Are you a Marketing Guru or a Marketing Gnu? 🧞‍♂️🫎

Back in my Oracle days, I ran a campaign targeting marketing directors with this very question - challenging their willingness to embrace analytics and tech to raise their game.

Fast forward a few decades, and it’s still the same question. But today, it’s less about dashboards and more about your personal relationship with technology and, more importantly, your mindset.

📈 Growth happens when you stay curious and open to change. Don’t chase every shiny new thing, but do embrace innovation when it adds real value.


Take AI. It’s enabling marketers to do more — from prompts to assistants to autonomous agents. But there are still two common fears I hear all the time:

🎨 "AI will kill creativity". Not true. Some creators are brilliant. Many are average. AI will outperform plenty of what we currently accept as "good enough." But great designers, photographers, writers, and editors? They’ll evolve, just like they did with Canva, Lightroom, and Photoshop. Let's not dismiss AI out of fear. We don’t shame people for using spellcheckers, do we? 😉

✍️ "AI will kill writing". Writing isn’t just about words. It’s about craft. I've worked with the best writers and editors in the business, and they are essential. In an AI-driven world, their skill in guiding, refining, and elevating content becomes even more important. Good writing stands out more than ever.

So, don’t be a Gnu.

Be curious. Be adaptable. Be a Guru. 🌱✨

#Marketing #AI #Creativity #Mindset #Innovation #GrowthMindset #Curiosity

On AI and dotcom bubbles

I know what you're thinking. Aren't those the youthful faces of the dotcom boom? 👶 👶

And yes, you're right! Ferdi and I were both at Ariba during one of the biggest booms (and busts) in tech history.

My time at Ariba was like an MBA in a box. I got to see every facet of business from hyper-growth to rapid crash to recovery. We were valued at $40bn (on revenues of $100m and quarterly losses of $2bn 😱 ), grew our teams by 3x then had to let everyone go. I came out more resilient & tougher, taking the European business from almost zero to $100m in 3 years. What a roller coaster 😅

Every boom booms, the bubble bursts, but ultimately recovers:

✅ The internet has radically transformed our world
✅ Ariba went on to define a new SaaS category still used today (Spend Management), was acquired by SAP and is now SAP Ariba
✅ Ferdi has become a serial entrepreneur (kudos 🙌 ) and
✅ I've gone on to enjoy leadership roles at Microsoft, Adobe, VMware, LettsGroup and others.

Have I seen it all before? Maybe, maybe not. AI is disrupting our industries and our jobs, but the bubble will burst, new opportunities will be created and we'll rise like a phoenix, just as Ariba did. 🐦‍🔥