I’ve recruited marketing leaders for 13 years. What my CEO and investor clients often mention to me in passing is that the CMO role is the hardest one to recruit for…. and the trickiest executive role to get right. In the latest episode of The Get podcast, I share my experience on why this is. Why do investors and CEOs perceive so much risk when hiring CMOs? I invite my guest James Lamberti, head of GTM for Georgian and veteran CMO, to share his perspective as well.
You can check out our conversation here: Top Threats To CMO Success…And How CEOs and CMOs Can Tackle Them Together.
What’s clear is this: The best CEO/CMO matches are ones where, BEFORE day 1, both sides collaboratively, intentionally, and explicitly surface the challenges they will face together and how they will overcome them together. That’s not as easy as it sounds, though! This episode shares a model for doing that.
You’ll learn about:
- A method for collaborative de-risking between the CEO and CMO
- How one of the most important functions of the interview is to sketch out the company’s GTM framework and identify any misalignment in GTM strategy.… because the more the company is clear on their GTM strategy, the more effective the CMO will be
- How to diagnose in the interview process when product-market fit is loosely held, or when the market is defined too broadly
- The ‘homework’ that top CMO candidates will do ahead of their first meeting with a CEO, including defining their ‘Ideal CEO Profile’ and how to add value to that person
- How to identify and skirt typical threats to marketing being successful, including ‘silver bullet expectations’, ‘new day/new strategy’ situations, under or over-hiring for the stage, and mis-selling the CMO opportunity
- What CEOs are likely to ask CMO candidates about AI