Gracias for pressing PLAY, y Welcome to SmartChickens a Working Together Smarter Diversity Meets Innovation & Growth Podcast. In today’s episode, we have a very special guest who needs no introduction but here goes, he’s the God-father of Category Design strategy, Christopher Lochhead, and legendary marketing executive! Christopher is a #1 Apple Business Podcaster, #1 Amazon Marketing author, and a “Godfather of Category Design”. Lochhead has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups, is a venture capital limited partner, and a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO (Vantive, Scient, Mercury Interactive), and entrepreneur. Lochhead hosts the award-winning dialogue podcast “Follow Your Different” and award-winning “Lochhead on Marketing” podcast and is co-author of two international bestsellers: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “Off-putting to some” by The Economist. We discuss his origin story from dropping out of high school in Canada and creating his own path to success as a solopreneur, we delve into his point of view around Category Design, why it's the only true path to differentiate and win big in today’s highly competitive market place. He also shares the top decision-makers who have to embrace Category Design as a business and go to market strategy, and yes it's a C-level, but you’ll be surprised by his answer. He delves into what Category Design is not, so executives and stakeholders don’t fall into pitfalls of category design confusion. He also describes how Category Design can shape culture, describing Eddie Yoon's missionary versus mercenary mentality around work culture. We also have a very special cameo by a furry feline, which shows Christopher Lochhead’s incredible awareness of detail and saved one of nine lives of Bean, his rescue kitten. He also gives us some of his book recommendations to get exponentially better and he shares the advice he would give or reflect on to a younger Christopher if he could go back to the future, there’s throwing down the rope and Counting Crows reference to his answer.