The Short Life of the Chief Marketing Officer

The New Media world is bewildering, and few CMOs can live up to the sky-high expectations

BusinessWeek, November 30, 2007 — Stroll through the C-suite at many companies, and it's an easy bet which executive is a dead man (or woman) walking: the chief marketing officer. CMOs last 26 months on average these days, says recruiter Spencer Stuart, vs. 44 months for CEOs. In the past few weeks, CMOs at Chico's (CHS), Home Depot (HD), MySpace (NWS), and Rite Aid (RAD) all have left their posts after short tenures.