A good CEO has an innate ability for strategy. As they sit on the top of their corporate heap, the CEO’s underlings have a narrow focus from a looking up perspective. Some may seem the CEO’s visit to the plant as a dog and pony show. And when the CEO digs down to the production level employee and asks questions, the CEO may seem disingenuous, even patronizing. But keep in mind, I’m talking about the CEO with “an innate ability for strategy”, well call her our SCEO.
Quite often the SCEO will see down streams that only they can put into proper perspective. Even a seemingly small business problem can show a larger problem.
For example, A strategic commitment to an accounting software solution could later mean issues with inventory integration. The single touch point of a “problem” might be that the inventory clerk needs to manually scan and enter all purchase receipts. That single disconnect could possibly indicate a completely disconnected back end computer system. The accounting system was not purchased under the auspices of a “project”, or a strategic initiative. The accounting manager was tasked to solve a business problem, to by buy a business solution and let IT figure out the rest. As other business systems are added, the environment can become wither more streamlined or chaotic, all depending on the strategy. A compilation of one-off solutions does indicate a MOB strategy, and the strategy can be reverse engineered, based upon analysis of the down hill conflicts.
Today I met one such down hill conflict with Formula E, the very exciting open wheel electric racing series.
I am a fan of all forms of motor sports. The Formula E Championship Series is especially exciting. Pulling from the top drivers from around the world, 18 drivers on 9 teams compete for the Formula E Championship series in 10 races in cities around the globe, with only 1 race in any given country. They drive all electric vehicles intended to advance all aspects of the electric vehicle industry. Formula 1 and NASCAR are the figure heads which attract top teams and manufacturers for internal combustion engines. From that same perspective, Formula E is the strategic anchor for electric vehicles whose intent is to promote both business advertising interests and electric vehicles, making Formula E is the figure-head for electric vehicles.
Today I encountered a seemingly minor conflict while enjoying today’s FormulaE race in Mexico, and I am putting on my SCEO hat.
The conflict occurred on twitter during the race. Sebastien Buemi made an incredible move to pass Daniel Abt. It was the exact emotional racing moment when the entire digital marketing plan to comes together and the fan gets the payoff. Social media was alive with the race and one of the more popular drivers executes a great driving move… I need the replay. The intended instant gratification appears in my twitter feed, because I follow @FormulaE. A tweet with the replay… PAYOFF and…………
Insert womp womp sound…… wait a minute, the purchasing clerk needs to manually type the purchase order into the inventory system because the two can’t talk. Somehow later I’ll have to figure out how to see that replay later… what’s the chance of that happening.
As the FormulaE consumer and viewer, the momentum of my experience is broken. My emotion is driven to that perfect anticipation and ‘m slapped. Part of the Formula E strategy is something called FanBoost. This is a technology where fans can vote for their favorite or most deserving driver, and at an appointed time drivers receive extra boost, speed. Fanboost is advertised and encouraged. And Formula E has had great efforts connecting drivers with the fans. So it is safe to assume that social media is a critical component of the Formula E marketing strategy. But somewhere along the line a conflict of interest occurred, and web content is blocked to American Formula E fans. I am 100% certain that there is a “good” reason why this content is blocked. But strategically, it hurts Formula E badly. Blocking the United States from FormulaE content advances the connotation that “open wheel racing is not for Americans and formulaE does not work on my computer”. Regardless of where the blame lies, the downstream result was missed by an upstream filter.
The SCEO
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