CMOs who drive growth secure their seat at the table. The role of CMO has never been more critical—now is the time to step up.

Redefining the CMO role: From Storyteller to Enterprise Value Creator.

The Chief Marketing Officer role is one of the most dynamic and misunderstood in the C-suite. Unlike other executives with fixed mandates, CMOs must continuously define and prove their impact. Marketing is one of the most scrutinized functions in the company, drawing opinions from all sides.

But this presents an opportunity. It is time for CMOs to lean in and lead—to set the frame, define the agenda, and establish their role as Enterprise Value Creators. No other C-suite role is better positioned to drive top-line growth, optimize investments, and orchestrate collaboration across the business.

The CMO role has gone through multiple transformations. There was the Creative CMO, focused on communication and brand building. Then came the Digital CMO, mastering performance marketing and social media. More recently, the Tech & Data CMO emerged, leaning into automation and analytics. Today, businesses need more. The next evolution must be the Value Creator CMO—a leader who ties marketing directly to business strategy, growth, and enterprise value.

CMOs must first take ownership of the growth agenda. Their role is not just to manage marketing but to act as a strategist for where the business plays and how it wins. High-impact CMOs use a future-back strategy, working backward from emerging opportunities rather than optimizing the present. They anticipate shifts in demand, evolving consumer needs, and market dynamics to shape the company’s value proposition, route to market, and innovation pipeline. Growth requires intent, discipline, and a deep understanding of future demand drivers.

Second, CMOs must manage costs and investments with the mindset of a CFO. Marketing is a major investment but is not always managed with the same rigor as other business functions. The best CMOs are as disciplined as CFOs when it comes to resource allocation. They prioritize ruthlessly—choosing fewer, bigger, better bets over fragmented efforts. They rethink ways of working, deploy AI and automation to increase efficiency, and maximize ROI by ensuring every dollar works harder to engage consumers and drive business outcomes.

Finally, CMOs must be the ultimate orchestrators within the organization. The modern CMO is not just a brand builder—they are the connective tissue of the company. This means working with the CFO to ensure marketing investments are efficient and fuel proven growth accelerators, collaborating with supply and operations teams to align on product availability, inventory, and margin optimization, partnering with sales to synchronize marketing execution with retail and sales activation, and working alongside HR to shape the employee value proposition, external recruitment messaging, and company culture.

CMOs who embrace this shift will not only secure their seat at the table but redefine what marketing leadership means. This is the opportunity to step up, own growth, and drive enterprise value. The time to lead is now.

Benoit Garbe is founder and President of QUINT Advisory, a growth consultancy dedicated to helping CEOs and executive teams deliver topline growth and value creation in consumer-driven markets.