Building the Board-Ready CMO in B2B Report
Discover the must-have skills and capabilities needed to become B2B board-ready.
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BUILDING THE BOARD-READY CMO IN B2B
Today, less than 3% of public or private board members have a marketing background. However, it's not for a lack of trying. Of the 311 B2B CMOs we surveyed, 62% aspire to serve on a corporate board in the next three to five years – with just 8% confident of doing so based on their current skills and capabilities.
So, what does it take for a senior marketing leader to earn an elusive seat on the board?
Together with NewtonX, we've created a Board-Readiness Framework leveraging qualitative insights from former and current B2B CMOs, in addition to guidance from executive and non-executive board directors responsible for membership selection to help CMOs worldwide become more successful in applying for boardroom roles.
Discover how to take action, review your career development goals, and build yourself into a CMO ready for board membership by learning from CMOs who've successfully reached the C-suite in our Building the Board-Ready CMO in B2B report.
INTRODUCING THE BOARD-READY CMO FRAMEWORK
Based on the insights gained from our CMO and board director interviews, we've constructed an evidence-based framework consisting of eight building blocks – or ‘must have’ skills, capabilities, or behavioural traits – that B2B CMOs and senior marketing leaders need to strengthen or develop for board-readiness.
A SNAPSHOT OF WHAT WE FOUND
1. BOARDROOM EXPOSURE
Boardroom Exposure explores a CMO's role in the boardroom. CMOs who regularly attend company board meetings, present recommendations on customer, market, and competitor strategies, can confidently contribute to agenda discussions, and produce commercial reports demonstrating the impact of marketing on business growth scored highly for this building block.
39%
OF CMOs SAY THEY ATTENDED AND/OR PRESENTED AT 'EVERY' COMPANY BOARD MEETING, WITH JUST 44% PRESENTING ANY REVENUE-ORIENTATED METRICS.
"It’s critical for CMOs to frequently attend and represent themselves well in board meetings. It’s where you learn to speak the language of the board and understand what the board really cares about before applying for your own boardroom role."
PETER FINTER, BOARD CHAIR AND ADVISOR, CMO, KX
2. CEO ALLIANCE
CEO Alliance explores the relationship between a CMO and a CEO. CMOs who report directly to their CEO and have a strong, collaborative relationship built on mutual respect and trust, have clear responsibilities and KPIs as a growth leader in the business, and have full accountability for pipeline and revenue-based metrics like CAC and CLTV scored highly in this building block.
49%
OF CMOs SAY THEIR CEO DOESN'T RECOGNISE THE STRATEGIC CONTRIBUTION THEY BRING TO THE BUSINESS OUTSIDE OF THE MARKETING REMIT.
"CMOs looking for a board role need to speak the language of business beyond their functional expertise. They must be able to give strategic direction, not just marketing strategy. This will bring you closer to what really interests the board."
CHRISTINA BONDOLOWSKI, BOARD DIRECTOR, GLOBAL CMO, MSCI
3. FINANCIAL ACUMEN
Financial Acumen refers to a CMO's proficiency in reading and evaluating financial statements, reports, and ratios. CMOs who understand their use in commercial planning, are comfortable participating in financial discussions, and work collaboratively with their CFO to ensure marketing strategies are aligned with the commercial goals of their organisation scored highly for this building block.
8%
OF CMOs FEEL 'VERY COMFORTABLE' PARTICIPATING IN, OR CONTRIBUTING TO, FINANCIAL DISCUSSIONS IN LEADERSHIP OR BOARD MEETINGS.
"Broaden and deepen your finance skill set. If you don't understand P&L, balance sheets, cashflow statements and the LTV:CAC ratio, or can't spot trends and drivers, don't even bother applying."
DOUG BEWSHER, BOARD INVESTOR, EX-CMO, SALESFORCE.COM
4. MARKET SPECIALISM
Market Specialism refers to CMOs who show a deep understanding of market context and industry dynamics, challenges, and opportunities. CMOs who demonstrate in-depth knowledge of how they impact their total addressable market and ideal customer profiles, whether changes in the competitive or technology landscape affect customer investment strategies, and can give sound advice on market category optimisation scored highly for this building block.
59%
OF CMOs WOULD CONSIDER THEMSELVES NOT JUST 'MARKETING' EXPERTS, BUT ALSO 'MARKET' EXPERTS IN THEIR ORGANISATION.
"I would consider not having Chief Marketing Officer in your title. The 'ING' puts people off. Become the ‘Chief Market Officer’ instead. It adds a lot more value."
JENNIFER GRIFFIN-SMITH, BOARD MEMBER, CMO, ACQUIA
5. GTM CONNECTIVITY
GTM Connectivity refers to CMOs who shape and manage their organisation's end-to-end GTM strategy. CMOs who build connected and collaborative relationships between sales, product, pricing, distribution, and customer success functions to optimise pipeline and revenue growth, and take accountability for the 4Ps across product-market fit, pricing strategy, and pricing models and structures scored highly for this building block.
42%
OF CMOs HAVE FULL OWNERSHIP FOR PRODUCT STRATEGY, WITH 32% HAVING THE SAME FOR PRICING STRATEGY.
"I would advise CMOs to ensure they have consistent influence or ownership of the Go To Market - a GTM that goes way broader than just Marketing and includes Sales, Product, and Customer Success all working together to attract and engage the customer. This is super, super important, and one of the things that arguably got me a board seat."
PATRICIA HADDEN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, GLOBAL MARKETING LEAD, GOOGLE
6. T-SHAPED SKILLS
T-Shaped Skills refer to CMOs who have well-rounded strategic knowledge beyond the marketing remit. CMOs who have a broad range of critical assessment skills, knowledge of legal compliance, risk management, and international relations, and can offer 'big picture' thinking with foresight and guidance on how market factors affect material risk and opportunities to drive sustainable growth and profitability scored highly for this building block.
27%
OF CMOs DEMONSTRATE THE T-SHAPED SKILLS NECESSARY FOR BOARDROOM CONSIDERATION.
"Boards generally don’t look for one-trick ponies. We talk about the desire for someone with a “T-Shaped” perspective for our board. Someone who can take a step back and look at the big picture and has the breadth of financial acumen, strategic skills, and the dexterity to see around the corner to help us navigate material risk and opportunities to create long-term value for shareholders."
SONITA LONTOH, PUBLIC COMPANY BOARD DIRECTOR AND FORMER FORTUNE 100 TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE
7. SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Servant Leadership refers to CMOs who display a high level of emotional intelligence and stewardship. CMOs who listen well, show empathy, and are highly skilled in developing cohesive, synergistic relationships between teams and functions, are committed to the personal growth and wellbeing of others, and can objectively assess the advantages and disadvantages of business decisions and strategies scored highly for this building block.
32%
OF CMOs DEMONSTRATE THE BEHAVIOURAL TRAITS TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH SERVANT LEADERSHIP.
"To persuade the boardroom on the right path forward, it is not about slamming hard on the table, nor about shouting loud, nor about monopolising the boardroom. In an age of customer-centricity and boardroom etiquette, it is all about being invited in, about influence, about becoming a trusted advisor."
CHRIS BURGGRAEVE, INVESTOR, AUTHOR, AND NACD.DC CERTIFIED BOARD MEMBER AND CHAIRMAN
8. PERSONAL NETWORK
Personal Network refers to CMOs with a strong personal brand and network that warms them to boards seeking new candidates. CMOs who have LinkedIn bios tailored to business needs, not just that of the marketing remit, clear distinguishing factors that show their unique qualities, and make a consistent effort to network with board and investor communities regularly scored highly for this building block.
75%
OF CMOs SPEND LESS THAN 20 HOURS A MONTH NETWORKING WITH SENIOR BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS.
"Focus on overcoming one of the biggest obstacles to getting a board position – the networking. CMOs must invest the time to build their own personal network and increase their exposure to board members and investors on boards, especially in private equity or the VC community."
DOUG BEWSHER, BOARD INVESTOR, EX-CMO, SALESFORCE.COM
WANT TO KNOW HOW BOARD-READY YOU ARE?
If you're a CMO or senior marketing leader with boardroom aspirations, assess your board-readiness against our eight board-ready building blocks using our upcoming diagnostic tool. You'll receive a personal breakdown of your results, where you sit against your B2B peers, and a maturity score to gauge how close you are to being board-ready.
Register your interest in the tool to be notified as soon as it's launched!
OUR METHODOLOGY
We collaborated with NewtonX, a leading B2B research firm to conduct this first-of-its-kind study. Our goal was to understand how CMOs are perceived by boards, why CMOs in B2B organisations often lack board presence, and to provide guidance on securing board positions commensurate with their expanded responsibilities. Our approach entailed two steps:
Step 1: Develop the Board-Readiness Framework
To create a evidence-based framework outlining the necessary skills, capabilities, and behavioural traits for CMOs to be board-ready, we conducted interviews from two viewpoints:
1. Board Directors: we interviewed six executive and non-executive board directors from both public and private B2B boards, all actively
involved in selecting new members.
2. B2B CMO Board Members: we interviewed twelve CMOs from B2B organisations, either currently serving on corporate boards or with previous board experience.
Step 2: Assess B2B CMO Board-Readiness
To gauge CMOs’ proficiency across the eight building blocks outlined in the Board-Readiness Framework, we surveyed 311 B2B CMOs from enterprise organisations (500-5000+ employees) spanning various industries. The majority of respondents hailed from IT/software/ technology, financial services, manufacturing, transport and logistics, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and legal services sectors. We established
scoring criteria for the 30-question survey to track CMOs’ progress on their board-readiness journey. These scores were consolidated to offer
a comprehensive assessment of current board readiness among B2B CMOs, spotlighting areas of strength and those requiring development.
ABOUT TRANSMISSION
Transmission is the world’s largest independent global B2B marketing agency. Our mission is to elevate the role of marketing to the board, combining data-driven intelligence with curiosity, creativity, and innovation to craft powerful, behaviour-changing engagement with audiences to create lasting impact and success.
With offices in eight countries worldwide, Transmission has the global agility and experience to help B2B brands drive the now and define the next.
ABOUT NEWTONX
The world’s leading businesses find their advantage with NewtonX.
NewtonX is the only B2B research company that solves the challenges of today’s insights leaders by connecting them with verified business expertise. Their AI-driven algorithm – the NewtonX Graph – custom recruits the perfect audience for your business question from an open network of 1.1 billion professionals across 140 industries. Every professional is 100% verified, so you can make your next bold move with confidence.
Together with their clients, NewtonX is ushering in a new standard of truth in B2B insights. To learn more, head to newtonx.com.