The Chief Pricing Officer Is at Its "Crossing the Chasm" Moment—How Do I Know? You Told Me!

Last week, I asked LinkedIn a straightforward poll question: What's the biggest reason most companies don't have a Chief Pricing Officer?

The resulting data pattern was astounding.

Your responses didn't just identify barriers to pricing leadership—they mapped perfectly onto one of the most powerful frameworks in business strategy. We're looking at real-time evidence that the Chief Pricing Officer concept is sitting right at its "Crossing the Chasm" moment.

Here's what you told me, and why it should get you excited about timing.

The Poll Results: More Than Just Obstacles

The responses:

• 53% - "Pricing still seen as tactical"

  
  

• 22% - "Lack experience to build it"

  
  

• 19% - "Can't give up pricing control"

  
  

• 6% - "Role exists, but not empowered"

At first glance, these look like typical organizational barriers. But when you map them against innovation adoption theory, something remarkable emerges. These percentages tell a story about exactly where pricing leadership sits in its journey from experimental idea to business standard.

The Framework: Why Ideas Succeed or Die

If you're already familiar with Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations and Moore's Crossing the Chasm, skip ahead to "Now Here's Where It Gets Interesting" below. For everyone else, here's the essential background...

Back in 1962, sociologist Everett Rogers figured out something crucial about how new ideas spread. He discovered that adoption follows a predictable pattern across five groups:

Innovators (2.5%): The risk-takers who try new things first, often before they're fully baked.

Early Adopters (13.5%): The smart money—people who spot opportunities early and move on them for competitive advantage.

Early Majority (34%): The pragmatists who want proof before they buy in. They need to see it working elsewhere first.

Late Majority (34%): The skeptics who only adopt when everyone else is doing it.

Laggards (16%): The holdouts who resist until they have no choice.

But here's the kicker: adoption doesn't happen smoothly. There are non-trivial behavioral gaps between these groups, and the biggest gap sits between Early Adopters and the Early Majority.

In 1991, Geoffrey Moore turned this gap into one of business strategy's most important concepts. He called it "Crossing the Chasm," and here's why it matters: most innovations die in that gap. They succeed with visionaries but never convince the mainstream market. The chasm becomes an innovation graveyard.

Now Here's Where It Gets Interesting

Your poll responses map perfectly—and I mean perfectly—onto this adoption pattern:

6% - "Role exists, but not empowered" = Innovators These are the organizations that took the plunge first. They created CPO roles before best practices existed. They're learning by doing, figuring out governance and authority boundaries in real time. They're the early proof points.

22% - "Lack experience to build it" = Early Adopters These organizations get it. They see pricing leadership as competitive advantage but need guidance on execution. They understand pricing is strategic—they just need the roadmap. These are your opportunity-spotters.

19% - "Can't give up pricing control" = Early Majority Classic chasm anxiety. They understand the strategic value but are paralyzed by implementation complexity. They can see where this is heading but need more proof before they'll disrupt their current structure. They're waiting for the right conditions.

53% - "Pricing still seen as tactical" = Late Majority/Laggards The traditionalists. Still operating under the old paradigm where pricing is administrative function scattered across departments. They haven't recognized pricing as C-suite worthy yet.

Wait, What? Look at These Numbers

Here's what makes this data remarkable: 72% of your responses represent companies that haven't crossed the chasm yet.

Only 6% have made it to the mainstream market where pricing leadership is an established practice.

This is textbook chasm behavior. The CPO concept has proven itself with innovators and early adopters. But it hasn't convinced the pragmatic majority yet. We're witnessing this transition in real time.

Why This Timing Matters

Understanding where we are in this cycle has huge implications:

The 6% with existing CPO, or CPO equivalent roles: These organizations are writing the playbook. Their success or failure determines whether pricing leadership crosses the chasm or dies in it. The lessons they're learning right now become the best practices that guide mainstream adoption.

The 22% who want to build pricing leadership: Perfect timing for competitive advantage. Companies that move during the chasm period often capture significant market advantages before concepts become mainstream. They can build pricing capabilities while competitors debate whether pricing is even strategic.

The 19% who understand the value but can't execute: Classic chasm anxiety, but the encouraging sign is they're not resistant—just cautious. They can see where this is heading but need more proof and clearer implementation paths.

The 53% who still view pricing as tactical: The massive market opportunity waiting on the other side. Eventually, competitive pressure will force recognition that pricing is strategic. The question is whether they'll be proactive or reactive.

The Market Signals Are Aligning

Several trends validate this adoption analysis:

Job boards are flooded with CPO positions, but companies struggle to find qualified candidates. The market is building the experience base needed for mainstream adoption.

Compensation is rising significantly for pricing roles, signaling the shift from tactical to strategic positioning.

Organizational reporting increasingly goes directly to senior management rather than buried in finance or sales.

Business press coverage extensively discusses pricing decisions, but dedicated pricing executives remain largely invisible. That gap between widespread pricing discussion and invisible pricing leadership? Classic chasm-period behavior.

The Chasm-Crossing Requirements

Moore identified what innovations need to cross the chasm successfully:

"Whole Product" Solutions: Not just the core innovation, but complete support systems that make adoption practical for mainstream buyers. For pricing leadership, this means the entirety of functions—from finance to markets—need to be on-board and aligned.

"Reference Customers": Tangible success stories that early majority buyers can relate to and trust as credible examples.

Market Leadership: Clear evidence that this is becoming standard practice, not experimental alternative.

Reduced Risk: Proof that the innovation delivers without unacceptable downsides.

Looking at pricing leadership through this lens, we can see why it hasn't achieved mainstream adoption yet. Organizations are still building these chasm-crossing requirements.

The Convergence Point

But here's what makes this moment significant: the CPO concept appears to be approaching the conditions needed for chasm-crossing.

The economic evidence is compelling: pricing improvements consistently deliver 8-10x the profit impact of comparable cost or volume improvements.

This isn't theoretical—it's measurable and repeatable.

The organizational evidence is growing: companies with dedicated pricing functions consistently outperform peers on profitability metrics.

The market conditions are favorable: inflation, supply chain volatility, and competitive pressure are creating natural catalysts for pricing discussions at the board level. Pricing leadership feels less like experimental luxury and more like practical necessity.

The Beautiful Irony

There's something perfectly ironic about using adoption theory to analyze the adoption of pricing leadership itself. Rogers and Moore's frameworks became mainstream business concepts precisely because they crossed their own chasm.

The same pattern appears to be happening with pricing leadership. What started as experimental organizational structure is becoming strategic necessity, following the exact same adoption curve.

Your poll responses captured this transition in real time. Without intending to, you provided a snapshot of exactly where pricing leadership sits in its journey from early market to mainstream adoption.

The Window of Opportunity

The data reveals a critical timing opportunity. The CPO concept has been validated by innovators and early adopters but hasn't reached mainstream practice—precisely when competitive advantages are built.

28% of organizations are ready to move on pricing leadership. 72% haven't crossed the chasm yet. The gap between these groups represents both opportunity and risk.

The poll responses captured the Chief Pricing Officer concept at its "Crossing the Chasm" inflection point. The adoption curve suggests pricing leadership will become mainstream.

The question is timing: early to the opportunity, or late to the necessity.

Views expressed are my own personal opinions and do not represent those of any current or former employer.