Recession and the prime directive

Brian Carruthers

During a crisis, a majority of CEOs expect their CMOs to step up and influence strategy, so what does that mean? Professor Mark Ritson has some answers.

Professor Mark Ritson is not a man to mince his words. During the COVID-19 period “most CMOs were shown up for the useless waste of chair that many of them are”, he told a recent webinar (November 2022). He decried the “tinkly piano ads about feeling each other’s pain and looking out a window and we’ll-get-through-this-together horseshit” that characterised the early months of the pandemic.

Well, yes, easy to knock all that in hindsight, but at the time everyone was feeling their way in what was a completely new situation and desperate not to give offence. That’s not leadership, Ritson,...

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