Above the Clouds: Stories from the Boardroom

What Technical Companies Keep Getting Wrong About Growth

Most episodes of Above the Clouds, Richard Byrd is the one asking the questions. This time, he's in the hot seat. The Best Kept Secret: What Technical Companies Keep Getting Wrong About Growth is out, and BlueByrd's own Cindi Boudreaux and Shannon Carlson flip the script — putting Richard on the other side of the mic to talk about the book, what drove him to write it, and why the same commercial mistakes keep showing up across industries, company sizes, and decades. They get into the Innovation Blind Spot that quietly kills growth at technically excellent companies, the Seven Deadly Sins of marketing that most leaders commit without realizing it, and why the gap between where a company is and where it could be is almost always smaller than it thinks. Richard also makes the case for why fixing your commercial engine doesn't require becoming a salesperson — it just requires applying the same rigor you already put into your engineering and operations. If you've ever told your sales team to sell harder, swapped out a marketing director, or sponsored a golf tournament and wondered why the revenue didn't follow, this one's for you.

When "Too Expensive" Really Means "I Don't Understand Your Value"

Asit Goel, VP of Marketing at UniFirst, joins Richard Byrd to make the case for marketing as a strategic function — not a cost center. Asit picks the raven as his company's spirit bird: intelligent, adaptive, and working quietly in the background of every industry, from food processing to semiconductors to oil and gas.The conversation digs into the challenge most B2B marketers never say out loud: defining marketing's value and getting the rest of the organization to believe it. Asit and Richard cover why customers use price as a crutch when they don't understand value, why the decision-maker is always a human driven by emotion, and why marketing — not just sales — owns the job of articulating differentiation. Along the way: building in-house teams versus leaning on agencies, where pricing belongs, the limits of attribution, the surprising power of direct mail, and the one piece of advice Asit gives anyone starting out — stay curious, and form hypotheses, not opinions.

Rhonda Taylor, Managing Director, DSG Global

Rhonda Taylor, Managing Director at DSG Global, has seen the full cycle: high-volume staffing, enterprise executive search, market booms, market busts, and now a front-row seat to the AI-driven transformation reshaping how companies find (and keep) the leaders they need. In this episode, Rhonda and Richard Byrd dig into why getting a leadership hire wrong costs you far more than the search fee, how sales and marketing finally ended their long Cold War, and why the firms — and professionals — who will win over the next decade are the ones building relationships before they need them. Whether you're scaling a team, growing a business, or just trying to figure out why your pipeline feels stuck, this one's for you.

Patrick Corcoran, Global Head of Marketing and External Relations, Hitachi Digital Services

What does it take to lead marketing for a global brand that spans industries, regions, and constant change?In this episode of Above the Clouds: Stories from the Boardroom, Richard Byrd sits down with Patrick Corcoran, Global Head of Marketing and External Relations at Hitachi Digital Services, to unpack the realities of modern B2B marketing at scale.Patrick shares how Hitachi Digital Services approaches global growth with precision and focus, why aligning marketing with sales is non-negotiable, and how today’s marketers must balance deep expertise with broad capability to stay relevant.They also dive into the evolving role of AI, the challenge of breaking through digital noise, and why the future of marketing isn’t about replacing people, but reshaping how they work.From nearshore beginnings to leading a global team, Patrick’s story is a masterclass in adaptability, relationship-building, and staying one step ahead in a rapidly changing landscape

Shelly Crabtree Linkerhof, Head of Marketing Communications, Americas, Clariant,

Marketing in a technical, global industry is not about pushing content. It is about understanding complexity and turning it into clarity. In this episode of Above the Clouds: Stories from the Boardroom, Richard Byrd sits down with Shelly Linkerhof, Head of Marketing Communications, Americas at Clariant, to break down what it takes to lead marketing across multiple industries, regions, and stakeholders. Shelly shares how her team navigates long sales cycles, highly technical products, and global dynamics, all while staying focused on what matters most: the customer. They unpack: * How to translate complex science into clear, compelling marketing * Why curiosity is the most important skill in technical marketing * How to influence stakeholders without formal authorityThe shift from brochures to data-driven, multi-channel strategy * How AI is changing the way marketing teams work * Why customer understanding should always come before channel selection