:40:49.610 --> 00:40:53.370
So I have all this pressure, or how do I, how do I do that?
00:40:53.370 --> 00:40:55.050
Okay, I can you what do you mean?
00:40:55.050 --> 00:40:57.530
You tell me I can be, I can be happy and thrive at work.
00:40:57.530 --> 00:40:58.730
What does that look like?
00:40:58.730 --> 00:41:05.210
Then all of that is in this AI world, which is just you know spinning everything out even further.
00:41:05.210 --> 00:41:24.410
And so again, I just take concepts from applied positive psychology and neuroscience, and I help marketers uh from the leadership level uh down to every part of the organization learn the skills that they need that nobody is teaching marketers right now, Michael.
00:41:24.410 --> 00:41:24.810
Right.
00:41:24.810 --> 00:41:26.090
Nobody.
00:41:26.090 --> 00:41:30.810
Um, and these are skills that they need to be successful and thrive at work.
00:41:31.290 --> 00:41:32.570
Well, probably in life, right?
00:41:32.650 --> 00:41:34.410
I think Oh, it is life too.
00:41:34.410 --> 00:41:38.410
But I didn't want to give them that big with it, but yes, it is life as well.
00:41:38.410 --> 00:41:38.970
Absolutely.
00:41:39.210 --> 00:41:49.690
Yeah, I mean, the like I think this idea that we set that that we separate work life and personal life is actually a fallacy that we all believed in until COVID hit, right?
00:41:49.930 --> 00:41:53.769
And the skills that I teach are universal, they can be used anywhere, anytime.
00:41:53.769 --> 00:42:03.610
But because I have a marketing background, um, I have I have intentionally built everything for marketing organizations.
00:42:05.530 --> 00:42:05.769
Okay.
00:42:05.769 --> 00:42:12.570
Yeah, so uh I remember uh when we talked before, you used the term, yeah, we have a I think you said caveman brain.
00:42:12.570 --> 00:42:15.690
Oh yeah, very modern brain.
00:42:15.690 --> 00:42:29.530
So it's interesting to me because like I've I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and other people talk about how, you know, evolutionarily, like evolution takes a long time to adapt, but the and it was fine.
00:42:29.930 --> 00:42:30.650
We're not adapted.
00:42:30.650 --> 00:42:35.130
We have not biologically, we have not adapted to this world at all.
00:42:35.130 --> 00:42:41.610
And and when I talk about the lizard brain, I'm talking about the caveman brain, and that was the brain that kept us alive.
00:42:41.850 --> 00:42:44.090
Fight the amygdala, right?
00:42:44.090 --> 00:42:46.330
Flight, fight or flight, exactly.
00:42:46.410 --> 00:42:47.530
It's all those things.
00:42:47.530 --> 00:42:56.250
And when you're in a constant state of pressure at work, you are using your caveman or cavewoman brain.
00:42:56.250 --> 00:42:58.170
You're using that lizard brain.
00:42:58.170 --> 00:43:05.130
And when you use that lizard brain, the neuroscience behind this is that everything else shuts down.
00:43:05.130 --> 00:43:11.050
You no longer have access to your prefrontal cortex, which is your thinking brain.
00:43:11.050 --> 00:43:20.170
And so you you you you make bad decisions, your world of possibilities shrink, and you're you cannot, you can't be your best.
00:43:20.170 --> 00:43:28.970
And and there are simple, and there are things that you do at work, which by the way, I'm gonna uh you all your listeners will get this thing called the leadership reset.
00:43:28.970 --> 00:43:39.290
It's a 10-minute reset you can do right at your desk to help you get out of lizard brain and into your thinking brain while you're at work, right?
00:43:39.290 --> 00:43:44.730
So it's just very, very simple techniques that are based in science.
00:43:44.730 --> 00:43:46.650
So they actually work.
00:43:47.050 --> 00:43:48.410
Well, yeah, and it's interesting.
00:43:48.410 --> 00:43:53.530
I one of the people I started listening to more is uh are you familiar with Andrew Huberman?
00:43:53.530 --> 00:43:54.890
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:43:54.890 --> 00:44:01.690
And I like I'm finding like I even um I used something last night when I was stressed out trying to go to sleep.
00:44:01.690 --> 00:44:10.170
And I, you know, it was just it was this very simple breathing technique thing that took literally seconds, and it like my whole body relaxed, right?
00:44:10.170 --> 00:44:12.330
It's a very it is seconds.
00:44:12.810 --> 00:44:22.890
Breathing is the one thing that you can do when you're in complete fight or flight mode, your sympathetic nervous system is locked down.
00:44:22.890 --> 00:44:25.610
You have no access to anything else.
00:44:25.610 --> 00:44:36.250
Breathing is the single thing that will turn on your parasympathetic nervous system so that you can think or you can sleep or you can relax.
00:44:36.250 --> 00:44:39.210
Breathing is very powerful.
00:44:39.210 --> 00:44:41.930
It is not woo-woo, it is actual science.
00:44:42.330 --> 00:44:44.970
And it's funny because I thought it was woo-woo and until I tried it.
00:44:44.970 --> 00:44:51.450
And um, and uh I would I would demonstrate it for people, but because it is not my area of expertise, I'm not gonna do that.
00:44:51.450 --> 00:44:53.370
And so people are just listening anyway.
00:44:53.370 --> 00:45:06.730
But I, you know, it's it reminds me of when I decided I should try yoga, uh, mostly because like I thought, oh, I'm a runner and I'm like I do all the stuff I need to be more flexible and have more, which never really took.
00:45:06.730 --> 00:45:18.570
But the thing I tell people it's weird to me, like I still remember from doing yoga was all related to it was breathing, yes, but it was more like awareness of what's going on in my body, very like very specifically.
00:45:19.050 --> 00:45:30.330
It's being present and and it is this mind-body connection, which we have zero sense of in our in in our modern society, right?
00:45:30.330 --> 00:45:36.090
I mean, you can get you know you can get a PhD and mind-body connection right now is so powerful.
00:45:36.570 --> 00:45:37.450
I did not know that.
00:45:37.610 --> 00:45:39.130
Yes, and yes, you can.
00:45:39.290 --> 00:45:51.610
But like I tell people, well, and I tell people I learned like I could I could be out for a run and feeling myself like getting tense and go, okay, I'm gonna relax my legs and then my body, my shoulder, and I could do it and still run.
00:45:52.330 --> 00:46:02.650
And it's always weird sort of it sounds counterintuitive, but it was the mind is very, very powerful, and a lot of times our body is giving us signals that something's not quite right.
00:46:02.650 --> 00:46:10.250
Um, and you if there's one thing I've learned from positive psychology, we are the stories that we tell ourselves.
00:46:10.250 --> 00:46:12.490
So change your damn story.
00:46:12.730 --> 00:46:13.050
Yeah.
00:46:13.769 --> 00:46:14.810
As simple as that.
00:46:14.810 --> 00:46:22.250
And you can we can you can literally rewire the synapses in your brain.
00:46:22.570 --> 00:46:22.970
Yes.
00:46:22.970 --> 00:46:26.490
I mean, that the the idea of plasticity, right?
00:46:26.490 --> 00:46:28.090
Is plasticity.
00:46:28.090 --> 00:46:31.290
When I first heard about that, is is which fairly new.
00:46:31.370 --> 00:46:33.370
It wasn't until like 30 years ago.
00:46:33.370 --> 00:46:38.170
We we thought we had what we had, and then we we lost and we died, and you know, and that was it.
00:46:38.170 --> 00:46:51.130
But but yeah, these habits that that and and these skills that I give to people actually help them rewire their brain into a positive, more fully functioning person.
00:46:52.010 --> 00:46:53.850
Yeah, I I couldn't agree more.
00:46:53.850 --> 00:47:00.730
Well, while we we're we're kind of wrapping up, getting close to the time we need to wrap up here, but I'd like to go a little bit deeper.
00:47:00.730 --> 00:47:04.650
We talked a little bit about this change, like it's a universal thing.
00:47:04.650 --> 00:47:12.250
How how do you see this playing out in terms of impacting the way that leaders need to work?
00:47:12.250 --> 00:47:14.810
Um, because they're also dealing with the change, the pressure.
00:47:14.810 --> 00:47:20.970
You talked about setting you know, creating spaces for psych psychological safety and experimentation.
00:47:20.970 --> 00:47:30.090
What were like, how would you guide people who are either in leadership roles or about to be in leadership roles to start getting ready for what the real world is like at this point?
00:47:30.410 --> 00:47:30.810
Yeah.
00:47:30.810 --> 00:47:33.850
And and again, uh, thank you for that question as well.
00:47:33.850 --> 00:47:41.370
I actually have a new leadership uh curriculum um that I'm uh developing right now.
00:47:41.370 --> 00:47:50.890
And um, because I've given a lot of thought to what is what will what does leadership look like today?
00:47:50.890 --> 00:47:55.130
How are we preparing and training our leaders?
00:47:55.769 --> 00:47:57.930
And we're not, by the way.
00:47:58.330 --> 00:47:59.450
We're not, by the way.
00:47:59.450 --> 00:48:00.010
Yep.
00:48:00.010 --> 00:48:08.730
Yeah, and um, especially in marketing, and um, and and what does the leader in an AI-driven world need to look like?
00:48:08.730 --> 00:48:11.690
So again, there's there's there's two elements.
00:48:11.690 --> 00:48:21.130
There's you know, the always on pressure, and then there's the thriving, and then all of that in this AI, you know, driven world.
00:48:21.130 --> 00:48:23.850
And then what does that leader look like?
00:48:23.850 --> 00:48:31.130
How is that leader different from you know, kind of like the old, you know, playbook kind of leader?
00:48:31.210 --> 00:48:31.450
Right.
00:48:31.450 --> 00:48:33.850
And many control kind of leader, right?
00:48:34.250 --> 00:48:35.130
Exactly.
00:48:35.130 --> 00:49:24.490
And I think that some of the things that I already talked about, I I think that rather than this leader being any kind of uh expert, you know, specifically in an area, I think they're they are they have to create a culture of constant change, curiosity, um humanistic, um coaching, learning, growing, and um because AI is going to be doing so much of the work for us, the execution, and what's left are you know the judgment, the critical thinking and working.
00:49:24.490 --> 00:49:25.769
Creativity.
00:49:25.769 --> 00:49:29.130
Creativity, yes, yes, creativity.
00:49:29.130 --> 00:49:37.930
Uh, you know, for example, um one of the things that I I when I coach, I always have people do, I have them do their character strengths, right?
00:49:37.930 --> 00:49:43.450
And like my top three character strengths are bravery, which is why I'm always entrepreneur.
00:49:43.450 --> 00:49:46.890
It is um love of excellence.
00:49:46.890 --> 00:49:59.290
I I love seeing excellent things and it's creativity, but it's not creativity in that I can draw, it's creativity in that I can, you know, create models and you know, and and and do things like that.
00:49:59.290 --> 00:50:16.730
So I think that the leaders will need to be, because they're not gonna be functionally driven in their knowledge, they need to be driven by their their purpose of, you know, and their identity, which is going to be, I think, very important.
00:50:16.730 --> 00:50:26.010
And I think that they need the number one job is to create a culture in which their organization can flourish.
00:50:26.010 --> 00:50:29.690
And that's a different job description.
00:50:29.690 --> 00:50:31.370
It's just very different.
00:50:31.370 --> 00:50:35.530
And psychological safety in this new world, Michael, is huge.
00:50:35.530 --> 00:50:42.890
And psychological safety is nothing more than people feel like they can speak up at any time.
00:50:43.370 --> 00:50:44.410
And they'll be heard, yeah.
00:50:44.730 --> 00:50:49.450
And and the and they'll be respected and and and they and you know, and the and they will be heard.
00:50:49.450 --> 00:51:00.810
So, you know, so do I need a CMO that is a top expert in branding or a top expert in lead generation or demand generation?
00:51:00.810 --> 00:51:02.490
Do they need to know it?
00:51:02.490 --> 00:51:17.850
Yes, but their ability as a change agent and to create a culture of constant change, curiosity, experimentation, um, I think those are going to be some of the big differences that we're gonna see.
00:51:17.850 --> 00:51:32.090
The other thing is this is that they have to also be able to sustain themselves within this, their their energy, their drive, and their motivation.
00:51:32.090 --> 00:51:38.410
And you know, we we're doing everything we can in corporate America to wipe all that out by just working people to death.
00:51:38.410 --> 00:51:45.690
So that that that self-care part is going to be a very important component, and then allow their team to do the same thing.
00:51:45.690 --> 00:51:48.650
So there are many, many facets to it.
00:51:48.650 --> 00:51:56.090
And again, I don't I don't think anybody has any curriculum or anything like this just for the marketing organization.
00:51:56.090 --> 00:52:00.970
And uh, so that is where I that's where I am.
00:52:01.290 --> 00:52:08.170
Yeah, you know, the word that that I'm thinking of that came through all that is is um establishing trust, right?
00:52:08.170 --> 00:52:11.850
Trust in your leader, trust with each other, trust with your counterpart.
00:52:11.850 --> 00:52:22.090
Like I to me, that's like and and trust means um sometimes you're gonna get honest feedback that you don't want to hear.
00:52:22.090 --> 00:52:27.530
So that's part of big like because if it's not if it's not done, it can also undermine, right?
00:52:27.769 --> 00:52:31.850
That's and and that's where transparency will also be very important.
00:52:32.250 --> 00:52:34.970
And and just one other transparency with the humanity.
00:52:34.970 --> 00:52:36.010
You said humanity too.
00:52:36.010 --> 00:52:41.130
And I think a lot of people like, oh, I'm gonna be trans, I'm just being honest with you, but I'm gonna be an asshole about it.
00:52:41.130 --> 00:52:46.570
It's not the same as being, I'm gonna be transparent with you, yeah, but still respect your humanity.
00:52:46.810 --> 00:52:47.690
That's exactly right.
00:52:47.690 --> 00:52:48.730
That's exactly right.
00:52:48.730 --> 00:53:01.130
So, anyway, and and again, um we're gonna see flatter organizations, we're gonna see different or models, we're gonna see, you know, so many changes in in the world of work.
00:53:01.130 --> 00:53:08.170
And uh, you know, we've just begun to explore what that will look like for marketers and and marketing operations.
00:53:09.130 --> 00:53:10.010
Love it.
00:53:10.010 --> 00:53:11.130
Dr.
00:53:11.130 --> 00:53:12.730
Gagish, thank you.
00:53:12.730 --> 00:53:14.730
We could have gone on for a while, I think.
00:53:14.970 --> 00:53:16.090
Yes, we could have, Michael.
00:53:16.090 --> 00:53:16.810
Thank you so much.
00:53:16.810 --> 00:53:24.330
I really enjoyed the show and and thank you for allowing me to share kind of what I'm seeing in the market and what I'm doing because I'm very passionate about it.
00:53:24.410 --> 00:53:26.250
I'm very so so with that, yeah.
00:53:26.250 --> 00:53:33.370
If people if people want to um continue like to learn more, since we didn't cover probably everything we could have, like what's the best way for them to?
00:53:34.170 --> 00:53:46.810
Uh growthfactor.us is the website, and there's 10 million ways to contact me on the website as well as my LinkedIn profile, you know, book a meeting, find out more.
00:53:46.810 --> 00:53:58.810
And again, I'll be providing the leadership reset for your listeners so they can uh you know get rid of that lizard brain and and bring their thinking brain back while they're at work.
00:53:59.210 --> 00:53:59.930
Fantastic.
00:53:59.930 --> 00:54:00.890
Well, thank you again.
00:54:00.890 --> 00:54:01.850
It's been a pleasure.
00:54:01.850 --> 00:54:03.450
It's always fun talking to you.
00:54:03.450 --> 00:54:08.090
And uh thanks to our uh our supporters, listeners, viewers now.
00:54:08.090 --> 00:54:09.450
Uh we always appreciate that.
00:54:09.450 --> 00:54:12.650
If you have ideas for topics or guests who want to be a guest like Dr.
00:54:12.650 --> 00:54:15.850
Gagish, then please reach out to Naomi, Mike, or me.
00:54:15.850 --> 00:54:17.769
We'd be happy to get the ball rolling to the next slide.
00:54:17.769 --> 00:54:18.650
Thank you, Michael.