Two research firms measured marketing leadership this year and published findings that cannot both be good news. In January, Spencer Stuart released its twentieth annual study of chief marketing officers and titled it a snapshot of an expanding role. Built on the 346 named marketing chiefs in the S&P 500, it reports average tenure of 4.1 years against 5.0 for every other senior role in those same companies. Only one role is shorter.

Four months later, Gartner published its 2026 CMO Spend Survey, fielded across 401 marketing leaders at companies with revenue above a billion dollars in most cases. Marketing budgets sit at 7.8 percent of company revenue, which Gartner notes is 18 percent below where the average sat four years ago.

Put them side by side. The job is expanding. The money is shrinking. The seat turns over faster than any other on the leadership team.

Those three facts describe one mechanism, and it costs companies far more than it costs the people holding the job.

The forward

You already know the shape of it, because everybody in business has watched it happen.

Sales slows down, and it becomes …