Accept Your Inheritance.

Today's Marketing Cookie is based on a true story that happens every day.

The position of head of marketing for a company changes hands almost as often as that of a head coach for professional sports teams. In fact, the average lifespan of a Chief Marketing Officer within the same company is only about 22 months. This frequent turnover happens because shareholders and investors demand aggressive growth year after year. The main way to achieve this is to enhance marketing and generate more leads. When sales stagnate, the head of marketing is usually fired, and a new chief is brought in to "shake things up."

New marketing chiefs often discard everything their predecessors built, from firing the current agency and dismantling programs to rebuilding the website and rebranding the company. This leads to a loss of institutional knowledge as the team changes, and the same old mistakes begin to recur. Sales continue to decline due to the time and cost overruns of "rebuilding."

The pressure mounts as the fiscal year ends, and the new agency is pushed to deliver miracles. They manage to move the needle just before the year's end, and the marketing head convinces the Board that the sharp upturn in the last two months bodes well for the future.

He survives another year, but the initial gains from new campaigns and a redesigned website fade, falling into old traps of ineffective advertising and low-quality leads. By the third quarter of the second year, the trend flattens, and sales stagnate. The extensive "rebuilding" leaves the company no better off than before, leading to the inevitable firing of the marketing head after 22 months, continuing the cycle.

Each head of marketing had learned valuable lessons about their audience and lead quality, starting promising programs that could have succeeded if not prematurely cut short.

When you're brought in to "shake things up," consider retaining what works. Understanding the existing team's knowledge about pitfalls can be advantageous. Being humble enough to build on the established foundation rather than starting anew might just help you break the cycle and last longer than 22 months. Look at your inheritance as a gift, and use it wisely.