Over the past couple years we’ve experienced the implosion and humbling of the world’s investment banking fraternity. The geniuses who conceived of credit default swaps and bundled doomed mortgages have been clobbered by the risks they commercialized.

As the world of high Finance was glorified during the expansion cycle, the reflected light ricocheted on to CFO’s at operating companies across a range of sectors. Gradually during the 1990s and beyond, corporate Finance staffs took on levels of importance and authority that often outweighed their competencies.

In companies where I worked, I saw lazy CEO’s deferring to CFO’s on key strategic/operational issues. Internal teams got the message: “if you can get something past the CFO, we’ll go ahead.” This organizational dysfunction was especially frequent in companies jumping on the bandwagon to eliminate the COO role. The Chief Executive was busy with directors, investors, regulators and, when time allowed, customers and employees.

As a result, the Finance function quietly absorbed ownership of Strategic Planning, the crucial process by which scarce resources are allocated across growth opportunities. We backed into a new reality. Accountants, treasurers, auditors and tax managers were now moving well beyond their areas of expertise in providing timely, accurate financial reporting.

As competent as they may (or may not) have been, too many were out over their skis.

Most classically-trained Finance department managers, had never thought in deep and sustained ways about market segments, competitive responses, channel dynamics and fragmented consumer loyalties. In many organizations, the Finance group’s most profound contributions were Excel spreadsheets of out-year revenue and expense projections masquerading as a long-term strategic plan.

That never made sense as a planning architecture and it is doomed now as the essential engines of our demand system have stalled.

To re-ignite the fires of creativity and innovation and to re-stimulate demand, Marketing departments must step forward. Along with Engineering and Product Development, Marketers need to move beyond the bald tires of MarComm spin, PR messaging and ad slogans. Those stale tactical expressions are irrelevant in The Reputation Economy. They don’t get your brand invited into social networks or enhance customer relationships.

CEOs should now demand that Marketing re-capture ownership of Strategic Planning and become Chief Growth Officers for the enterprise. This involves internalizing customer insights and using them to drive the innovation and executional agendas.

At the same time, Marketing leaders as Chief Growth Officers must assume responsibility for guiding the company through the vital strategic gates: customer segmentation and selection, innovation priorities, resource allocation and Marketing R.O.I. analyses. Then Marketing must recruit for the department’s skill positions and enlist their functional partners across the enterprise to lead an internal campaign that moves employees from compliance to commitment.

Finally, Marketers must learn a valuable lesson from Finance: managing the measurements conveys authority. Development and visibility for effective innovation and marketing campaign scorecards builds credibility for a growth agenda. This area of Marketing Effectiveness Measurements has been ignored by many CMO’s. The shift in dollars to more measurable online media has elevated expectations for an R.O.I. on the marketing spend. And the Marketing R.O.I. modelling exercise presents a good opportunity for Finance, Marketing and I.T. to establish solid working relationships.

The “new normal” in our macro-economy requires fresh thinking about organizational design. And as companies reach the end of the road for easy efficiencies in supply chains, the spotlight will again shine on innovation and creativity to stimulate the demand-side of the equation. That demand equation fuels the Strategic Planning Process and is the vital accountability for a Chief Growth Officer.

• The gravitational pull on leaders to find cost efficiencies in their businesses is overwhelming; so find ways to help customers and prospects drive out transactional expenses
• Decision-makers are starved for insights into their demand systems; dashboard metrics they used to look at quarterly are now reviewed monthly. What used to be looked at monthly is now reviewed weekly.
• Smart CEO’s are taking advantage of this business environment to get even closer to their most important customers and partners
• If your company is re-thinking it’s website presence, have asingle, clearly defined goal or desired outcome for every page
• Make a personal commitment to ask what your successor would do in your role afte you’re gone? Then do those things.
• If you’re not using something simple like the Net Promoter Score to track customer satisfaction, then start. Ask me how.
• Get your team re-focused on the customer and their business problems. Don’t breathe your own exhaust or get seduced by your product’s features & attributes. “Customers don’t buy 3/4″ drills. They buy 3/4″ holes.”
• Re-align your Marketing plans to achieve more than MarComm managers will by spinning messages. Acknowledge that slogans, banner displays and clever jingles by themselves are irrelevant. Make your CMO the Chief Growth Officer for the enterprise. Focus the Marketing effort on re-thinking the marketplace and the competitive frame; on amplifying the voice of the customer for the company and on driving innovation.
• When selling internally or externally, look for the “code of the leader.” What agenda is the organization serving? Be part of it.
• Do not underestimate the importance of a sharp price. Especially in retail where “70% off is the new black.”