With the holidays upon us, some of us (OK, specifically me…I have a toddler who just figured out Santa…) are racing around collecting lists and trying to make dreams come true. But what do some of the amazing brains across the Constellation network want to see from Santa? Don’t hack Santa’s inbox…I gathered the list.
(DISCLAIMER: I can neither confirm nor deny the rightful positioning of any of the below individuals on the “Naughty or Nice” list and cannot guarantee Santa can deliver on any of the below requests. Especially Richie's.)
Cindy Zhou, Chief Marketing Officer at LogRhythm: One business wish for Santa - empathy for the marketer. We're in the nexus of all-things customer experience, digital transformation, and delivering pipeline at the same time. Recognize us as part of the data tribe, and not merely arts and crafts.
Joanne Moretti, Founder & CEO of J Curve Digital: For ALL business leaders to invest in education. The education of their people, and of kids in general. To me education (before sales) is the cure-all. Unfortunately, "education by postal code" (as we experience here in the US) is wrong and leaves half our brain tied behind our backs as a country. If we have an educated country, we will thrive in a globalizing economy. Innovation will flow through naturally. Education at every level, academic or on the job wise, that is captured and shared, will foster better and faster innovation cycles. That's my wish: GREAT EDUCATION FOR ALL PEOPLE, and again not by postal code or job class, but for everyone, all the time.
Zachary Jeans, VP Marketing at AbsenceSoft: Measurements and engagement value for our brand when it comes to our people, especially how we treat our existing people in times of need and how we treat rejected job candidates. We have to start understanding the impact of a rejected job candidate – how does it negatively impact an organization’s brand over 1-10 year horizon, especially within their given industry? Can we get the real ROI on treating a candidate poorly? Same questions hold true on the subject of leave management. When we treat our colleagues poorly or mishandle a leave, for pregnancy, illness or a family medical issue, we know that when that colleague or employee returns they’re likely already searching for a new employer. So I’d like to start measuring the things that we all know are REAL, but have been left to anecdotal or vague correlation.
Geof Corb, Vice President, Higher Education Development at Oracle: Sweep away the term "digital transformation." In my opion, it has become a nonsense marketing term to describe what would have been natural, organic evolution of our organizations facing changing (disruptive or not) technology. Nothing new here. We technologists have been doing this forever, but now there is a flashy term that is getting tired and distracts from the fact that it's all about (business) outcomes and not the technology itself!
Sunder Sarangan, Strategy and Growth Leader: It is time for Santa to replace corporate jargon or political correctness in the workplace with radical candor. Brutal honesty in the most respectful manner lets us say goodbye to the compliment sandwich that plagues everything from emails to all forms of feedback. Or maybe he could bring an AI reader to interpret what people are truly trying to communicate…a bit like reverse auto-correct.
Gurvinder Singh Shani, Chief Marketing Officer at Appirio (a Wipro Company): Looking for Tech that can sync up with Marketing and make sense for CMO’s - they have been dating for while…
Richie Etwaru, Founder, Chief Executive & Chair of Board, Hu-manity.co: Automatic faucets and automatic sanitary napkin dispensers in airport bathrooms to work. We should just all admit they were a bad idea from the start. I don’t think there was ever a positive ROI on any of those things. They bring out the worst because they break, people get angry, they beat the crap out of them, they break, and then someone must pay to fix/service.
Happy Holidays to all...may the New Year bring everything on our list and much, much more!