Thankful... for all of it

Between rounds of turkey and trimmings this Thanksgiving I read through a number of well thought out and inspiring reflections on the fortunate lives most of us lead. Gratitude is truly at the core of happiness. I won't wade into these personal philosophical waters (many more eloquent than I have already done so), but instead offer a professional perspective for those of us in the marketing realm.

Two rather sobering studies made the rounds on social media recently, pointing out that CMOs have the shortest tenure in the C-suite and 2018 has been a particularly high turnover year. (HBR - The Trouble with CMOs and Spencer Stuart - Year of the CMO Shuffle)

Why is this? It is worth reading through the two articles in detail, but it boils down to two sets of factors: 1) misunderstanding the role and charter of the marketing organization and 2) the complexity of the marketing domain itself.

Sitting at the intersection of "scientist + artist + technologist" the best marketers need to be "intellectually ambidextrous". They must "understand the data science needed to understand the business, the artistry required to help impact customers, and the technology understanding to have the vision to build the right enabling systems" as pointed out in this Forbes article.

Think about this for a minute. Being in a profession that requires you to be an all around athlete. Competing across the disciplines of art, science and technology, creating and innovating, leading diverse teams and pulling this all together to drive business. A career path could take you in many directions far less compelling. To be in the marketing game, solving stimulating interdisciplinary problems, surrounded by great people - now that's something I'm thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.