09/08/2025

Read This Article before Firing Your CMO

Here are four factors that may be undermining your CMO’s performance

I'm a Gen X'er who began my marketing career in Silicon Valley, back when the internet was not very useful and way weirder. I've led teams through the rise of SaaS, the pivot to video, the heyday of performance marketing and now the AI-everywhere era. I've also stared at more dashboards than any human should. So when a CEO tells me they're ready to part ways with their chief marketing officer (CMO), I ask whether they're firing the actual problem—or just the only person in the C-suite without the tools to defend themselves.

Let's start with the uncomfortable facts. CMO tenure stubbornly trails the C-suite average and remains among the shortest of the common enterprise roles. Recent data shows Fortune 500 CMOs average about 4.3 years in the seat—significantly lower than most peers. Some move up to CEO roles or larger company CMO positions. However, for many, the churn is real, especially in consumer categories.

Why is this so? For one thing, the effectiveness of marketing spend remains notoriously difficult to prove or defend. At the same time, when revenue targets are missed, especially in online retail, marketing leaders are often the ones left standing at the scene, trying to revive a patient who never had a chance.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Chief Executive.