Essential reading
What is marketing leadership?
In the world’s largest ever marketing leadership study, we found executives who lead marketing outperform those who just do it.
Marketing Leadership Test: Find your strengths
This 2-minute test helps you get a quick read on your marketing leadership strengths. What are your spikes? Free. Anonymous. Fun!
Why effective leaders must manage up, down, and sideways
New research shows: successful executives know how to lead their bosses and colleagues.
Latest posts
Keynote: The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader
Crises need leaders. People who show the way. Who dare to walk the path less travelled. What we’ve learned by writing The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader has just gained more relevance. This could be marketing’s moment. This could be your moment.
CMO Leadership Talk: 3 ideas from Boutros Boutros, Emirates Airlines
For my Forbes CMO column, I sat down with Emirates’ marketing head Boutros Boutros. Together with his team Boutros has built one of the world’s most admired airline brands. Here are three nuggets you might find interesting:
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #11 Find real customer insights
Most customer insight research goes unread, unvalued, unused. That’s a pity. Time to end the waste.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #10 Beware of the buzzwords
Buzz can be good. Buzzwords rarely are. PS: if in doubt, try “customers”, “revenue”, “profit”
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #09 Tackle big issues
When people cut your budgets, when people don’t put you on that meeting agenda, the reason is often simple. They don’t believe your work is tackling a big issue.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #08 Get inside the V Zone
If you want power in any organization, you must serve both customers AND the company. We call this: working inside the Value Creation Zone. Or V Zone for short.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #07 Know WHY to be brave
How to brave? You can—but there’s a trick. Bravery is purpose minus fear.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #06 LEAD marketing
What is marketing leadership? What matters most for marketers’ business success? Marketing and change leadership skills!
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #05 Ditch your job description
Is your job description right? I bet it’s not. What’s my real job? The answer to this question may not in your job description. It’s in your mind, it’s in your heart
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #04 Bridge the skills gap
Do you have all the skills you need? The answer is probably no. And that’s ok.
Keynote: When is your moment (to be brave)?
Everybody inside an organization can be brave. In fact, for success, executives have to be brave. Not always—but when it matters. This inspirational keynote builds on my latest global research, involving over 1,000 marketing and business executives, on what makes for a successful brave leader. The talk helps people realize: In business, bravery is more than a buzzword—it’s powerful, and it’s possible.
PepsiCo CMO Greg Lyons: “We Must Bring Empathy Back Into Marketing”
I sat down with Greg Lyons, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Beverages North America. We spoke about marketing leadership and empathy. He also talks the moving lessons he had learned from his wife, weeks before she died.
Time For A Reset: Podcast
Paul Frampton runs one of the most fun leadership and marketing podcasts, titled “Time for a Reset”. We had lot’s to talk about. Bravery, leadership—and why it’s time to reset some of the thinking in modern marketing.
April 7: Marketing Leadership Masterclass
On April 7, we’ll be back with the Marketing Leadership Masterclass. For 100+ days, you’ll be with a group of friends who can help you tackle the real issues–for less than the cost of a conference ticket.
What is marketing leadership?
In the world’s largest ever marketing leadership study, we found executives who lead marketing outperform those who just do it.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #03 Bridge the Power Gap
No matter how high you rise, you will always be facing a power gap. Don’t fight it. Set a new goal: Learn to mobilize all the people who can say “no”
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #2 Bridge the trust gap
When your job the about the future, accept you will always face a trust gap. Don’t be angry. Instead, bring people along. Help them understand why your ideas matter.
1 Minute Marketing Leader: #1 Win as a marketer
In collaboration with The Marketing Society I have produced this new series: The 1 Minute Marketing Leader. I hope you’ll enjoy this!
The Whole Marketer: Podcast
Abby Dixon of the Whole Marketer Podcast and I spoke about knowing how to influence, having a dream and building credibility.
Marketing Leadership Test: Find your strengths
This 2-minute test helps you get a quick read on your marketing leadership strengths. What are your spikes? Free. Anonymous. Fun!
Sennheiser CMO Virginie De Beco: “Be You!”
What makes a successful top marketer? For my Forbes column, I have spoken with Virginie de Beco, Sennheiser’s Global Head of Consumer Marketing. Virginie is also a Fellow of the Marketing Academy.
Keynote: Ditch your job description
Why do so many firms struggle to innovate? What’s the hurdle? Too many executives feel tied to their job descriptions. Job descriptions, in many firms, have become job restrictions. It’s time to fight back and ask the most important question: what’s your real job?
Formula 1 CMO Ellie Norman: “Hold Your Nerve”
Recently I sat down with Formula 1 CMO Ellie Norman to talk about the F1 transformation, and what happened to the famous lycra Grid Girls.
Why firms need more marketers—now
It's 2020 and for many in marketing, life is tricky. Reports of layoffs, budget cuts—and plenty of uncertainty. When you think about it: it's odd. Marketers live to help the firm find customers,...
The time for marketing is now (again)
For marketers, a massive window for change has just opened—and the prize is big. Let’s face it, marketing missed its last slot. Digital technology should have given marketers unprecedented...
How will life look after the crisis?
Marketers are facing a major problem. Post-virus, how will markets change? What are the trends? Trends are a simple way to plot the future. More video meetings, more online courses, more home...
Never let a good crisis go to waste
Making change happen is tough. New products? Too risky. Agile working? Maybe next year. Better digital tools? We’ll look into it. Why change when life is good? Toys “R” Us, Pan Am, Nokia,...
What could you create in 90 days?
Business life is a rat race. So many meetings, presentations, emails. Breakfast to go. Working lunch. Late dinner. It’s crazy. Then, all of a sudden, things grind to a halt. The meetings get...
Complete this sentence about the future
It all started in 2020. The world was just beginning to grapple with a pandemic. Shops and schools had to close. Events were cancelled. Firms asked people to work from home. Global travel ground to...
T-Systems CMO Katharyn White: “We Must Redefine The Chief Marketing Officer Role”
What makes a successful CMO? This time I spoke with Katharyn White, Senior Vice President and CMO of IT services giant, T-Systems.
The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader — Blockbuster Sale
If you love customers, leadership could easily be your biggest challenge. How to help customers, when others don’t care? How to convince people who don’t report to you? How to innovate, when...
Thrive, don’t fail
Who thrives? The people who have more than just ideas. The people who figure out how to make stuff happen, how to mobilize people, how to ship. A few days ago, I sat down with Rusty Pepper for a...
Look beyond performance
Fran Crippen loved the water. The US long-distance swimmer had beaten his competition many times. 7 medals in 6 years—one gold, four silver, two bronze. Olympic games in reach. Expectations were...
Five secrets of marketing career success
A few days ago, The Marketing Society asked me to share with their senior marketers the insights from the largest ever study on marketer success. Seats were arranged in a circle, so I could see...
Marketers need more sense to stem the tide of CMO firings
(From my Marketing Week column) When Marketing Week’s editor, Russell Parsons, asked me to write an article to accompany the launch of Marketing Week’s Top 100 Most Effective UK Marketers, I...
How to get promoted
Making it to the next level can be exciting. More responsibility, more options, more pay. But how to get promoted? Perhaps your firm has a fixed promotion schedule, and it’s either “up” or “out.”...
Do fewer things, well
For my Forbes column I sat down with Mika Yamamoto, who left her mark at firms like Amazon, Microsoft and Adobe, to talk about what matters for marketing leadership success. Here's a summary (you...
Do your numbers
When the numbers don’t add up, business dreams evaporate, change movements stall, projects die. Perhaps people love your idea. Perhaps no one asks if the numbers work out....
The Marketing Leadership Masterclass is back
On September 17 we’ll kick off the next Marketing Leadership Masterclass in association with Marketing Week. The current class is now graduating and the impact on people’s careers is...
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BY THOMAS BARTA
