What Makes a Leader?

I understand I'm riffing on information security marketing a bit heavily since getting back from RSA, but I saw such craziness I just need to vent some more.

One of the things that was the bane of my existence as VP, Marketing was the whole "leader" tag. I can't tell you how many discussions I had with a variety of CEOs and board members who INSISTED that I claim leadership in the tagline, on the press releases, all over the web site and basically spout this drivel to anyone who will listen (and most who won't).

But I kept getting back to what I think is the truth of the matter. Customers don't care about leaders; they care about solving their problems. Now there is a thought process that says if a company is the leader, then they must be solving someone's problem, no? Well, not exactly. Vendors define markets and categories so narrowly, just so they can claim leadership in something. They are trying to get the halo effect from those vendors who really do solve customer problems. Those that can't claim leadership basically make it up and/or lie to be able to use the tagline.

Well, the gig is up. The customer has figured it out. Walking around the show floor at RSA, everyone claimed leadership. Now customers are numb to leadership-based messaging. You sit in front of a customer and say "we are the leader" and they smile and then disregard everything you tell them for the rest of the meeting. Again, it's not about you, it's about the customer and the customer wants to hear about what you do to make their life easier. My biggest failure as a marketer was not being able to make that case to the powers that be.

Why do we continue with this nonsense? It's about company morale. The thing that end users (and even most analysts) don't realize is how hard it is to be in the information security space. There are 800 companies chasing the same 1000 customers. There is no differentiation. Every deal is a bare knuckle brawl. The troops need something to get them fired up about waking up and banging their head against the wall every day. So the CEO believes if you call yourself the leader that will make everything better. The rank and file on the front lines believe it (since anything they hear 1000 times from corporate must be the truth), and they go hunt more elephants, sell some stuff and keep the lights on. 

Or so the story goes. But I think it's crap. If you aren't the leader, your sales people know that (yes I'm talking to CEOs now). Your sales people are the ones losing the deals. So, go have fun calling yourself the "leader of ferpolators in Topeka," while your sales people are starving.

As an alternative, maybe you can try something novel. Like focus on a customer's problem. Your tagline should be what you do for the CUSTOMER. Not that you are the leader of some arbitrary category that your marketing folk made up. What do you specialize in? What are you better at than anyone else? Play that up, live your differentiation. That's why you win deals, not because you call yourself the leader. We (as an industry) waste a tremendous amount of time and money patting ourselves on the back in an ongoing ridiculous display of machismo. 

Ultimately, leadership is defined by solving customer problems better than the competition. If you focus on anything but that you are wasting your time.