Why the future is
A-shaped
To seize the agentic AI opportunity and secure the future of marketing, CMOs need a new operational framework. Enter the A-shaped CMO.
Why the future is
A-shaped
To seize the agentic AI opportunity and secure the future of marketing, CMOs need a new operational framework. Enter the A-shaped CMO.
Only 30% of CMOs consider themselves as leading at the intersection of brand storytelling, data-driven strategy and AI innovation to drive growth.
CMOs’ perception of their role is splintered – just at the moment when businesses need marketing to operate as one connected growth engine.
While 30% of marketing leaders are evolving into cross-functional operators, balancing brand storytelling with data strategy, AI innovation and commercial growth, the majority are still rooted in more traditional marketing mindsets.
They’re stuck in the outdated notion of the ‘T-shaped’ marketer, based around siloed depth and surface-level breadth. But that model misses out the complex structures, cross-team collaboration and workflows that are fundamental to modern marketing leadership.
CMOs: state of the nation
focus primarily on purpose, creativity and relationships
prioritize performance, insight and measurement
are centered on experimentation, emerging tech and agile ways of working
Why AI demands a new shape of leadership
The A-shaped CMO framework throws out binary ideas about the CMO’s role being based around intuition or data, art or science, brand or demand. This framework sets CMOs firmly at the intersection of brand storytelling, data-driven strategy and AI innovation. And this framework allows CMOs to master hybrid operations and set new standards for marketing.
Enter the A-shaped CMO
The left pillar of the A: data, rationalism Represents the ‘science’ of growth: the technical mastery and analytical thinking that drives success across the full funnel.
The right pillar of the A: creativity, emotion Uses the creative, emotional and storytelling skills of the CMO to build the heart of the brand.
The crossbar of the A: connective, operational systems thinking Is the operational excellence that connects the other pillars together, enabling the CMO to direct a high-performing hybrid marketing team of humans and agents.
“bridging human emotion with data rationalism is key to my development over the next year”
Bringing your A-game: the ROI of the A-shaped CMO
Future-proofing Gives CMOs the AI and data fluency to advocate for themselves, prove impact to the C-suite and stay commercially indispensable through periods of transformation.
Operational mastery Encourages hybrid operational thinking, empowering CMOs to seamlessly integrate AI agents with human teams and manage them as a unified, hybrid workforce.
AI excellence Enables CMOs to challenge AI output, drive smarter implementation and protect quality, creativity and brand consistency at every stage of the workflow.
High-performance customer experience Unlocks a profound mastery of the customer journey by blending data, technology and creative strategy into one.
Leadership skills Equips CMOs to rethink marketing roles for the AI era, building teams designed for speed, performance and impact.
“Of all the C-suite, AI has had a profound impact on the CMO role – internally within the marketing organization, externally in how customers engage with their brand and individually in what being a CMO fundamentally means.
To be successful in the age of agentic AI, CMOs need to lead differently and use AI to do entirely different things. That’s where the A-shaped CMO comes in, uniting analytical intelligence with creative intuition, as well as operational excellence.
This role needs new skills – leading hybrid teams of humans and agents, strengthening cross-functional alliances and architecting integrated and automated workflows – that unite brand and demand within one seamless growth ecosystem.
A growth mindset will be critical, for CMOs to rethink their role to bring together the best capabilities of people and AI and set new standards for marketing.”
“My mindset, from a CMO perspective, has to fundamentally change for AI. There’s a lot of adaptiveness; you have to be able to pivot, move accordingly. I think there is a skills gap as well within everybody, within the organization right now, because it's a new thing. No one is AI native. People are learning on the job. I think it is really exciting.”
