I thought I’d been hired to lead Marketing. Five months later, it was over.

Hi Rich,

Your recent letter from the CMO who quit after two weeks really resonated with me.

My situation was different, but the underlying issue was similar.

Earlier this year I joined a technology business as Marketing Director. I thought I was being hired to lead the function, shape strategy and help drive growth.

Five months later, I was out.

The strategy itself wasn’t really the problem. The bigger issue was that the title suggested one level of authority, while the organisation operated very differently in practice.

The CEO remained deeply involved in Marketing. Long-established team members had significant autonomy and informal influence. I had never met the Marketing team during the interview process, which in hindsight was a major signal I missed.

I came in, asked questions, challenged areas that I thought could improve, talked about stronger demand generation, better reporting, closer Sales alignment and a more proactive approach.

Some of that landed badly.

What I saw as normal leadership and constructive challenge was interpreted by some as criticism or interference.

One senior executive even said something to me that I didn’t fully understand at the time:

“Do you really think the CEO is ever going to stop being the CMO? You haven’t read the room yet.”

In hindsight, that probably told me everything.

Eventually the CEO told me he wasn’t seeing enough buy-in from the Marketing team. I asked for another three to six months to build the relationships and prove I could make it work.

He decided not to.

There was no misconduct issue. I left professionally and with a positive reference.

The biggest lesson for me isn’t “don’t challenge people” or “don’t try to change things.”

It’s this:

Before accepting a senior leadership role, don’t just ask what you’re responsible for. Ask what you’ll genuinely have authority to decide.

And meet the team you’re going to inherit.

An org chart tells you who reports to whom. It doesn’t tell you who really has influence.

My question for you and other CMOs is:

How do you properly diligence the real mandate behind a senior Marketing role before accepting it?

NL, London

Dear NL,

Thank you for getting in touch and for our follow up call today.

Most of your peers have similar stories to share, so I wouldn't take it too personally. Everyone's CV must encounter a few bumps in the road where you are not quite the right fit, otherwise it simply means you are coasting and not taking enough risks!

Especially in today's climate, moving roles is a big decision. Interviews, and due diligence, go both ways. It's a two-way street. You must assess them just as much as they assess you, if not more. And you get better, and wiser, at it the more risks you take in your career. To bastardise an old Japanese fable (Kintsugi), the negative cracks you experience in life can make you more valuable moving forwards if you repair them with gold.

I wouldn't personally agree with meeting the marketing team during the interview process, as I don't think I'd agree to it as a hiring manager. If you hadn't signed, I wouldn't want you meeting them. I wouldn't want to set them the expectation that you're joining if it then falls through.

Here is what I would advise:

1. Understand the clear scope of the role, before you join.
   a. I would want to know why, in their words, you are being hired.
   b. I would want to agree, together, how you will be judged a success, or not.
   c. And I would want them to confirm your interpretation of this, in writing, over a simple email.
   d. Confirm it with other senior leaders in the business, one-to-one. You’ll be surprised what they will tell you if you build rapport over what you may be walking into.

2. Ask the awkward questions.
   a. "Why did the last head of marketing leave?" I would also find out who it was and reach out to them on LinkedIn for a chat. I've done this several times, and people often want to help and tell you critical insider information. They love to vent, too.
   b. "Tell me about the last time marketing made a call you disagreed with, and what happened next?" Ask the CEO to prove to you they can disagree and have your back. It also helps start the conversation around you requiring them to have your back and trust you.
   c. "How much autonomy does marketing have in regard to the marketing budget?" You want to know what the budget is, if there are any spend rules, what sign-off is required, and how much trust you have from day one. If you don't like what you hear, push back now, and put the agreed stance in writing via the scope.

Don't worry if a headhunter is involved. You don't need their permission, and they don’t need to know, just do it.

When we spoke following your letter, you mentioned it was a family business. This is a crucial learning point that anyone reading this would be wise to learn from.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine joined a family owned, medium sized pharmaceutical business as CEO. And he found everything he tried to do required permission or was stonewalled. We're not talking a typical check and balance from a board of directors, we're talking every little decision. One particular marketing related example was that he brought in in a new marketing agency. After he’d signed, he was told he didn’t have the authority to do so. An initial spend of £30k in a business with revenues worth about £20m. He walked.

In some businesses, especially founder led, you may find that they say they want a CMO or Head of Marketing but don't really want to stray from what they have always done, and the way they have always done it. The idea of having a senior marketer in the business seems like something they need to do, perhaps to appear more structured for an exit, but they do not fully prepare themselves mentally for what that entails. Letting go.

Your CEO clearly didn't want to let go. And other senior leaders in the business told you as much. It's probably similar in their areas of the business too. Certainly, we all know everyone knows how to do marketing and HR at the very least. Especially those with access to Claude ;-).

And you know what, these founder led businesses have often been uber successful thus far, and that deserves respect. Sometimes it's a case of "well, I can certainly help level up their marketing, but they aren't going to change and are doing perfectly well up to their ceiling." And that's that. Leave them be.

NL, you didn't do anything wrong. Not every move works out.

What you learnt will be gold for you moving forwards.

Onwards!

Rich