I Am Enthralled…That’s All I Can Say

Marketing is not my profession, but I engage in marketing all the time. As a formal leader of people in a corporate environment, my job is to sell things to be people. I sell direction. I sell corporate visions and missions. I sell buy-in to the work that must be done, not just the side projects people want to do. I sell them on careers. I sell them the notion that they can be much more than anyone has ever told them they can be. In the end, I sell ideas.

I have been listening to A LOT of marketing the past week or so.  I am listening to marketing from behind the scenes; I am listening to marketers talk about marketing.  It’s fascinating.  In the process, I have learned that what they do and what I do in many ways is not that drastically different.  It goes back to selling ideas.

Ideas are powerful.  I can’t recall when it started, but one of my father’s favorite lines is “reality is perception.”  I couldn’t agree more.  And it’s this perceived reality that is at the core of both marketing and leading other people.  They create a perception that what they want to sell, you need, and leaders create the perception that where they want to take you, you really need to go.

I am enthralled…that’s all I can say.