cmo-role-definition-and-career-navigationlisted

# CMO Role Definition and Career Navigation ## Overview This skill covers how marketing leaders should define the CMO role, navigate career transitions into and within senior marketing positions, onboard effectively into new companies, and avoid the most common failure modes. All practices are sourced exclusively from guests on the Exit Five podcast. Where guests disagree, those disagreements are surfaced explicitly rather than resolved artificially. --- ## The Three Jobs of the CMO Recognize that the CMO role contains three distinct jobs, not one. Allocate time deliberately across all three: 1. **Run marketing** — Execute the plan, keep operations smooth, generate demand. 2. **Help your boss run the company** — Participate in CEO-level business decisions and strategy; think beyond the marketing function. 3. **Market marketing** — Proactively communicate internally what marketing does and why it matters. Treat this like a political campaign: hold town halls with sales, meet one-on-one with key stakeholders, and make the function visible and credible inside the organization. Most CMOs spend 100–120% of their time on job one and neglect jobs two and three, which leads to failure. (Source: Dave Kellogg, Episode #342) Separately, distinguish between **running marketing** (execution, keeping operations smooth) and **leading marketing** (setting direction, improving the function over time, adapting to market changes). Running is the baseline; leading is where you create stra