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.

Most marketing teams are executing campaigns. Campaigns are live, content is going out, and deadlines are getting met. But execution and impact aren't the same thing. You can be busy and still not be moving the business forward. In this episode of This Is Strategic Marketing, I break down a three-part check to help you evaluate whether your execution is creating real impact or just expensive activity. Learn how to connect your work to specific outcomes, identify the right leading indicators, and adjust based on what you're learning. When you can answer yes to all three, your execution has quality.

Two weeks into 2026, most teams are executing their plan. But does that plan still reflect what your audience actually needs right now? Your audience doesn't stay static. Their priorities shift. Their challenges evolve. In this episode of The Strategic Marketing Podcast, I break down three questions to run your first audience check-in of the year before misalignment becomes a quarterly problem.

If your content feels slow, scattered, or inconsistent, the problem is usually not the team; it is the system. In this episode of This Is Strategic Marketing, we look at the hidden points of friction inside most content operations and how small structural shifts can create clearer workflows, faster production, and stronger results. We hope you enjoy this practical episode to help you identify what is working, what is not, and what to fix first in 2026.

The easiest way to improve your team's performance this year is not through bigger plans or heavier workloads but through a smarter workflow. In this episode of This Is Strategic Marketing, we explore the first upgrade every marketing team should make in 2026: removing unnecessary friction and creating processes that actually support better work. A simple, actionable starting point for stronger operations this year.

Your early decisions set the tone for the entire year. In this episode of This Is Strategic Marketing, we walk through the first 5 strategic moves that will help you start 2026 with clarity, direction, and meaningful traction. A focused, practical guide to choosing work that strengthens alignment, sharpens priorities, and supports smarter leadership from day one.