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The CMO Whisperer

Steve Olenski

The CMO Whisperer, hosted by former Forbes writer Steve Olenski, is a curated executive platform and marketing leadership podcast where CMOs, brand leaders, and senior operators share candid insights on leadership, brand strategy, and growth. Spanning business, sports, and media, it goes beyond marketing to reveal how top leaders make decisions and perform at the highest levels.

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20 episodes
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Avg 28 min
English

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#162
Yesterday · 30 min
The AI Growth Problem - Michael Stich
My guest today is Michael Stich, partner at CourtAvenue. Michael has spent more than 25 years helping some of the world's biggest brands navigate innovation, digital transformation, customer experience, AI, commerce, and just about every major shift marketing has faced over the last two decades. Today at CourtAvenue, he works with organizations including Kia, Epson, General Mills, Dell, and the US Air Force to solve complex business and marketing challenges. Before that, he held leadership roles at WPP, VML, Rockfish, Bridge Worldwide, Texas Instruments, McKinsey, and Dell, giving him a front-row seat to the evolution of modern marketing. And along the way, he's advised Fortune 50 companies, invested in startups, helped launch groundbreaking products, and built businesses that have transformed how brands connect with customers. He's also been recognized as a Cincinnati marketing legend by the AMA and has earned multiple industry honors for his leadership.
#161
September 8 · 31 min
Stop Chasing Celebrity Influencers - Dave Neville
My guest today is Dave Neville, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Johnnie-O, where he oversees brand strategy, digital marketing, creative, CRM, and partnerships for one of the fastest-growing premium lifestyle apparel brands in the market. Dave's career has taken him from serving as a captain in the US Air Force to advising global companies as a strategy consultant at Oliver Wyman and into leadership roles with iconic brands like Callaway Golf and Titleist. Along the way, he's built a reputation for combining sharp strategic thinking with creative brand building and a relentless focus on growth. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, with an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Dave is passionate about developing high-performing teams, building enduring brands, and proving that the best marketing happens when creativity and data work hand in hand.
#160
September 4 · 31 min
Why Smart Marketers Overcomplicate - Philip Auerbach
My guest today is Philip Auerbach, Chief Marketing Officer at Custom Ink. Phil has built an impressive career leading marketing and commercial strategy for some incredibly well-known brands. Before joining Custom Ink, he led executive leadership roles at Bumble, Dunkin', Linblad Expeditions, and Caesars Entertainment, helping each of them navigate growth, digital transformation, and changing customer expectations. One of the many things I find most interesting about Phil's career is its range. He's marketed everything from dating apps and donuts to travel experiences, gaming, and now custom apparel. There are not many marketing leaders who can say that. Get to know Phil's perspective on what he's learned along the way, what separates good marketing from great marketing, and how the role of the CMO continues to evolve.
#159
September 1 · 30 min
AI Is Scaling Mediocrity - Will Leach
My guest today is Will Leach, founder of Mindstate Group and a leading expert in behavioral science and decision-making. Will previously led PepsiCo's behavioral science lab and has worked with brands including PepsiCo, Disney, Mars, Capital One, and 7-Eleven to better understand why customers choose and how leaders can make smarter decisions. He's also the best-selling author of Marketing to Mindstates, and advises executive teams on behavioral science, AI-powered insights, and growth strategy.
#158
August 28 · 29 min
Why Great Marketing Fails - Liz Crisafi
My guest today is Liz Crisafi, a transformational marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience building iconic brands, accelerating growth, and creating customer experiences that drive loyalty and business results. Over the course of her career, she's held leadership roles at IHG Hotels and Resorts, Hornblower Group, Discovery Communications, Eastman Kodak, Kimberly-Clark, and Ogilvy. With experience spanning hospitality, travel, media, entertainment, consumer products, and franchise businesses, Liz believes great marketing starts with hospitality by understanding people, anticipating their needs, creating memorable experiences, and building relationships that last. It's a philosophy that has guided her career and helped brands create moments customers remember, and most importantly, come back for.
#157
August 21 · 32 min
Why Smart Leaders Struggle - Alma Derricks & Eliza VanCort
Today, I welcome two guests to the show, Alma Derricks and Eliza VanCort, the co-creators of Ignite, a leadership experience built around a simple but incredibly timely idea. As technology and AI continue to reshape the workplace, the human skills that drive great leadership have never been more important. These two came to this work from very different directions. Alma has spent more than three decades building businesses, launching brands, and leading commercial strategy for organizations including Deloitte, HBO, Paramount, and Cirque du Soleil. Today she's the founder and managing partner of REV, where she helps organizations navigate moments of growth, reinvention, and transformation. On the other hand, Eliza is a best-selling author, communication strategist, Cornell University Fellow, TED speaker and former acting instructor whose work has helped executives and leadership teams become more confident, influential communicators in the moments that matter most. What started as a conversation became a collaboration, and that collaboration became Ignite. We spend less time talking about the program itself and spend more time talking about why it exists. What are they seeing inside executive teams? Why do communication and influence seem harder than ever? And most importantly, what human skills are becoming more valuable because of AI, not despite it?
#156
August 14 · 26 min
B2B Is Still Human - Jake Nishimura
My guest today is Jake Nishimura, Vice President of Marketing at Kiswe, a company that's quietly changing the way some of the biggest names in sports, music, and entertainment connect with fans around the world. Jake's career started on the live event side of the business, promoting concerts for artists like Tara Swift and Ed Sheeran before making the jump into streaming, where he's helped bring live experiences to audiences for everyone from Queen and the Rolling Stones to Jack Harlow. He's also been instrumental in helping Kiswe expand into the creator economy, working with bands like Smosh, Rhett and Link, and the Try Guys. Today, his role goes beyond partner marketing as he now leads Kiswe's broader B2B marketing efforts, giving him a unique perspective on where technology, content, community, and brand are all headed.
#155
August 7 · 30 min
Marketing Has Lost Control - Marie Bahl
My guest today is Marie Bahl, Chief Marketing Officer at Uptempo. A few weeks ago, Marie published an article called Martech Built Empires—Now It Needs Bridges. More recently, she shared a manifesto with me that expanded on many of those ideas. Marie argues that marketers have spent years becoming data janitors, spreadsheet detectives, and professional explainers of their own value. Instead of building brands, driving growth, and shaping business strategy, too many marketing teams are trapped by trying to prove they deserve a seat at the table. She also believes that AI won't fix that problem. In fact, if we don't address the underlying issues first, AI may simply help us fail faster. We're going to talk about why marketing finds itself in that position, what leaders are getting wrong about AI, and what it'll take for marketing to reclaim its role as a true growth engine.
#154
July 31 · 24 min
Stop The Finger Pointing - Andrea Eaton
My guest today is Andrea Eaton, Chief Revenue Officer at Ataccama. Andrea is a growth-focused executive with more than 20 years of experience helping tech companies scale revenue, transform go-to-market strategies, and navigate periods of rapid growth. Her career spans leadership roles across sales, marketing, revenue operations, and product marketing, giving her a truly unique perspective on what it takes to drive sustainable business results. Now, before joining Ataccama, Andrea led global marketing at OutSystems, where she helped advance the company's AI-powered vision and integrated AI into marketing and sales development workflows. She's also served as Chief Revenue Officer at Bluefin Payment Systems and held senior leadership roles at several high-growth software and fintech companies.
#153
July 24 · 24 min
Escape The AI Paralysis - Mike Lane
My guest today is Mike Lane, CEO and co-founder of Fluency, the digital advertising operating system helping agencies scale paid media campaigns across every major digital ad channel. Fluency manages more than 250,000 campaigns monthly and nearly $3 billion in annual media spend, giving Mike a unique lens into where advertising, automation, and AI are all headed. The company recently raised a $40 million Series A to accelerate its growing agentic AI capabilities. And today we're going to dig into what all that actually means for CMOs, marketing teams, and the future of advertising operations. Before Fluency, Mike was COO and co-founder of Dealer.com, which became the automotive retail industry's largest marketing and advertising platform. And finally, he's also an active angel investor, board advisor, and serves on several nonprofit boards.
#152
July 17 · 21 min
AI Won't Replace Marketers - Christine Buck
This episode is recorded live at BrandSmart, the longest-running brand marketing conference in the U.S. BrandSmart brings together noteworthy speakers and future-forward marketers — a who’s who of decision-makers and influencers — to share proven tools, smart ideas and inspiring stories. Joining the CMO Whisperer today is Christine Buck, CMO of MiniTab and AMA board member, as well as the 2024 AMA Chicago Marketer of the Year. Christine brings deep global experience and a sharp data-driven perspective to the table. She is a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. Christine leads the planning and development of global marketing strategy across all products, channels and regions. Christine’s experience is broad and uniquely global with almost 27 years of B2B sales and marketing expertise from roles held in financial services, software and consulting industries. Christine has built and led teams globally across brand management, creative, product marketing, research, pricing and analyst relations for leading firms Hootsuite, Morningstar, Huron Consulting, Accenture, Bank of America and Microsoft.
#151
July 14 · 25 min
Every Child Needs Someone - Kathryn Fernandez
My guest today is Kathryn Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence. Kathryn has spent her career helping people reach their full potential, first as a teacher, then as a Peace Corps Youth Development Volunteer, and later through leadership roles across Philadelphia's nonprofit community. Today, she leads one of the region's most impactful organizations, working every day to create life-changing mentoring relationships for young people across the Philadelphia region and southern New Jersey. Before joining Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence, Kathryn served as Chief Development Officer at Habitat for Humanity, Philadelphia, where she helped lead a period of significant growth, strengthened fundraising efforts, and spearheaded the organisation's first multi-year campaign, raising a whopping 5.75 million to expand its impact. And throughout her career, Kathryn has built a reputation for combining strategic leadership with authentic relationship building and a deep belief that every young person deserves someone in their corner.
#150
July 10 · 28 min
Advertising Can Save Lives - Kris Johns
My guest today is Kris Johns, founder and CEO of AdGood, and somebody whose career sits right at the intersection of innovation, media, and impact. Kris has spent more than 15 years helping shape the streaming and ad tech world, building platforms and businesses that transformed how audiences discover content and how companies create growth. He helped scale AdPool into one of the world's largest CTV marketplaces, played a major role at World before its acquisition by AppLovin, and was part of the growth story at Maker Studios before Disney came calling. But what really grabbed my attention was what Kris decided to do next. After helping build businesses and scale technology, he looked at something most people barely noticed: unused advertising inventory and saw something entirely different. He saw potential, he saw opportunity, and he saw a way to turn empty ad space into something that could actually help change lives. Today, through AdGood, Kris is helping nonprofits across the power of connected TV and giving organizations that normally wouldn't have a seat at the table a much bigger voice.
#149
July 7 · 32 min
Why Rebrands Actually Fail - James Maddison
My guest today is James Maddison, CMO at blockchain.com, and this is one of those stories where the path to the top doesn't exactly follow the neat little roadmap that career counselors hand you in school. James has worn a lot of hats on the way. Journalism, entrepreneurship, brand building, marketing leadership, and figuring out how to connect storytelling with growth in industries that move fast and rarely come with instruction manuals. Before blockchain.com, he helped shape growth and marketing at TradingView and played a key role at Resi, as the company expanded its presence in a crowded market. Now he's leading global marketing at blockchain.com, operating at the intersection of finance, technology, culture, and consumer trust. And if you've spent any time around crypto, you know that isn't exactly marketing on easy mode by any means.
#148
July 3 · 31 min
AI Won't Replace Leaders - Barry O’Reilly
My guest today is Barry O'Reilly, an entrepreneur, executive advisor, and bestselling author who spends his time helping leaders rethink how organizations actually work in a world that seems to reinvent itself every five minutes. He's the co-founder of Nobody Studios, a global top 10 AI venture studio with a pretty ambitious goal of building 100 companies in five years. He's also the author of Lean Enterprise, Unlearn and Artificial Organizations, where he explores what it takes for companies and leaders to adapt, evolve and avoid getting trapped. Barry advises boards and executive teams around the world on enterprise transformation in the age of AI. And today we're going to get into what leadership looks like when the rules are changing in real time.
#147
June 30 · 27 min
CMOs Should Think Bigger - Bruce Hershey
My guest today is Bruce Hershey, co-founder and partner of the CMO Whisperer Advisory and someone I've known for at least 15 years. He's a brother. He's a mentor. He's a friend. He's a confidant. He's everything. He's also one of those rare leaders who has sat in just about every seat that matters. He's a former global CMO of the Year, a senior executive, operator, entrepreneur, and business builder whose career spans more than three decades across major brands, agencies, startups, and founder-led companies. But what has always stood out to me the most about Bruce isn't just the resume; it's the way he sees around corners. He has this incredible ability to connect leadership vision to operational reality, marketing to revenue, and strategy to actual execution. A big reason the CMO Whisper Advisory exists the way it does today is because of the conversations Bruce and I have had over the years about what companies, CMOs and leaders are really doing behind closed doors. Not the polished conference room version. The real version.
#146
June 19 · 23 min
The Future Of Advertising - Dr. Mark Grether
My guest today is Mark Grether, SVP and General Manager of PayPal Ads. Mark has helped shape some of the biggest shifts in modern advertising, from co-founding Xaxis at WPP to leading Sizmek, through its acquisition by Amazon, to helping grow Uber advertising into a billion-dollar global business with more than half a million advertisers. Today at PayPal, he's focused on building an advertising business designed to help merchants sell smarter and consumers discover more of what they actually care about.
#145
June 16 · 33 min
Why People Really Quit - Bonnie Low-Kramen
My guest today is Bonnie Low-Kramen. Bonnie is one of the most respected voices in the field of executive and personal assistant training, having taught in 14 countries and worked with organizations, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, the Wharton School, and even the British Parliament. But what makes Bonnie's perspective so fascinating is where it all began. For 25 years, she served as the personal assistant to Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis, giving her a front row seat to leadership, human behavior, communication, trust, pressure, and what really makes people thrive at work or walk away from it. She's the author of the book Staff Matters: People-Focused Solutions for the Ultimate New Workplace and Be the Ultimate Assistant. Her TEDx talk is titled The Real Reasons People Quit, and her insights have appeared in both Harvard Business Review and Forbes. But this is not just a conversation about assistance. It's a conversation about leadership, about respect, about culture, about the people behind the people and the invisible glue that holds organizations together while everyone else is busy chasing the next shiny AI headline. Bonnie brings something we could all use a little more of: real-world perspective from someone who understands that no technology will ever replace the value of deeply human work.
#144
June 12 · 34 min
AI Won't Save Marketing - Marco Matos
My guest today is Marco Matos, co-founder and CEO of Adora, where he leads the company's strategy and product vision for its AI-driven performance marketing platform. Marco works with enterprise brands to rethink how marketing organizations launch and optimize campaigns using AI, helping teams move faster and make smarter, more adaptive decisions. Over his 18-year career, Marco has led product development for more than 25 products, with the past decade focused heavily on digital advertising and measurement. He's held product roles across Microsoft, Google, Meta and Pinterest, working on advertising platforms and data analytics systems at massive scale.
#143
June 9 · 22 min
Attention Drives Modern Growth - Ryan Harwood
Today's episode comes to you live from Possible, but not just any Possible location. We are at the VaynerX Yacht. Possible, where every hallway has a pitch and every table has a meeting. Today I'm joined by Ryan Harwood, CEO of Gallery Media Group and Tamara Group, two businesses sitting right at the center of where modern brands are trying to go next: Attention, relevance, culture and growth. Ryan has built companies that understand the simple truth many still miss: attention isn't bought once it's earned every day. From scaling PureWow into a category leader to growing Gallery Media Group into a powerhouse reaching more than 155 million consumers to now leading Tamara Group new model for the attention economy. He set a front row seat to how media creators, storytelling and commerce are colliding.

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