This week, I am looking for the positive in the much-discussed shorter tenure of the CMO with some proper research (not by me!)
If you read anything about the trends in the joy of being a CMO, it’ll take you a nanosecond to come across the idea that the tenure of the B2B CMO is not as long as others in the C-Suite, or as it used to be or as it is in other industries.
And that’s BAD.
Right?
Short tenure hangs like the Sword of Damocles over a marketing leader, a pre-ordained belief that something very bad will happen very soon.
The trigger fingers are itching to fire in the C suite and on the board.
FOFU (Fear Of F**king Up) abounds, and self-confidence is shredded.
Well, I’ve been wondering if it’s as bad as all that and if it was possible, in this weekly half-baked thought, to find the positive and write about shorter tenure as a good thing.
I’ve been following the work of Forrester analyst Ian Bruce, Ph.D. (as much as I can as a non-client), who is doing some proper research on this. A post by him a few weeks ago, got this idea of positivity rattling around in my head.
In that LinkedIn post, Ian shares that the Forrester research has revealed a gender gap regarding the shorter tenures of CMOs; women fare worse than men.
Now, if we carry around the trope that short tenure is bad, then this is double bad.
However, it made sense to me to see this as a positive.
You could contend that good female CMOs are in demand.
Marketing is a far more diverse discipline than sales or engineering, and as companies look to diversify their C-suites, marketing is a place where great female leaders are being shaped. And this demand could create positive churn.
Of course, this is a sweeping generalization, and there are plenty of negative experiences; it’s certainly not all unicorns and rainbows for women in marketing.
That thought about demand creating positive churn came from thinking about developers.
There is little concern about a developer’s tenure; it’s short because the good ones are in demand. In fact, according to this blog post quoting 2022 research from Zippia, 69% are in and out within two years.
“But developers, they are also young,” I hear you say, and young people move jobs as their careers develop.
However, that also holds for CMOs; they are also the youngest in the C-suite, so one could argue they are still climbing the ladder, more likely to take a risk and to take the leap to better CMO positions as their careers are still unfolding.
Again, this contributes to what I am calling in this post positive churn.
I’ll warn you when you dive down the age of CMO’s rabbit hole: It’s not all unicorns and rainbows there, either, as some commentators point to ageism in marketing.
A new CMO can make a huge impact in 2 to 3 years, and the nature of the CMO beast is that once that difference is made, a new project to make a difference somewhere else appears very attractive.
In one short blog post, I won’t be flying in the face of the perceived wisdom of the unique performance pressures CMOs have compared to similar senior roles, as the goals, expectations, and all of that are so varied and often misunderstood.
But I believe we can add a little “it depends” to the notion that the “shorter CMO tenure compared to other C-suite executives” is bad.
I think that “it depends” is important, as Kimberly A. Whitler, Professor, Darden School of Business, shares in this article:
“While CMO failure and dissatisfaction are still common drivers of short CMO tenure, understanding all of the reasons can better help CMOs, CEOs, and others interpret the data. Although the word turnover naturally tends to signal that there is some sort of problem, it is hard to know whether short tenure is “good” or “bad” without understanding the underlying drivers”.
I commented on Ian Bruce’s LinkedIn post that I hope the Forrester research will bring some positivity to substantiate my half-baked hunch.
In the meantime, it’s time to be more positive.
The In-n-Out CMO.
Fancy more of this?
Subscribe to my Rockstar CMO Newsletter
I’m a 3xCMO, now a marketing strategy advisor and podcast host at Rockstar CMO. Although, I’m not a rock star, but a marketing leader, strategist, content marketer, columnist, speaker, industry watcher, and creator of ART (Awareness, Revenue, and Trust) for the companies I work with. But most of all, I am an enthusiastic tea drinker.
You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, or now Threads! – or listen to my weekly podcast at Rockstarcmo.com
The half-baked thoughts shared on this blog may not reflect those of my employer or clients, and if the topic of this article is interesting or you just want to say hello please get in touch.