Your CEO Has Shiny Object Syndrome. Here's How to Handle It.

You know the feeling. Your CEO comes back from a conference, suddenly buzzing with a million new ideas. "We need AI everything! And Clay workflows! And 20 influencers, stat!" (Can you feel that vein in your head pulsing yet?)

As marketers, we're caught between wanting to support our leadership's vision and knowing that chasing every shiny object leads to scattered resources and mediocre results. The challenge isn't stopping the ideas from coming—it's figuring out which ones deserve your precious time and budget.

In episode two of This Meeting Could’ve Been a Podcast, we dive deep into the CEO tendency toward shiny object syndrome, why it happens, and most importantly, how you can navigate it without losing your sanity or your job.

What you'll learn

• Why CEOs can't help but bring back crazy ideas from conferences and events
• The psychology behind "one tactic away" thinking that drives leadership decisions
• How to create a documented strategy that helps you evaluate and filter new ideas
• When to push back on leadership requests versus when to test them out
• How to have the "something needs to come off my plate" conversation without seeming difficult
• When shiny object syndrome actually becomes a serious red flag
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TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

Takeaway 1: Create documentation that gives you ammunition

The goal isn't to eliminate CEO enthusiasm—that energy and vision are often what makes startups successful. The trick is channeling that enthusiasm through a filter. And your marketing strategy is the best filter there is.

But here's the thing most marketers miss: if your strategy isn't written down somewhere, it doesn't actually exist. It's just a collection of conversations and assumptions floating around in everyone's heads. When you have clearly documented goals and priorities, you can ask the magic question: "How does this help us reach our stated objectives?"

When leadership brings you that next "game-changing" idea, you're not being negative by questioning it. You're being strategic. And having that documentation gives you the credibility to have those conversations.

Takeaway 2: Master the art of strategic testing

Sometimes your CEO will bring you ideas that make you giddy with excitement, and other times they’ll bring you ideas that you have to force yourself not to roll your eyes at.

In either case, you’ll want to back your opinion and next steps with real data. So instead of hasty execution or flat out rejection, I suggest a testing approach.

"Let's try a pilot of this with a smaller budget and see what happens."
"Can we test this with a small group of influencers first?"
"What if we try this for three weeks and then decide if we should continue or not?”

These are just some examples of how you can strategically approach the situation, rather than going full bore from the jump or shutting down the idea completely.

The beautiful thing about testing is that it either proves the concept works (and you get to scale something successful) or gives you concrete data to show why it doesn't fit your strategy. Either way, you win.

Takeaway 3: Know when “collaboration” is actually chaos in disguise

Not every CEO-marketer relationship is actually collaborative. I've learned to recognize the red flags that signal a dictatorship mentality—a sign that it's time to start looking elsewhere.

First red flag: they bring you an idea, but don't want a plan. When you offer to come back with a strategic approach, but they push you to execute their exact vision without input, that's a problem. You were supposedly hired for your expertise. If they don't want to leverage it, why are you there?

Second red flag: they bring you an idea and ask for a plan, but won't provide resources. Nothing sets you up for failure faster than being asked to deliver results without the budget, team, or time to make it happen.

Third red flag: the pattern never changes. One crazy idea might be enthusiasm. Five crazy ideas in a month with no strategic thinking behind them? That's chaos.

I've cried leaving jobs before—tears of sadness for places I loved, sure. But also tears of relief for toxic situations I escaped. Trust your gut. If you're consistently frustrated, undervalued, or set up to fail, start looking. I promise there are CEOs who will value your expertise, understand your worth, and collaborate strategically with you.

Catch the full episode (and subscribe to This Meeting Could’ve Been a Podcast!) on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform.