CMO = create More opportunities.

• Author: Hickey, Brian
• Position: About This Issue

The dog days of summer are a suitable time for legal marketing pros to hit the pause button and reflect on how to reboot, refresh and recharge. That's the thinking behind this issue's "CMO" theme, which, in this case, stands for "Create More Opportunities."

The challenges of keeping your creative edge and overall motivation over the long term amid the daily demands (did I hear grind?) of work are not limited to those of us toiling in and around the legal profession. What is notable is the creeping impact on all of us of living and working in a slow-growth, high-volatility environment that shows few signs of improving any time soon. As Charles Darwin posited, people can demonstrate a high degree of adaptability when it's called for. Problems arise when we focus our time and energy on merely adapting to stress rather than successfully managing it. The fatigue and reduced passion and performance that come as a result inevitably lead to longer-term problems, starting with higher rates of burnout, diminished health and undernourished relationships

In this issue, Jennifer Manton's "The Sustainable CMO" tackles maintaining long-term performance by turning to several seasoned marketing chiefs for their insights into how they manage to remain engaged and energized. Creating more opportunities extends, of course, to specific slices of the...