By Bronwyn Heys, CEO, Australian Marketing Institute

For many CMOs, the challenge isn’t coming up with innovative ideas. It’s ensuring those ideas survive contact with the CEO’s decision-making lens. A new Macquarie University study provides one of the clearest signals yet of why this disconnect happens and what to do about it.

The research found that when innovation involves high technological uncertainty, CEOs tend to favour advice from Chief Technology Officers. When uncertainty is primarily market-based, logic suggests the CMO’s insight should prevail. Yet, surprisingly, the study found that even then, CEOs did not consistently act on their CMO’s advice. This means many CEOs are choosing technology-led paths even when market signals suggest otherwise. This can lead to a structural blind spot that can sometimes undermine commercial success.

In short, innovation is not enough if it is a product no one wants; it has to solve a consumer tension or an unmet need.

Why CMOs Are Losing Influence

The findings point to a credibility gap. CEOs trust CMOs to understand markets but turn to CTOs to de-risk decisions when innovation stakes are high. Macquarie’s researchers argue that this isn’t about capability, it’s about framing. CMOs often speak in the language of customers and creativity, while CEOs think in the language of strategic risk, resource allocation, and growth bets.

When CMOs stay in the marketing lane, they become optional advisors. When they integrate internal and external perspectives such as commercial data, customer insight, and organisational readiness for example, they become strategic equals.

How to Regain Strategic Ground

1. Translate demand into a growth language the CEO can connect with.
   The CMO’s role is to connect what customers want with what the business needs to grow. That means moving beyond “market opportunity” to show how that demand translates into revenue, margin, and defensible advantage. CEOs don’t buy stories; they buy certainty. So frame your recommendations around how your insights reduce risk, unlock scale, or future-proof the business. Speak less about reach or resonance, and more about revenue growth, cost of acquisition, and category momentum. Marketing fluency then becomes commercial fluency, and that earns the CEO’s attention.
2. Build internal alliances before the pitch.
   CMOs must work closely with CTOs and CFOs. Macquarie’s research shows that radical innovation performance improves when CEOs receive aligned, complementary advice from both marketing and technology leads. The CMO’s task is to translate external relevance into internal feasibility.
3. Strengthen external reference points.
   The study highlights that CEOs who also seek external advice achieve stronger outcomes. CMOs can leverage this by bringing in credible external validation, such as, market data, customer pilots, and partnership benchmarks that demonstrate objectivity and scale confidence.

A New Playbook for Influence

This research redefines the CMO’s role in innovation leadership. The most effective CMOs act as both internal integrators and external sense-makers. They ensure that innovation is not an inward exercise of technical brilliance but a market-ready movement the CEO can stand behind.

As the study concludes, radical innovation performance is maximised when CMOs and CTOs complement rather than compete, helping CEOs navigate both technological and market uncertainty. For CMOs, the path forward is not louder persuasion, but, as I always say, it is translating this into the language of the business.

Innovation only changes the business when the CEO believes it will change the numbers, change the growth of revenue and performance. Refer to the paper below for the full insights, and thank you to our partner and member organisation, Macquarie University, for this insightful research.

(Reference: Wilden, R., Lin, N., Chirico, F. & Khan, S. (2025). “How do CEOs seek advice from CMOs vs. CTOs in radical innovation decision-making under uncertainty?” Macquarie University, Research Policy.