Wanted: Chief Meaning Officer
Published 6/12/2009
Author: Tim Leberecht
Tim Leberecht is Vice President of Marketing and Communications with San Francisco-based Frog Design Inc.
Summary
Values are the new value. Meaning is succeeding customer satisfaction. “The job of leadership today is not just to make money. It’s to make meaning,” writes management consultant John Hagel.
This new cultural climate presents a historic opportunity for brands to transform themselves into arbiters of meaning. Only businesses that give more than they take will be able to create sustained brand loyalty. Out: bottom-line pragmatists and financial wizards. In: philosophers, ethicists, and social entrepreneurs.
Marketing is best positioned to lead the transformation. What is needed is the marketer as chief meaning officer — someone who negotiates a “New Deal,” a new social contract between brands, their stakeholders, and society at large. Marketers are not only disposed to transformation by the nature of their role but also because they serve as the public interface of their companies, orchestrating the relationships between customer, media and public.
Has your organization adopted a "chief meaning officer" appoach to business? Share your ideas here.
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