THE B2B BOARD-READINESS DIAGNOSTIC TOOL
Complete our Board-Readiness Diagnostic Tool to learn where you stand in your journey to becoming a board-ready CMO.
DISCOVER WHICH SKILLS AND TRAITS YOU NEED TO DEVELOP TO BECOME A BOARD-READY CMO
Securing a seat on the board as a B2B CMO has historically been a tall hurdle. Whether it’s thanks to the difficulties in demonstrating marketing’s impact on commercial growth, a lack of cross-disciplinary skills, or the challenges associated with a growing scope of responsibility, the common view is that CMOs just aren’t board material.
Transmission wants that to change. Leveraging the results of our Building the Board-Ready CMO in B2B research report and our eight Board-Readiness Framework building blocks, we’ve created a Board-Readiness Diagnostic Tool to highlight which ‘must-have’ skills, capabilities, and traits senior B2B marketing leaders with boardroom aspirations must develop to secure an elusive seat on the board.
Grab a coffee and set aside 15 minutes to use our tool to receive a personalised report for your score – including a breakdown of how you can better position yourself on your boardroom journey.
LEARN WHERE YOU STAND AGAINST YOUR PEERS
Use our tool to get:
- Your total board-readiness score for a quick look at where you stand on your boardroom journey
- A breakdown of your performance vs. 311 B2B CMOs across our eight Board-Readiness building blocks
- Actionable insights to support your growth and help you reach the next level of board-ready maturity
- Board-level advice from B2B CMOs and Executive Directors who have or still sit on corporate boards
OUR BOARD-READINESS BUILDING BLOCKS
BOARDROOM EXPOSURE
How regularly do you attend company board meetings?
Do you present recommendations on customer, market, and competitor strategies?
Do you produce commercial reports demonstrating the impact of marketing on business growth?
CEO
ALLIANCE
Do you report directly to your CEO and have a strong, collaborative relationship built on mutual respect and trust?
Do you have clear responsibilities and KPIs as a growth leader in the business?
Do you have full accountability for pipeline and revenue-based metrics like CAC and CLTV?
FINANCIAL
ACUMEN
Do you understand marketing’s role in commercial planning?
Are you comfortable participating in financial discussions?
Do you work collaboratively with your CFO to ensure marketing strategies are aligned with commercial goals?
MARKET
SPECIALISM
Do you know how marketing impacts your total addressable market and ideal customer profiles?
Can you show how changes in the competitive or technology landscape affect customer investment strategies?
Do you give sound advice on market category optimisation?
GTM
CONNECTIVITY
Do you build connected and collaborative relationships between sales, product, pricing, distribution, and customer success functions?
Can you optimise pipeline and revenue growth?
Do you have accountability for the 4Ps across product-market fit, pricing strategy, and pricing models and structures?
T-SHAPED
SKILLS
Do you have critical assessment skills across legal compliance, risk management, or international relations?
Can you offer ‘big picture’ thinking with foresight and guidance on how market factors affect material risk and opportunities?
Do you drive sustainable growth and profitability?
SERVANT
LEADERSHIP
Do you listen well, show empathy, or feel that you’re skilled in developing relationships between teams and functions?
Are you committed to the personal growth and wellbeing of others?
Can you objectively assess the advantages and disadvantages of business decisions and strategies?
PERSONAL
NETWORK
Do you have a LinkedIn profile highlighting your unique personal and professional qualities?
Do you show that you consider business needs beyond the marketing remit?
Do you make a consistent effort to network with board and investor communities beyond industry events or meetings?
BUILDING THE BOARD-READY CMO IN B2B
Today, less than 3% of public or private board members have a marketing background. However, it’s not for a lack of trying. Of the 311 B2B CMOs we surveyed, 62% aspire to serve on a corporate board in the next three to five years – with just 8% confident of doing so based on their current skills and capabilities.
So, what does it take for a senior B2B marketing leader to earn an elusive seat on the board?
Together with NewtonX, we’ve created a Board-Readiness Framework leveraging qualitative insights from former and current B2B CMOs, in addition to guidance from executive and non-executive board directors responsible for membership selection to help CMOs and senior marketing leaders become more successful in applying for boardroom roles.
Discover how to take action, review your career development goals, and build yourself into a CMO ready for board membership by learning from CMOs who’ve successfully reached the C-suite in our Building the Board-Ready CMO in B2B report.
A SNAPSHOTOF WHAT WE FOUND
ONLY 27%
of B2B CMOs demonstrate the T-shaped skills necessary for boardroom consideration
JUST 32%
of B2B CMOs demonstrate the traits typically associated with servant leadership
ONLY 42%
of B2B CMOs have full responsibility for pricing strategy and product-market fit
1. BOARDROOM EXPOSURE
“It’s critical for CMOs to frequently attend and represent themselves well in board meetings. It’s where you learn to speak the language of the board and understand what the board really cares about before applying for your own boardroom role.“
PETER FINTER, BOARD CHAIR AND ADVISOR, CMO, KX
2. CEO ALLIANCE
“CMOs looking for a board role need to speak the language of business beyond their functional expertise. They must be able to give strategic direction, not just marketing strategy. This will bring you closer to what really interests the board.“
CHRISTINA BONDOLOWSKI, BOARD DIRECTOR, GLOBAL CMO, MSCI
3. FINANCIAL ACUMEN
“Broaden and deepen your finance skill set. If you don’t understand P&L, balance sheets, cashflow statements and the LTV:CAC ratio, or can’t spot trends and drivers, don’t even bother applying.“
DOUG BEWSHER, BOARD INVESTOR, EX-CMO, SALESFORCE.COM
4. MARKET SPECIALISM
“I would consider not having Chief Marketing Officer in your title. The ‘ING’ puts people off. Become the ‘Chief Market Officer’ instead. It adds a lot more value.“
JENNIFER GRIFFIN-SMITH, BOARD MEMBER, CMO, ACQUIA
5. GTM CONNECTIVITY
“I would advise CMOs to ensure they have consistent influence or ownership of the Go To Market – a GTM that goes way broader than just Marketing and includes Sales, Product, and Customer Success all working together to attract and engage the customer. This is super, super important, and one of the things that arguably got me a board seat.“
PATRICIA HADDEN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, GLOBAL MARKETING LEAD, GOOGLE
6. T-SHAPED SKILLS
“Boards generally don’t look for one-trick ponies. We talk about the desire for someone with a “T-Shaped” perspective for our board. Someone who can take a step back and look at the big picture and has the breadth of financial acumen, strategic skills, and the dexterity to see around the corner to help us navigate material risk and opportunities to create long-term value for shareholders.“
SONITA LONTOH, PUBLIC COMPANY BOARD DIRECTOR AND FORMER FORTUNE 100 TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE
7. SERVANT LEADERSHIP
“To persuade the boardroom on the right path forward, it is not about slamming hard on the table, nor about shouting loud, nor about monopolising the boardroom. In an age of customer-centricity and boardroom etiquette, it is all about being invited in, about influence, about becoming a trusted advisor.“
CHRIS BURGGRAEVE, INVESTOR, AUTHOR, AND NACD.DC CERTIFIED BOARD MEMBER AND CHAIRMAN
8. PERSONAL NETWORK
“Focus on overcoming one of the biggest obstacles to getting a board position – the networking. CMOs must invest the time to build their own personal network and increase their exposure to board members and investors on boards, especially in private equity or the VC community.“
DOUG BEWSHER, BOARD INVESTOR, EX-CMO, SALESFORCE.COM
About Transmission
Transmission is the world’s largest independent global B2B marketing agency. Our mission is to elevate the role of marketing to the board, combining data-driven intelligence with curiosity, creativity, and innovation to craft powerful, behaviour-changing engagement with audiences to create lasting impact and success.
With offices in eight countries worldwide, Transmission has the global agility and experience to help B2B brands drive the now and define the next.
About NewtonX
The world’s leading businesses find their advantage with NewtonX.
NewtonX is the only B2B research company that solves the challenges of today’s insights leaders by connecting them with verified business expertise. Their AI-driven algorithm – the NewtonX Graph – custom recruits the perfect audience for your business question from an open network of 1.1 billion professionals across 140 industries. Every professional is 100% verified, so you can make your next bold move with confidence.
Together with their clients, NewtonX is ushering in a new standard of truth in B2B insights. To learn more, head to newtonx.com.