Why I Launched A Consulting Firm With A Twist
Early in my career, I dealt with imposter syndrome like crazy. In fact, it’s never really gone away. I’m learning that for most female leaders, it never really does. But, when I started my career in Silicon Valley in 1989, I’d go to client meetings, listen to what was being said, half of it gibberish to me, but by the end of the meeting, I knew what needed to get done.
I could see the strategy, the program, the people connecting with the brand, in all their unique ways. I could reduce the complexity to an essence and help marketers get super focused on what to do next. These skills came in very handy helping Microsoft become a global customer marketing powerhouse, turning eBay into a social media trailblazer, helping Facebook create a marketing culture to scale, or helping Pentair go from industrial unknown to a consumer favorite.
At 26, clients wanted me in the room for important discussions. At 57, they still do. And that’s where I’m needed and where I love to be. But you know, the magic in those rooms wasn’t about my brilliance. There are far smarter, more creative people in the world. It was about my ability to listen to ideas, and to hold space for conversation that produces the next forward movement into the future.
Back then, I relied a lot on intuition. Everyone’s got it, but not everyone is encouraged to tap into it. Over the years, with the emergence of so much data, intuition still reigns. It can be polished by experience, informed by data, and challenged by diverse perspectives, but it’s still the key that unlocks the future as it unfolds. Creating an environment for intuition to flourish into ideas that get executed well is what I really do. It’s not just marketing, it’s culture.
My early experiences were found in independent agencies scrambling for a foothold in the new world of technology marketing. Personal accountability and agency were paramount, because we were just a handful of people hungry for more, building something significant. We brought life, heart, and soul to the emerging tech industry and taught marketers to talk to engineers, and translated technology for common folk. We were the bridge between techies and “regular people.”
This was a ground-breaking time for the entire marketing world. Now, not only did we have to move fast to get rapidly changing products and services to market, but we had to do it while teaching our clients to use new, ever more complex channels. And yet, one thing remained true for me. When navigating these complex systems, environments, and team dynamics, how my team and I showed up made all the difference in the success or failure of a venture. Our mindset, our willingness to own outcomes, be accountable to each other, create constructive feedback loops, and love each other through the pain was the key. So why, I kept asking myself, don’t agencies provide culture cultivation, or even change management services?
The conditions for succeeding through complexity and change must be cultivated right alongside marketing capabilities. Trust, accountability, authenticity, and vulnerability are the new super-powers that marketers and customer-facing teams need to truly connect with audiences. So, in order to ensure this philosophy is made available to as many marketers as possible, I’m opening my own firm with an amazing team of like-minded, committed leaders who share the same vision.
Recently, my accountant asked me how big I wanted to grow. I struggled with the answer. We’re building a space where people can grow in multiple directions as humans, marketers, cultural architects, and leaders. A better question would be, “How many people do we want to impact.” There is no exit plan. We’re building a prosperous community, not a wealth generator for a few. It’s a culture game without an end game because a place to discover our full potential together needs to be cultivated infinitely, in the workplace and our communities.
So, when you hire my company, you hire a path for constant change. We’re a finely tuned team of people who operate from a shared purpose to make a true impact. These are people I’ve admired over my 30 years in business who share a longing for meaning and a love of exceptional brand experiences for companies making a difference in the world. Partners in trust creating the business world we want to work in.
We’re not just an agency, but a consulting firm with a twist.—a true agent of change. Our secret sauce is cultivating trust and deep relationships. We’re for companies who want an edge but have found that their own cultural blindspots are getting in the way of great customer relationships. We’re for marketers whose struggle with internal misalignment gets in the way of launching impactful programs. We’re for teams struggling to maintain or recover some of that pre-pandemic trust. And, we’re for everyone who knows to seek relationships, not just sales. Infinite edge is open for business.
About InfiniteEdge:
InfiniteEdge is a consultancy of marketing and culture experts that helps companies build trust and navigate today’s rapidly evolving market environment, while providing all the marketing services you'd expect from a top-tier integrated agency. Invite us in to help you transition your marketing operation from reactive to responsive and develop a roadmap to help you thrive through the coming unknown.
