Most nonprofits begin with passion, and for good reason. A founder identifies a critical need and brings together a team that cares deeply enough to act. That kind of energy is what makes the early days possible. It drives long hours, resourceful problem-solving and a deep commitment to impact.
After electrifying the game as a 16 and 17-year-old, when it was announced Kobe McDonald was going at the end of this season, the Mayo people's disappointment was like the time the Templenoe parish priest told his flock that Pat Spillane's first baby was a girl.
CMOs need to be versatile, staying curious about technological changes while maintaining focus on creativity and the human element in marketing. This balance between innovation and human-centered strategy enables marketing leaders to effectively navigate evolving business landscapes and drive meaningful organizational outcomes.
Initially, it was this feeling of, 'OK, well if this thing can write code, then my job here is done.' But they found out really quickly that writing code was just one piece of what they did. They've moved through that moment of unease.
If Nike hired Michael Jordan to work at headquarters, would you expect the marketing team to start sinking three-pointers? Of course not. He's extraordinary, but skill doesn't spread by proximity. Here's a better question: What do Nike employees need to know about basketball? The rules. Game duration. Equipment specs. Enough to design better shoes, write sharper campaigns, and forecast demand accurately. They don't need to play in the NBA. And Nike doesn't need to hire NBA players to improve its business.
It's been really interesting. Early on, [security] was really not a high priority for companies, and so I often found myself in a back office somewhere, kind of far away from where the main activity was in the corporate environment, or kind of low down the totem pole. And we've seen how that's flipped over these past 20 - and especially the past 10 - years, where companies have really started to realize that the focus that they need to place on this so much more, and so from an organizational standpoint, you see so much more energy and resources being put to security.
Different sectors, same impulse. Unify the brand, centralize the risk. The reasons aren't complicated. Communications is no longer reactive. Brand building is no longer just about splashy creativity. Both functions now operate in a politicized environment where a press release, tweet or ad can move markets or spark backlash. Add in a world where the lines between brand and performance are more blurred than ever, and alignment between the two isn't optional. It's operational.
When Nokia was still the king of mobile phones in the late 2000s, its strategy seemed bulletproof. It was everywhere. It had the tech; it even had the market share. But as consumer preferences started shifting, internal teams couldn't agree on whether to invest in Symbian improvements, hardware design, or a new platform. On top of that, leadership failed to align engineers, designers, and market planners. Slowly but surely, Nokia started losing ground.
"If you just reduce compute to capital, you know, it's just money, and then you buy the physical infra," Kwon said. "We don't necessarily assume in lots of other industries or even in technology industries that if you're just the most capitalized company or organization, that you're automatically going to win." "It's how you make use of that resource and apply it to various bets," he added.
Businesses are rightly obsessed with productivity. This is the primary parameter of their profitability. And productivity, basically, is the product of three human-related factors: Individual abilities Motivation Knowledge Organizational and methodological factors could be mentioned, but they actually come down to knowledge. The methodology is only a factor of productivity insofar as it is known and controlled. To be complete, we should add a nonhuman factor: the work tool, whether robots or software.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has faced a lot of backlash recently. Once celebrated as a win-win solution that tackled systemic injustice and boosted business performance, DEI has become politicized and scrutinized within an inch of its life. As it was happening, those of us working to advance DEI didn't adjust as the ground shifted beneath our feet. DEI was recast as an anti-meritocratic overreach that prioritized identity over skills or qualifications.
According to a survey by HR Brain, only 10% of companies have a strategy to retain mature workers, despite the number of workers age 65 and older in the U.S. nearly quadrupling since the 1980s.
The idea that the CEO should shoulder all the responsibility for public representation is not only limiting but also neglects a critical element of modern leadership: the power of the collective influence of the entire executive team.
