episode 16
Making the Change from the Middle with Jim Cuene
One primary goal of digital transformation is to streamline the consumer experience. And while technology is the key enabler, real change often happens at the cultural center of an organization. The marketers and leaders in the middle might need an outside champion to unlock digital’s full potential within a company. Jim Cuene is the Founder & CEO at Fahren, a consultancy that offers expert talent, guidance and advising to large organizations that are seeking digital transformation. In this episode, Jim lends his wealth of digital knowledge to incisive conversations around making cultural shifts, balancing slow leadership with fast action, adhering to the leadership stack, and why there’s never been a better time to be a marketer than right now.
Our Guest
Jim Cuene
Jim Cuene is the founder of Fähren (www.hellofahren.com), a business consultancy that provides advice, strategy and talent solutions for companies undergoing digital transformation. Prior to Fahren, Jim was a partner and President at GoKart Labs, an award-winning digital innovation firm in Minneapolis. He joined GoKart from General Mills where he was the Director of Interactive Marketing. At General Mills, he led the digital marketing Center of Excellence, providing strategy and executional support for brand digital marketing efforts. Before General Mills, he was Vice President-Interactive Strategy at Ameriprise Financial and President of Ciceron Interactive. He lives in Plymouth, MN with his wife Andrea and sons Cooper and Eli.
Show Notes
In this episode we cover:
- [00:50] Jim Cuene Introduction
- [2:40] Jim talks about what inspired him to start his own consultancy
- [4:00] Jim talks about the vision of his consulting company, Fahren
- [5:45] How does Jim define digital transformation?
- [7:40] Technology is the key enabler
- [8:20] What’s the biggest upside to undergoing digital transformation for (big and small) companies?
- [9:35] “Large organizations need an outside stimulus to drive digital transformation.” Jim comments on where the real change can take place and the importance of leveraging outside partners in large organizations
- [11:50] Jim talks about how Fahren evolved over time to serve its clients
- [13:10] The last 18 months have been challenging to business leaders. Jim talks about shifts he’s seen within his clients due to the pandemic. How are companies creating breakthroughs or transforming their digital processes?
- [14:40] Fahren is a kind of “B2B2C” company. Jim discusses creating a more streamlined consumer experience with digital.
- [15:51] Jim speaks to how Fahren helps organizations set up digital marketing team structures, leveraging human resources, and goes deep on driving organizational change.
- [19:25] What is Jim doing as Fahren’s leader to drive change? How does Jim coach clients to drive change?
- [22:00] Jim looks at mass career changes in today’s hiring market, why top talent are choosing meaningful work and embracing innovation.
- [23:00] What advice does Jim have for marketers wanting to become digital leaders?
- [25:30] Rapid Fire! Quick questions and fast answers with Jim Cuene
- [27:35] How does Jim stay current on all things digital? He spends an hour per day reading or listening to tech, marketing, and business content.
- [29:00] Jim talks about the future of digital and what he sees as the next big thing.
- [31:30] Kathy and Gino’s Key Takeaways
Links & Resources:
- Stratechery – Tech Blog & Podcast
- Not Boring by Packy McCormick – Business strategy & investing
- Waxy by Andy Baio – Internet Blog
- TechMeme – Technology News
- Follow Jim on Twitter: @jcuene
- Connect with Jim on LinkedIn
- Visit Fahren
"Key" Takeaways
- Digital transformation (DT) is about streamlining the customer’s experience with your product or services. It’s about making products easier to find, understand and buy. It takes a team effort (From HR to IT to Marketing) to pull off DT successfully.
- DT happens at an organization’s cultural center and not at the technology level (though tech is the key enabler). It’s about changing how you do what you do. The middle management of a large company can often jumpstart the digital transformation process because they have a pulse on what’s really going on across departments and teams.
- Large organizations need outside partners/a third party who can bring new ideas, perspectives, and practices. Outside partners (like Jim’s company Fahren) can deliver hard truths about what an organization can do better, help identify blind spots and empower middle management to make those changes. Hard truths are easier to hear from experts outside the “family.”
- Jim’s Leadership Stack: Look around at trends and write it down to process your thoughts, help your employees find out what they want to do and empower them to do it, put your team together to maximize talent, coach employees using honest but encouraging feedback.
- DT requires balancing slow leadership with fast action. Steady leadership is necessary to create organizational buy-in; consider the angles before working with middle management and doers to get digital transformation over the finish line quickly. Today’s business leaders must sustain the energy for change in their organizations and lead with empathy.
- There’s never been a better time to be a marketer than right now! Though we are emotionally tired (due to the pandemic), we’re intellectually stimulated. People are ready to do new things and have a strong appetite for doing meaningful work. Stay curious.
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