Why is it that so many organisations allow their management hierarchy or old-school thinking to overtake sound good sense?

Most businesses have made significant investment to define what they stand for and establish their market position. But as time moves on, many struggle to realise they must evolve to be relevant.

I can't help but sympathise with those switched-on marketing directors that recommend the change initiatives they know are needed, only to have their enthusiasm dampened and proposals diluted - or worse still, overruled entirely - by a senior management structure that wants to do the things they have always done and in the way they feel most comfortable.

How ironic that the marketing director's original employment will likely have been due to their critique of the 'status quo' and innovative ideas presented at interview?

The role of marketing is to challenge an organisation to be the best it can be, and then to communicate that to the right audience with messages they want to hear - it's why you invest in marketing expertise in the first place.

How wasteful to have that challenge thwarted because of organisational inertia and legacy thinking!