You hired a CMO to fix a commercial system problem and they reorganised the team. Not because they misunderstood the brief. Because the reorganisation was the thing the role made available to them and the commercial system problem required something the role did not.
This is the pattern I have watched play out in digital businesses more times than I can count and it follows a logic that is completely rational from inside the CMO's position. You arrive into a commercial system that is underperforming. You need to demonstrate strategic authority and generate visible early action. The org chart is the most accessible lever. It signals decisiveness. It creates momentum. It produces a narrative of change that the board can observe.
The commercial system problem sits underneath the org chart. It is in the measurement logic and the incentive structure and the handoffs between functions and the gap between what the strategy says and what the execution is actually doing. None of those are visible on the org chart. None of them are fixed by changing the reporting lines.
By the time the reorganisation is complete, three months have passed. The board is looking for results. The CMO is managing a new structure rather than the underlying problem. The clock that started on day one is now running against a shorter runway and an organisation that is still finding its feet.
The reorganisation was not the answer. It was the answer that was available.
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