Name: John Watson

Title: Marketing Coach and Fractional CMO

Organisation: Accrue Performance Marketiing Inc.

John is the President of Accrue and the author of BEING Profitable: A Business Development Roadmap. John’s been consulting since 1993. He helps people start and grow businesses as their partner in business development. He serves in different capacities, but it is usually some combination of sales and marketing coach, strategist, Fractional CMO or CCO, facilitator, researcher or data analyst.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope John's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

I build trust by being a committed advocate for my clients and team. I get to know who they are, what they are passionate about and committed to creating. I ask thoughtful and insightful questions and dig into their data where appropriate so I understand the situation from a personal, financial and operational perspective. Then, I show up as a partner to contribute. Being Trustworthy goes a long way towards earning people's trust.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

Vision, mission, and values need to get simplified and translated into meaningful and actionable language that everyone understands, buys into and knows how to live into. Unfortunately, the essence of the mission and vision tends to get lost in translation. Too little time is spent helping people connect with why they are so important and how to action them. As a marketer, these core intentions inform and guide the process of designing the experience we aim to create for customers and staff.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

Effective communication and enrollment is the beginning of empowerment. At the core, empowerment requires that you establish an expectation of creativity and contribution. You need to be clear how much authority people have to act without seeking permission. People also need to feel safe enough to stick their necks out on the company's behalf. Fear of failure or ridicule is not particularly empowering. People need to know that you have their back if you want them to step up.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

In my first leadership role, I had a principal give me enough rope to hang myself. Being young and nieve, I often found myself dangling from the threads. But rather than call out my failures, my boss used the opportunity to mentor me to learn from the experience. He also encouraged me to make even bolder and higher-risk moves. I can't tell you how important it was for me to feel like someone had my back as I was busting my backside trying to blaze a trail for the company. He created just enough safety for me to step up and do my best. Everyone thought he was crazy, but I had nothing but respect for the faith and support he offered me.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

I start with the end in mind. I create a roadmap for myself before I take anything on. I map out the big important stepping stones needed to get where I'm going. Then, I pick three core initiatives to work on in addition to whatever else I have going on operationally. These are what Stephen Covey would call my big rocks. They are important versus urgent initiatives. I always know what the next most important step is once I get on top of one of the stones. I also gather feedback on KPIs to make sure I'm focused on the right things.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

I start with the big picture, end in mind goal. I map it out clearly and specifically. Then I map out the steps to get there. I break up the steps into achievable projects and work on three of them at any given time. These initiatives are integrated with my operational responsibilities, so I don't let the urgent prevent me from working on the important ones. At least that is the goal that I'm always striving to live up to.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

You need to develop your communication effectiveness and delegation skills. Read two books. The first is L.E.T. by Thomas Gordon and the second is If you want it done right, you don't have to do it yourself by Donna M. Geneff. These books are foundational. Devour them, then put the learning into practice. Then go learn some more about these topics. I've found these skills are the beginning of a long but very important developmental journey.