Spanning Silos

Introduction

The New CMO—Why?

We have met the enemy and he is us.

—Walt Kelly

In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.

—Charles Darwin

TRUE STORY: only a few years ago, the CEO of a large global technology firm with over one hundred product business units under the same corporate brand, marketing to over a hundred countries, decided that the branding and marketing was confused, uncoordinated, and thus less efficient and effective than it could be. So he formed a central global brand unit led by the third- or fourth-ranking executive in the firm as the chief marketing officer (CMO), a person who had successfully run a major region. This executive hired ...