During this 219th episode of “Marketing Today,” I interview Marc de Swaan Arons, founder of the Institute for Real Growth.

Today we talk about what the Institute for Real Growth focuses on and what it hopes to achieve for all stakeholders. We discuss how the Institute for Real Growth is helping marketers and CEOs realize that growth potential.

De Swaan Arons begins by describing the journey to founding the Institute for Real Growth, which involved thousands of interviews with brand heads and an initiative to understand the role of marketers in organizations that outperform others in long-term growth. They created an independent organization to meet the needs of CMOs without selling anything. As de Swaan Arons describes it: “We connect those CMOs and other senior growth leaders to benchmarking, research, best practices, experts, but most importantly, other practitioners around the themes of real growth.”

We discuss the importance of driving growth for all stakeholders and shifting away from shareholder primacy. De Swaan Arons says, “The new reality is going to have to be a far more balanced equation of value creation, yes, for shareholders, but also for our colleagues and our communities and our customers.” He reminds us that businesses were initially created for communities. Our conversation is about the importance of growth for everyone involved.

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

  • What attracted Marc to Woodstock, NY. 01:29
  • How Marc became interested in marketing. 03:00
  • The events that led to the founding of The Institute for Real Growth. 05:41
  • The Institute for Real Growth’s mission. 14:26
  • The Institute’s progress after one year. 15:06
  • Their pivot from in-person meetings to an online program when COVID hit. 17:04
  • The Humanizing Growth webcast series. 19:06
  • Conclusions from the Initiative for Real Growth. 21:13
  • Businesses were initially created for communities. 23:40
  • The Institute’s focus on CMOs. 26:21
  • How CMOs can get engaged with the Institute for Real Growth. 29:35
  • The Institute’s end goal. 32:04
  • Marc shares a defining experience. 35:20
  • Marc shares about an impactful purchase he made in the last 6-12 months. 37:32
  • Are there any brands, companies, or causes that Marc follows that he thinks
  • other people should take notice of? 38:20
  • Marc’s take on the top threat facing marketers today. 40:49

Resources Mentioned:

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on opportunities around brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine startups.