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Just got back from Citrix Synergy 2014 happy, inspired and exhausted! It was a great week of learning, collaboration,  conversations, and great times with friends and colleagues from around the world. It was an overload of ideas and input, but one things stands out above all else- The character and heart of Citrix President and CEO Mark Templeton.

After a short leave of absence, this was Mark’s highly anticipated return to deliver the keynote at Synergy 2104 before his announced retirement within this next year. It is hard to describe the effect that MarkT (this is what we all call him) has on people. At first I thought it was just me as my career has directly paralleled Citrix and Mark’s leadership and I am deeply grateful for that. However, I spoke with countless attendees after the keynote about this and absolutely everyone said the same thing- that they are moved and inspired by Mark in a very special way. I heard this same sentiment across the board, everyone from first time attendees to old timers, Geeks, sales people, partners, etc. Feeling  this very strongly myself, and hearing it echoed over and over again throughout the week I set my mind to figure out exactly what was going on here. After much deliberation, here is my conclusion:

Some people are very skilled at speaking, at presenting a message in a clear and impactful way. Some people have great skills at persuasion or inspiration- they can get you excited in what they say and how they say it. Some people understand the technology behind products, or the business value, the use case, etc. When you listen you can be impressed or motivated to act. Mark is not any of those, he is something so much more…

MarkT has a heart the size of an ocean liner. You can’t help but be genuinely brought in, not from the hypnotic sound of a practiced speaker, but from the genuineness of a person who loves that they do and means what they say. He wants to share the exciting developments at Citrix because of what they can bring to YOU, how they can help YOU- he cares about others and is happy and honored to be able to share it.

In the end, it is about integrity, honesty and heart-felt sincerity that excites people. It cuts away the hype, pretense, agendas and spin and replaces it with genuine beliefs. When you experience the real thing, you just know it, everyone feels it and this year’s Synergy Keynote was the prime example. Next to this, the standard marketing/spin/positioning looks like a thin veil of charlantism. The “secret” is a sincere desire to make the world a better place, and, to lift up those around us in the process.

The Tech World, the Business World, and, the Whole World for that matter, will be a much better place if we can learn from his example and actively reach out to replace all this superficial (i.e. self-serving) Marketing, to make it Real, to question our own values and re-align them so that they truly can help others.

I hereby pronounce the End of Marketing and usher in a new era of Sincerity and ‘Keeping it Real” called the Age of MarkT-ing

Thanks for everything Mark, now it is our turn to carry this forward….