Thanks for your timely update on the challenging demands of chief marketing officers ("The Most Dangerous Job in Business," June). Taking issue with a guy who survived four years as a CMO may be risky ("clearly there is no better tonic than top-line sales"), but Burger King's Russell Klein misses an important higher-level goal of CMOs: "Maximum earnings is even better," and sometimes that requires a huge reduction in sales.
Victor J. Cook Jr.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Russell Klein is one of the very few major-brand CMOs who will publicly admit the importance of, and work to strengthen, top-line sales. Most CMOs do not equate top-line sales with brand health. In dealing with CMOs on a daily basis, I find it is not uncommon to hear them say they have no idea about sales figures or that a marketing idea designed to drive sales "does not fit our brand strategy." They continue to live in a world of their own, divorced from the rest of the business enterprise. Klein keeps his job because he is not in his own world. More CMOs should take his lead.
Marc Bodner
White Plains, New York
Marketing has always been a less-secure business career than most; this is nothing new. What is happening now is that increased emphasis on accountability, measurability, and performance is weeding out many who were adept at getting to the position, but not so skilled at innovation, leadership, or getting results. My hope is that this trend opens doors for a new breed of results-oriented marketers.
Martin Pazzani
New York, New York
Laura Crawford may know how the Republican National Committee operates (Fast Talk, June), but she sure doesn't know the first thing about gun safety. Feet up, leaning back, rollback chair, indoors, and finger on trigger. Really?
John A. Brennan
Lakeville, Massachusetts
Fantastic content! We drooled over your Next Sketch Pad segment in the June issue. I've been a devoted Fast Company reader since day one, when I studied product design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. To see your spread on Frog Design's contribution to the TurboChef oven was a brilliant visual tribute to the inner circle of groundbreaking design taking place today.
Scot Herbst
Palo Alto, California
Alpha 'fraidy cats rule most marketing and PR organizations--confident, smart, persuasive, but actually insecure (Made to Stick, June). As the Heath brothers say, they "systematically snuff out anything that's distinctive enough to spark conversation." What's scarier? Wacky new ideas that connect with customers or being bland? The latter.
Lois Kelly
Cumberland, Rhode Island
How ironic is it that Bruce Barry is questioning free speech in the workplace while he works in one of the most speech-restrictive industries in the world, the American university (Open Debate, June)? Try making a pro-business, conservative statement on the majority of college campuses in this country to see his free-speech ideals in practice.
Derek Kaufman
Grand Rapids, Michigan
In the July/August issue, the photography credits for "Water" were incomplete. The photo stylist was Olivia Sammons.
In "Can CEOs Cure Cancer?" also in the July/August issue, we misidentified SAS software developer Keith Holdaway.
In July/August's "Fast Cities," the performing arts center in Miami by César Pelli opened in October 2006.
We regret the errors.
Send Us An Email (loop@fastcompany.com) Submission of a letter constitutes permission to publish it in any form or medium. Letters may be edited for reasons of space and clarity.
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