Podcast · 79 episodes
CMO Confidential
by Mike Linton // I Hear Everything Podcast Network · English
Wonder what it's like to control millions of dollars of marketing budget? Manage hundreds of people? Make the decisions on which ideas get to market? The CMO Confidential podcast shares how it feels to be in that chair of the shortest-tenured position on the C-suite. We detail the long, hard road most ideas take to get to market & how challenging it is to get the best ones through. Hosted by Mike Linton -- the former P&G Brand Manager who went on to be the Chief Marketing Officer of Best Buy, eBay, and Farmers Insurance, as well as the Chief Revenue Officer of Ancestry.com and the head marketer at Remington -- this show serves as an ongoing lesson plan for how to get, do, keep, and handle the pressures of the CMO job.
Latest episodes
Bob Liodice | 31 Years, 1 Industry: Bob Liodice Looks Back and Shares His Future Perspective: Part 1Bob Liodice (ANA CEO, nearly 32 years; 23 as CEO) reflects on 31+ years in one industry and shares a future outlook on marketing amid AI, creator-driven discovery, and measurement challenges.29 Sep 2026 · 24 min
Kipp Bodnar | Why Judgement & Taste are Key Advantages in an AI WorldKip Bodnar argues that AI breaks the old marketing funnel and forces new “equations” for growth based on AI search visibility (mentions and citations).22 Sep 2026 · 34 min
Michael D'Esopo | Why CMOs are Losing Influence: The Trust Trade-OffWhy CMOs are losing influence due to a “trust trade-off” between short-term performance pressure and long-term brand/customer investment, plus how CMOs’ remit is expanding into customer experience…15 Sep 2026 · 35 min
All episodes
Bob Liodice | 31 Years, 1 Industry: Bob Liodice Looks Back and Shares His Future Perspective: Part 1Bob Liodice (ANA CEO, nearly 32 years; 23 as CEO) reflects on 31+ years in one industry and shares a future outlook on marketing amid AI, creator-driven discovery, and measurement challenges.29 Sep 2026 · 24 min · 11 chapters
Kipp Bodnar | Why Judgement & Taste are Key Advantages in an AI WorldKip Bodnar argues that AI breaks the old marketing funnel and forces new “equations” for growth based on AI search visibility (mentions and citations).22 Sep 2026 · 34 min · 17 chapters
Michael D'Esopo | Why CMOs are Losing Influence: The Trust Trade-OffWhy CMOs are losing influence due to a “trust trade-off” between short-term performance pressure and long-term brand/customer investment, plus how CMOs’ remit is expanding into customer experience…15 Sep 2026 · 35 min · 18 chapters
Emily Frager | Communications and PR are Having a MomentCommunications and PR are “having a moment” because comms has shifted from a channel to a business function focused on engineering reputation with data, speed, and governance.8 Sep 2026 · 34 min · 14 chapters
Aneesh Dhawan | The AI Trust Gap in Research and What to Do About ItAI in market research, focusing on the “AI trust gap” when non-researchers use AI outputs without research rigor/governance.1 Sep 2026 · 29 min · 19 chapters
Rishad Tobaccowala | A Leading Futurist Takes Stock of 2026Rishad Tobaccowala’s outlook on 2026, arguing that alien intelligence (AI) is “not governable,” jobs and work are uncoupling, generational divides are worsening, China may win in hard-tech…25 Aug 2026 · 35 min · 13 chapters
Kristin Wozniak | Too Much Data & Not Enough Thinking - Are You Following Goodhart's Law?Kristin Wozniak argues that marketing leaders are “data obsessed,” mistaking data for certainty and using metrics as targets (Goodhart’s Law), which drives gaming, confirmation bias, and short-term…18 Aug 2026 · 33 min · 18 chapters
Maryam Banikarim | What CMO's Talk About Behind Closed DoorsMiriam Banikarim discusses what CMOs are thinking “behind closed doors,” focusing on AI’s shift from efficiency to growth, cultural adoption/guardrails, board-level expectations, uncertainty in…11 Aug 2026 · 36 min · 14 chapters
Neal Mann | AI Agents as Teammates - Are You Really Ready to Work Together?AI agents as teammates—how to deploy them in marketing/workflows using a “single source of truth” fact layer so outputs stay on-brand and measurable (avoiding “AI slop”).4 Aug 2026 · 35 min · 15 chapters
Dr. Ed Dobbles | Research and Analytics in an AI WorldResearch and analytics in an AI world, focusing on generative BI, adoption failures, and how to combine deterministic checks with probabilistic AI plus “synthetic panels” safely.28 Jul 2026 · 36 min · 15 chapters
Brent Rivard | Why Are So Many Marketers Ignoring the $8.3 Trillion Market Hiding in Plain Sight?Brent Rivard argues marketers are overlooking the 50-plus “elephant hiding in plain sight”: a U.S. $8.3 trillion market controlling about 70% of disposable income.21 Jul 2026 · 34 min · 18 chapters
Aarron Spinley | The Concept of Customering - Is Technology Overwhelming the Customer Experience?The episode argues that “customer experience” is often misused as a catch-all for digital-era tactics, and that companies should instead practice “customering”: a management discipline for…14 Jul 2026 · 37 min · 17 chapters
Rob Ward | A Top Venture Capitalist Analyzes the AI LandscapeRob Ward (Meritech Capital co-founder/GP) explains where AI adoption stands, which areas are moving fastest, and how venture funding/enterprise buying may be distorted by hype, “AI washing,” and…7 Jul 2026 · 41 min · 17 chapters
Michael Treff | A Mid-Year Update From the B2B Front LinesMid-year B2B marketing update from the “front lines,” focused on navigating uncertainty, proving ROI from AI/tech, and how agency/service models and creativity are changing.30 Jun 2026 · 36 min · 16 chapters
Drew Pinto | Time to Think About Architecture“Time to Think About Architecture” focuses on data/technology architecture (not building design) as a driver of customer experience, speed, and growth.23 Jun 2026 · 34 min · 12 chapters
Dr. David Bray | Managing the Geopolitical LandscapeHow geopolitics and rapid tech change (AI, sensors/space, biotech, quantum) are reshaping power, trust, supply chains, governance, and marketing decisions.16 Jun 2026 · 38 min · 17 chapters
Joe Gagliese | What Does Social First Even Mean & Is It Right For You?Defines “social first” as a planning philosophy where brands stop recycling off-social campaigns and instead build for how consumers discover, get influenced, and validate on social—then scale other…9 Jun 2026 · 33 min · 19 chapters
Mike Kaput | Structuring Your Company for AI - An Update From the Front LinesStructuring a company for AI adoption, closing the “say-do” gap between AI claims and real rollout, and preparing for agentic AI (AI agents) in marketing and beyond.2 Jun 2026 · 33 min · 18 chapters
Tom Goodwin | If You Dropped the Best Marketers of the 1950's Into Today's Environment, How Would They Do?Tom Goodwin argues that modern marketing over-focuses on “new and shiny” tactics and short-term, measurable performance, neglecting long-standing fundamentals of consumer understanding, segmentation,…26 May 2026 · 42 min · 13 chapters
Kim Whitler | Why Are Executives Engaging in Activism That Creates Business Risk?Why executives engage in sociopolitical activism that creates business risk, and how “executive flip-flops” happen as leaders react to pressure from different sources.19 May 2026 · 45 min · 17 chapters
Jean English | The AI Marketing Battle: A View from the Front LinesJean English (CoreWeave CMO) discusses the “AI marketing battle” from the front lines—how AI is changing marketing/category creation, why AI infrastructure is strategically decisive, and how brands…12 May 2026 · 35 min · 18 chapters
Joe Perello | The Credibility Challenge – Thoughts on Authenticity in an Artificial MarketplaceThe “credibility challenge” in today’s marketing: production and distribution scale easily, but consumer belief/trust does not.5 May 2026 · 43 min · 15 chapters
Rishad Tobaccowala | A Futurist Talks About What's Next for Marketers and AgenciesFuturist Rashad Tobaccowala explains how AI agentic work will reshape marketing/agency structures, why “marketing” becomes the cross-functional business driving outcomes, and what risks and workforce…28 Apr 2026 · 41 min · 15 chapters
Dan McCarthy | University of Maryland - The Unit Economics of AI - Can LLMs Actually Make Money?Unit economics of LLM businesses—can they actually make money—analyzed through customer lifetime value (CLV) and customer-based corporate valuation (CBCV), including CAC, retention,…21 Apr 2026 · 43 min · 18 chapters