How to Be a C-Suite Unifier

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores the tactical thoughts and actions from Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today's column is the second installment from McKinsey's Kabir Ahuja on 2022 growth imperatives. Below, in his own words, he outlines ways to grow as a leader and help teams perform at their best. Be the Unifier Extensive research has shown that of the CMO archetypes—Unifier, Loner and Friend—the Unifier drives the highest impact by far and enjoys a 48% longer tenure as a result. Being a strategic partner with the entire C-suite allows you to drive meaningful collaboration and sustainable growth, which has only become more important in the past two years. One of my clients maintains quarterly one-on-ones with his C-suite peers to jointly plan and assess growth opportunities, to ensure mutual accountability between teams and to take the pulse of organizational performance. These types of informal or formal sessions have enabled real innovation and significant results, as nearly 80% of CEOs are looking to the CMO to drive growth. Model change to make it stick One of the most refreshing CMO relationships I have is with a leader who approaches the shift to an agile marketing model with the mindset of a learner or a startup employee. Even at the highest levels, leaders have opportunities to continuously learn, reinvent themselves and, as a result, inspire their teams to do the same. This is especially important in a time of constant change and uncertainty. A tried-and-true method to sustaining transformational change is the influence model. This model suggests that transformations stand the best chance of success when they focus on four key actions to change mindsets and behavior: fostering understanding and conviction, reinforcing changes through formal mechanisms, developing talent and skills and role modeling. With an inquisitive nature and a curious mindset, leaders and teams can take learning journeys together and grow in meaningful ways. Lock in digital change as the new baseline If you are like many other leaders, you have spent the past two years adapting to the rapid growth of digital engagement and have several transformation initiatives underway. It’s time to lock these in as the new baseline! 6 C-Suite Leaders Share How They Learned to Support Employees During the Pandemic It’s true that many transformations fail (as many as 70%), but conditions over the last two years have accelerated the pace of digital—10 years of digitization in a matter of months! The issue this has raised, though, is the sense that roles, investments and working models are temporary. Taking a measured look and formalizing what works will give you a new baseline to build from—and while change is inevitable, your organizations will appreciate the new normal as a start for further building. Accelerate at the intersection of digital, data, technology and marketing In many organizations, digital lives in a different world than marketing (and I don’t mean the metaverse), which is separate from data and technology. The winners will likely be, unsurprisingly, the Unifiers—the leaders who can seamlessly stitch together digital, data, technology and marketing to create interconnected capabilities. Digital underpins marketing and creates a domino effect: How you spend your digital marketing dollars affects your marketing technology stack, which affects your audience targeting and measurement, and so on! Simply put, it’s time to tear down the walls if you haven’t already. Prioritize horizontal and vertical growth We're seeing an explosion in the “waterfront” a growth leader should cover. Depth of knowledge is essential, and leaders should constantly refine their tradecraft. However, cross-training employees and acquiring skills across categories will serve as a force multiplier to enable individual and team growth. As leaders think about hiring the best talent, retaining employees and building world-class teams, they should also rethink their recruiting strategies and talent development roadmaps to ensure they account for skill integration and tradecraft expertise. This is our year for growth, and I’m taking some of my own medicine! My team and I are working to obtain marketing-specific certifications across a few different social media platforms. I’m also committing to meeting with one other leader per week (hopefully not on Zoom!) to understand and align on growth goals for the year. Here’s to 2022! What are you committing to this year?

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How to Be a C-Suite Unifier

Leaning into these digital and talent trends will drive growth this year

Be the Unifier

Kabir Ahuja

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Kabir Ahuja