Before you accept a new role, I want you to ask probing questions to determine whether you’ll be able to lead to your full potential. Or not.
Because you need to set you up for success.
More times than I can count, I’ve seen talented leaders banging their heads against internal obstacles that have nothing to do with marketing knowledge or talent.
You’re not just inheriting a role. You’re inheriting conditions.
Two red flags to dig into before you sign:
Marketing has a voice, but no seat at the leadership table
If marketing isn’t represented in the C-suite, who’s speaking on its behalf? And are they equipped to advocate for the right priorities, trade-offs, and investments?
Ask:
- Who currently brings marketing insights into leadership conversations?
- When strategic decisions are made, how is marketing involved?
- Why doesn’t marketing have a seat at the leadership table?
The CEO has a weak or tactical relationship with the Board
If the CEO doesn’t see marketing as strategic – or the board is allergic to innovation – your best ideas will stall before they start.
Ask:
- What’s the CEO’s working relationship with the Board like?
- When and how is the Board brought into marketing decisions?
- Do they see brand as part of growth – or overhead?
These questions won’t scare off a strong leader or a progressive Board.
But they will reveal the invisible boundaries that might limit your ability to lead.
I’ve worked with many marketing leaders navigating exactly this.
They took the role to level up marketing – brand, demand, team structure – only to discover that the real work started upstream.
Their ideas were strong but getting them heard and funded required a different kind of strategy. So we hit pause on execution and focused on building internal belief, repositioning marketing internally, and clearing the hidden hurdles.
When you’re up against culture, power, or perception you need more than a marketing plan. You need a map of the room. (And often it takes an external perspective and voice to be heard.)
Because once you’re inside, it’s harder to rewire the power structure.
And harder still to undo a mismatch in expectations.
The job description tells you what they want. The answer to these questions tells you what they’re ready for.
👉 I go deeper on this in Elevated – my newsletter for marketing leaders building clarity, structure, and scale. Not on the list? Sign up here.
Catherine Hamilton is a strategic marketing advisor who’s been where today’s Marketing leaders are: responsible for driving growth, aligning with Sales, and answering to a CEO who wants results yesterday. Today, she helps VPs and Directors of Marketing navigate The Big Leap from being perceived as a service department to a professional function that drives growth (often part of regional traction to national ambition) by providing the clarity, structure, and strategic roadmap to lead with confidence.