How should CMOs talk with their boards about their AI initiatives and their ROI?
This is the first topic we are tackling in the newest season of The Get podcast. This season, we are examining how AI is reframing and reinventing the CMO role — especially when it comes to hiring, getting hired, and leadership.
Joe Sawyer, CMO of Flashpoint, joined me to share his experience and advice for how CMOs can talk with their Boards about their AI initiatives and their ROI. This was such a meaty conversation!
You’ll hear about:
- How getting the AI dialogue right with your Board can help you overcome some of the problematic ways that CMOs have communicated with Boards in the past
- Anticipating the questions your Board will ask about your AI initiatives
- How Joe narrowed down from 20+ potential AI use cases to the few to differentially invest in that would have profound value
- Why CMOs should avoid name-dropping consultants and tools, since that reinforces the perception of marketing as a function focused on activity rather than outcomes
- How Joe approached a presentation on AI in GTM to a group of PE portfolio company CEOs
- How to embrace “productive disappointment”
- What actually moves a team from AI-curious to AI-operational
- A maturity model for assessing a potential new hire’s fluency with AI
Some quotes:
- “We tried to look at things through a different view, which was not just what are all the things we could be doing, but what would our board value most?”
- “Take a step back and say, ‘What are boards talking about with respect to AI when the CMO is not in the room?’ Generally, I would argue they’re talking about enterprise value and what’s the impact of AI on the company’s enterprise value. When you show up as the CMO, they’re looking at the levers you control that positively impact the way AI can influence the company’s enterprise value.”
- ” CMOs can be high-fiving each other over their use cases, but boards are worried about enterprise value… and survival.”
Bonus Playlist:
Joe is not only a seasoned CMO, he’s a seasoned DJ! He’s created a companion playlist on Spotify: