Not in Any Job Description: The Unwritten Role of Marketing

An appeal to the right side of the brain...

By Mark Helfen

Joe Cullinane wants to appeal to the right side of your brain.

Your left brain is the part that writes code, crunches numbers, or focuses on logic. But getting organizations and teams to work well, and allowing you to better support you manager and your team needs some right brain focus.

"Its surprising that this side - the right brain - gets so little attention when its so important," said Cullinane when I spoke to him about his presentation. "It's a skill you don't learn anywhere, yet it can help in your career."

Cullinane is an executive advisor, consultant, and coach who helps executives and entrepreneurs achieve their business goals. He is also an author of several books, including his latest, Surfing the Rift: The Executive's Guide to the Post-Web 2.0 World. He will speak on the topic Not in Any Job Description: The Unwritten Role of Marketing at the SDForum Marketing SIG meeting on May 10.

The human relations skills, or "the mortar between the bricks" as Cullinane describes it, are not in any job description, and is "not stuff they teach you in business school. Nobody teaches these things."

But from three perspectives, Cullinane will show how they can be key to your success - with your boss, your team, and yourself.



CEO and Leaders:

Cullinane has spent 15 years coaching CEOs and leaders, and has an understanding of what they are looking for in high-level executives.

"As an executive coach with CEOs and leaders, I understand their perspective. Their different view of things," said Cullinane.

Leaders are looking for people to "help make their vision a reality." The people who support them effectively need to understand power, politics, ego, and relationships. The boss needs to know that his or her people will "watch their back."

Teams:

By learning what's valuable to your team, and becoming more attuned to communications within the team, you can help get alignment between individuals and the organizations objectives.  By understanding these issues, you can become a "linchpin" of your team, critical to its success.

Individuals:

Finally, these skills allow individuals to focus on strategies that allow them to position themselves to become a leader. You can come away with a plan to move your career forward by becoming the boss yourself.

So come next Monday night, and bring both sides of your brain.


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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen

follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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