The Wallet Allocation Rule

Chapter 6Making It Happen

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.¹

—Dwight D. Eisenhower, thirty-fourth president of the United States

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.²

—Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth president of the United States

Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously observed, “Nothing endures but change.”³ We would add, “But unfortunately no one wants to change.”

Companies must change to survive. Nonetheless, organizational change always meets with resistance.

As a result, change often happens because the pain of the current situation has become unbearable. For many firms, the gap between the goals of the chief executive officer (CEO) and the deliverables of the chief marketing officer (CMO), and marketing in general, has become excruciatingly painful.

This is in large part reflected in the dismal corporate life expectancies of CMOs. Although consulting firm Spencer Stuart reports that CMO tenure has steadily increased to an average of 45 months in 2012 from a low of 23.2 months in 2006,⁴ it is still substantially less than half the time a typical CEO spends in that role.⁵ For some industries, CMO tenure is far shorter—CMOs in the automotive, communications, health care, and restaurant industries averaged 32 or fewer months in their jobs.

For CMOs to thrive, marketing has to be aligned with the goals of the CEO. And the overriding goal is clear: CEOs are obsessed ...