By Rob Kall, Co-Founder & CEO, Cien.ai

“The average tenure of today’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) is among the shortest in the C‑suite, averaging just 25 months.”

–  Harvard Business Review

Are You the Next CRO to Get Chopped?

On paper, keeping your job as a CRO sounds simple: deliver the numbers, and everything
else falls into place. But in 2026, that’s a dangerous oversimplification.
In reality, the average tenure for CROs has been dropping fast – now estimated at just 25
months according to Harvard Business Review. Other sources peg it closer to 18 months.

Slower market growth, reduced CAC budgets, and increasingly impatient boards have
shortened the runway for revenue leaders. Two or three bad quarters – and you’re out.
This isn’t just about job security. It’s about career trajectory. If you can’t meet your CEO’s
and board’s expectations with clarity and precision, you’re not just at risk – you’re
replaceable.

The Fix? Stop Guessing and Start Diagnosing

After talking to hundreds of CROs, a clear pattern emerges: the most successful ones know
exactly what drives – and prevents – growth in their GTM motion. They understand the
factors that lead to success in their current company!

The ones that struggle? They often blame macro conditions, competition, or bad luck.

• The high performers can point to:
• How specific rep behaviors move the needle
• Which segments are easier to sell to
• The impact of roles and manager responsibilities
• What impact does discounting have on margin and win rates
• How rep activity levels influence results

The key to their clarity? Clean, actionable data.

Unfortunately, most CROs don’t have it. Their dashboards are full of noise. Their CRM is a
mess. And their reports raise more questions than answers. You can’t fix what you don’t
understand.

What Does Success Look Like?

At Cien.ai, we specialize in cutting through that noise – even when your data is messy
(which, let’s be honest, it always is). Using AI-enhanced diagnostics, we identify the real
GTM friction points and spotlight the segments or reps already showing strong
performance.

Then we build a growth plan and help you execute it – fast.

• No long consulting projects
• No data science teams required
• Just 1–2 hours of RevOps input, and your Cien success manager does the rest

About the Cien.ai Growth Essentials Series

This article is part of our Growth Essentials Series, inspired by our work with B2B executives, GTM consultants, and PE operating partners. These articles focus on the non-technical aspects of improving GTM performance. If you want to dig into the technical details of how to measure the concepts we use here, check out our Practical RevOps Analysis Series.