Boost Your Resilience

We all need resilience in the face of personal challenges, business setbacks, or even world events. To me, resilience isn't passive or approving, it is recognizing the setback (I call them curveballs), acknowledging my reaction, learning, and re-engaging. Resilience is a characteristic I respect in my friends and I seek among my teams.

CMOs are pretty resilient people. Not only is the average tenure of a CMO between 14-18 months, but the role has expanded from brand/message (CMO 1.0) to pipeline (CMO 2.0) and now to full revenue responsibility (CMO 3.0). Resources are more constrained, expectations are more elevated, and the speed of competition and innovation continues to accelerate as the new Moore's Law. I've drafted a CMO 3.0 Manifesto and I'd love your thoughts.

Finally - Wednesday, November 13th was World Kindness Day but I think everyday is better with kindness. Please take a moment to brighten someone's day with a hug, text, call that simply says you are important to me and you make me happy. I guarantee that spreading kindness brings you happiness in droves.

#1: Vetting for Resilience

Resilience is the speed of recovery from a setback. Personally, I believe it can be cultivated through failing, regrouping, and trying again. When hiring or promoting, we need to identify people who have built up their resilience strength so that when they face setbacks at work, they have what they need to recover, learn, and re-engage.

This week's tip is the one question you should ask every potential hire or candidate for promotion and how to explore their answer.

Please reply with how you measure the resilience of a candidate.

#2: Are we in the CMO 3.0 era?

I spent over 25 years leading marketing for venture-backed B2B SaaS and AI companies. The role was diverse, challenging, and massive, but since 2021, the evolution of the CMO role has expanded exponentially. Today’s CMO 3.0 is a dynamic, AI-first strategist, an advocate for sustainable growth and customer experience, and a skilled communicator who can navigate complex, cross-functional demands.

No longer confined to brand awareness and pipeline generation, the CMO has evolved into a pivotal driver of operational efficiency, brand loyalty, and market innovation. For companies facing growth plateaus, intensified competition, and shifting market demands, embracing CMO 3.0 is not just an advantage—it’s an imperative. For marketing leaders, growing into a CMO 3.0 is the only way to accelerate and sustain a marketing leadership career.

Meeting the exponential expectations of CMO 3.0 is pertinent to CEOs, Heads of Sales, and investors as well as Marketing leaders. I welcome your comments, disagreements, and suggestions for CMO 3.0.

CMO 3.0 Manifesto: The Evolution of the CMO to Meet the Exponential Expectations