The Talent Business has
been responsible for the biggest Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) hires in both the
US and UK in 2017. We place more senior strategists in communications agencies
globally than any other executive search firm operating in this space. This
global perspective provides us with clear evidence that CSO’s are increasingly
assuming a pivotal role in agency leadership teams. This is reflected in
salaries (with CSO salaries getting closer to CEO’s and CCO’s) and job
descriptions that significantly broaden the CSO’s scope of work and
responsibilities. We’re also seeing an increasing number of CSO’s moving into
CEO roles (albeit with mixed success).
What’s behind the rise & rise of the CSO?
It starts with changes
in client organisations and the knock on effect this is having on agencies. Every
client organization is in some way transforming itself, adapting it’s business
to the pace of change in a technology driven world. Transformation is required
to create new products and services - even new business models. The ability to
leverage innovation and creativity is now a prerequisite for brand owners who
require business transformation to achieve sustainable growth and commercial
success. Given the transformation agendas of client-side organisations,
communications agencies are having to redefine their own offering to be
credible partners for clients grappling with transformation.
For most agency groups,
this redefining of who they are, what they do and how they do it, requires a
strategic mind at the heart of the leadership team with a significantly more
complex skillset than was previously required of an agency CSO. A skillset that
can be applied to the challenges that both the agency and its clients
face.
Historically, agency
groups liked their strategy leads to focus on the strategy discipline (or
worse, strategy silo), resourcing client business with the appropriate brand
strategy skills. The CSO was also expected to impress the hell out of new business
prospects in a pitch context and to deliver creative briefs that teed up a big
idea. Historically, the CSO’s remit rarely included the strategy for the agency
itself, and only a handful of agency CEO’s embraced the CSO as their strategic
partner. Today, as agencies grapple with the transformation of their own
business model, they increasingly need an exceptional CSO with the breadth and
depth of understanding of creative, data, media and consultancy, to crystalize
a strategy for the agency (or agency group) moving forward. This CSO needs to
be capable of working out not only how to join up these assets and capabilities
to create a value proposition, but also how one then operationalises this strategy
to deliver a totally integrated offering bespoke to a client’s particular business
needs. It’s the multiple strategic lenses through which the ‘Super CSO’ sees an
increasingly more complicated communications landscape that equips him or her to
devise a strategy for leveraging an agency group’s assets. The CSO, more than
ever before, needs to be a strategist for the agency as well the person
responsible for what the strategy discipline delivers within that agency (or group).
The Super CSO’s remit
isn’t limited to strategy in the abstract. The Super CSO knows that you can’t
separate strategic direction from the operationalising of that strategy. What
the agency does and how it does it are inextricably linked. Strategy in a
vacuum is of little value in a fast changing world and the Super CSO
understands the operational side of both the agency and its clients’ business.
There are other traits
that we’ve observed in the Super CSO. Whilst the previous generation of CSO’s
might have exercised their huge intellect and exceptional technical skills by
locking themselves in a room to solve a complex brand or communications
challenge on their own, the Super CSO’s approach to problem solving is far more
collaborative. They know who to talk to and how to bring a team together to
crack a strategic problem. This is crucial, given the breadth of their scope of
work. The Super CSO understands that he or she will never be the best data
scientist, brand planner, digital comms strategist, innovation consultant or
ideator, but they know enough to be dangerous in all of these specialisms, and how
to draw on these skills to deliver creative solutions to business problems. And
ultimately, that’s the business that agencies need to be in.
On top of all of this,
as agency’s transform their offering, driving a homogeneous approach to
strategy across a global network is the most effective way of getting that
network to be more functional and culturally homogeneous. In a period of
transformation, where an agency is redefining what it does and how it does it,
strategy becomes the key discipline for driving this change across key markets.
A Super CSO will develop the tools and drive them through the network in order
to transform the offering and create a functional (as opposed to dysfunctional)
organisation.
The CSO is now more important in a pitch context than ever before. My own experience of running international agency reviews is that what used to be called an initial chemistry meeting (the first meeting between the client and a potential agency partner) is actually a strategy tissue meeting. The CSO is the single most important individual in the agency team when it comes to getting out of the blocks quickly and establishing a head start in a competitive review. A Super CSO is capable of giving an agency a significant lead in a pitch situation because they’re better equipped to have a meaningful dialogue with clients grappling with transformation agendas. Clients require more strategic input than ever before, and in an increasingly procurement driven world, strategy is a discipline that clients are prepared to invest in.
And finally, as agencies face an increased challenge from consultancy firms, it’s the CSO who is best equipped to lead the rearguard action against the consultancies.
It’s no wonder then,
that CSO salaries have been increasing exponentially in key global markets as
agency groups pursue the small number of strategy leads that can genuinely
deliver against agency and client transformation agendas.
Gary Stolkin (@talentbusiness) is global chairman & CEO of The Talent Business.
The Talent Business
The Talent Business is the world leader in
executive search for businesses fueled by innovation and creativity. The Talent
Business’ global network delivers competitive advantage for its clients by
building leadership teams and securing senior talent who are experts in
leveraging innovation and creativity to drive successful business transformation. With eight offices worldwide, The Talent Business
is the only global executive search firm specialising in
transformational talent across all disciplines in marketing and communications.
In the last
year The Talent Business has successfully
delivered over 450 business leaders and senior talent worldwide.