Three essential reads
What is marketing leadership?
In the world’s largest ever marketing leadership study, we found CMOs who lead marketing outperform those who just do it.
Marketing leadership test. Find your strengths
Take this free test and get a quick read on your marketing leadership strengths.
Why effective leaders must manage up, down, and sideways
New research shows: successful executives know how to lead their bosses and colleagues.
Latest posts
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.
When is your moment (to be brave)?
On 28 September 2018, air controller Anthonius Gunawan Agung saved 160 lives. As warnings about an imminent earthquake made rounds, his colleagues fled the tower. In a split second, Anthonius...
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 CMOs 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
Take this free test and get a quick read on your marketing leadership strengths.
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.
Ditch your job description
Here's the biggest business mistake I've ever made: as a young marketer, I spent millions of dollars in advertising money to grow a kitchen towel brand—because my job description said: do kitchen...
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...
The hidden power of the marketing funnel
Last weekend, my partner and I took a bicycle tour to a small village near our home, called Adendorf. Each year, it hosts an iconic garden exhibition – a sales show with plenty of champagne and...
The CMO Fellowship is back
For the sixth year in a row, The Marketing Academy, McKinsey, Wisdom 8, and I will help 20 blue chip marketers on the way to CEO. This year - for the first time - we'll run a U.S.-based program in...
What makes a CMO successful? Lessons from over 300 Interviews
I thought I'll copy you in on this Forbes interview I recently did with Drew Neisser, author of the book The CMO’s Periodic Table and host of the CMO podcast Renegade Thinkers Unite....
Marketers: Don’t lose sight of the fact your job is to find customers
As a marketer, people are paying you for the firm’s most important job (next to innovation): finding customers – at the lowest possible cost. Finding customers is an art and a craft. The art is your...
For career success, being relevant trumps being cool
I love the Airbus A380. It’s an engineering masterpiece. The world’s largest airplane. Quiet. Spacious. Loved by passengers. Yet the A380 demonstrates what happens to businesses and careers when...
Ask customers for feed-forward, not feedback
Who’s the most powerful person in a firm? The CEO? No. The CFO? No. The head of sales? No. It’s the customer. When a customer complains, the CEO sits up. When a customer wants to leave, the head of...
To instigate change, first build credit
“You can help us build a love brand. I want to hire you,” the CEO said. Nina was thrilled. Her last years in consumer goods had been tough. Tight margins. Aggressive competitors. A firm, in which...
Make the middle manager cool again
Who wants to be a middle manager? Not many people. It’s nice to be the trainee – young and cool; it’s nice to be the CEO – with all the power. But the rest? Stuck in the sandwich’s middle. No longer...
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BY THOMAS BARTA
