Why CEOs Should Add Interim Marketing Managers to their Arsenal

By Charles Besondy

Every CEO I know can be described with one or more of these labels:

• Orchestra conductor

• Magician

• Chemist

• General

• Chef

• Chess master

• Pied piper

• Puppet master

Try it. Think of the CEOs you know (perhaps yourself even). Pin the label on the CEO. It’s fun. While personalities and leadership techniques vary, CEOs all have one thing in common—they manage resources to drive results. More specifically, the CEO blends and directs the talent, infrastructure and finances at his/her fingertips. When he gets the combination right success usually is the outcome.

However, if it was easy to get the right combination every company would be widely successful. More often than not, the limitations of the talent, infrastructure, finances, or time (our number one enemy), muck up the works and restrict success.

Interim management should be the CEO’s best friend and secret weapon (or favorite ingredient if you prefer the chef label more than the general label). By relying on interim managers in the marketing function, the CEO can apply exactly the right marketing skills and experience to an imitative for exactly the right amount of time—all while working with variable budget dollars rather than fixed budget dollars.

This ability to augment the CEOs arsenal with the right talent at the right time can be a major competitive advantage in that it enables business agility.

• The company can jump on market opportunities or react to competitive moves swiftly and adeptly. It takes far less time to locate and retain an interim manager than to recruit a full-time senior manager (even if there is headcount in the budget).

• Existing teams aren’t whip-sawed from one initiative to another. A high degree of focus can be maintained on existing business, while teams enhanced with interim marketing talent chase new opportunities.

• The initiative’s requirements can be matched to an interim’s domain and process expertise; very few compromises necessary. The CEO can select the optimum weapon for the job.

As a CEO do you see yourself selecting weapons, moving chessmen, orchestrating a team, or creating a world-class stew? Whatever metaphor you select, consider that interim management for the marketing function stands ready to help drive business and revenue growth.

Read more posts about interim management by Charles Besondy

Contact Charles Besondy, Principal of OneRanger Interim Management

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