A CMO Confidential Interview with Richard Sanderson, the Marketing, Sales, and Communications Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart. Richard starts with the basics of salary, bonus and equity and branches out to compensation mix, the various types of equity, negotiating best practices, and the "other" elements of an offer. Key topics include: why the devil is in the details; when and how to discuss compensation; the difference between dumb luck and bad luck; and why everyone should do a "multi-year cash flow analysis." Tune in to hear why you should always read the proxy statement and the importance of being prepared to explain how you are using AI.

What should CMOs (and aspiring CMOs) know about salary, bonus, and equity—and how do you actually negotiate it? Mike Linton sits down with Richard Sanderson, Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart, to demystify executive compensation for marketing leaders. They cover base pay vs. bonus, RSUs vs. options vs. PSUs, vesting mechanics, event-based triggers, how and when to negotiate, and what new pay-equity laws mean for candidates. Real talk on forfeitures, bonus history, and why your “one big ask” matters when the offer finally comes.

What we cover

• Why CMO pay data is scarce (and what that means for “market rate”)

• Compensation mix: public vs. private/PE, U.S. vs. Europe, and “CMO+” roles

• Equity 101: RSUs, options (strike prices/underwater risk), and PSUs (accelerators/decelerators)

• Vesting models: time-, performance-, and event-based—and what you can/can’t negotiate

• Bonuses: how targets are set, why they’re harder to move, and the 3-year payout history test

• Negotiation timing: expectation-setting, handling the “what are your expectations?” question, and using information asymmetry to your advantage

• Pay-equity & transparency laws: what recruiters can ask (expectations) vs. can’t (history), and how to discuss forfeitures

• Offer strategy: why you typically get one high-leverage counter—and how to use it

Sponsor

@quadgraphics — Better marketing is built on Quad. When everything in your marketing machine works together, efficiency, speed, and ROI go up. See how better gets done: www.quad.com/buildbetter

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🎧 New episodes every Tuesday.

📰 Companion newsletter every Friday with the top insights.

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A CMO Confidential Interview with Dwicht Hutchins, Senior Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and a Northwestern Adjunct Professor, previously Managing Director at Accenture focused on Consumer Products, Health Care and Public Service. Dwight shares his thinking on why marketers should be prepared to reduce expenses and shift resources into a re-imagined future versus incrementally evolving spend and structure. Key topics include: his belief that the complexity of marketing has resulted in many instances of wasted spending; the importance of "unaided first brand response;" why it's important to be "ahead of the expense reduction game;" and how to focus on working versus non-working dollars. Tune in to hear how about reducing $1B in spend to fund new initiatives and a "wild west" story about a battery on-pack promotion.

The Fine Art of Reducing Marketing Expense in an AI World

This week on CMO Confidential, Mike Linton sits down with Dwight Hutchins—Senior Partner & Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group and adjunct professor at Northwestern—to tackle the question every CMO hears from the CFO: “Keep the top line growing… and cut your budget.”

Dwight explains how to find waste without hurting performance, where AI actually improves efficiency (and where it doesn’t), how to test into cuts with confidence, and why many brands still miss “sufficiency” by spreading spend like peanut butter. We dig into frequency capping, working vs. non-working ratios, zero-based budgeting (used sanely), org design, insource vs. outsource, and a real-world case where a company freed up billions and redeployed it to growth channels. Stay for his “Wild West” in-store marketing story—complete with batteries taped to milk.

Sponsored by Typeface — the AI-native, agentic marketing platform that turns one idea into thousands of on-brand assets across channels, safely integrated with your MarTech stack. See how leaders like ASICS and Microsoft scale personalized content with Typeface.

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⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Intro & guest: Dwight Hutchins (BCG)

02:05 – The market reality: uncertainty, shifting buyer values

06:10 – CFO pressure: “grow and cut” in the same breath

09:20 – AI spend vs. payoff: recalibrating expectations

12:25 – Media fragmentation & the “peanut butter” budget problem

15:55 – Where AI helps most: measurement, targeting, creative ops

19:10 – Forensic cuts case study: freeing up massive dollars

23:10 – Finding waste: frequency caps, ad length, quality controls

27:05 – “First Fast Response”: demand spaces & brand power

30:20 – Sufficiency & focus: stop starving campaigns

33:05 – Working vs. non-working: ratios that actually move results

35:20 – Zero-based budgeting (in moderation, with data)

37:10 – Org & ops: redesigning execution, in/outsourcing lines

38:55 – Fun story: the “batteries-on-milk” promo & promo ROI

40:00 – Final takeaways & sponsor

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A CMO Confidential Interview with Kate Bullis and David Wiser, Managing Partners and Global Marketing Practice Leaders for ZRG Partners. Kate and David translate their extensive search experience into a pre-game, game time, and post game look at the errors candidates make during the recruiting process. Key topics include: why thorough preparation includes self awareness, a "shopping list" and pattern recognition; how "playbooking," talking too much, and disengagement can doom your interview; and best practices for turning down an offer, handling a disappointment, negotiating an offer, and accepting the opportunity. Tune in to hear why you should never turn down a written offer and other things to avoid if you want to stay off of the search firm's "Do Not Call List."

What are the biggest mistakes CMOs make during the interview process?

This week on CMO Confidential, host Mike Linton sits down with Kate Bullis and David Wiser, Managing Partners at ZRG and two of the most experienced executive search leaders in marketing. Together, they break down the interview process into Pre-Game, Game Time, and Post-Game—sharing where CMOs most often stumble and how candidates can set themselves up for success.

If you’re a C-Suite executive, board member, or aspiring marketing leader, this episode delivers unfiltered insights into how top recruiters evaluate CMOs and what separates successful candidates from the rest.

Sponsored by @typefaceai — the generative AI platform helping the world’s biggest brands scale personalized marketing in hours, not months.

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⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Welcome and introduction

03:15 – Why interviewing for a CMO role is uniquely challenging

07:40 – Pre-Game: Preparing beyond the résumé

13:05 – What search firms and boards are really looking for

17:50 – Game Time: How to manage the actual interview

23:30 – Mistakes CMOs make when telling their career story

29:10 – Post-Game: Following up and maintaining momentum

34:20 – The role of references and backchannel checks

37:50 – Final advice for candidates and boards

40:00 – Wrap-up and sponsor message

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