I quit my new CMO job after two weeks. My wife thinks I'm wrong.

Dear Rich,

I need an outside view. I'll try to be as concise as possible without ranting.

I have been working as a marketing consultant for a mid-sized software and outsourcing group, growing hard through acquisition. The first engagement earlier this year was clean: build a point of view on how the acquired brands could consolidate and assess whether the marketing leadership teams in place were actually capable of executing it. Three months, clear scope, familiar territory. Fairly uneventful and pretty run-of-the-mill.

About six months after that ended, the CCO called. They were replacing the CEO. A new leader was coming in to drive the consolidation, and would I come on board as the CMO.

The conversation barely felt like an interview. I met the incoming CEO and the CHRO, and accepted the role in the back of a taxi on the way home. I wasn't looking for a permanent role, and if I'm honest, I hadn't fully recovered my energy from the last one. But I felt wanted, and the money was good.

The red flags showed up on day two.

There was a workshop with the CEOs of the acquired businesses and the new group leadership team. The atmosphere wasn't nice. When founders sell their businesses, they don't stop behaving like founders. Each of them still felt like they ran their own kingdom, and it was a bit of a cock measuring contest.

The new CEO raised the topic of consolidation across brand, marketing, sales and operations, and the room nearly revolted. My slot followed (lucky me!). I had to try and calm the discussion in real time, and it wasn't my finest hour.

Then, in a follow-up conversation, my boss, the CCO, clarified the actual plan. They didn't want change yet. They wanted me to behave like a peacekeeper. No restructuring. No major brand or marketing moves. No forcing integration. No direct reports. Just float around holding the peace for up to a year while they quietly removed some of the acquired leaders. Oh, and I wasn't on ExCo after all.

I felt mis-sold. I'd accepted a CMO role, announced it on LinkedIn, and the job spec said leadership. The actual mandate was interim containment. I hadn't been hired to drive change at all.

I decided to quit. Only two weeks after starting. Which doesn't look good.

My wife thinks I should have bent over and taken it. Back me up a little?

Thanks, Mark the Redneck

Dear Mark,

That's not a great situation to find yourself in, so you have my sympathy, as well as my support.

It comes across like they moved the goalposts a little too much without giving much consideration to what it means to you, or your career. And that is unfair. Hiring is a two-way street, and, just like your announcement on LinkedIn, a very public commitment on your part.

M&A constantly brings up the tensions you describe. Each founder acquired is made to feel a certain way about the deal, and what will stay the same, to get the deal over the line. Only after that deal is completed do the real integration agendas, or synergy savings, become clearer to them. From a marketing point of view, the most common one is around branding. An acquired business will always protest about the strength of their brand, and how the market values it, how it can't change. The truth is, without fail, that customers do not actually care, and with the right programme in place, any company brand can change if the process is treated with respect.

Those founders are instrumental to the success of the business in the short term. Hitting those early numbers that justify the acquisition and earns them their earn-out. So it's a delicate balance for the powers that be. They know the likelihood of them staying for years, unless contractually obligated, is slim at best. But they have the potential to be toxic, and no business wants that. In an ideal world those founders, or other CEOs, stay on message, help rationalise the IT estate, bring the delivery worlds together, maintain relations with key clients. And in that context, you can kind of understand the long-term view in regards to marketing. As much as we love the profession, it isn't the most important thing in this scenario, and so, in that lens, one can understand marketing being sacrificed in the immediate short term.

But I'd still be pissed. The CCO has either not been honest with you or was wilfully ignorant. And you have suffered as a result. I'd agree with you, coming in as a minister without portfolio is a waste of time, and if you were to wait, you'd be super frustrated, and your influence heavily diluted when the time came for action. The marketing teams in each of the acquired businesses will also suffer. And the benefit of a more effective marketing team and pipeline generation will be delayed.

Some people would have stayed for financial reasons, but I am sure you took that into consideration.

I admire you for sticking to your principles. Life is short. And, personally, I wouldn't look badly on anyone that jumped so quickly. I'd actually admire it.

Your wife will understand if you give her the context.

Rich