Twenty years. More than 70 technology companies. Over 250 go-to-market leaders. That is the lens through which I have come to understand one of the most pressing challenges facing technology organizations today.
GTM leaders are not failing because they lack ambition or work ethic. They are struggling because the strategies and frameworks that built their careers, that earned them their seats at the table, no longer operate the same way. And in many cases, neither the leaders nor the organizations around them have fully reckoned with that reality.
What Used to Scale Doesn’t
For years, the formula was relatively predictable:
Step 1: Build a strong outbound motion
Step 2: Hire ahead of the number
Step 3: Add headcount to solve for growth
Step 4: Invest in the top of the funnel and let the pipeline do the work
These approaches generated real results, and the leaders who executed them well were rewarded accordingly. But the conditions that made those models work have shifted. Buyers are more informed, more skeptical, and more deliberate than they were even five years ago. Sales cycles have lengthened. Conversion rates have compressed. The volume-based playbooks that once drove consistent revenue growth are producing diminishing returns, and organizations are feeling it in their forecasts.
What Used to Differentiate Is Now Table Stakes
At the same time, the bar for what constitutes a credible GTM approach has risen dramatically. What were once differentiators are now simply expectations:
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- Personalization
- Consultative selling
- Customer-centric messaging
The market has caught up. Standing out now requires fundamentally different thinking about how value is communicated and relationships are built. Most organizations haven’t yet translated that into clear expectations for their CROs and GTM teams.
When Misalignment Surfaces
This misalignment rarely announces itself. A reset, when it comes, is often reactive. A missed quarter. A pipeline that looks healthy on paper but fails to convert. A CRO transition that could have been avoided with earlier, clearer alignment on what the role actually requires in this environment.
What This Means for C-Suite Leaders
For CEOs, boards, and the executives who partner with revenue leaders, the opportunity is in getting ahead of that gap rather than responding to it. That means:
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- Pressure-testing whether your GTM strategy reflects how your buyers actually behave today, not how they behaved when your current model was designed
- Evaluating leadership not just against past performance, but against the capabilities the next phase of growth demands
- Creating the conditions for honest dialogue about what is and is not working before the numbers force the conversation
The leaders navigating this moment most effectively are those willing to challenge their own assumptions. The organizations supporting them best are those willing to do the same.
Noelle Swan
Managing Director, McDermott + Bull
nswan@mbexec.com
Noelle serves as a Managing Director at McDermott + Bull and is part of the firm’s Technology Practice, based in New York, NY. She has over 20 years of experience in the talent acquisition industry, finding the right candidates to support her client’s needs for skill, experience, and culture fit. Her expertise spans across the broad spectrum of technology, with specific emphasis on information, communication and technology (ICT), networking, and cybersecurity.