The Approval Process

I have a healthy respect for the approval process.  As someone who started my marketing career in-house, I made sure all vendor work was approved by myself and my direct boss, the president of the company, prior to approving payment.

What is ridiculous, is the unnecessary approvals that so many clients request on a daily basis.  If you tell me to set up a review or an interview with a third party and one of your colleagues then let me coordinate with the two people who are directly involved.  Everything does not need to go through you.

I understand Mr./Ms. CMO wanting to be kept abreast of the situation so that she's up to speed in case any of the higher-ups ask her a question, but I do not need to run everything by that person.  Not at all.

Sometimes I want to remind clients that I have been in their shoes and that rather than worry about micromanaging me, we're both going to be significantly more productive (and hopefully therefore significantly happier) if you let me do my job and you focus on doing your job.