This is a phrase I\u2019ve heard often in my career, with varying degrees of politeness. As a Chief Marketing Officer in Silicon Valley, you quickly learn that everyone has an opinion about how you and your team do the job. This dynamic is a key reason why a Spencer Stuart study<\/a> recently found that the median tenure of a CMO is a mere 25 months \u2014 the lowest measured, and lowest across the C-suite. It\u2019s definitely the nature of the profession, particularly in B2B companies where the measured impact of marketing is often highly dependent on key levers across your sales organization, partner ecosystem and product portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But is this a problem? It all depends on how you take it in. I\u2019ve told my teams in purposely simplistic terms that every function in Silicon Valley has a cross to bear. Engineers have to debug code. Sales reps are under constant pressure to hit their numbers, or face job jeopardy. In marketing? Everyone\u2019s an art critic. Comes with the territory! I like to think of every leader, every employee across your company as \u201cearned media.\u201d The more badged employees you can get behind your cool new campaign, the more scale you\u2019ll realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So then, the more people who weigh in on your team\u2019s work, the more people who care! As a CMO, you have an opportunity to turn this rabid interest into a key advantage, but only if you get really good at the \u201cart of listening.\u201d Author Simon Sinek<\/a> nailed it when he said listening isn\u2019t about understanding the words that are spoken, but rather the meaning behind the words. He points out that people want to feel<\/em><\/strong> that they\u2019ve been heard. If you can achieve that, even if you ultimately don\u2019t implement their advice, chances are better that you\u2019ve enlisted another member of the army that pushes your message far and wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve thought a lot about managing a blizzard of opinions, and how as a marketing leader you need to do your best to make those around you feel like they are a part of your mission. But it\u2019s awfully difficult to do this unless you have an unshakable sense of core beliefs and guiding principles that define how<\/em> you operate as a CMO. When the opinions and debates come flying in, you will need a critical set of these to influence, navigate and operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over my 30+ year career, I\u2019ve developed my own set for the CMO role. Some may have more or less relevance depending on the company, business model (I\u2019m definitely coming from a B2B perspective here!) and people. In the end, I\u2019m capturing them, for your consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the next few months, I\u2019ll be releasing new chapters, each dedicated to one of my principles. I hope you\u2019ll enjoy reading about each. I\u2019d appreciate it if you would comment and offer up your own examples on each topic I will touch on in this series. Onward!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter 1: The CMO Mission: Creating Signature Moments<\/strong> RELEASED!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n