Its day one. I’m boarding a plane to Minneapolis to take on a new marketing leadership challenge. I’ve joined AGI – Ag Growth International as their VP of Marketing (LinkedIn). I’m eager to learn. Eager to contribute. My skill set is well suited to this leadership challenge: deep marketing technology and software experience, proven leadership in change management, a talent for people development, decision making based on data and analysis and above all else a champion for being customer centric.
AGI is a fascinating company. In just a little under 25 years they’ve gone from being a single product/single region company to a true global enterprise. They are a durable Canadian success story in a category that deserves way more credit and attention than it receives: Agriculture.
The opportunity for me is everything that gets me to jump out of bed in the morning. Agriculture is just being disrupted by technology. Perhaps it’s the last category to experience the type of transformation that has changed everything. Its late to the party on modern marketing approaches. Marketing today is all digital, all technology, all data and from what I’ve seen so far (with the exception of the OEMs) it’s clear that they’ve missed much of what modern B2B brands and businesses require to scale and sell and communicate. And then sprinkle in the challenge of global expansion, cross cultural leadership, and a passion to grow-grow-grow. There is a lot to be eager about.
Today’s brightest CMOs are using marketing as a way to transform marketing management, build modern nimble organizations and lead experience across the enterprise. Often you won’t find them toiling away in the tier one brands that seem so ubiquitous and by inference so successful. They live in and thrive in categories and businesses that need change. The best and brightest want to drive transformation; build something great; and create a path where no one else has gone.
Joining AGI is going to be an amazing experience. I can’t wait to get going.
