With all the FOMO and shiny objects out there around AI, how can CMOs maintain their balance and their impact?
I invited Suresh Balasubramanian, CMO of Qualio, to join me to discuss this — and more — on The Get podcast.
Lots to learn here – it’s a very unique dispatch, especially if you’re curious about how bigger-company CMOs can, and do, pivot to CMO roles in smaller companies.
You’ll hear about:
- Inverting the change management playbook to focus on tech before people and process, since the tech can provide great results from the start
- Advice for hiring a marketing leader from a bigger company to a smaller company…and how to tell if the candidate is really ready for a smaller company
- Why it would be dangerous for a CMO — of even a big company — to say about AI, “Yeah, I’ve got a team that does that”
- How the best CMOs respond to pressures to chase shiny AI objects
- Why marketing should be the catalyst for AI usage across the organization, given that marketing has the most connective tissue
- How to interview someone for AI-first thinking, and for the ability to not just improve processes, but re-imagine them
- A question that will separate AI posers from AI natives: “What did you build last weekend?”
- How to encourage AI use without producing AI slop, by insisting on human insight, distillation, and measurable outcomes
🎤 Here’s a quote that has me — and others — nodding:
“You may believe that you’re doing everything right, and you may get an email from a Board member or from a CEO, saying, ‘Hey, I just saw this wonderful thing. Why are we not doing this stuff?’ It is possible that it’ll knock you off your balance a little bit, but the way you recenter yourself is go back to, ‘What is my core role, and how do I define success in my role?’ And make sure you’re continuously delivering successful things and telling others about it…. I think that’s the big part. As marketers, sometimes we get so caught up in just doing things or reacting to things, we often find it hard to market ourselves.”