Having spent the last 29 years in B2B marketing and product management, targeting SMB and Enterprise firms representing multiple industry verticals. I launched successful top-of-funnel and retention programs with Fortune 1000 firms, a tech startup, and marketing consultancies. My accomplishments include delivering eight years of double-digit new subscriber growth and 80% of the company's profit at GoCanvas (7th employee, VC-backed, $743M exit). At the Deluxe Corporation (4.8M SMB clients, 4.6K financial institutions), I launched targeted and profitable industry-specific strategies for the professional services, construction, field services, and retail sectors and developed and implemented product strategies for 24 product lines. I was responsible for $150M in revenue, where I exceeded revenue and profit targets and identified and piloted new mobile technologies to complement and eventually replace mature product lines.Marketing has taught me the importance of nuanced, multifaceted observation, data analysis, and strategy development. As a discipline, Marketing evolves daily and demands that one stay abreast of the digital media landscape, societal trends, politics, industry segment trends, competitors, and so much more. If done properly, it can make one a keen and full-time observer of society. In 2023, I shifted my career course to become an author and writer. Why? Within the last decade, I have observed this growing coarseness in society - a toxic mix of an obsessive focus on the self in social media, a sense of entitlement, disrespect for boundaries and private property, and intolerance towards ideas - and even people - that do not a fit a pre-approved discourse. These situations run counter to what we intuitively sense is right and good. When they occur with enough regularity, they accumulate and begin to gnaw at our sense of decency and justice, and I felt a need to address it. In January 2024, I published my first book, The Civil Society Playbook: A Commonsense Plan for a Return to Civility. The book covers areas of incivility that are not frequently discussed in the media. It offers actions anyone can implement to improve civility in all society. As individuals, we must demonstrate a willingness to think of others’ needs first in order to take better care of our families, community, and strangers. I firmly believe in the collective impact of 334 million Americans doing their individual part to drive civility. Join me in making our country a better and more civil place. https://www.michaelbbenedict.com/