When I was the CMO of a Top 20 accounting firm, all new marketing teammates got the same speech from me: “In this department we help each other first and figure out what went wrong second. If there’s a ditch to be dug, everybody digs.”

In starting Chief Seconds, I’ve been thinking about this analogy a lot. While I think it still holds as a teamwork philosophy, as a business owner I think it presents a more nuanced but equally important firm leadership message.

Being “game” and solving problems are critical to leadership and client service. That we know. And sure, you’ll be called upon to dig a few ditches during your career (I hope you’ll be celebrated for it). But here’s the dilemma: if you dig too many of them for too long you may look up one day and find yourself in a hole of your own making— bogged down by administrative tasks that you don’t have time for and resent. Hardly a productive dynamic.

Let’s apply the Ditch Digger Dilemma to leadership and your firm’s strategic growth: 

Someone once said: “We are who we pretend to be…" The same holds true in business. When you’re leading a firm into high growth you’re often called upon to do all sorts of internal and external tasks outside of your highest and best use. That’s what a good leader does, right? They stand shoulder to shoulder with their team and dig that ditch. But as your firm grows you may find that you’re still operating under that old methodology. In other words, you may have accidentally become your own departmental director, a.k.a. Chief Ditch Digger. In the case of marketing strategy and organization, I ask Managing Partners the following questions: Are you the one conceiving of marketing strategy? Would new ideas see the light of day without your direct involvement? Are you the Accidental CMO of your firm?

If the answer is “Yes,” that’s okay. It’s surprisingly common in our industry, but we do need to fix it. Here’s how we do it:

Fractional CMO Services

Many firms are correct in thinking they don’t need a full-time CMO— whether they have one or not. They likely have very talented marketers already in place. But what the firm does need, and is perhaps lacking, is executive-level marketing focus, experience, and knowledge. CEOs and MPs just can’t be on the hook for that. Their time and attention are too valuable to the firm at large to be diverted that way.

Fractional CMO services from Chief Seconds allow the leaders of high-growth and in-transition firms to get back to the business of leading while keeping one hand on the strategic tiller (and the till). By leveraging the experience of former national professional services CMOs, a fractional CMO from Chief Seconds can help restore your focus to the big picture and the success of your partnership with confidence that your marketing is in good hands.

Contact us today to talk it through. This may be what’s right for you, right now. Click the button below to start the conversation.

In the meantime, like ol’ Will Rogers says: “When you find yourself in a hole― quit digging.”

Talk soon and be well,

Bruce