As I’ve written before, CMOs don’t have it easy. People in this position leave their jobs, on average, after about 4 years, as opposed to CEOs, who last an average of more than 8 years.

One of the biggest reasons for this high rate of turnover is that unlike other members of the C-suite, CMOs often aren’t given concrete metrics by which to measure their performance. And since CMO job descriptions can vary widely from company to company, a new CMO may find herself unsure of how far her authority extends, or what precisely falls under her responsibility.

But that doesn’t mean that a new CMO can’t make a huge, positive impact on her company, both externally and internally. Here are 4 things that the most inspiring CMOs do every single day.

1. Communicate those less-tangible marketing goals in clear, concrete language.

Despite digital marketing’s emphasis on numbers and data, there remain many marketing goals that aren’t directly tied to a number of followers, or an increase in conversions.

Take a common goal like “Establish our CEO as a thought leader in the industry.” What does that mean? Does it mean earning a certain number of media mentions? Getting linkbacks from specific media outlets? Growing a follower list by a certain number of people?

The most inspiring CMOs will be those who can take a goal like this and say to their team:

“We want to establish our CEO as a thought leader. That means we’re going to start pitching interviews with the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Miami Herald. We’re going to focus on this specific aspect of their knowledge. Success will look like placing one interview and/or opinion piece within the next three months.”

Express sincere gratitude to their teams.

Expressing gratitude is something that every great leader does on a regular basis. For a truly inspiring CMO, this gratitude goes in two directions.

First, they share their gratitude with their team. These expressions of appreciation can help bolster marketing team members on difficult or long days, as well as encourage them to express their own gratitude for their teammates.

In addition, sincere, regular expressions of gratitude can foster a healthier, happier, even more productive workplace.

But CMOs are also uniquely positioned to help their companies show gratitude to their customers, as well. By skillfully incorporating a message of thanks, appreciation, and celebration of their customers into a marketing campaign, CMOs can drive customer retention and positively shape their company’s image.

Communicate a sense of purpose, both to themselves and their team members.

The CMOs who have staying power – the ones that other marketers want to work for and learn from – are the ones who embody a sense of purpose and can communicate that purpose both to themselves and to the people they work with.

That purpose has to go beyond “sell more product” or “make the company more money.” For all the power money seems to have over many of us, it usually comes up short in the inspiration department.

If you truly feel a sense of purpose in your role and what you’re doing, you won’t have to tell people day in and day out. Your team will sense it when they’re around you. They’ll also enjoy being around you and working with you much more if they can tell that you’re there for a reason.

Embrace healthy risk, and be ready to pivot when needed.

The CMO who’s blindly loyal to what’s worked in the past will miss countless opportunities to push their company toward market leadership. Frankly, they’ll also be rather boring.

The most successful and inspiring CMOs are the ones who embrace a healthy amount of risk – because they aren’t terrified of failure.

If a new campaign isn’t working, they’re able to look at the data, listen to what it’s telling them, and change directions (I call this agility through analytics, and it’s one of the 5 principles of momentum I’ve written about in my book Momentum).

Not only do these abilities help them guide their departments in a dynamic, holistic way, but they’ll also foster innovation among their teams. After all, if your boss isn’t afraid to fail, maybe you shouldn’t be, either.

For more on leadership and marketing, read “Research Says Companies That Do This 1 Thing Increase Worker Productivity by 25 Percent.”