What the modern B2B CMO must become

Insights from the B2B CMO Food for Thought: San Francisco

Learn how some of the most innovative B2B CMOs on the West Coast of America are evolving into strategic, AI-enabled, emotionally intelligent leaders—reshaping marketing’s role in the C-suite and across the business.

The executive table is a mirror to the priorities and demands of the working world. 

The twin peaks of the CEO and CFO have remained constant, as vision, and growth and profitability, respectively, remain key for business viability. COOs, CIOs, and Chief People Officers support particular but no less important aspects of organisational function; their roles have developed inline with evolving management principles. Indeed, the information function has democratised into technology, digital, security, innovation, transformation and, more recently, AI, over the 21st Century. As the world and the ability to do business within it becomes more complex, so does the look of the executive table and its responsibilities. 

Within this narrative the CMO and their teams have doggedly continued. Their core responsibilities have not shifted in years, yet the ways in which they can and should do so have changed dramatically. A digital world allows for personalised, nuanced and differentiated experiences between business and consumer, brand and segment. Overall, this has been for the good: the CMO’s seat at the executive table is no longer up for debate. 

It is, however, up for definition. 

It was to ascribe this definition—and track the most recent changes at and to the C-suite—that brought some of the US West Coast’s senior B2B CMOs together for a recent HotTopics Food for Thought roundtable. Over a five-course dinner, these award-winning executives contributed to a rich and candid 90-minute discussion, exploring not just trends and tactics, but the real mechanics of influence, alignment, and growth. What emerged is not just a portrait of the modern CMO as strategist, cultural architect, board whisperer, and growth engine, but of what CMOs must become to continue those roles into the future.

The modern B2B CMO: Overview

• B2B Marketing's broader impact
• The rewiring of marketing by AI
• Speaking the language of the Board
• Influence, culture and leadership
• Closing thoughts

B2B marketing’s broader impact

Perhaps the most striking consensus was the strategic elevation of the B2B marketing function. The days of CMOs being seen purely as campaign owners or brand guardians are fading, we heard. Today’s marketing leaders are stepping into roles that are fundamentally architectural: defining go-to-market models, shaping product direction, and driving revenue enablement at scale. That means delivering, above all, change.

“Change never gets implemented unless you break it down into personal action.” 

Years of experience delivered in a simple (and poetic) line. These marketing leaders are setting the vision, yes, but also acknowledging the emotional inertia of today’s teams. Another leader shared their view. “Most people want to do something—they just don’t know what to do differently tomorrow. If you don’t help them take that first step, it stays slideware [sic].” 

In other words, teams require leaders to guide them through change, not just declare change is important. This was then extrapolated to the rest of the business: if this is what marketing teams need from CMOs, what does the rest of the business need?

“We’re not one leg of the stool,” said one CMO. “We’re the glue—the orchestrators of every go-to-market motion.” 

The question is whether the rest of the business sees this, too. Not every CEO or sales function values the architectural nature of marketing, in part due to its indirect nature and results. The response from marketers then has been to visibly align more with the business. And with broader ownership comes increased scrutiny. Boards and peers expect marketing to not just align with business outcomes, but to lead in delivering them—often with flat budgets and smaller teams.

“We’ve cut the team size by 25 percent, but increased output, pipeline, and market impact,” one participant noted. “That’s only possible with AI and rethinking our entire approach to execution.”

The debate evolved in a few directions, including broader marketing evolution and influence; but the question of AI’s impact looms large over the wider industry. An efficiency revolution driven by AI is forcing CMOs to redefine the value of marketing. Both in terms of activity and outcomes.

The rewiring of marketing by AI

While much has been said about the impact of generative AI on content creation, what emerged from this discussion was a far more nuanced and mature perspective. AI isn’t just accelerating work, it is changing the very fabric of marketing teams, from structure to agency relationships, and even to how campaigns are conceived.

One leader described how a campaign that once took three weeks to deliver was now being executed in 15 minutes. Another highlighted how a major brand initiative featuring an A-list actor was executed by a lean, in-house team using AI, VFX and crowdsourced talent, after firing their global agency.

“We used to rely on big agencies who billed us for meetings. Now we work with small AI-powered shops who actually deliver results. That’s our new playbook.”

However, while AI delivers clear gains in speed and efficiency, several participants were frank about the elusive nature of ROI. “We see productivity gains, no doubt. But showing immediate dollar value is harder. Some savings are indirect—like not needing to hire additional headcount, or doing campaigns in-house that we would previously outsource.”

AI is also reshaping how marketers think. There was strong agreement that real adoption requires critical thinking and workflow design—not just tool usage.

“The challenge isn’t technical. It’s analytical. You have to understand your workflows, figure out what AI should do, and what your brain should do. That’s a new skillset for many marketers.”

Training, culture and experimentation are key, therefore. Some teams have launched internal “AI Olympics” to drive adoption and safe use. Others are embedding AI into everyday tooling, such as localisation workflows or content variant creation. But all agreed: AI doesn’t replace marketers. It simply redefines what high-value marketing looks like.

Speaking the language of the Board

One aspect of high-value marketing that has not changed lies within its relationship with the Board.

One of the most insightful threads was around board-level communication. How marketers present their function to the board has outsized influence on their perceived value—and future influence.

“Your first board presentation defines you,” noted one participant. “If you show up with leads and campaign metrics, that’s who you are. If you show up with strategy, positioning, or M&A ideas, you’re seen as a business leader.”

Several CMOs described deliberately reshaping their narratives to speak the board’s language: risk, growth, efficiency, and competitive differentiation. “Boards aren’t marketing experts. They care about de-risking the business. They want to know how you're helping them stay out of trouble…or stay ahead of the market.”

Being proactive was another key theme. Rather than waiting for board-level questions, these CMOs are increasingly framing strategic conversations, particularly around AI, customer acquisition, and brand valuation.

“I showed up, 45 days in, laid out the issues, the misaligned spend, the gaps. I called the baby ugly—respectfully—and said: here’s how we fix it. That earned trust quickly.”

That ‘earned trust’ casts a net of influence that very much includes the CEO. One common perspective is that no relationship shapes the CMO’s success more than that with the CEO. These participants agreed; they emphasised that beyond capability, success depends on chemistry, trust, and aligned expectations.

“I’ve had brilliant CEOs who empowered me as a true business partner, and others who wanted me in a box. It’s all about style, and whether you can align.”

Any executive knows that some CEOs bring their own reality into the business. The question is can you adapt, or help them evolve? And are they willing to? What we heard was an emotional tightrope senior leaders often walk between diplomacy and transformation. Oftentimes CMOs have to balance the needs of the business, their function, and the inherited worldview of their CEO.

“Do you adapt to their truth,” one CMO pondered, “or help them see the truth that exists here?”

Several CMOs also reflected on past missteps. This included joining organisations without properly vetting the leadership culture. With experience comes the confidence to interview the CEO or peers, not just be interviewed. “I told my CRO: if you're going to blame me for bad leads, I’m not your person. Let’s align upfront or not bother.”

Others highlighted the need to probe deeper—through hypothetical questions, backchannel references, and product demos—especially in AI-driven environments where marketing is expected to validate product credibility.

Influence, culture and leadership

Which brought us onto the relationship between influence and metrics. As marketing’s scope broadens, so too does the skillset required at the top. Many CMOs described their current role as less about marketing execution and more about orchestration, influence, and cultural transformation.

“Most of my time now is spent on pricing strategy, international [GTM], and investor comms [sic]. The team runs the day-to-day. My job is to lead change, align stakeholders, and navigate complexity.”

This shift demands new muscles: agility, executive communication, and strategic synthesis. Several CMOs noted the challenges of influencing across the C-suite—particularly when working with McKinsey-style strategists, deeply technical founders, or legacy sales leaders. All agreed, however: marketing’s power lies in being the connective tissue whereby it is the only function with the full picture of the customer, the market, and the business performance.

“We’re the only ones who touch every part of go-to-market. We see what’s working, what’s broken, and where we’re headed. That’s our superpower.”

And yet the broadening of responsibilities can take an emotional toll. These CMOs run marketing departments at some of the most well known technology firms on the West Coast of America. By definition, that makes them also the biggest of the world. What does it take to maintain a grip on all of the above and stay ahead of the curve? One of the bluntest deliveries would have surprised their European counterparts.

“Have a really good therapist.”

This was delivered with humour, but it was deeply honest. It came during a segment where the group was discussing what it takes to lead significant marketing transformation, especially in companies where marketing had previously been undervalued or siloed. The speaker went on to describe the emotional and organisational challenges of stepping into a role where marketing was viewed as the "whipping child," in their words—underappreciated, misunderstood, and deeply misaligned with the rest of the business.

“Change is hard—especially in an entrenched, engineering-led culture. You need quick wins, a lot of patience, and constant storytelling to bring people along. The first year is when you're most vulnerable.”

They also noted that despite significant business success (growing market cap from US$4 billion to US$22 billion) marketing’s contribution often remained perceptually invisible.

This quote, and the entire discussion around it, captured the emotional resilience required of CMOs today. It reminded everyone in the room that personal wellbeing, clarity, and support systems are just as critical as strategy, metrics, and AI adoption. 

Closing thoughts

Across the Food for Thought debate the message was clear: the CMO role should be strategic, not tactical, open, adaptable, and creative, whilst being determined on business value, and, above all, long term-ist.

And so to the title: What should the modern CMOs become?

• The leader who embeds AI into operations only as a strategic lever, not a novelty.
• The leader who frames marketing’s contribution in boardroom language: risk, growth, ROI.
• The leader who drives alignment with sales, product, alliances, and investors.
• The leader who rethinks agency models, organisational charts, and internal capabilities.
• The leader who balances culture, change, and creativity in an era of constant disruption.

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