It’s people who are keeping marketing leaders up at night

I don’t think a lack of data is the biggest barrier to B2B marketing leaders’ success.

It’s the human side of marketing that’s become the hardest part of the job. We’re asking our people to do more with less. More priorities, more change to deal with, more content, more channels, and more ROI justification. And often with less budget and teammates to support them.

We need to put people first. A few thoughts as to why…

Burnout is killing marketing’s impact - According to the Chief Marketing Officer Alliance burnout and overwork are now the top management concern, cited by 25.9% of marketing leaders. In my experience, when teams are stretched beyond capacity, creativity and experimentation suffers. There’s no space to think and do your best work when you’re just trying to put out the daily fires.

Constant organisational change – Many modern global companies find themselves in a state of permanent disruption. Gartner describes today’s organisational change as “continuous, stack on top of one another, highly interdependent…” The increased workloads and uncertainty around jobs that come with organisational change are a recipe for change fatigue and performance reduction. Phrases like “let’s wait until the restructure is sorted” become the norm. It’s not an environment where ideas will spark or where colleagues will feel empowered to take a risk and try something new.

Empowerment to say no – Too many marketing teams are running around delivering a strategy built on layers and layers of historical ones (“things that have always been done.”) We need to empower our teams to challenge stakeholder demands and give them permission to protect their time for work that supports today’s business objectives. Less is more when its correctly focused.

So, while AI, technology and data get most of the headlines, it’s the internal human struggles like burnout, overwork, misalignment and uncertainty that all too often dictate success.

As CMOs we need to be the guardians of clarity and creative energy. Fewer tools, more communication. Few approvals, more trust. Fewer activities, more focus. If we don’t protect the people who make the strategy come alive, no amount of data or automation will save the business.