I believe in an approach.

To be a successful marketer in the world today, you must excel in 4 primary areas.

Synergy

You must be able to build and foster relationships across Product, Sales and Marketing. This is the trifecta you need to develop in order to have success. If you don’t have all three, you are going to run into roadblocks that may be hard to bypass.

Management

You must be able to attract, inspire and empower talent to exceed expectations. Surround yourself with people who have potential, guide them in the direction that works, and help them surpass even what they think they can do.

Thinking

The ability to strategize. The ability to think differently. The innate curiosity to look at new ways to solve old problems, or look for new problems that need to be solved. Forget “thinking outside the box”. Find a new shape and think about that one.

Doing

Most senior marketers get so removed from the work, they forget how to “do” anything. You should be learning new tools, playing with technology, and getting in the weeds. Don’t delegate unless you know how to do it yourself. Get dirty.

You can sometimes get away with 3 out of 4. You may even fool people into letting you get away with 2 out of 4. You be successful, you truly need to be at least a little of all 4. The best marketers are always developing skills in all 4 areas.