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Don't scrap everything! See what you can salvage.

Greg Peverill-Conti
Today's fortune submitted by:
Greg Peverill-Conti

Medway, MA, USA

Greg Peverill-Conti: From Alcatraz ranger to Library Land exec, he unites curiosity and creativity. With a passion for libraries and storytelling, he's also a reader, fiddler, and vibrant storyteller, embracing life's colorful narratives.

Don't Reinvent The Wheel.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about avoiding the temptation to reinvent the wheel.


So, you've accepted an offer as the new Vice President of Marketing at a big company. Congratulations!! Wow! You've paid your dues for fifteen long toilsome years and now look at you. You are standing on the big stage where the lights are bright and expectations are higher than ever. We are all so thrilled for you! We can't wait to eat cake, pat you on the back, and celebrate with a hearty champagne toast to wish you good luck in your new gig!


Then on your first day, you sit down in your new chair, behind your new desk, in your new office, for the very first time. What will you do first? Just then, your boss walks in and welcomes you to the company. He spends a few minutes chatting and gives you an outline of your goals and objectives through the remainder of the year. Next, you have some input meetings with your new team members to get a feel for what they've been doing, which turns out to be a really good idea. So, now you know much more about how your predecessor ran things.


Okay, then what?


This is usually when the urge to try and "make your mark" sets in. You have visions of splendid grandeur, of breaking records and winning awards. Well, of course, you would dream of such things; you want to do a great job and prove to everyone that you are the right person for this job. But how? Your predecessor is gone. For whatever reason, it didn't work out and now the job is yours.


So then what will you do?


You look more closely into what had been done before. The more you try and follow the threads of what had been woven together, the more convoluted and confusing it becomes. Then the urge to make your mark begins to transform into a full-on temptation to start over completely. It will be a fresh start. A new beginning. It will be easier than trying to understand this mess. So, you give in to the temptation to hit the restart button and proceed to dismantle what had been built.


Soon after blowing up, taking down, and ripping apart what had been built, you begin to see these little problems popping up. You're good on your feet and patch those problems with a few quick fixes. The fixes are not ideal, but they'll work fine for a few months while you're trying to build your new systems and programs. A few weeks later, you realize there are dependencies connected to the performance of the patches you've created, so then you work to fortify the patches. Then something else pops up which is connected with the second thing you fixed, and on, and on, and on.


Fast forward twenty-two months...


You step back and take a look at what you've created over the course of a year and finally realize that it looks just like the spaghetti you had worked so hard to unravel. You now know why the marketing systems you inherited had been built in such a weird way. Tragically, rather than advancing, you've stalled and fallen back. After an entire year, all you've really done is reinvent the wheel. Unfortunately, the wheel you've created is only marginally better than the one you replaced.


So, the moral of this story is simple. While you want to do a terrific job in your new gig, and have a positive impact on the business, don't be tempted to assume that you can build it from the ground up, better and faster than had been done before you arrived. Even if it is true, which it probably is, you will likely have a greater impact, maximizing and optimizing the systems and programs that already exist, than to start over from scratch. It really is as today's fortune says, "Don't scrap everything! See what you can salvage."

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Cookie

Percent Daily Value

Inspiration

Percent Daily Values are based on the essential nutrients required to maintain a healthy mindset, fostering success in your marketing, prosperity in your career, and fulfillment in your life.

100%

100%

100%

100%

Affirmation

Motivation

Aspiration

Submitted by:

Greg Peverill-Conti

Unpackaged in: 

Medway, MA, USA

Cookie Ingredients:

Ingredient

What marketing is really saying:

"If there are only three styles, they aren't custom."

What marketing says:

"Custom cabinets, choose from three styles."

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