Beyond the Office: CBRE CMO Benji Baer on the Future of Work, Marketing & Leadership

Jim Stengel (0:00)

What's the first brand you remember making an impact on you as a young girl?

Benji Baer (0:03)

It's an oldie but a goodie. I mean, Apple to me.

I just think it's brilliant. And every time I go into, and I've used Apple as an example for us as we think about our building operations. Like, guys, they just elevate a person that you buy your phone from, and he hooks it up to this genius who looks cool, looks smart. And I have such an elevated experience. I am excited to buy my phone there. How can that be? It's a stupid phone.

But they have created something that has such value and premium to it, you know, and then that comes to life in every touch point, in every interaction with the company. And they've held that discipline true for decades.

Jim Stengel (0:45)

Hi, I'm Jim Stengel. I've helped hundreds of major brands discover and activate their purpose.

Because when a brand's purpose is clear, compelling and authentic, profit naturally follows. Each week, I welcome the CMOs, the chief marketing officers of your favorite brands, to speak to how their job is so much more than marketing. These leaders share their inspiration and challenges, along with how they try to build a full, healthy, and happy life in and out of the office. And it's that energy that reaches everyone they touch. And we're glad you're here to feel that energy and to learn from these remarkable leaders. So here we go.

What happens when the very definition of workplace changes almost overnight? Well, this week, I'm joined by Benji Baer, the Chief Marketing Officer of CBRE, one of the world's largest commercial real estate and investment services companies. CBRE helps companies and investors buy, sell, lease, finance, and manage commercial real estate all over the world. From office towers and logistic centers to data centers, hotels, and major urban developments. Today, it operates in more than 100 countries with annual revenue in the $40 billion range. Benji has had a fascinating career journey. Before joining CBRE in 2019, she held senior marketing leadership roles at JP. Morgan Chase, Legg Mason, and AllianceBernstein. Industries that are built on trust, competency, and relationships. Benji joined CBRE just months before the pandemic reshaped the way we think about offices, cities, flexibility, and human connection at work. So this episode is about much more than commercial real estate. It's about leading through uncertainty, and it's about the changing role of the modern CMO, from storyteller to transformation leader. Benji also brings the leadership style I really admire. She talks often about empathy, intuition, grit, and what she calls bringing people with you during times of change. Tune in for this conversation with a leader who believes marketing should not only drive growth, but also culture, pride, and human connection inside organizations.

Here's Benji.

Well, Benji, welcome to The CMO Podcast. About two years ago, almost to the day, I did a quick interview with you in Cannes for Gary Vaynerchuk's show Marketing for the Now. We had a blast, but you described yourself then as a heat-seeking missile. So I want to ask you today, two years later, what heat are you seeking these days, Benji?

Benji Baer (3:08)

I love that. I forgot I even said that. I am seeking to educate our people and the market around everything that our company has now been able to develop, create, offer to our customers.

It's fortunate on one hand that the strength of the company has been so vast and through acquisition, there are things that we do today that we couldn't have done a number of years ago. But it's unfortunate that our own people and the marketplace hasn't caught up with that. So if there's one mission I have and this heat-seeking missile that is me with lots of people around me, it's to change that and to change that quickly and change that with impact and have people really celebrate and understand and as employees stand with pride to be able to talk about that and deliver that to our customers and to our customers to have them really feel that, nurture it and really embrace all that we can do and to help them solve their biggest challenges from a real estate and space perspective.

Jim Stengel (4:10)

Well, we're going to talk more about that. In my research on your company and prep for this, I was pretty surprised. I'm going to talk a bit about that in a few minutes. But before we go there, you also talked briefly about how you started your career when we spoke two years ago. And you said you were an international economist working on microchip dumping cases in Asia.