I don't understand the words "no" or "it's impossible," especially for a marketing advocate whose job is to promote my company's differentiation from that other company, brand, service or product. I flourish when developing and executing novel approaches to problem-solving and strategy development and implementation. With the ultimate goal of increasing sales and achieving other business priorities, I find that staying within the confines of a corporate silo doesn't get the job done. My successes and accomplishments have largely been in underfunded marketing functions. I learned how to make creativity, relationships, collaboration, tenacity and resourcefulness my best friends. I hear marketing and sales professionals talk about "Return on Investment." But the other ROI, "Return on Innovation," is possible for all functions in a business. I had a supervisor once who told me "we don't know what we don't know. Try it and let's see the result." It was his way of encouraging me to step into the unknown-- to create a laboratory of sorts-- in order to ensure the retention of existing customers and to generate new business.