𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗼𝘄: 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗠𝗢 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲

𝘑𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘚𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥.What does it mean to be an impactful CMO right now? It’s not an easy question to answer, but it’s one marketing leaders and the executives who hire them need to address. The challenge is deciding how to operate when guidelines that used to apply are invalid while new guidelines are a work-in-progress.CMOs who built a career without AI need to re-define their own role, the role of marketing, and the roles of everyone on the team (including non-human ones). What marketing leaders need to know and do to ensure their function delivers on its goals gets updated in near real-time.Our guest for episode 6 of the Steep and Think podcast has been on the leading edge of this transformation from both a supply and demand perspective. Erica Seidel is founder of The Connective Good, a boutique retained executive search practice focused on placing CMOs and VPs of Marketing in high-growth B2B SaaS companies. As part of her work, Erica regularly speaks with CMOs to gather their perspectives on what good looks like now, and how AI has changed what helps leaders thrive. She also works with executives looking to recruit marketing leaders, so she has a view into how their needs and expectations have changed.We’ll talk with Erica about what she’s seeing and hearing on some important questions:• What it means to be an “AI-first” CMO in today’s market• What makes AI transformation different from earlier digital transformations• Why CMOs can’t just look to their teams to deliver AI transformation• How resilient CMOs come back from the inevitable disruptions and missed expectations and what soft skills CMOs need to develop to succeed• What high-growth companies are looking for in marketing leaders and how that’s changed in the last two years, including why looking at past results is a poor predictor of future impact• How marketing leaders can identify people who have with the curiosity and systems thinking required for today’s marketing environment• How marketers can build an AI-optimized presence and enhance their personal brands for job hunting in today’s market