Contact John Fildes

Whether you’re an established Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), or aspiring marketing leader, I’m always seeking to meet other high performing professionals committed to growing their careers. It’s my passion and pleasure to share what I have learned and help others drive success.

Complete the form or connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter.

         

123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999

(123) 555-6789

email@address.com

 

You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.

Eliminate Surprises Before They Happen

Blog Posts

John Fildes provides marketing and leadership insights on what you should know and how to apply it in your organization. Tips provide cause and effect insight so you clearly understand the reward for your investment. It's consumable in less than 3 minutes and immediately actionable.

Eliminate Surprises Before They Happen

John Fildes

3 Minute Read | Comment on LinkedIn

Eliminate surprises to standout as someone who is organized and in control

Top executives don’t like surprises. Especially when the surprise is an issue could have been avoided. That’s way it’s important that you eliminate surprises in your work. In addition to increasing your growth trajectory in your organization, avoiding surprises makes you stand out as someone who is organized and in control.

Focusing on these three areas will help you mitigate surprises and risk of issues.

Stay In Front of Potential Surprises

Mitigating surprises requires you stay in front of potential threats so you can proactively work to navigate an issue before it happens. Intuition is an important leadership quality to work on when developing yourself. Intuition is the foundation of being able to spot issues before they happen. Thoughtfully planning, iterating, and refining strategy and execution is a second way to stay out in front. Reflecting often and continuously learning from your successes and mistakes keeps a pulse on the state of play. Learning, applying, and refining plans keeps the work on target and stakeholders calm and confident in you.

Rapidly Resolve The Unexpected

While it’s important to stay out in front, it’s realistic to believe some unexpected challenges will arise. You will not be able to be perfect all the time. Instead of panicking or becoming frustrated when they do happen, it’s important you avoid reacting emotionally or negatively. What is most import it to stay focused on achieving a timely resolution. Staying level headed enables you to more rapidly reach resolution and bolsters other’s perception that you are in control.

Keep Your Boss Informed

Frequent communication keeps your boss informed about lurking threats. Making your boss aware of anticipated challenges prepares them if one does occur. Transparent communication grows their confidence in you and demonstrates your ability to anticipate and navigate threats. Reinforcing the message that you have it under control, combined with calm, level headed, confident delivery of message is important. In the case an issue does arise, your boss will be less reactive as well and quickly get behind your plan for resolution.

No one likes surprises so it’s important you eliminate them before they happen. Staying in front of challenges helps you proactively anticipate and navigate obstacles. While it’s not possible to avoid every issue, responding calmly and confidently achieves timely resolution and bolsters other’s perception of you as being accountable and reliable. Frequently communicating issues on the horizon and issues that you’re effectively mitigating further strengthens your position as a leader in the organization.

Ask Yourself These Questions

  • How strong is my ability to anticipate challenges?
  • What can I do in my day-to-day to effectively stay in front of challenges?
  • How often should I review, reflect, and revise plans?
  • What tools can I leverage to stay calm when unexpected issues arise?
  • How often should I discuss potential threats with my boss?

About John Fildes

I grow the bottom line by connecting marketing to business strategy. By leveraging powerful positioning, content marketing, and client insights, I help CEOs drive qualitative and quantitative results at scale.

I've built an amazing network of incredibly talented people over the years. What I've appreciated most is those who have invested in me, mentored me, and helped me become the talented professional I am today. I pay it forward by doing the same for other high performing professionals and entrepreneurs.

Learn More: Marketing Leader | Experienced Entrepreneur | Trusted Mentor

All views are my own and not those of my current or prior employers.

Comment On LinkedIn

What tools have helped you mitigate risk and surprises in your organization?

Comment Now

Retweet on Twitter

Accelerate Your Success
With John Fildes

Receive hand selected marketing and leadership  articles, data points, and more every day to help you stay inspired and up to date about what matters most as a modern marketer.

Connect with me on LinkedIn, and follow me on Twitter to accelerate your success as a marketing leader.

categories Leadership
tags Personal Development