A recently published Spencer Stuart study delivered sobering news to the Chief Marketing Officer. The position's average tenure which has steadily increased over the past decade made a downward move in 2015. Has CMO tenure peaked? If so, why?
The average tenure for marketing chiefs fell to 44 months as of 2015, down from 48 months in the prior year. [see the WSJ article here: Average Tenure Of CMO's Drops] The median CMO tenure, "a metric that is less skewed by outliers" was even worse, sliding from 35.5 months to 26.5 months. The article provides some commentary on why this is the case including M&A activity, consolidations and retirements. I recently connected with some CMO's in my network to try to gather additional thoughts behind the decline. Here are some of the real reasons for the decline and why this trend will likely continue for several more years.
THE REAL REASONS:
1) Not Enough Power- While CMO's have gained greater influence in company direction, overall they are still not given enough authority and resources to execute the massive changes required.
2) No Holistic Digital Strategy- Digital marketing has grown over the past few years from a small piece of the pie to the entire meal. Unfortunately, those that specialize in baking cookies are not always equipped to run a restaurant. In many cases today, it is on the job training, which has led to mixed results. The ability to orchestrate all of digital's moving parts is critical to success and overall marketing ROI.
3) Wrong Team-Critical to the CMO's success is the ability to field a team of experts across a diverse set of disciplines and a group that will play nicely together. Just as some baseball field managers are not necessarily equipped to be General Managers, subject matter experts may not be strong in assembling the right team that can compete in the Digital Economy. In addition, the talent pool is tight which makes this even more difficult.
4) Senior Management Doesn't Get It- A number of CMO's are hampered by CEO's and Board members that don't fully understand or grasp the extent of the radical changes going on in the marketplace(e.g. anyone been to a Blockbuster lately?). Many caution aspiring CMO's to fully vet the organization and confirm the mandate before accepting the post.
The rate of change in business today may be the greatest in recorded history. Many well known brands and corporations will be gone if they don't anticipate change or better yet create change. The CMO is at the center of the storm. On the plus side, many have succeeded and found their way to the CEO job through their efforts. For CMO's to continue to be successful, new skills are required in addition to more authority, the right strategy and a team that can effectively execute.
What do you think? Is this the beginning of a trend downward for the CMO? Tell me what you are seeing out there.
Dan is CMO @ Augmento
He is VP @Alinean, Inc.
Blog: "The Digital Advantage by Dan Sixsmith."
Dan also hosts the Podcast, This Week In B2B Digital Marketing(we are back live on 3/14 @8PM ET).
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Twitter:@DigitalAdvantg
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