Purpose: The article is to talk about how the Expertise and insights form Chief Marketing Officers ( CMOs) help the Executive boards of company to be more effective and how Strategic Marketing Leaders can get better prepared for the “Seat on the Table “ by bringing unique value and perspective to the Executive Boards whose core role is to oversee Organizational Strategy and Performance
Following are the five Skills / Perspectives that bring 5 UNIQUE values to the Executive Leadership
1. Understanding of Customer Behaviours/Commercial Orientation
- – Custodian of Strategy and has the role of Bringing it to Life
- – Works around Customer Data , Customer Behaviors, Market Analysis as well Customer Experience
- – Responsible for creating Tangible customer Values ( solving Customer Problems / proactively enabling customers to create New Revenue Streams etc ) from Business Strategy through the Power of Story telling .
- – Has access to the Broader Ecosystem beyond customers (Media, Regulators, Government Bodies, Investors etc .)
- UNIQUE VALUE FOR THE BOARD: Support with valuable insights towards Investment Strategy
2. Digital Savviness
- – Ability to harness Digital tools and keeping up with the tech innovations are key part of the functional role.
- – Ability to measure success from each adoption thereby converting the Qualitative lens to ROI driven quantitative lens power by strong business acumen.
- – Ability to read and leverage the data and Tech.
- Provides the Board with the ability to meaningfully take on the discussions in the boardroom around teach like AI, Cyber, AR / VR etc.
3. Cross Functional Expertise and Insights
- – Connect across the organizations from C-Suite to Functional leadership to down below
- – Understanding of the organization from external and internal perspective .
- – Ability to harness the different Individual views into a purposeful alignment .
- – Strong understanding of the functional perspective of the organization eg. From HR to Finance to Customer Service to Supply Chain etc.
- Provides Cohesion in Disparity. The CMO acts as a Connective Tissue across the organization thereby meaningful Cohesion within the Disparate views within the Board room.
4. Deep Connections to Market Dynamics.
- – Understanding to broader Ecosystem
- – It’s a forward -looking function within the organization
- Thereby by the virtue of above skills the CMO can help the board to decide how the business needs should evolve depending upon the Market dynamics change.
5. Understanding of Competitive Differentiation
- – Broader Perspective
- – Has the OUTSIDE – In view
- – Great connections with Govt./ Regulatory bodies / Industry bodies .
- – Versatility and wide range of experience
- Helps board to define differentiation for the customers by helping the organization to see competition in different lens thereby creating the right positioning for the organization.
- Helps the board to better prepare the company wide Strategy and for Investor day etc.