We’re Living in an Era of Overachievement
We’re living in an era obsessed with overachievement. Tech billionaires tout themselves as the sole architects of progress, preaching the virtues of moving fast and breaking things. Eager to emulate this mindset, companies chase disruption at all costs. But here’s the irony: marketing teams have spent the last decade moving fast and breaking things, only to find themselves stuck in an endless cycle of fixing. Fixing broken analytics. Fixing disconnected martech stacks. Fixing fractured messaging. Nothing is ever complete enough to set a new standard.
Content vs. Process
The Inc. article warns organizations not to overlook "hyper-performers." OK, you might say, who would argue differently? But what prompted my rant is the mischaracterization of hyper-performers based on a quote from a mid-1990s interview with Steve Jobs:
"Companies get confused. They want to replicate initial success, and a lot of them think somehow there’s some magic in the process. So, they try to institutionalize processes, and before long, people get confused that the process is the content."
That’s wrong. Process and content must be in balance for either one to achieve remarkable results. All remarkable content – including the content of a product and the experiential content that marketers create – is built on standardized, repeatable processes.
The Value of Standard Processes
Most organizations have at least a few hyper-performers in content – creative or subject matter expert stars who bust their butts to craft remarkable things. In some organizations, these creators have no content standards or processes to follow. In others, the hyper-performers get excused from the established process to avoid disrupting their disruptiveness.
Without a standard operating process to establish what "remarkable" looks like, organizations struggle to spot the value these star employees generate. Let’s say you’re a new content leader at a company where the product marketing, brand, and PR teams all produce thought leadership without visibility into each other’s plans. As a result, the content often conflicts.
AI as Disruptive Hyper-Performer?
The promotion of generative AI as the "hyper-performer" in the proverbial content room illustrates my point. For example, OpenAI has advised people to prompt its new reasoning models in a particular way. But as Marketing AI Institute’s Mike Kaput notes in a recent LinkedIn post, many say doing the opposite of what OpenAI advises produces superior results.
The Power of Standard Processes
Taiichi Ohno, who pioneered the Toyota Production System, once said, "With no standard, there can be no improvement." That’s why the push for remarkable content in modern marketing must strike a balance with a collaborative process. Some of the most hyper-performing professionals I’ve met are managers who created a company-wide method for developing creative endeavors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, remarkable content and standardized processes are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re symbiotic. A great content process is like excellent plumbing: invisible and adaptable. It should foster improvisation and innovation by allowing for the integration of remarkable exceptions. And that brings me to my ultimate defense of the process person vs. content person. An innovative process is (or can be) content itself. Remarkable, standardized processes need the unique, out-of-the-box thinking, design, and execution associated with great products. And the teams responsible for the process are no less valuable or innovative than those who think up the things that process will produce.