CMO Lauren Flaherty Profiled

LAuren Flaherty is useless !!!! She's done nothing! Think I'm wrong? where is all the marketing support on the West Coast?

I'll have to give it to her and the marketing people....Very effective job at what they are asked to do....At least I remmber the big nose guy with creepy voice and the al cheapo UK Youtube video attempting at enabling some Spanning Tree protocol...(very insulting to tech. people). When you don't have the products to back it up, marketing doesn't tranlate much. The green products and energy efficiency gimmicks generate peanuts in revenue - a few drops in a leaky bucket.

From the old saying "when the tree falls, themonkey scatter" - all we can hope on Monday that the net is wide enough to catch these monkeys and retire them to the zoo.

Last night in London, at the Emirates Stadium, Nortel won a B2B Marketing award for its London Tornado Marketing campaign, for best use of data (segmentation and targetting). This is something that the marketing organisation, under Lauren Flaherty's leadership should be proud of. Well Done to the team in the UK!

One of the reasons I stopped posting on this blog was its inherent naïve nature and unfounded hopefulness (sorry Mark). Rhetorically, what is it about the truth that scares us so much that we have to degrade or deny it?

Yes, it is easy to call the critics ‘anti-Nortel’ but I assure you nothing could be further from the truth. This latest posting on Ms. Flaherty is yet another example of hopeful exuberance without foundation. A simple Google search (it took all of 1 minute) would have uncovered 3 stories on Ms. Flaherty in the same publication during the past year (see below). Where are the stories in BW, NW, LR and other better known magazines? Has anyone at Light Reading ever included her on their “top influencers” list? Does LR even know she actually exists?

Is this negative? Don’t think so! Analytical? Inquisitive? Skeptical? You bet! This is what all of us should practice irrespective of one’s own position on Nortel or things relating to Nortel. The one thing worse than negativity is gullibility; we should all practice responsible journalism, which requires a healthy dose of skepticism. It is the only way to stay informed; indeed, it is the only way to stay free.

And regarding the coincidental nature of Ms. Flaherty’s appearance in the same (and only) magazine during the past year let me quote the author Graham Greene: ‘No such thing as a coincidence’. Below are three reasons to agree with him. Ms. Flaherty is not even close...--bb


1. Story posted: October 27, 2008 - 6:01 am EDT

http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081027/FREE/310279979/1068/best2008

2. Story posted: September 24, 2008

http://www.b2bm.biz/news/?groupId=&articleId=28948

3. Story posted: July 14, 2008 - 6:01 am EDT

http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080714/FREE/963705239/1192/whoswho

Is it a coincidence that this is the third time you have posted since you claimed you are done with this blog?

Joeyve,

You are correct! Sadly, I am very allergic to naïve and gullible notions; break out in hives and all, and the only way to get rid of it is to highlight it. I truly hope it doesn’t happen again….--bb

Lauren is our CMO, so we connect her to marketing and PR pubs. You won't find her in Light Reading and Network World because we have other execs tied to those pubs. LR cares about what Philippe Morin is doing with MEN and optical, not Lauren's marketing strategy. B2B focuses on marketing strategy, so we have them talk to Lauren.

BTW - B2B and B2B Marketing are two different pubs.

Bo,

I stand corrected; indeed they are two different pubs.

However, a real CMO ensures that there is wide-ranging industry coverage on the company the CMO represents as opposed to coverage on the CMO (herself). What I see is nothing more than a cleaver way to update one’s resume, that’s all. Great CMOs put the focus on the company and NOT themselves.

Without looking it up and on top of your head can you name the CMOs at Cisco, Apple, RIM, Google, HP, etc. My point, precisely….--bb

Good catch BB.....and welcome back!

Strong rumors that the sale of NT (the whole enchilada) is being negotiated with Nokia-Siemens. A last minute, desperate action to save NT from Chapter 11. Meeting held in NY on Monday.

In your mind, what makes a rumor strong, as opposed to just ordinary gossip or interesting what-if fabrications?

MARK:
Do you think is it possible/interesting to run a poll on what people think it could be announced next Monday? around topics like:

1) Q3 Revenue, 2008 outlook
2) Q3 profits (loss), Cash reserves
3) Layoffs (I think that is done)
4) Changes in management, departures.
5) Sell/acquisitions/mergers
6) Change of Strategy

As a consumer of marketing, I see nothing substantially different between Flaherty's campaigns and Clent Richardson's. Where's the beef?

I think your answer your own question.... the marketing campaigns were not targeted to the consumer... very specific to certain level of executive customers. Instead of spreading too thin you just concentrate your coins in very specific powerful events not focused on the majority of the people but just a selective group.... probably you were not included in that group so you couldn't see the beef...

She is a great professional and executive. She has done a phenomenal job and she could have done much greater things if her budget wouldn't have been cut to the level of touching the bare bones... Nortel have never had such great marketing machine and great messaging. Unfortunately her great plans will be cut short, she always voiced her opinion and unfortunately made some people uncomfortable...

TLB, when Flaherty's underlings get ex-patriated to run their marketing fiefdoms overseas to the tune of a $200K salary + paid housing and car allowance, something has to give, right?
NT's SG&A challenges begins and ends with above-avg. industry compensation even down to the secretary level.

Well, the SG&A has several components, Sales, General and Administration.... a lot of people tend to think that cutting Sales and Marketing you are cutting SG&A, when the majority of the SG&A is in the G&A...70% of the executive team (VP+) are NOT in sales, they are in support groups like finance, HR, legal, etc etc....

The heavy load in SG&A is a result of the lack of systems and the constant use of manual work/excel to run the books on the finance side. SAP has done good things but there are a significant transactions being made manually...

Unless you work in India, China or Mexico you can't give any nortel executive a pat on the back.
Cap down from 320 billion to half a billion.
Revenues/Sales down.
Massive outsourcing of jobs away from North America.
Layoffs Continue.
Debt Grows.
Bad, Bloated Management Continues.
The deadwood and fat isn't cut..rather the muscle is.
This is no time or place to praise any NT executive or anyone on the BOD.
Put that in your sombero and drink it.

Eli,

It seems you are suffering from strong hatred for India, China, Mexico. Why dont you focus on real discussion rather than such out of line comments ?

I am sure, you have never set your foot out of Canada or US. Such comments are expected from people with Narrow vision. Are you atleast a graduate? Ooooops, i hope you know what is graduate. If not call any Asean and you will know.

It is people like you, who have caused Nortel to come to this stage. Disgusting really.

Grow up !!!!!

This is mainly for "Dustmite" and some leftovers for "Distortion".
My comments are not out of line.
They are straight, matter of factly and to the point.
Yes I am a graduate.
You should focus on your grammar and learn to be more effective at English.
There are ESL course available in Canada.
You and your asian friends can take a boat back across the water if you are so happy with outsourcing and work on that side of the pond. I don't like jobs leaving North America.
You do because you are not from here originally.
Management, Bad Marketing, Poor Sales, crooked executives and lack of incentive and interest from the feds in the forms of subsidies and tax breaks are what as you say.."caused Nortel to come to this stage".
I am not a victim of outsourcing.
People like you two who are happy that jobs leave North America are the problem. Mark it.
And of all the stupid comments about "half the engineers" around oneself being Indian or Asian..who cares????
Are they not Canadian?
If they aren't maybe they should leave??
If their best interests are not in the interest of the Canadian Economy, maybe they should leave!!!!!
And you say what is the difference if they work here or in their own countries. Well here's a few for you.
Wealth
Happiness
Freedom.
Plenty of Food to Eat.
No Crime.
Less Fear.
Government pampering for just being a new immigrant.
You two make me puke.
The boat is weigh anchored waiting for you.

Heh! heh! Looks like I hit a "protectionist" nerve...
It is obvious that you have never run a tech business or managed a product. Talk is cheap. May be if you actually built a business case for a product, you will understand it. Go learn to do that and then do it - instead of talking hot air and nonsense.

Destruction wrote:

Heh! heh! Looks like I hit a "protectionist" nerve...
It is obvious that you have never run a tech business or managed a product. Talk is cheap. May be if you actually built a business case for a product, you will understand it.

Our small business runs quite fine. We hit on the right product at the right time. Ability and luck, especially the latter. As for ability, you quickly learn to screen for educational and cultural background when hiring. Especially for a 22 person operation. We can't afford screw ups. And except for the occasional exceptional i>individual that comes along, there is a very strong correlation between country of birth and 1.) problem solving ability, 2.) ethics and 3.) ability to work in a team.

That's certainly not politically correct, but we're running a business here.

Hear ye Hear ye!!
You know what people can do with the Politically correct syndrome.
Shove it.

I think we should completely ignore this fool. He (or is it she? ) is just a hot air baloon. Or (as a second thought after some syco analysis of his posts) may be a jilted lover whose canadian girlfriend dumped him for an Asian or Mexican.
Such personal hatred can be harboured only out of such personal trauma. We forgive you Eli (I am too cultured to distort your name) and my sympathies with you.

Chicken heart blog.
My last posted reply to dustmite was deleted.
Figures.
Dish it out but can't take it.
That's what I expect from weak minded people who have no loyalty to North America and its hard working people but show up with their hands out.

Tee Hee Hee Traitor.
Move out. Nobody wants you to stay.
Do you run a kool aid stand, or are you just a proponent of sweat shops and making sure the canadian taxpayer foots the bill for people who come in here wanting to take our jobs, culture and traditions while we give them and their imported horde free medical care and more? Talk is Cheap boy. You been talkin too much.

I agree with Bookmite! Eli and a few others here seem to have been "victims" of outsourcing/offshoring strategies... either that or they are clueless about business fundamentals etc. So lemme break it down for those select few...

It is simple - pricing and cost pressures and rapid commoditization of technology will continue to force companies to shrink their investments. However, the products being built remain as complex as they were i.e. you have to build the same (if not more complex products) with smaller investment. Now you cant just do the same work with fewer people, so you go where you can get the same or more people with the fewer $ you have. It is this simple and it ain't gonna change anytime soon. Law of economics. Laws of Supply and Demand. Better learn to live with it. If you are smart you will learn to thrive in it.

Now if you are reading things carefully - you will notice I only mentioned "products" and not "services" - The services industry will be less affected by this offshoring phenomenon due to the simple reason that the people have to be here to deliver the services! So there - if you are an engineer whose job was outsourced - respin yourself... but then again in this economy everything is up for grabs!

Now, I am in complete agreement with the potential quality problems that can creep into this outsourcing/offshoring phenomenon. This is not a problem with the people or the countries doing the work. Wake up! (or Grow up! like Bookmite says). If you look around half the engineers around you are already Indian or East-Asian - so what difference if they do the work here in the USA or in their own countries!??! There is one difference - lack of control and oversight - When you offshore or even outsource to another company in the USA (hope you know the difference between the two words) you are giving up direct control of some key metrics (incl quality). So you have to have strong processes in place to montior them and contractual SLAs to enforce them. So this is an issue with HOW to do outsourcing/offshoring right and not WHERE (country).

Hope this helps stem the stupid remarks about offshoring/outsourcing to lower cost countries and focuses on the real problems in a company/org that faces change but fails to recognize it and adapt in time.

-Destruction!

Destruction wrote:

If you look around half the engineers around you are already Indian or East-Asian - ...

Exactly. And look where they've taken the company. Their educations are lousy and their work ethic is lousy. Give me a North American or European engineer anytime. At least you know the work will get done instead of spun. Simple fact, regardless.

Tsk Tsk... One liners which have no basis or rationale...
Please change your handle from:

An Old Hand to An Old Racist Trembling Hand

You forgot Instambul...Turkey...

Not all executives are the same... some had great ideas and plans and they cut the investments...

Eli: I think that your behavior in this forum doesn't fit Mark's request to maintain a certain level. It seams to me that you carry inside you a great level of anger against Nortel making you just spit whatever comes from your mind; a clear indication of that you have been heavily abused by this company. Very understandable.

India, China, Mexico or Instambul...
They all have cheapest manpower. But what about the quality?

As far as I know, Nortel moved their Technical Support Center to Instanbul which is a good move since they are located at the middle of Europe and working %75 cheaper than other regions.

But anyone has an idea about the quality?

good point... Nobody thought of that... quality went down... trying to compensate lack of skills by throwing more people to the problem....

The centers of "excellence" in Mexico and Turkey had been a disaster. Lots of new kids w/o any idea what they are doing while the customers suffer....

One of the biggest mistakes of NT in the last 3 years was to edge the customers out... Customer's view has been left out in everything.... they may say something different but the realty is that the cost cutting initiatives have brought meaningless benefits while the customers suffer...

do some research on what happened in Home Depot when the GE boys implemented the same formula ?

Say what?

Sometimes the best things in life are free, like press releases =)

agree, and good timing when you have to start looking for a job and update your resume/profile...

Yep..she's done a great marketing job alright...things are better than ever. What a crock of fecal matter.

She is a joke and invisible other than the occasional useless internal email, like some many from the incompetent and clueless executives that are summarily deleted byt the vast majority of employees.

YES! Exactly!

A number 1.

Bye Bye Lauren.
She doesn't care.
She'll leave with her bank account full.
Maybe that is what the headline should have been.