---
title: "Lots of companies are sidelining CMOs, at a time when they need them most."
url: https://sam-page.com/thinking/lots-of-companies-are-sidelining-cmos-at-a-time-when-they-need-them-most
date: 2025-09-05
author: Sam Page
type: Post or article
categories: [Marketing]
reading_time: 1 min
summary: "The result? A lack of focus on customer-centric growth."
first_published: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A7369710929715888128
---

# Lots of companies are sidelining CMOs, at a time when they need them most.

The result? A lack of focus on customer-centric growth.

A recent article from McKinsey & Company summarises the situation well. In some companies, there's a growing gap between CMOs and the C-Suite, and it's detrimental to both growth and customer-centric focus.

I've certainly experienced this first hand over the past few years.

CMO roles in some cases have moved towards an operational focus, or have gone all together, leaving companies incredibly internally focussed.

In an ideal world, not only is marketing promoting the business, they are feeding back valuable insights that drive intelligence and results - for example allowing product teams to create better products.

If marketing isn’t helping to shape strategy and influence the whole business, it’s a missed opportunity.

Check out the article here: https://lnkd.in/eKnfD9xf

Curious how others are seeing this play out... has your role (or your CMO’s) shifted more towards operations, or is it still shaping the bigger picture?