Remember Ousmane Dembele at Barcelona? Injured half the time. Late to training. Gaming until 3 AM before matches. Attitude problems that made coaches pull their hair out. 140 million euros down the drain. Or so it seemed. Then he moved to PSG. Same player. Different environment. Different results. Suddenly, he's showing up on time. Playing 90 minutes consistently. Leading PSG to their first Champions League title. Carrying France to World Cup glory. And then the ultimate validation. The 2024 Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris. Standing on that stage, holding the golden ball above his head. The same kid who was gaming until 3 AM at Barcelona was now being crowned the best player on the planet. From a problem child to football champion. The transformation was complete. I wasn't his biggest fan during those Barcelona years. The wasted talent frustrated me. The lack of professionalism was hard to watch. The missed opportunities were painful. But watching his transformation at PSG? Seeing him lift that Ballon d'Or? That changed an effing lot! A stupid kid grew into a man who wins the biggest prizes. Raw talent shaped into world-class excellence. Attitude problems replaced with championship mentality. The golden ball in his hands wasn't just an individual award. It was proof that complete transformation is possible. That the right environment can turn potential into greatness. What changed? Not his talent. That was always there. The system around him changed. This is exactly what happens in B2B marketing. I see companies hire marketing people or agencies expecting instant transformation. When results don't come immediately, they blame the "talent." But here's what actually happens: The marketing person is like Dembele at Barcelona - talented but struggling in the wrong system. They're asked to run 5 different channels simultaneously. No clear processes or playbooks. Misaligned with sales. No proper attribution tracking. Expected to generate enterprise leads with SMB resources and what is even more important the wrong mentality. Then leadership wonders why the marketing "isn't working." The fix isn't always new talent or agencies. Sometimes you need a new system. At my previous client, we had a marketing manager whom everyone thought was underperforming. The obvious answer was to fire. I was indirectly asked to do it. But instead of replacing her, what I did was: Built clear processes and playbooks, handovers Aligned marketing activities with sales goals Focused on 2 channels instead of 5 Established boundaries and realistic expectations between her and the board Six months later, she helped us reduce CAC by 70% and generated 400K in the influenced pipeline. Same person. Better system. Your marketing team might not need replacement. They might need the right environment to succeed. Just like Dembele needed PSG to unlock his Ballon d'Or potential. The question is: Are you giving them the right system to become champions?