I’m a marketer who fell into the ‘empire-building’ trap. Now I know a bigger head count doesn’t mean better marketing.

Colin Piper, former Autodesk marketing leader and current CMO of BuildOps, reflects on the pitfalls of expanding marketing teams excessively. He found that growing his department to over 130 people led to inefficiencies and detachment from core marketing work, prompting a shift toward leaner, more effective teams.