Date: 12-11-2007
A joint study by Forrester Research and Heidrick & Struggles found that 34% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) aspire to become Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). Survey participants ranked becoming the CMO of a larger company or a bigger brand and becoming CEO as their top career goals. The top marketing objectives for chief marketers included acquiring new customers (61%), launching new products (53%), increasing brand awareness (48%), improving market ROI (40%), and recruiting talent (40%). Among the top skills required in a CMO, 82% of executives chose vision and strategic thinking. In addition to superior people skills, successful marketing leaders must search out and obtain cross-functional leadership experiences; increase their knowledge of different departments, operations, and processes; build best practices across multiple functions; and use those skills and knowledge to develop trusting relationships with key influencers across the business. The study, called The Evolved CMO, was conducted on more than 132 chief and senior marketers from companies with $100 million or more in annual revenues. Jane Stevenson, global managing partner of Heidrick & Struggles' CMO practice, described evolved CMOs as those who "talk about the business like a business owner."
