CMO Confidential

A CMO Confidential Interview with Evan Wittenberg, Chief People Officer of VuMedi formerly CPO of Ancestry and Box, Google's Head of Leadership Development, and a Saturday Night Live Page. Evan discusses why HR has become a much tougher position over the last 5 years, AI's negative impact on leadership development, and the similarities between marketing and HR. Key topics include: his belief that...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Kip Knight, founder of CMO Coaches, former CMO of Taco Bell and H&R Block USPresident. Kip lays out the case for marketers to build their brands based on trust, authenticity and personal core principles along with an objective understanding of "what you are really famous for being able to accomplish." Key topics include: why executive presence matters; the com...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Andy Sack and Adam Brotman, Co-Founders and Co-CEO's of Forum 3, authors of the book AI First, previously at Microsoft and Starbucks. Adam and Andy discuss the exponential growth of LLM's in the 3 years since the Chat GPT launch, the rapid pace of consumer adoption and "why there's never been a bigger prize in capitalism." Key topics include: why the circular tie-...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Mike Walrath, Chairman and CEO of Yext, Inc., formerly CEO of Right Media, and SVP at Yahoo! Mike discusses what he believes is the collapse of the marketing funnel, the need to understand how AI consumes data while judgement stays with consumers, and how an "influence marketing" mindset is emerging. Key topics include: why CMOs will need to be both great brand st...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Jim Lecinski, Clinical Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, author, and former Google VP. Jim discusses why he believes marketers are often overly focused on using AI for productivity improvements versus business growth, the gaps between marketers and the C-Suite highlighted by recent Gartner research, and the difference between "big frontie...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Abhay Parasnis, Founder & CEO of Typeface, Board Member of Dropbox and Schneider Electronic, formerly EVP of Adobe. Abhay discusses the large gap between AI expectations and execution, the human and cultural issues in the way of adoption, and the C-Suite's responsibility to "guide the change" versus demand and monitor progress. Key topics include: recognizing...

"Dissecting Compensation - A Primer on Understanding, Negotiating and Managing Pay" A CMO Confidential Interview with Richard Sanderson, the Marketing, Sales, and Communications Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart. Richard starts with the basics of salary, bonus and equity and branches out to compensation mix, the various types of equity, negotiating best practices, and the "other" elements of an of...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Richard Sanderson, the Marketing, Sales, and Communications Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart. Richard starts with the basics of salary, bonus and equity and branches out to compensation mix, the various types of equity, negotiating best practices, and the "other" elements of an offer. Key topics include: why the devil is in the details; when and how to discuss co...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dwight Hutchins, Senior Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and a Northwestern Adjunct Professor, previously Managing Director at Accenture focused on Consumer Products, Health Care and Public Service. Dwight shares his thinking on why marketers should be prepared to reduce expenses and shift resources into a re-imagined future versus incrementally...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Kate Bullis and David Wiser, Managing Partners and Global Marketing Practice Leaders for ZRG Partners. Kate and David translate their extensive search experience into a pre-game, game time, and post game look at the errors candidates make during the recruiting process. Key topics include: why thorough preparation includes self awareness, a "shopping list" and patt...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Shiv Singh, CEO of Savvy Matters, former CMO of Lending Tree and author of AI For Dummies and The 5 Marketing Truths You Won't See at Cannes. Shiv shares why he believes AI is killing marketing jobs, how the CMO Role is breaking down due to overlap with other functions, and how "Big Tech is running marketing." Key topics include: how walled gardens make the job ha...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dr. Dan McCarthy, Professor of Marketing at Maryland and leading practitioner of Customer Lifetime Value. Dan shares insights from his privacy research based on Apple's "App Tracking Transparency" (ATT) initiative commonly known as "Ask App Not to Track" which include a significant impact on business results, a degradation of CAC, and a disproportionate hit to sma...

CMO Confidential — “What Your CFO Wants to Tell You (But Won’t)” with CNA CFO Scott Lindquist What does a great CFO really think about marketing? Mike Linton sits down with Scott Lindquist—CFO of CNA Financial and former long-time CFO of Farmers—to decode the finance side of brand building, performance spend, and the politics of the boardroom. They cover how CMOs should onboard a new CFO, why “mar...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Kim Whitler, professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, board member, and former GM and CMO. Kim shares insights from more than a decade of research with over 500 CMO's including how 50+% of roles are misaligned, the huge gap between CEO's and CMO's, the fact that misalignment results in weaker financials, and her belief that better positio...

CMO Confidential Interview with Tom Goodwin, author, speaker, and former innovation head at Publicis, Zenith, and Havas. Tom discusses his belief that today's CMO's are overly focused on efficiency versus marketing principles and that the contemporary playbook has been created by tech companies focused on performance metrics. Key topics include: an unhealthy focus on the speed of measurement and s...

A CMO Confidential Interview with David Aaker, Vice Chair of Prophet, author of numerous marketing books including Aaker on Branding 2nd Edition, formerly a Haas School of Business Professor. David discusses the history of brand equity starting with the BCG model from the 90's and why that model and scanner data drove a short-term sales focus at the expense of brand equity. After years of progress...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Auren Hoffman, CEO of SafeGraph, formerly co-founder and CEO of LiveRamp. Auren discusses his belief that vendor management is the most critical skill for the future and why most companies should "rent" a high caliber pool of talent instead of hiring individual executives. Key topics include: thoughts on improving your vendor management skill (with outside law fir...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Peri Hansen, Korn Ferry Leader, CMO Practice, North America. Peri discusses why the CMO position is becoming the vanguard of innovation, the importance of an "agile learner" mindset, and why there's no substitute for great leadership. Key topics include: how nothing "returned to normal" after COVID; the importance of org design; and why CMO's should own the entire...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dan Salkey, Co-Founder & Strategy Partner at Small World, an agency designed to create "entertainment first" brands. Dan discusses the concept of "Entertain or Die," the difference between "owning" and "renting" eyeballs, and why his focus is on "saves, likes, and shares." Key topics include: the fact that attention is earned; the difference between entertaini...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Andy Sack and Adam Brotman, Co-Founders and Co-CEO's of Forum 3, authors of the book AI First, previously at Microsoft and Starbucks. They discuss why AI is different from previous technology advances and the series of "Holy Shit!" moments experienced when interviewing Sam Altman, Bill Gates and others. Key topics include: their belief that AI is "moving faster th...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Michael Treff, the CEO of Code + Theory, a growing 2000 person agency which combines technology and creativity. Michael discusses the disruption in consumer behavior, why B2B client service is becoming more holistic, and why companies should "go on offense" in a time of uncertainty. Key topics include: The strategic question of "What do you want your humans to be...

Nancie discusses her "brand fix" classifications of refine, purposefully manage, and transform, how to get started with data even when money and time are tight, some "Taylor Swift" approaches to brand work, and the difference between mission and brand. Key topics include: how to get the organization in harmony; why "The Big Reveal" is usually the wrong way to go; and her belief that both Sephora a...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dr. Eugene Soltes, Harvard Business School Professor and author of "Why They Do It - Inside the Mind of the White Collar Criminal". Eugene discusses how most crimes start out as small, often unnoticed decisions made by strategic people, how nearly everyone has a chance to step over the line, why many companies (Air BnB, Uber, AI) take regulatory risk, and how cult...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Dr. Eugene Soltes, Harvard Business School Professor and author of "Why They Do It - Inside the Mind of the White Collar Criminal". Eugene discusses how most crimes start out as small, often unnoticed decisions made by strategic people, how nearly everyone has a chance to step over the line, why many companies (Air BnB, Uber, AI) take regulatory risk, and how cult...

A CMO Confidential Interview with Teresa Barreira, EVP & Global CMO and CCO of Publicis Sapient, formerly the CMO of Deloitte Consulting. Teresa discusses the evolution of the role in an age of uncertainty, how the "Business of Marketing" has been replaced by "The Business of the Company," and her belief that B2B and B2C Marketing are converging. Key topics include: why she believes the role i...