At first glance, Dorothy Wetzel's recent commentary piece in Brandweek ("Why ROE Should Be Your New ROI") appeared to be yet another biz op-ed that re-hashes an old idea as a cure for what ails us now that the world economy has gone into the crapper.
Luckily, I took a second glance.
Dorothy is the Managing Director of Glow Worm, a Publicis Consumer Healthcare company, and is a vet of pharmaceutical marketing. And while the basic tenet of "Return on Engagement as a marketing tactic" has been oft-discussed (Max Levchin's take on the subject was particularly profound), I think that Dorothy's observations on the difference between company personalities that practice ROE and ROI was eloquent and very bright...and thus bears repeating:
an introvert. Extroverts get their energy and ideas through interaction with others, while introverts thrive on inward contemplation.
"An extroverted company, therefore, drives growth by
seeking out and implementing customer ideas, while the introverted company builds sales through analysis"
Love the distinction and the simplicity--the business world divided into two, Introverted and Extroverted. Three cheers from everybody here at Surprise Central, who know that our core idea and passion is the tool that helps turn the former into the latter.
And stay that way.