Size does matter!

I recently made one of the biggest career moves of my life. I spent my entire marketing career working in big organizations. And when I mean big, I mean really big! The likes of Goodman Fielder, Diageo, PepsiCo and ninemsn (50% owned by Microsoft). Some would say I’m an ‘establishment’ guy. If anyone asked me 5 years ago where I would see myself in the future, the answer ‘running a start up agency’ would have been inconceivable.

But something happened. The thought came to me about the same speed as the idea of having kids. One-minute kids were an annoyance on airplanes and the next I was tapping my wife on the shoulder in the middle of the night.

Big organizations have their benefits. Like security, support, structure and to some, a position of power. Big budget’s, big teams and big pay packets are all attractive. You also have the ability to learn a lot from those around you, about systems and processes, about dealing with people and standing out from the crowd. But, for me, it’s these exact things that suddenly became the reasons why I needed a change.

In large business’s, no matter how good your processes are, you end up spending a lot of time talking internally. Now don’t get me wrong internal communication is important to keep the business ticking but when you’re a marketer, and you spend more time talking to one another rather than to the people who will hopefully buy your product, there is an issue.

So, from someone who has just moved from businesses with 100,000 plus employees to a start up, what are the main differences?

1. Firstly ideas can be acted upon immediately without going through multiple layers of stakeholder ‘watering down’.
2. You have the ability to be agile and change course without feeling like you are steering a superliner.
3. There is also an innate feeling of team like nowhere else. Everyone shares the vision and is motivated by the possibility of building something out of nothing.
4. Support is not a role but is expected from everyone. Standing in the queue at the post office is everyone’s job.
5. Success is everyone’s and is celebrated no matter how big and small.
6. There is no-where to turn when the pressure is on. You can’t blame the sales-force if you’re not hitting your numbers. The buck stops with each and everyone in the business.

Now I am not suggesting which environment is better, or that every large organization doesn’t deliver on the above thoughts but there is no question that size does matter when it comes to selecting the right environment for you.