Today (May 22) at Marketing Week's Leadership Summit, three former marketers turned CEOs shared their experiences on stepping up to the top job.
During a panel hosted by Marketing Week editor-in-chief Russell Parsons, the three CEOs asked what today's marketers should stop, start and keep doing if they want to rise to the top.
Chris Duncan, who recently stepped down as CEO of Bauer Media Publishing, kicked things off with a little poetry. He encouraged the assembled audience to heed Robert Burns' poem “To the Lice.” It includes the line, “Oh, what power this gift would give us/To see ourselves as others see us!”
What he means is that CMOs can sometimes feel “separated” from the rest of the business when approaching their work, but to step up they need to look at marketing “in the context of the whole business.” That is essential.
“You have to understand that marketing is your largest discretionary budget,” he added, “and when you compare it to all the other competing requirements around cost, investment, people and resources that every other part of the business has, it's an act of faith on the part of the CEO to continue to allow that investment every quarter.”
Why a love of 'chaos' helps a CMO-turned-CEO stay ahead of the curve Marketers need to get their 'sat-nav' sorted. Duncan says CEOs are always thinking three to six months ahead and that the marketing teams he worked with would “listen to a lot of local traffic reports”. That may be 'interesting' but it doesn't leave much time to 'do anything about it' so staying positive is key.
This resonated with Cheryl Calverley, former CEO of Eve Sleep. He recognizes that as a CMO you need to “remain optimistic.” This is because the marketing department is often the department that takes on new challenges. On the other hand, when you become a CEO, you quickly realize that much of your role is about “risk mitigation” and balancing competing interests against each other, she explained.
Calvary entered the CEO role “putting on an optimistic marketing hat,” but soon realized he needed to “step back and look more closely at the balance of risks,” adding, “That's where the real change was. ” he added.
Giffgaff CEO Ash Schofield didn't wax poetic, but he did warn that marketers making the CMO-to-CEO role need to “clean up all the rubbish” they've left behind and start building closer relationships with their marketing-related teams.
Upon taking over as CEO, he quickly realized that the business was not “really leveraging the range of contributions within the company” and that there was too much “wasted talent and resources” across the business.
Get started now
As for what marketers should start doing now, Duncan believes it's worth marketing departments “asking more questions” about whether the activity is really necessary. He noted that Bauer is a portfolio business and may have to spend more money on products that “ultimately fail.”
He encouraged the audience, if this scenario resonates with them, to come to an honest assessment by asking themselves if they are seeing any “impact” from their marketing investments, or if it is “a Band-Aid to cover a gunshot wound.” Ta.
The best marketers I've ever worked with are happy to explain why we do what we do, while also being part of a leadership team that can speak broadly about the business as a whole.
Chris Duncan, former Bauer Media CEO
“Marketing can have a tougher fight to patch things up than a lot of other areas,” he said. “And as a result, it almost always comes down to drawing the line and saying, 'We're going to protect everything we have here.'”
That way, marketers can ask questions like why operations are doing things the way they are, or why the logistics department spent a lot of money on something else, or why the finance team suddenly grew to 500 people. You won't have any doubts, Duncan argued.
“I'm not going to ask those questions because then people will be asking questions about me,” he said. “The best marketers I've worked with are happy to explain why they're doing what they're doing, but they're also part of a leadership team that can speak broadly about the business as a whole.”
Crossover challenges
The panel also touched on the conflicts that can arise when a CMO becomes CEO and must manage their successor. Schofield acknowledged that it's difficult for his CEO, who comes from a marketing background, to stay in his lane, and that it's a “thing” they are forced to get involved with.
He admits that it took him a while to find a balance, and that there was an element of “checking myself and stopping talking when I don't need to.”
Schofield explained that his current relationship with GiffGaff's chief marketing officer, Sophie Wheater, is about giving her the “space and freedom” to play a different role to how he has done it.
“You have to let them find themselves in the role,” he added.
'What happens when you get there?': What to do if CMO isn't your end goal Calverley added that having a former marketer as your boss can be a “huge privilege” . Because marketing is their “favorite field” and they are their “favorite field”. You will understand the value it brings to your business.
“It's a privilege to walk into a room and make them smile because you get to talk about things that really interest them and that excites them,” she said.
However, Duncan said CEOs with marketing backgrounds may not be seen as “friends of marketing” and may have “less support” in some cases, as they must respond “equally” to all the different positions. I am warning you that there is sex. decisions they need to make.
Continue
Finally, the panel touched on what marketers need to continue to do if they advance to CEO or even if they want to be the best CMO. Duncan believes that the classic trope that marketing is the “voice of the customer” remains a critical part of what the marketing function brings to a business.
“We need to do it in a way that supports the strategy, highlights where we're on the right track and tells the story about that,” he said.
Duncan said this is especially important if a company is going through any kind of transformation process.
“It is very dangerous for a company to have a transformation program that is larger than the customer's business,” he noted. “Ultimately, we're all there to serve the customer's needs. If we don't, the business will fail.”
'The clock is ticking': On the benefits of succession planning believes they need to keep trying.
“Expand the storytelling you do internally and bring in the business,” he added.
Calverley noted that marketing has the ability to “look into the future” and understand what customers will be like in the coming years.
“We are the only company in business whose primary job, our complete job, is to understand where the hell humanity is heading and how we can develop our businesses accordingly.” “That's true,” she said, abandoning the notion that marketers need to be marketers. The other part of my business is working on spreadsheets.
“They're trying to make us into accountants. That's not my job. You always have to ask yourself in your career: What can only I do? What can so many others do? If people can see spreadsheets, don't look at spreadsheets,” she concluded.
