The CMO Mindset: Effective Leadership Strategies for Leading High-Performing Marketing Teams

The CMO Mindset: beyond brands

As a young employee at P&G, I attended one of these large corporate forums to network with people from other divisions and chat with leadership. I met one of the most senior leaders in the marketing department and confronted him on how well he could manage such a large number of brands in so many countries. His answer boiled down to one of the pre-scripted firm’s core competencies:

“delivering through others.”

Even in such a large and bureaucratic organization at the end of the 90s, it was evident that people at the top should not micro-manage all possible scenarios and be directly accountable for all delivered outcomes.

However — as an advisor — I have seen more than my fair share of CMOs making decisions instead of their teams by often and regrettably scolding them.

So, what does effective marketing leadership boil down to? What is the preferred CMO Mindset to lead high-performing marketing teams?

In an ever-evolving business landscape, a leader’s effectiveness must be gauged by the performance of their teams. Yet, as CMOs and executives can attest, leading high-performing teams involves more than just…