Most CMOs still act like operators.
Decks. Dashboards. Budget meetings. Quarterly plans.
But the CMOs winning right now?
They act like creators.
Not influencers.
Not “thought leaders.”
Creators.
Here’s why that shift matters more than ever 👇
The Trust Shift Nobody Talks About
People don’t trust brands first anymore.
They trust people.
Founders. Builders. Operators.
Voices that show up consistently with a POV.
When a CMO becomes visible:
Brand trust accelerates
Hiring gets easier
Sales cycles shorten
Distribution costs drop
Your personal brand becomes a media channel the company doesn’t have to rent.
Creators Understand Distribution (Executives Often Don’t)
Creators don’t just make content.
They obsess over:
Hooks
Retention
Format
Feedback loops
That’s modern marketing.
If you wouldn’t ship an ad without testing hooks, why would you ship a strategy without testing ideas in public?
CMOs who post:
Learn faster
Sense cultural shifts earlier
Build intuition dashboards can’t show
Storytelling Is a Leadership Skill Now
Great CMOs don’t just manage teams.
They shape narratives.
Creators do this daily:
Clear POV
Simple language
Relatable stories
Repetition without dilution
If your team can’t repeat your story without slides — the story isn’t clear yet.
Personal Brand ≠ Ego (It’s Leverage)
Let’s be clear:
This isn’t about vanity metrics.
It’s about:
Owning distribution
De-risking your career
Making your company more human
Turning insight into influence
The best CMOs in the next decade will be:
Strategists
Storytellers
Media operators
All at once.
The New CMO Playbook
If you’re leading marketing today:
Write like a creator
Think like a publisher
Show your thinking
Build in public
Your brand doesn’t need another campaign.
It needs a voice people recognize.
And that voice might be yours.
