Boards have a great deal of responsibility towards the success of a company, guiding its strategy and ensuring actions improve the company’s value for stakeholders. Having worked as a Board Advisor for a number of businesses, I recognise boards should contain a variety of experiences that share three common values:
- Firstly, board members should always be customer oriented. Placing customer needs first will have an impact on revenue, retention and brand reputation – outcomes that should make all stakeholders happy.
- Secondly, every board member should be aware of brand equity. Your brand is your shop window to the outside world, and understanding how this is impacted is crucial to keeping the shop open.
- Finally, the board must be driving company culture. With increased pressure from investors and customers for positive culture and diversity, good values must be set from the top down.
The best way to ensure these requirements are met is by hiring members with the experience in the bag: CMOs.
CMOs as board members
Despite CMOs having the experience boards need to be customer-centric and increase brand value, very few currently sit on boards. Of the Fortune 1000, only 26 seats are occupied by marketing leaders.
Boards should have members with marketing experience because:
- Their work is always customer-centred to drive revenue and retention.
- They understand better than most of the business how brand equity is impacted.
- CMOs are powerful cultural ambassadors. They are steeped in culture and trends externally and well-attuned to the internal dynamics. They drive impact with consumers through an optimised mix of message reach and frequency, and they are often an organisation’s expert in behavioural change.
Does your company’s board have a former or current CMO as a member? Or as a CMO, do you want to see the inside of the boardroom?
Get in touch to discuss NED roles.
