A strong resume doesn’t always translate into a strong executive hire. A candidate may have an impressive track record in marketing or communications, but can they influence business strategy, work effectively across the C-suite, and lead through uncertainty? Those are different skills, and they’re becoming increasingly important as the responsibilities of both roles continue to expand. Today’s Chief Marketing Officers are expected to do more than build brands and drive campaigns. Chief Communications Officers are expected to do more than manage media relations and corporate messaging. Both are being asked to think beyond their functions, understand the business, and help senior leadership navigate increasingly complex challenges.
For organizations hiring at this level, the question isn’t simply whether a candidate has the right experience. It’s whether they have the judgment, influence, and leadership skills to succeed in the role the business actually needs.
- Business Acumen Beyond Their Own Function
Executive-level marketing and communications leaders need to understand how the business operates, where it is going, and what stands in the way of its goals. Functional expertise is essential, but it isn’t enough. For CMOs, that means connecting marketing investment to revenue, customer growth, and long-term brand value. For CCOs, it means understanding how business decisions affect reputation, employee confidence, investor perceptions, and stakeholder trust.
A July 2026 Fortune article, “Marketing’s New Mandate: Why AI Is Forcing CMOs to Think Like ‘Mini CEOs,’” highlights how the CMO role is evolving toward enterprise-wide growth, technology adoption, and broader business strategy. The article also notes that more than 90% of CMO job descriptions posted in 2025 required performance expertise alongside experience leading and developing teams.
The implications for hiring are clear: companies need marketing leaders who can connect brand strategy with commercial outcomes, make investment decisions, and explain how their work contributes to the bottom line. The same principle applies to communications. A CCO should be able to explain not only how a company should respond to an issue, but why that issue matters to the business and what leadership should consider before making a decision.
- Strategic Thinking and the Ability to Influence Leadership
The strongest executive leaders don’t wait for direction. They anticipate challenges, identify opportunities, and help shape decisions before those decisions are made. This is particularly important for CCOs, whose counsel can be most valuable before an announcement, organizational change, or a business decision becomes public.
In July 2026, Axios explored how communications leaders are maintaining their influence in the C-suite. The article emphasized a shift from simply executing leadership’s messaging to helping determine what the company should say and advising CEOs on the business decisions that shape its story. It also highlighted the importance of having the confidence to disagree when necessary.
That distinction matters during a search. A candidate may be an excellent spokesperson or an experienced media strategist without being prepared to advise a CEO on a difficult business decision. Companies need to understand whether a candidate has actually operated at that level. And CMOs face a similar challenge. They must balance immediate performance demands with longer-term brand building, customer relationships, and growth. That requires the ability to challenge assumptions, prioritize resources, and influence decisions beyond the marketing department.
- Adaptability in a Changing Business Environment
The expectations attached to both roles are changing quickly. Technology, AI, shifting audience behavior, economic pressures, and heightened scrutiny of corporate decisions are expanding what marketing and communications leaders need to understand. For CMOs, AI is no longer simply a tool for improving efficiency. It is influencing customer engagement, marketing operations, measurement, and how brands compete. In a February 2026 survey, Gartner found that 65% of CMOs expected advances in AI to dramatically change their role over the following two years, while only 32% believed significant changes to the CMO skill set were needed.
That gap raises an important hiring question: Is a candidate prepared to evolve alongside the role, or are they relying on an approach that worked in the past?
CCOs face their own version of this challenge. They must navigate emerging reputational risks, misinformation, changing stakeholder expectations, and the growing intersection of communications, public affairs, and corporate strategy. A recent example is Accenture’s February 2026 appointment of Rachel Frey as its first Chief Communications Officer. As Axios reported, the newly created role brought internal communications, global media relations, financial communications, public affairs communications, and crisis management under one leader reporting directly to the CEO. Those responsibilities had previously been housed within marketing.
This appointment illustrates how companies are rethinking the structure and scope of communications leadership as business needs evolve. It also reinforces why a job description should reflect the organization’s future challenges, not just its existing organizational chart.
- Collaboration Across the C-Suite
Neither marketing nor communications operates in isolation. CMOs and CCOs work with the CEO, finance, HR, legal, sales, operations, and other leaders whose priorities may not always align. A CMO may be focused on launching a campaign to drive growth while the CCO is assessing whether the timing or messaging could create reputational risk. A restructuring may require HR to communicate difficult news while communications advises on stakeholder response and marketing considers the impact on the brand.
These situations require more than good working relationships. They require leaders who can understand competing priorities, communicate their perspective, and find a path forward without losing sight of the broader business objective. This is not just a question of personality or whether a candidate describes themselves as a team player. It is about how they behave when there is real disagreement, pressure, or a difficult decision to make.
- The Ability to Lead, Develop, and Build Teams
A successful executive needs to do more than deliver results personally. They need to build a team capable of delivering those results consistently.
For CMOs, that may mean bringing together brand, digital, analytics, customer experience, and performance marketing expertise. For CCOs, it may mean integrating corporate communications, media relations, internal communications, public affairs, and crisis management. As responsibilities expand, leaders also need to identify capability gaps, determine where additional expertise is required, and make difficult decisions about resources and structure.
A May 2026 Ragan article on the qualities companies want in their next CCO highlighted business acumen, collaboration, and readiness to operate at the board level as important considerations. These qualities extend beyond individual communications expertise to how leaders work with the wider organization and position their teams to contribute to business strategy.
When evaluating candidates, companies should look beyond the size of a team they’ve managed or the seniority of their previous title. The more important questions are how they develop talent, establish accountability, manage change, and build a function that can meet the organization’s needs.
The Right Executive for the Business You Have – and the One You’re Building
It goes without saying that there is no universal profile for a successful CMO or CCO. The right leader depends on the organization’s strategy, culture, structure, and immediate challenges. A company preparing for significant growth may need a CMO with strong commercial instincts and experience connecting marketing investment to business results. An organization facing heightened public scrutiny or a major transformation may need a CCO with deep experience in reputation management, executive counsel, and complex stakeholder relationships.
In either case, companies should be clear about what they need the new leader to accomplish before the search begins. That means looking beyond a title, a list of previous employers, or experience in a particular industry to understand the capabilities that will matter most in the role. It also means evaluating how candidates think, influence, make decisions, and lead, not just what they’ve done.
At Singh Hecht, we believe a successful executive search starts with understanding the business challenge behind the hire. The goal isn’t simply to find someone who checks every box on a job description. It’s to identify a leader who can make a meaningful difference to the organization, both today and as its needs evolve.