How CMOs Go Wrong Talking To Their Boards About AI… And How To Get It Right

Joe Sawyer, CMO of Flashpoint, joins Erica to share his experience and advice for how CMOs can talk with their Boards about their AI initiatives and their ROI.

You'll hear about:

• How getting the AI dialogue right with your Board can help you overcome some of the problematic ways that CMOs have communicated with Boards in the past
• Anticipating the questions your Board will ask about your AI initiatives
• How Joe narrowed down from 20+ potential AI use cases to the few to differentially invest in that would have profound value
• Why CMOs should avoid name-dropping consultants and tools, since that reinforces the perception of marketing as a function focused on activity rather than outcomes
• How Joe approached a presentation on AI in GTM to a group of PE portfolio company CEOs
• How to embrace "productive disappointment"
• What actually moves a team from AI-curious to AI-operational
• A maturity model for assessing a potential new hire's fluency with AI

Some quotes:

• "We tried to look at things through a different view, which was not just what are all the things we could be doing, but what would our board value most?"
• "Take a step back and say, 'What are boards talking about with respect to AI when the CMO is not in the room?' Generally, I would argue they're talking about enterprise value and what's the impact of AI on the company's enterprise value. When you show up as the CMO, they're looking at the levers you control that positively impact the way AI can influence the company's enterprise value."
• " CMOs can be high-fiving each other over their use cases, but boards are worried about enterprise value… and survival."

Bonus Playlist:

Joe is not only a seasoned CMO, he's a seasoned DJ! He's created a companion playlist on Spotify.

CMO's Essential Summer Playlist

AI disruption and board expectations getting you down? Ten songs to restore perspective, lower your blood pressure, and remind you that not every problem requires a framework

00:00 Show Intro and Theme

00:37 Meet Joe Sawyer

01:25 Fun Fact DJ Dreams

03:07 AI Journey to CEO Summit

05:21 Inbound Conversion Win

06:28 MQL Experiment Lessons

08:15 What CEOs Asked

09:08 What Boards Want

10:20 Inside vs Outside Voice

13:18 Board Perceptions and Budget

15:26 AI as CMO Opportunity

16:36 Driving Team Adoption

19:23 AI Maturity Framework

21:00 Hiring and AI Work Samples

23:07 Best Day Interview Question

24:33 Wrap Up and Outro

The Get is here to drive smart decisions around recruiting and leadership in B2B SaaS marketing. We explore the trends, tribulations, and triumphs of today’s top marketing leaders in B2B SaaS.

This season’s theme is focused on how AI is reshaping the CMO role: how you lead, how you hire, and how you get hired."

The Get’s host is Erica Seidel, who runs The Connective Good, an executive search practice with a hyper-focus on recruiting CMOs and VPs of Marketing, especially in B2B SaaS.

If you are looking to hire a CMO or VP of Marketing of the ‘make money’ variety, rather than the ‘make it pretty’ variety, contact Erica at erica@theconnectivegood.com. You can also follow Erica on LinkedIn or sign up for her newsletter at TheConnectiveGood.com.

The Get is produced by the team at Simpler Media Productions