The Co-CMO Who Never Learned What a Funnel Was

My 8-year-old son crashed our company's Kids at Work Day in 2008 and left with a job title above mine.

I brought him and his older sister in for the morning. My daughter colored and ate ice cream. My son walked the halls giving our employees advice. By lunch, our Partnerships Director suggested he interview for a job. He typed an introductory letter and interviewed with our recruiter, then three managers. I had no idea any of this was happening.

Then he got into our CEO's office. Brett decided his instinct for pricing and product feedback was basically marketing, and offered him the Co-CMO title (above me, technically). $50 a month and 100 shares. He came up with taglines that week and kept emailing my team feedback for days.

Here's what stuck with me, almost twenty years later. Most bad marketing I've seen comes from people who got too clever, too inside baseball, built for other marketers to admire, not customers to understand.

The tell is always the same: the conversation starts with the how before it ever gets to the what, or even the who cares. My son didn't have any of that baggage. He didn't know what a funnel was. He just asked what a normal person would ask: what does this do, and why would I want it?

Beginner's mind first. Customer mind second. Marketer's mind last, if at all. Most people run that order backwards, and it shows in the work.

He's an adult now, working in film production. I don't think he remembers being Co-CMO. I do.