10 Compelling Reasons You Want Winners Working for Your Success!

This is a collaborative effort based upon the research of Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard Business School professor and author, and the condensed content of her HBR blog post.

1. Good Mood.

• Clearly everyone feels good about winning, while emotions sag at failure. Emotions affect performance. Positive moods produce physical energy and the resilience to persist after setbacks.

• Psychologists find that moods are contagious. Winners’ exhilaration is infectious.

• In marketing, as in sports, results stem mainly from the “attitude of winning” that a strong leader brings to your business.

• You can assure your company will crush your objectives, and the competition, if you search for and engage positive, winning talent.

• Look for a winning record and a legacy of over 200 awards for marketing and creative excellence and what that means to your marketing and sales strategies.

2. Attractive Situation.

• There is less absenteeism and more solidarity in organizations known for their successes because people spend more time together feeling good about what they can and do accomplish.

• More time together brings more information-sharing and mentoring.

• In amateur sport, winners more frequently teach, support and lead and that transference to business and to new challenges is easier.

• In marketing today, winners know more, deliver more and expect more than those who just shows up for the snack bar.

3. Learning.

• Winners are more likely to voluntarily discuss mistakes and accept negative feedback, because they are comfortable that they can win.

• Because they are confident about the possibility of winning, they see practicing as a route to a positive outcomes.

• For athletes, practice matters. Winning is found in mastery of the details.

• A life-long learner commits to constant improvement. Excellence emanates from examining and improving many small processes and routines.

4. Freedom to Focus.

• As every golfer, baseball and tennis player and knows, you must keep your eye on the ball. Losers often punish themselves for misses.

• Winners have fewer distractions. Golf pro Tiger Woods won nearly every championship until hit with personal problems of his own making, leading to losses on the course and at the bank.

• If, during a 5-year span, you win 12 USGA-sanctioned golf tournaments and in 2011, finish 2nd at the Golf Channel Amateur Tour Senior National Championship, besting 94 other U. S. golfers over 72-holes, then you know you can focus.

• A winner brings that focus and intensity to clients who value experience.

5. Positive Culture.

• For a team player, winning makes it easier to respect and listen to one another, because after all, if you win together, then the intention is to make everyone a good player.

• Winners maintain high aspirations and generosity toward others.

• Initiators, learners and leaders enable and accelerate your growth.

6. Solid Support.

• Behind every high-performance athlete or team is a cadre of coaches, friends and fans who fuel motivation.

• Winning enlarges your circle of backers, including influencers and your best new customers.

• When your top performers are striving to exceed objectives, they also create new processes that strengthen your corporate fiber.

• In virtually every client relationship I can count, I have left that company better than when I arrived.

7. Better Buzz.

• It’s not just the buzz around a victory that separates winners from losers, it’s the more favorable story about the past and future.

• Winning provides a halo that makes everything seem to glow.

• When you and your team, marketing and sales aligned, are better storytellers, you create trust and convert prospects to great customers faster and with fewer dollars.

• You don’t have to go all the way back to “Tide’s In and Dirt’s Out!” in the 1950s to appreciate the power of word-of-mouth.

• An experienced and creative marketing professional gets you heard.

8. Invitations to the Best Relationships.

• Really. Winners get invited to the White House, Buckingham Palace and key conferences, exhibitions and podiums.

• They gain access to networks and relationships that confer benefits that maintain winners’ momentum, such as early information or better deals.

• Sales executives love to hear this from their national accounts managers; “I called Jerry Smith over at ExxonMobil last Thursday. He said Joe, I’m glad you called. I really need to talk to you.” That’s what marketing excellence can do for you.

• Winners have a better story to tell.

9. Self-determination.

• Winners have more control over their own destiny. “Why tamper with success?” we often say.

• Winners are left to get it done. More latitude to do their best.

• These self-directed marketing professionals free you up to do what makes you happy. Leading from your strengths!

• Initiative. Adapting to what really works best. Confidence to make mistakes, learn and tweak the marketing process to succeed. It’s not found in applicant-tracking software.

10. Continuity . . . Sustainability.

• High turnover consumes time and energy. More time spent getting people on board leaves less time and fewer assets to fully execute your particular game plan.

• It’s hard to start winning again until the situation stabilizes.

• Winners have the luxury implementing long-term strategies and planning for orderly succession.

• Engage the best. Recruit for the long term. And use fractional chief marketing officer (FCMO) services and concept-to-content (C2C) services when scaling up or bridging to new talent.

From Strength to Action!• Savvy leaders can build on the work of

winners to encourage a positive spirit, laser focus, mutual respect, lots of practice on the details and lasting support systems that can make successes and comebacks more likely.

• Be smart and selfish. Engage outside talent, expertise and experience to build a winning culture, deploy best B2B marketing practices under the guidance of senior talent. Then grow your team with confidence.

• Keep the overhead dollars you don’t spend and re-allocate them to your marketing initiatives and innovation of your offerings.

• That’s a win!

“We drive winning concept-to-execution processes that create and sustain long-term value through

integrated marketing strategies for companies operating in regional, national and global markets.

This involves not only complex project management success, but also direction of diverse technical and creative talents and teams”, Joe Slade, CEO, The Slade Group © 2014.