Cheryl Hayman on what marketers can bring to the boardroom

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It might be surprising, but only 2.6% of board members have marketing experience, according to the Marketing Science Institute. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why might that be the case?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to <a href= "https://au.linkedin.com/in/cherylhayman">Cheryl Hayman</a>, non-executive director, it is because the marketing function is often misunderstood. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think everybody always thought that was a skill that was in the organisation and didn't need to be around the board table,” Cheryl says. “What we do isn't black and white, and that's what makes it hard for people to understand.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cheryl is on the board of a number of companies and organisations, including HGL Limited, Peer Support Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand. With a background in marketing, Cheryl is an outlier on a lot of boards, and is passionate about promoting the value marketers bring to the table.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think we're often put in a box and described as being from the ‘colouring-in’ department. We are so much more than that, we are the entire toolbox and you need a huge amount of really diverse skills to take a product or service to market,” Cheryl says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The things that equip marketers as great marketers also makes them great members of boards - being insight driven, growth oriented and being accountable for return on investment. Cheryl says, “We have to know a little bit about a lot in order to actually ask the right questions and get the very best from the people we want to help us bring the best success to the organisation.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think that's been somewhat undervalued, and as marketers, we need to up our view on the value of those things,” she says.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cheryl explain