As a fledgling marketer starting out, I always dreamed of one day getting a company’s top job in marketing, coming up with the strategy, making the decisions, spending the budget. Eventually I managed it. I became the marketing leader at Innocent Drinks, then Mars, and Zoopla. I was moving up in the marketing world. Then I became the Chief Marketing Officer for McDonald’s in the UK and Ireland, and as I sat behind my desk I could finally say ‘I’m lovin’ it’. A few months later and my job was gone. This top job was not quite what I had thought. What a shock. What had made me effective and successful in one leadership position and less so now?
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On a simplistic level I could explain my job loss by pointing to the re-organisation of the global and local marketing function, which was reported in the marketing press. It was a plausible narrative that explained my relatively short tenure, but I knew at a more objective level there was far more going on. I may have ticked the boxes of a year-end review, but as I reflected, I had not built enough of a connection with the UK CEO and Leadership Team. My value was not percolating through and I was vulnerable. It was frustrating and as I approached a new job now as a GlobalChief Marketing Officer, I did not want this to happen again, so I started to consolidate what I had learnt about being the marketing leader. What was really going on and what were the lessons for every marketer as they aspire to this leadership position?
I reflected on my experiences, read around the subject and talked to my marketing peers. There turned out to be a large collection of published material explaining the challenges marketing leaders face.
Kimberly Whitler’s The Trouble With CMOs1 summarised an underlying issue:
‘Something is going very wrong in the relationship between CEOs and CMOs… …80% of CEOs don’t trust or are unimpressed by their CMO. In comparison, just 10% of the same CEOs feel the same way about their CFOs and CIOs.’
The Marketing Society2 call it out in the first section of their first 100 days (F100D) guide ‘why are the first 100 days so hard for marketers’ and Spencer Stuart annually publishes a report on the tenure of CMOs3 which shows the median tenure for top marketers is now just over 2 years, the lowest of the entire Leadership Team. You do not see anything like this for finance, sales or operational leaders.
Many of my peer base seemed to have experienced something similar. Marketing leadership jobs are very volatile, and no psychometric pre-assessment or interview can really assess how you will fit in with the Leadership Team.
What a terrible waste of time and effort for everyone involved if marketing leaders churn within a couple of years and aren’t trusted by their CEO. This isn’t good for anyone. It doesn’t need to and shouldn’t be like this.
Losing my job was part of a wider spread problem, but where are the guidebooks and advice services to support marketers in this challenging position? Most senior marketers dust themselves down and go again at a new role. I was the same, but as I prepared, I decided to pick apart my experiences and the experiences of my peers and wider industry experts to create a framework for success.
Two years later and The Marketing Leader’s CODE has been published. This explains the challenges the marketing leader faces, provides a capability structure to the marketing leadership role and gives guidance on how problems can be overcome. This framework is based on a combination of practical first-hand experience with references to broader publications on marketing and leadership where relevant.
The Marketing Leader’s CODE organises success factors into a CODE made up of 4 essential genres: Connector, Operator, Disruptor and Explorer. Each genre is further divided into 3 ANCHOR Factors, where ANCHOR is an acronym for pairs of essential marketing leadership capabilities and behaviours the marketer needs to deliver.
ANCHOR Factors have over the last 2 years been tested and validated with a large marketing peer set and importantly to be personally, validated by my new CEO:
‘I am a big believer in marketing being the engine of business growth and CMOs being the key. Gareth is the absolute role model in delivering this and his approach is revealed in The Marketing Leader’s CODE. This excellent book is a must read for every marketing person’ Richard Harpin, Founder and CEO, HomeServe PLC
Every marketing role and every Leadership Team is different, so the blend of ANCHOR Factors needed is different, which changes the CODE and ultimately success in the role. This individual blend can be determined through the assessments in the book (click here to buy) or online at sideminds.com.
The CODE also starts to demystify the differences between the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Chief Growth Officer, Chief Customer Officer, Chief Brand Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. Each of these roles have different weights of ANCHOR Factors and knowing this can help the CEO or Leadership Team decide what type of marketer they really need.
The Marketing Leader’s CODE is presented on a circular map. The map can be used to help existing marketing leaders build their capability, enhance onboarding a new leader, improve recruitment and internal dialogue about the marketing function and enable future marketing leaders build their career to the Leadership Team by using tactics and tools highlighted later in the book. A tool to help the marketing leader be more effective and successful over the long term.
To find out more about ANCHOR Factors, The Marketing Leader’s CODE or how Sideminds can support your growth and development contact Gareth at support@sideminds.com.
1. Whitler, K., and Morgan, N. (July- August, 2017). The trouble with CMOs. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/07/the-trouble-with-cmos
2. Market Leader (Spring 2006). Empower. The Marketing Society. http://www.marketingsociety.com/ the-library/marketing-directors-first-100-days/
3. Welch, G., and Sanderson, R. (April, 2022). CMO Tenure Study: Women outnumber men for first time in CMO role. Spencer Stuart.
https://www.spencerstuart.com/research-and-insight/cmo-tenure-study-women-outnumber-menfor- first-time-in-cmo-role
