Crisis Guru

In his Crisis Guru Commentaries, Jim Lukaszewski provides real answers to real questions about your most critical communications problems and issues.

This issue was triggered by the question below.

To submit a question, please direct it by e-mail to crisisguru@e911.com. Be sure to include your full name, affiliation, address, and telephone number. All published questions will be identified by title and industry only. Your confidentiality will be protected.

Question:

Dear Crisis Guru:

You graciously addressed a meeting of the Long Island IABC chapter earlier this year. Would you please answer to another question? By the way, I handle traditional and e-marketing, ad campaigns, and sales promotion.

How do you get a CEO to the presentation table when we outside marketing pros have been told to deal only with staff marketing people? As you noted, savvy CEOs shouldn't be doing this detail work, but it's obviously a key to gaining commitments when we present directly to them.

Regards,

From Long Island

Answer:

Dear From Long Island:

There are three ingredients for getting the CEO to the table . . . any table:

It has to be about something they don't already know, that they feel is important to learn . . .
It has to help them move the organization forward in ways that matter to them
Someone they respect or value asks them to sit in.

Here are my rules for suggesting new ideas or concepts that can attract Senior Management:

Something that will advance the CEO's plans and strategies
Something that advances the organization's plans and goals
Even if 1. and 2. above are true, is your idea still really necessary
Raises revenue
Saves money
Conserves resources
Some part of the enterprise will fail, or fail to progress without CEO attention to it

Frankly, most marketing and communication meetings and presentations never rise to the value of a CEO's time, nor should they. These meetings are better handled by staff expertise anyway, and rarely can pass rules one and two, above. Staff functions often expect senior leaders to attend these functions as a sign of courtesy or appreciation. If you need acknowledgement or appreciation to feel important or to validate your work, plan to leave PR and Marketing today and find something else to do with you life.

This is tough stuff, but operating people so often get whining and bickering from staff functions, rather than what I suggest above. It takes an intense focus on operational needs to get them to come to anything.

You always have to ask yourself, with great humility and pragmatism, is this really worth the Boss' time? What's to be gained, from their perspective, by being there?

Hope this is helpful to you.

Jim Lukaszewski




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CRISIS GURU #25 Real Time Answers to Real Time Questions In his Crisis Guru Commentaries, Jim Lukaszewski provides real answers to real questions about your most critical communications problems and issues. This issue was triggered by the question below. To submit a question, please direct it by e-mail to crisisguru@e911.com. Be sure to include your full name, affiliation, address, and telephone number. All published questions will be identified by title and industry only. Your confidentiality will be protected. TODAY’S TOPIC: HOW DO I GET TO THE TABLE??? Question: Dear Crisis Guru: You graciously addressed a meeting of the Long Island IABC chapter earlier this year. Would you please answer to another question? By the way, I handle traditional and e-marketing, ad campaigns, and sales promotion. How do you get a CEO to the presentation table when we outside marketing pros have been told to deal only with staff marketing people? As you noted, savvy CEOs shouldn't be doing this detail work, but it's obviously a key to gaining commitments when we present directly to them. Regards, From Long Island Answer: Dear From Long Island: There are three ingredients for getting the CEO to the table . . . any table: It has to be about something they don't already know, that they feel is important to learn . . . It has to help them move the organization forward in ways that matter to them Someone they respect or value asks them to sit in. Here are my rules for suggesting new ideas or concepts that can attract Senior Management: Something that will advance the CEO's plans and strategies Something that advances the organization's plans and goals Even if 1. and 2. above are true, is your idea still really necessary Raises revenue Saves money Conserves resources Some part of the enterprise will fail, or fail to progress without CEO attention to it Frankly, most marketing and communication meetings and presentations never rise to the value of a CEO's time, nor should they. These meetings are better handled by staff expertise anyway, and rarely can pass rules one and two, above. Staff functions often expect senior leaders to attend these functions as a sign of courtesy or appreciation. If you need acknowledgement or appreciation to feel important or to validate your work, plan to leave PR and Marketing today and find something else to do with you life. This is tough stuff, but operating people so often get whining and bickering from staff functions, rather than what I suggest above. It takes an intense focus on operational needs to get them to come to anything. You always have to ask yourself, with great humility and pragmatism, is this really worth the Boss' time? What's to be gained, from their perspective, by being there? Hope this is helpful to you. Jim Lukaszewski
The Lukaszewski Group Inc. 100 South Bedford Road, Suite 340, Mount Kisco, NY 10549 U.S.A., 914.681.0000-Office 914.681.0047-Facsimile 203.948.7029-24/7 Copyright © 2009, James E. Lukaszewski. All rights reserved. Permission to print one copy for personal use is hereby granted by the copyright holder. Reproduction of additional copies without written permission of the copyright holder is strictly prohibited.