Meet The New Boss… Same As The Old Boss?

In recent posts, we’ve been following the troubles of a local Chicago corporation, GKIC (formerly “Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle”). It’s been a lively discussion, with some thoughtful and constructive comments (mixed in with a lot of angry ones).

(Read the first article in the series by clicking here.)

Anyone who knows me knows what a HUGE Dan Kennedy fan I am. That’s why I’ve been rooting like crazy for the company he co-founded – but sold and reportedly has now has no control over – to straighten itself out and start moving back towards a respected, prominent place in the world of direct response marketers.

About six weeks ago, their former CEO left under mysterious circumstances, and an “interim CEO” took over a couple of weeks later.

Their recent semi-annual member events and non-stop barrage of promotional emails have been widely criticized, and last month’s paid subscription newsletters – the very heart of the business – were delivered late or not at all. New and long-time members alike have been cancelling their memberships in frustration and anger.

Many long-time champions of the company have questioned whether they could continue to support it, and others stopped supporting it at all. Most troubling of all, perhaps, is the fact that many people – in public and in private – questioned if the company was going out of business, while the company itself has remained strangely non-engaged in the social media discussions and rumor-mongering.

Then, with Friday’s email announcement, I instantly became hopeful that all the troubles and uncertainty surrounding GKIC might now come to an end.

Maybe all the vicious criticisms, ugly rumors and weeks of speculation about who would or should take over running the company can now become a thing of the past, as Deb Billow has taken the helm as their new president.

So… Who is Deb Billow?

Let me start by saying that I’ve never met Deb Billow, nor have I spoken to anyone who has.

As soon as I read the news, however, I did what many of your prospects do when they first hear of you through your marketing or advertising: they go to the world wide web to search for whatever information they can find.

Here is what I discovered…

POSITIVES IN MY MIND (in other words, similarities to the company’s co-founder and namesake, Dan Kennedy):

1. Her online resume mentions strengths in “marketing” and “innovations” within the first two sentences. As noted business expert Peter Drucker said, “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.” (*Dan Kennedy has long taught that ALL small business owners are in the “marketing” business, and Ms. Billow’s career appears to have an overwhelming focus on “marketing.”)



2. A glance at her Twitter page shows that she has made EXACTLY the same number of tweets as Dan Kennedy himself: Zero.



3. Her one recommendation on Linkedin mentions her “straightforward, no nonsense approach” (*Dan Kennedy is known as “the professor of harsh reality” and he’s authored ten books in his “No B.S.” series.)

QUESTION MARKS IN MY MIND (in other words, striking differences to Dan Kennedy and the overwhelming majority of GKIC’s current members):

• That same Linkedin recommendation was posted on August 15, 2011, and describes her as a former employee of her last employer. In other words, according to her online resume, she had been out of work for over 16 months when she got the job at GKIC.
• Her resume cites numerous incremental gains – numbers like “+5%” and “+11%” – instead of “total business transformations” and multiplying of revenues and profits that are typical among top Dan Kennedy students.
• According to her resume, she has never started or run even a single business of her own – or even worked in a small business. Instead, we see a series of jobs with large corporations and multi-million dollar advertising budgets.
• She has not one, but two, advanced business degrees – albeit from excellent schools. Even a casual Dan Kennedy follower knows what he has to say about “academics” and people with MBA’s as opposed to those of us who have graduated from “the school of hard knocks.”
• I notice a lot of “branding” and “image-building” type of marketing experience, but I don’t see any evidence of the use or knowledge of direct response marketing.
• She has five “Likes” on Facebook. None are small businesses or entrepreneurs, but one is the big business, corporate-focused Executives’ Club of Chicago. According to the organization’s website, its “Board of Directors is composed of 46 CEOs and senior executives of top companies headquartered in Chicagoland.”



• Finally, her “Following” list on Twitter looks like a polar opposite of what a Dan Kennedy list would look like. If Dan chose to follow anyone on Twitter (not that I’m holding my breath waiting for that to happen!), who would you think would be on his list? Wouldn’t it be a lot of entrepreneurs, small business owners, direct response marketers, copywriters, GKIC members and strategic partners and conservative businesspeople, celebrities, politicians and members of the media?
  By contrast, we see among Ms. Billow’s 92 “Following” list on Twitter: New York Times, NPR, CNN and seven of their individual personalities, ABC News and CBS News (but no Fox News), and a collection of liberal thought leaders that have been called out and criticized by Dan Kennedy over and over in his books and GKIC newsletters for their pro-big-government, anti-small business, “redistribute the wealth” bias, including Hilary Clinton, Al Gore, George Stephanopolous, Rachel Maddow, Bill Maher, Rosie O’Donnell, Maria Shriver, Joy Behar, Barbra Streisand, Ellen DeGeneres, and more.
  I’m not saying that I think Ms. Billow pays any attention to any of those tweets from the accounts she’s following, but I believe it still says something that those were her choices of who to follow.

My overall impression is that Ms. Billow appears more than capable of handling multi-million dollar advertising budgets and doing brand-building type marketing. But I wonder whether she will be able to relate to and lead a group of small business owners who take that deep breath every time we have to sign an agreement or a check to invest our own hard-earned money into advertising or marketing?

I also wonder whether someone who’s traveled a rather typical corporate career track of ladder-climbing and degree-getting can relate to and lead a group of Dan Kennedy followers, who are taught to think in terms of MAJOR transformations and FAST growth.

Finally, I see a few examples of minor, incremental turnarounds scattered throughout her resume, but I don’t see evidence of her ever leading a major turnaround of a small business. So I’m hopeful – but not overly optimistic – that she will be able to pull GKIC out of its downward spiral and get it back on the path to growth and significance among small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Recently, GKIC’s strategy has been to ignore or deny its problems, telling everyone that “it’s business as usual” or saying nothing at all (there still hasn’t even been a single post by GKIC on its various social media outlets about the naming of its new president!).

So the main issue for me is whether Ms. Billow will be honest and transparent. Will she admit to GKIC’s loyal members, affiliates and fans that GKIC leadership has made a lot of missteps that have caused continuous problems and disappointments for GKIC members for the past year-and-a-half – before she simply starts outlining all the exciting new things that are in the works thanks to the change in leadership?

That straightforward, no-nonsense approach would be a good start in the right direction, and a very welcome change, in my opinion.

I for one am hoping for a return to respect and prosperity for GKIC, so that it can once again be a home and resource for growth-oriented direct response marketers.

I just have to wonder…

At first glance, it appears that GKIC’s new president is eerily similar to their former CEO in terms of corporate-vs.-entrepreneurial background and opposition to Dan Kennedy philosophies. And from what I’ve heard and been told by many new and long-time GKIC members alike, they’ve felt alienated and disrespected by GKIC since co-founder Bill Glazer left the company.

So… Is GKIC making it clear to all of us that they’re intent on going in a whole new direction, looking to attract an entire new herd of members whose beliefs and affinities are in complete opposition to us longtime Dan Kennedy followers and fans?

Or are they putting together a team of “Billow and Kennedy” in an attempt to attract BOTH the liberals and conservatives, the women and the men, the corporate business types and the small business owners?

*Dan Kennedy followers are well aware of the concept that “If your target market is everyone, your customer will be no one,” so of course I hope GKIC – and you – are not attempting that latter strategy.

What are your thoughts?

I’d love to read your comment below.