Positioning is leadership
I ask ten people to tell me what we do. I get twenty different answers.
(So said a CEO to me, a few months into their new job)
It’s a common problem. Everyone knows what they’re doing (small d) individually. But no one knows what they’re Doing (big D) collectively. Not really. Not precisely. Not unanimously.
It’s a big problem for a CEO, on many levels. It’s a sure sign that people don’t know what the strategy is. It’s a possible sign that there isn’t a strategy.
And it’s an immediate test of leadership. People look to you for sense-making and direction. People look to you to cut through the ambiguity.
Positioning is a sense-making, direction-giving, ambiguity-cutting discipline. It’s a dot-joining and crap-cutting activity. Done properly, positioning is too strategic for a CEO to leave it to anyone else, because positioning is leadership.
Positioning is much more than marketing. It’s two-faced work in that its internal effects are as important as its external impact. A brand’s irresistible truth, expressed through its positioning, makes sense of the business for everyone who works there. And, yes, it’s the foundation for a charismatic brand. It makes the shop window work harder.
“Positioning is leadership” is the premise behind most of my work. Here’s the logic in summary:
A leader is someone whom people gladly follow. That’s not the same as having a C in your title.
If you want to be gladly followed, you need to make sense of things and give direction, such that progress feels both feasible and worthwhile.
Positioning is the answer to two sense-making and direction-giving questions. What are we great at? And who cares?
In other words, to what are we dedicated and to whom are we dedicated? These are strategy questions.
Positioning is leadership because it works inside the organisation to make sense of the business and sharpen the elevator pitch. It gives people something to believe in, belong to, and get behind.
Positioning is leadership because it works externally to create strong preference amongst buyers, which translates into robust demand and pricing power, which lead to sustainable profit.
Get in touch if your positioning needs a leadership overhaul. Email phil @ philadams dot co (philadams.co).
Strategic Narrative
Also for founders and CEOs. Strategic narrative is a coherent and compelling story that rallies the troops. It’s a narrative that important stakeholders will get behind and get on board with.
The brandrunner
What a CEO has in common with a TV showrunner. My newsletter article arguing that every business leader is a brandrunner.