Two-and-a-half years ago, when Michelle Peluso joined IBM as svp/CMO, she took her marching orders from Ginni Rometty, IBM’s chair/president/CEO.
“Know your values,” Rometty insisted, “but be willing to change everything else to constantly be essential and be relevant.”
It was a right-time, right-place, right-message combination for Peluso. As CEO of Travelocity (2002–2009), Citi’s global chief marketing and internet officer (2009–2013), and CEO of Gilt (2009–2016), she was a powerful proponent of agile marketing, an approach that traces its roots to software development and relies on the collaborative effort of self-organizing, cross-functional teams.
And IBM, under Rometty, has embraced the...