The Invisible Work of Leadership: Blair Brady on CMO Success, Team Narratives, and AI Transformation

Blair Brady, Co-Founder and CEO of WITH, joins Jeremy Bloom (Marketecture Media co-founder, OhHello.ai founder) and Josh Palau (Media and AdTech executive and America’s favorite plus-one) to discuss the invisible work of leadership, building effective leadership narratives, balancing brand and performance marketing, and navigating AI-driven organizational change. Learn how today's marketing leaders can create clarity, align teams, and prepare for the future of the CMO role. Takeaways - New leaders should establish their leadership narrative before beginning a listening tour. - Teams don't just want to be heard, they want to be led with clarity and consistency. - Leaders must define both a leadership narrative and a team narrative to drive alignment. - Creating "air cover" for teams is a critical but often overlooked leadership responsibility. - Successful organizations balance short-term performance goals with long-term brand building. - Teams trapped in a "survive the day" culture struggle to create sustainable growth. - AI transformation should be treated as a people and operating model challenge, not just a technology initiative. - Effective AI adoption requires alignment across technology, talent, capabilities, ways of working, and external partners. - Future CMOs will need broader business experience and cross-functional expertise. - The most successful leaders continuously adapt because no one has all the answers in today's rapidly changing environment. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and welcome 00:48 Blair Brady introduces WITH 01:28 The advisory gap for CMOs and senior marketers 02:24 Understanding invisible leadership work 03:08 Why leadership narratives matter 04:10 The risk of leading with listening alone 05:33 Communicating leadership style and expectations 06:00 Leadership lessons from organizational transitions 08:25 Marketing the marketing team 09:16 Creating organizational clarity 10:26 The balance between brand and performance 11:28 The importance of long-term brand building 12:22 Avoiding a short-term mindset 13:06 Systems that create strategic focus 14:41 The "what" and the "how" framework 15:34 How AI is reshaping organizations 16:16 AI as a people and operations challenge 17:49 The four pillars of AI transformation 18:55 Breaking down silos for success 19:13 How Blair found her niche 20:09 Preparing future CMOs for success 21:39 Why marketing leadership is increasingly complex 22:35 Acting as an unbiased advisor 23:06 Closing thoughts and sign-off