In this episode, we sit down with Norman Guadagno to discuss the evolving landscape of marketing, AI, and career growth. Norman explores how marketers can effectively communicate value rather than just features, emphasizing the importance of aligning marketing efforts with corporate strategy. He shares insights on how AI serves as a transformative tool, enhancing strategic thinking and enabling marketers to redefine their roles in a rapidly changing environment.
Below is just a snippet of the conversation. For more episodes, check out the Spotify channel to listen or the YouTube channel. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
"Everyone's so fearful that they're going to lose their job to AI. I think you should turn that into people should be fearful that they're not going to be able to redefine their job to create value for their organization." - Norman Guadagno.
Dan Gaynor: Recently [you stated on LinkedIn] that your job should not define who you are. You should define your job. And in a world where everyone feels nervous about the dynamic changing nature and disruptive story of politics and all these countervailing issues these days, and mix in AI and the lack of skillset that we all feel like we individually should have but don't have, I would just be interested in what lessons can you impart to marketers who in such a difficult time to pin down what your resume really stands for, you can do to shape a job in your image versus being like looking at the 10 commandments of the job rec and saying, I must align perfectly to these bullets?
Norman Guadagno: I think we're in a time where the jobs that are being defined, whether that be a marketing analyst or marketing manager or CMO or communication leader, chief this or that I think that's going to need a big scrubbing in the next few years when we think about the role that AI can play to augment just about any role, any process, if you will.
And I use AI a lot. I'm deep in it, trying to get an understanding of where it can make my life easier and my job better. The fact that marketing has hit a little bit of a wall on me, the promise of being able to measure everything and not actually getting any closer to returning value, the threats, frankly, that the role of the CMO is under where the average tenure is under two years, according to some reports, and CMOs feel like they're being asked to do everything.
And they're being penalized if they miss one of those everything that they're being asked to do. So that's a long way to say that. I think people have to enter into the workplace, whether you're entry level or you're more senior level. And they have to start to say, What is it that my job does for the business? Not what is it I do, but what is it that my job does for the business?
If I'm a marketing analyst, entry-level is my job to make sure that I just produce all the data that I'm asked to produce, or is my job to be able to get some insights into the data and say, Hey, maybe we should look at this. So it's this, this changing the nature of that relationship between you and the ask into the, what can I give back that I think makes the business better?
Understanding what the business needs is predicated in large part on understanding what the business needs. Everyone's job is to be fairly well informed and educated about what the business needs and what will drive it to be better. If you're just toiling away on your piece but missing the big picture, you're probably letting the job define you rather than defining it for yourself.
We're really looking for a way to reestablish the primacy, if you will, of insights that individuals can bring. Everyone's so fearful that they're going to lose their job to AI. And I think that you should turn that into people being fearful that they're not going to be able to redefine their jobs to create value for their organization.
That means using AI, understanding the macro situation, understanding how people communicate, and being aware that, yes, there may be outside issues that are making you feel a lot of pressure; whether that be political, social, or economic, it doesn't matter. You have to figure out how to turn it back to creating value ultimately in the company.
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Signal in the Noise is a podcast dedicated to helping today's business leaders navigate the complexities of decision-making by leveraging data and groundbreaking technology—first and foremost, artificial intelligence (AI). You can also watch the interview on our Signal AI YouTube channel here.