Preventing burnout in senior marketing leaders
In recent years, an increasing number of senior marketing leaders have experienced burnout – mental, emotional and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged and excessive stress. The cause is undeniably the level of unprecedented change and demands, like navigating a rapidly evolving digital landscape, leading hybrid and remote teams, and delivering on short-term targets along with long-term brand management. When you add shifting consumer behaviour, economic uncertainty, and performance expectations, it’s unsurprising that there has been such a surge.
Senior marketing leaders are strategists, data analysts, transformation and culture leaders – often, all in one day – and the pace of work is unsustainable without boundaries. In our recent Q&A with Sophie Devonshire, CEO of The Marketing Society, she said “I think the biggest piece of advice for people who want to do more and grow faster is to do less… the best leaders are editors and learning to purge, prioritise and really focus on what matters is not easy.”
To protect yourself from burnout, boundaries are so important – setting clear limits on availability, delegating more effectively, and carving out time for strategic thinking. It can also be helpful to put a support system in place, which could be peer networks, mentoring, or executive coaching. Protecting your time to pause, reflect, and recharge.
Burnout is real, but so is resilience, and the future for senior marketing leaders holds promise. We often mention how clients now see marketing as ‘the engine for growth’ in businesses and, there are opportunities to redefine what marketing leadership looks like through AI augmentation, customer-centric experiences, and purposeful branding. By protecting their energy, senior marketing leaders will have the ability to empower teams, embrace agility, and remember what led them to marketing in the first place.
If you feel ready to move towards the next stage in your career, or if you’re hiring for your team, please get in touch or connect with us/send a message on LinkedIn.
Suzie Walker Executive Search is a firm of specialist headhunters with an expert team recruiting interim and permanent senior leaders for B2C and B2B marketing and digital/tech roles in FTSE 350 and private equity-backed companies. Find out how we can support you by connecting with a Consultant below.
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