CMO Spotlight | Jaime Punishill - nCino

The CMO Spotlight is a chance to get an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders. 

Setup Founder & CEO, Joe Koufman, virtually sat down with Jaime Punishill, the Chief Market Officer at nCino to discuss his appreciation for the New England Patriots, his trend forecasting ability, and his leadership philosophy.

 
 

WATCH + READ THE RECAP BELOW

(SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW)

 
 

Q1 | Is there any advice you would like to share?

I wanted somebody to help me understand how important it was to manage your career and not let your career manage you.

Punishill advises professionals to be intentional about every element of their careers. “Every move [in my career] has actually been very intentional to add a skill set or to remove something that I perceived was blocking me from advancing in my career, and that constant learning with intentional pivots has been one of the keys to my success.” 

He also advises marketers to always seek out new information to stay on top of their ever-changing industry. “You have to be in constant learning mode. The effective tactics and channels even from two years ago are not exactly the same as today's mix, and they will be different again in two years.”

 

Q2 | What is your superpower?

Punishill shared that he has the ability to see what's coming. He’s able to look at trends and predict how that will affect the market. His predictive marketing power is a big advantage for him because he’s able to alert his team and adjust their strategies accordingly. 

 

Q3 | Where do you find inspiration?

“I'm religious about participating in peer groups and networking events. It confirms that I'm headed in the right direction and/or I'm going to learn some new things.” Punishill is part of a transformative peer group that meets every Friday morning. “It's an hour of me not thinking about the business and listening to others with a point of view or an implementation on a concept that's just a little bit different, and that's great inspiration.”

 

Q4 | What values are important to you?

Punishill holds himself and his team to a very high standard. He’s not a huge fan of the phrase "perfect is the enemy of the good," because it could be interpreted as accepting mediocrity. He sets the standard by doing the things that he asks his team members to do. 

“I pride myself on being pretty tactical with just about every member of my team and every [marketing] discipline. I'm not going to know it as well as they do, but I know it well enough to have good conversations and I'm learning about those things so I can push them. I try to set the conditions up and then empower them while holding them to a high standard.” 

 

Q5 | Is there a sports team that inspires you?

Punishill finds inspiration in watching the evolution and success of the New England Patriots. He appreciates head coach Bill Belichick and CEO Robert Kraft’s patience and flexibility with the team's ever-changing nature, and finds inspiration in former quarterback Tom Brady’s resilience and adaptability.

“The adaptability and the changing of the system to match the conditions, competition, and market…and not trying to force everything to adapt to their view of the world…I aspire to lead that way. I think that has led to their success, so I use that as a lot of motivation.”


 

For more marketing leadership advice and a view into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Jaime Punishill, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.

Watch the full interview to the right.