The latest load of BS

I’ve talked to many Darden students this fall about my experiences at Frito Lay and their own career aspirations.
One stereotype that I’ve heard that I wanted to clear up: “CPG company X creates great brand marketers; not great general managers”.
Where does this come from?
I can speculate: Often, companies that produce products that don’t resonate with consumers (ie are not consumer-facing) are often categorized as great “general management” companies…and for some reason companies with strong brands are thought of as creating strong marketers alone. The folks creating the stereotypes focus only on one of the P’s (Promotion) and categorize brand managers as great advertisers/promoters. No freakin way. I encourage those making blanket statements like this to take a step back.
Brand and Genearl Management are not mutually exclusive in the slightest! A company’s marketers can be both strong Brand and strong at General Managers! I’ve seen it with my own eyes. In many powerful CPGs, the Brand manager is the HUB of the wheel…not a spoke. They are not just a link in the chain; they hold the whole dang thing together. The dive in, seek the value, and bring it to their customers and consumers! That's quite different from sitting in an ivory tower (what's up, Bear Sterns?) crafting models that "create value" out of fancy math (but we need those guys, too...sometimes).
Check out Wikipedia’s definition and tell me how CPG marketers DON’T do general management: “A General Manager has broad, overall responsibility for a business or organization. Whereas a manager may be responsible for one functional area, the General Manager is responsible for all areas. Most commonly, the term general manager refers to any executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement. This is often referred to as Profit & Loss (P&L) responsibility. This means that a general manager usually oversees most or all of the firm's marketing and sales functions as well as the day-to-day operations of the business. Frequently, the general manager is also responsible for leading or coordinating the strategic planning functions of the company.
In many cases, the general manager of a business is given a different formal title or titles. Most corporate managers holding the titles of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or President, for example, are the general managers of their respective businesses. More rarely, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will act as the general manager of the business. Depending on the company, individuals with the title Managing Director, Regional Vice President, Country Manager, Product Manager, Branch Manager or Segment Manager may also have general management responsibilities.
In consumer products companies, general managers are often given the title Brand Manager or Category Manager. In professional services firms, the general manager may hold titles such as Managing Partner, Senior Partner, or Managing Director.”
This may not be true for every CPG, I give you that. I’ve seen a few pharma companies whose marketers are mainly responsible for the Promotion, and less about the P&L. Part of that may be due to industry-specific regulations on pharmaceuticals and the way that they are marketed.

Kids in America’s business schools: don’t accept the old paradigm of brand and general management being mutually exclusive. Dig into the details. Ask smart questions. You’ll be surprsied what you find!