It used to annoy me a bit when people said “We’re all in marketing these days”. Especially if they were a reservoir engineer or some kind of scientist. Like anyone could master marketing – even people who had already mastered something else.
It undermined what made me different.
Owning a clear, differentiated position in people’s minds is just as important inside an organisation as it is outside for customers. Colleagues need to know what you do or there’s a risk that they go to someone else, leaving others to question why you exist.
I was lucky in my part of bp because there was no other marketer. I took as much space as possible – from strategy to brand to campaigns and collateral. I immersed myself in really technical content that helped me build good relationships with cranky subject matter experts and raised barriers to entry for others. I’d read my Porter.
Paranoid? Probably. I found it made me that way. Compounded by endless restructuring and a culture of job insecurity, defending territory was a survival strategy for many – including me.
One of the techniques you learn as a startup founder to help you explain your business is to ‘Find an Enemy’. Someone for whom you exist to bring down. Google’s Microsoft, Airbnb’s hotel chains, Uber’s monopolistic taxi firms etc.
My nemesis in bp was the Comms function. I often wanted to bring them down! The Comms people in bp were very nice people; I liked many of them, just not the function. But the people had no budget, little power (except blocking), just loads of annoying processes. And they always needed everything urgently. They had no time to really engage “the business”, which hacked people I knew off, especially the technical folks who hated their work being dumbed down “because we need this tomorrow”.
I saw an opportunity to go different:
I sound a bit chippy I know and to be honest I think I was. I liked the label of rebel – and the way I bent the rules to create content people liked. And when I started working with startups I loved working that way even more.
That’s this week’s task: use your nemesis or enemy to explore what makes you different, what makes you valuable, why do people want you around?
My coach Miffa called me a “Pirate in the Navy”, which was a title I also embraced. But there was a warning in that moniker – you can be a Pirate but you need to play the Navy’s game. And you will fail if you’re enjoying being the Pirate a bit too much.
Since leaving I’ve realised I’m not much of a Pirate either. In fact I’m actually quite drawn to Navies, possibly even more now I’m working with them from the outside rather than from inside.
I have realised that Navies like me because I understand the rules well enough to be trusted not to screw things up, but I’m Pirate-ish enough to not let those rules slow me down, block me from doing the right thing or challenge something or someone (in a respectful way). These are points of difference - not everyone has them and they can create value for others, which in turn creates value for me.
Each week, through the wonder of social media, I’m meeting people intrigued by Corporate Escapology who either share their frustrations with their current corporate situations or who want to tell me their story of escape.
When I originally planned this blog it was going to be about my foray last week into the uncomfortable world of ‘Instagram Lives’ with one such Corporate Escapologist, a super chap Tom Coleman, who recently left corporate life to become a freelance digital marketer. He’s got thousands of followers and is an influencer type – I asked to interview him and he said “Yeah but let’s do it live”.
“OK”, I said, slowly. With all manner of “I’m not ready” syndrome rising up inside me. Anyway it was brilliant – you can watch it here if you like. 1300 people have watched it! It was great for me because Tom had practised many of the lessons I advocate and had broadly (unconsciously) followed the book’s method. And although “being live” was deeply uncomfortable I did it, because there’s no doubt that self-promotion is critical to writing a book.
But self-promotion all starts with being different – which is what this blog is really all about.
Standing out. Standing for something. A distinctive space in someone’s brain that they can articulate, “Yeah I know Adam he is great at X” or even “Adam wrote the Sunday Times Bestseller Corporate Escapology”.
You can’t of course control what people think of you. Any more than any brand can. But, like a brand, you can help them think of you in a way you’d prefer.
And like any good brand identity project, you have to start by exploring who you are, what makes you special and how you help your customer solve a problem.
Your job title isn’t enough. You need to think deeply about what blend of things makes you and your offer valuable and different.
Chapter 5 in Corporate Escapology is all about the self-audit, showing you how to really see yourself and understand the skills, experiences and know-how that will set up your new life post-corporate.
It’s intended to help you identify what makes you different, what makes you you.
If you can’t wait for the book email me at adam@corporateescapology.com and I’ll send you a preview.
And do, please share the blog with someone you think it might help.