One of my all-time favorite quotes about leadership is by Harvey Firestone. He writes, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” Clients often ask me how they can develop into a more effective leader for their teams and their company at large. The CMOs role is to serve as a catalyst for the team’s potential – a model of sorts. Ironically, true leadership has less to do with the leader and everything to do with what the leader brings out in others. Like Firestone says, it’s the growth and development of the people where leadership comes alive. This is particularly true in the Web 2.0 world in which we live where technology is constantly changing our interactions, expectations, and ultimately, definitions of leadership.

Each leader and his team have its own rules and ways of operating within its designated space. Setting the circumstantial differences aside, we are all people working, delegating, interacting, and growing with other people. The lessons below are a start to the conversation about human connection and bringing out the best in those we lead – beyond industry and scope and fueled by the changing landscape of our digital age. For the CMOs out there, be open to new ways of leading. You are already the change catalyst your team has been waiting for: »

At a recent seminar about women on the Web, Linda Abraham, CMO of Comscore*, debunked several myths about women and their role in shaping the Internet today. Going into the seminar, I expected to hear some trite statistics and trends about the growing importance of women as Web users. What I walked away with, however, were powerful insights that any marketer or stakeholder in business today must understand. Women on the web are truly shaping the digital landscape of today.

About a decade ago when the U.S. Internet audience was only about 75.7 million and the Web’s functionality was focused on utility, women had already surpassed men in terms of Internet usage. Today, the digital space has undergone a tremendous evolution with conversational capabilities such a social networking, photo sharing, blogging, location-based platforms, and more. Today, women are the digital mainstream and adopt and interact with the Web in meaningful and important ways. »