To stay valuable, marketers must polarize their skills to either end of the spectrum. You must either be incredibly technical—able to deploy AI workflows like an engineer—or operate at the outer edges of creativity and storytelling. The 'good enough' skills of the messy middle will be automated away.
The era of informational content marketing is ending. LLMs are moving the user journey from seeking 'answers' (e.g., 'how to create Facebook ads') to demanding 'actions' (e.g., 'create Facebook ads that convert'). This fundamental shift will make much of the traditional SEO playbook obsolete.
Contrary to modern tech management philosophy, the most effective marketing leaders are craftspeople with strong opinions who provide direct feedback. Instead of asking 'probing questions' to guide someone to a conclusion, it's better to state 'I want to do it this way' to uphold a high standard of quality.
Generative AI tools are a massive productivity lever for creative marketers, storytellers, and copywriters. By handling tasks like slide design or simple coding, AI removes dependencies on designers and developers, allowing creatives to execute their vision autonomously and rapidly, which can reinvigorate burnt-out talent.
To manage a large remit without micromanaging, use a 'push and pull' system. For each quarter, select a few key priorities to 'push' on, meaning you'll be deeply involved. For everything else, empower your team to operate autonomously and 'pull' you in only when they need your input or guidance.
To maintain motivation and impact, HubSpot executive Kieran Flanagan structures his career in two-year increments, each focused on a core mission. This mental framework provides a foreseeable timeline to achieve a meaningful goal, balancing long-term impact with the need for tangible progress that prevents burnout.
Expert-level prompting isn't about writing one-off commands. The advanced technique is to find effective prompt frameworks (e.g., a leaked system prompt), distill the core principles, and train a custom GPT on that methodology. This creates a specialized AI that can generate sophisticated prompts for you.
The most significant switching cost for AI tools like ChatGPT is its memory. The cumulative context it builds about a user's projects, style, and business becomes a personalized knowledge base. This deep personalization creates a powerful lock-in that is more valuable than any single feature in a competing product.
AI will reshape the CMO role by automating management layers and execution tasks. This allows marketing leaders to operate with smaller, more leveraged teams. As a result, the role will shift away from being a pure people manager and back towards being a hands-on 'master craftsperson' who is deeply involved in the work.
AI is expected to enable the rise of the 'super IC' leader. Highly skilled practitioners who dislike people management will be able to lead small, highly-leveraged teams. This resolves the classic career conflict where top performers are forced into management roles that take them away from the craft they love.
Use a conversational AI like ChatGPT as a personal executive coach. After many conversations, it learns your thought patterns and can provide objective, articulate feedback on your working style and flaws. This can be used to generate a highly accurate 'how to work with me' document for your team.