January 2, 2025 — A Day in the Life of a CMO
Imagine you are the chief marketing officer of one of the world’s foremost brands. You’re returning to work after a refreshing 30-day vacation with your family, courtesy of a new holiday practice adopted by US corporations to align with their European counterparts.
As you arrive at corporate headquarters for the first time since the Thanksgiving holidays (thanks to telecommuting, telepresence and virtual collaboration platforms keeping you effectively plugged in), you are excited to see your team and get the New Year rolling.
Spam-Free: The first thing you tackle is your e-mail, which is substantial but completely relevant to your interests and priorities. You think back not too many years ago to a time when you were bombarded every day with spam and hundreds of unwanted offers. What a relief to be able to manage your inbox optimally so you can spend your valuable time doing what you do best – strategy, leadership, relationship-building, creating value and effectively representing your brand.
Respect: You reflect with gratitude on changes in marketing practices that are giving you your time back. E-mail spam is mostly in the rear-view mirror. Invasive cold calls from clueless sales reps are becoming increasingly rare. Computer-generated calls from lazy companies that place greater value on their time than yours are fast becoming an opt-in strategy only. Irritating blinking ads as you search the Internet and pop-up videos as you enter a website have been eliminated or adjusted to your user preferences. Old-school marketing tactics that only served to distract your attention, interrupt your priorities and invade your privacy have become the exception and not the rule.
Responsive: You check your voicemail and enthusiastically begin to return every single call. What a change! In the past, the volume of e-mails, phone calls, interruptions and time wasters was so overwhelming it was impossible to keep up. So you rarely gave the time of day to anyone who might provide you with a fresh perspective.
Accessible: Even if you wanted to chat with an expert to expand your thinking or a student trying to enter the profession, there just wasn’t enough time in the day. Not anymore. You now have the presence of mind – and choice – to expand your circle of engagement. Brain-picking dialogues with thought leaders. Best practice sharing with peers. Out-of-the-box collaboration. Finally, you’ve regained the freedom – and integrity – to do the whole job in leading your marketing organization.
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