Management and leadership are not the same thing. But most marketing leaders spend far more time managing than leading. They manage projects, timelines, stakeholder expectations, budgets, and resources. All of that matters, but none of it is leadership. In this episode of This Is Strategic Marketing, I break down the difference between management work and leadership work and how to protect time for both. Leadership is about direction, building capability, and creating the conditions for your team to do their best work. When you distinguish between the two, you can lead intentionally rather than default to management by necessity.

Every workflow eventually breaks down. When workflows start showing cracks, most leaders either patch the problems with minor tweaks or blow everything up and start over. But the real question is whether your workflow needs simplification or a complete rebuild. In this episode of This Is Strategic Marketing, I walk through three diagnostic questions to help you identify which approach will actually solve your problem. When you diagnose correctly, you fix the right issue. Simplify when the workflow is sound but cluttered. Rebuild when the foundation no longer serves how you actually work.

Execution is not about working harder. It's about thinking differently. Most teams approach execution like a checklist: Complete the tasks, hit the deadlines, move on. But that mindset creates activity, not progress. In this episode of This is Strategic Marketing, I break down three questions to help you build an execution mindset that prioritizes clarity, alignment, and intentionality over speed and volume. When these questions become standard practice, your team stops executing blindly and starts executing strategically. That's the difference between being productive and being effective.